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Ghetto tubeless for 20"?

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
Hey,

I have a Burley trailer with 20" wheels. I'd like to make it tubeless. I did a search, but found nothing here, so I'm sorry if I'm asking a previously answered question.

My thoughts:
1. Seal up the rim with yellow tape or duct tape
2. Get a 16" or 18" tube and cut it, so that only the valve stem and a strip will be usable
3. Install the new "rim strip"
4. Install Stans as usual.

Am I asking for 2 hours of frustration and fruitless activity, or could this work? I'd appreciate any advice, up to and including "Just get a kid bike seat for your bike and a short lanyard for Jane's bottle."

Thanks!
-sunny
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
^^ Cool! Thanks.

So, I have to go to a bike shop to get smaller tubes. Do you recommend the 16" or do I need to go to Wal-Mart for the 18"?
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
OK! So, it's not working.

Possible issues:
1. it's a cheap tire and won't seat well on the rim; get a new tire
2. the tape is insufficient over the spoke nipples; get more/different tape
3. something else I'm not considering

Here's what I did:

I used some rim tape from Stan's that I had lying about.



I blew up the 16" tube a bit, then installed the tube over the rim, taking care to get the seam perfectly even.



I cut the tube along the seam



pulled the edges over the rim



Tried to mount the tire like this, but it would not seat. I saw this in a youtube video and it worked for them. Worth a shot.


So I cut away the excess tube.


I remounted the tire. No good. Would not inflate.

I am using a compressor. I am using plenty of soapy soapy water and a brush. No air seemed to be escaping from the spoke holes, just the rim itself.

Ideas?
 
Last edited:

Mike B.

Turbo Monkey
Oct 5, 2001
1,522
0
State College, PA
Looks like a basic single wall rim in which case you'll need to build up the center considerably to get the tire to inflate. Try using some 1/2"x1/4" foam weather stripping.

The bead seat area on those rims is also likely too small to be reliable under side load but given normal use for a Burly that should be too big of a deal once you get the tires inflated. Wire beads are always a bit harder to do.
 

crohnsy

Monkey
Oct 2, 2009
341
0
T Bay
Sometimes the bead of the tire doesnt slide up to the side of the rim where its supposed to seat. Sometimes it helps to push on the tire as you are shooting air through it.

Push the centre of the tire and the bead should spread apart. How much stans are you using?

When I do my own rims (26") I just take a 20" tube spread it over cut the excess off so it looks like a stans strip. install the tire with 1 scoop of stans inside then let the air compressor go at it.

Once in a while I will get a tire that the 2 beads are close together and have to push down the middle of the tire then the air seats the tire to the rim and the stans does the sealing where it needs to.
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
Mike,

Good suggestion. I'll pick up some weather stripping tomorrow and give it a shot.

The wire bead thing was another point I thought of. I've sealed up dozens of tires, but never a wire bead. Good to know it can be done. (It CAN be done, right?)
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
crohnsy,

Thanks for the suggestion. I do push on the tire as I try to inflate it. I'll even roll a particularly difficult tire on the ground, pushing on as much surface area of the top as I can. Often it does the trick.

I also went around the tire after mounting it on the rim and tried to push/pull the bead out towards the rim. I thought that would do it, since the bead seemed to move closer to the edge of the rim in a couple places, but it still didn't seal.

At this point, I'm only inflating with air (no Stans) to see if the tire will seal up. I was watching pretty closely, and it seemed no air was escaping the spoke nipple area, but the tire itself seemed pretty loose on the edge of the rim. This tire came stock with the Burley; I may need a different tire. It occurred to me at dinner that it's a wire bead tire, and I've never tried to seal one of those.

Additionally, it's a single-walled rim, and I didn't factor that into my clever little equation. I'll check out Mike's weather stripping suggestion tomorrow and let you know what happens.

Thanks!
 

crohnsy

Monkey
Oct 2, 2009
341
0
T Bay
wire bead is fine. What do you think downhillers use for ghetto tubeless. you shouldn't have any air leaking problems. Like i wrote earlier I don't even use stans tape to cover the spoke holes, just some thin nylon rim we have kicking around.

Once you get brave enough to put some stans in you shouldn't have any issues.

Quick question why tubeless on the burley? If this is a hassle you could always fill a tube with stans and install it that way...
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
Ah. DH tubeless. Good point. I just a few months ago went tubeless on the DH bike, but since I'm only racing Fontana now, I run 2.35's with kevlar beads. I'll remember that if I change to a wire bead 2.5 for Northstar or Mammoth.

Brave. Yeah, brave with a mop handy. And extra Stans. ;)

Why? Goat heads. I would like to take the Burley off-road and we have so many goat heads here, especially this time of year. You're constantly picking thorns out of your tires.

My husband was dubious of this idea, and reminded me that the trailer has no shock absorber. I reminded him that people crossed open plains in covered wagons and they had no shock absorbers... :twitch: But if Jane's uncomfortable, she'll let me know. And we'll go back to the road.
 

crohnsy

Monkey
Oct 2, 2009
341
0
T Bay
Thorns, bummer.

Don't know much about thorns up here but some shale ate my last tire and even stan couldn't save me :(
 

zebrahum

Monkey
Jun 22, 2005
401
0
SL,UT
I know one, he was all over it. Worked really well by the way. I suspect your trouble is coming from the tires as well. That's a very loose fit on those rims and you'll probably have quite a bit of trouble. Short of new rims and tires, I don't think I have much to help you.

I have had some luck lately with putting a tube in, inflating to pressure, deflating the tire, and carefully dismounting only one side of the tire from the rim. It sometimes helps when mounting really difficult tires.

Another thing you can do is take the valve core out of your tube when inflating with a compressor. Yes, you will instantly loose almost all of your pressure, but if you can get the bead to stick on the rims, it will be worth it. Sometimes you can rush the core back in place before it goes flat as well.

That all said, I've never tried those methods with small wire tires. Best of luck though.
 

V-Dub GTI

Monkey
Jun 11, 2006
951
0
blah!
Take a ratchet strap and wrap it around the tread of the tire, then ratchet it down. It should push down on the tire and make the sidewalls/beads seat when you hit it with the compressor.
 

sunny

Grammar Civil Patrol
Jul 2, 2004
1,107
0
Sandy Eggo, CA
I had to leave off my project for a bit. I hope to get back to it today or tomorrow. I'll try some of these ideas and report back.