Nowadays, most of the vehicles with alloy wheels comes shod with Tubeless tyres. Most of the spoke wheeled motorcycles come with tube type tyres, though some top of the line adventure superbikes come shod with tubeless tyres even on spoke wheels.
The reason behind the article is to enlighten why cost effective spoke wheels cannot feature tubeless tyres. The spoke wheels of those Superbikes cost you a premium, as the spoke nipples are sealed during the manufacturing process. The spoke nipples have a certain amount of gap in between the rim and spoke tensioner which would cause leaks if fitted with tubeless tyres. But then, every problem has some kind of solution sorted out by fellow riders. So here's one of the possible (but not 100% guaranteed) methods to prevent the air leaking from those spoke tensioners.
The simplest idea followed is to seal the part where rim and spoke nipples are fused together. The rim strip is removed, cleaned for any dirt or rust and then the inside of the rim is sealed. One of the common sealants used to seal the wheels are 3M Marine adhesive sealant 5200 or 3M 540 polyurethane adhesive sealant. Both are easily available abroad, but sourcing them down here might be a tough job.
Downsides Of Converting:
The reason behind the article is to enlighten why cost effective spoke wheels cannot feature tubeless tyres. The spoke wheels of those Superbikes cost you a premium, as the spoke nipples are sealed during the manufacturing process. The spoke nipples have a certain amount of gap in between the rim and spoke tensioner which would cause leaks if fitted with tubeless tyres. But then, every problem has some kind of solution sorted out by fellow riders. So here's one of the possible (but not 100% guaranteed) methods to prevent the air leaking from those spoke tensioners.
The simplest idea followed is to seal the part where rim and spoke nipples are fused together. The rim strip is removed, cleaned for any dirt or rust and then the inside of the rim is sealed. One of the common sealants used to seal the wheels are 3M Marine adhesive sealant 5200 or 3M 540 polyurethane adhesive sealant. Both are easily available abroad, but sourcing them down here might be a tough job.
*** A highly expensive aftermarket tubeless spoke wheel
Downsides Of Converting:
* Tubeless tyres are designed to be fitted on alloys, and this might create an issue in alignment.
* There might be leaks when the spoke tension is adjusted.
* Some rims might not at all fit the tubeless tyres.
* Spoke wheels don't have the safety bead, which is very important to keep the tyre in place when there is an occasion of flat tyre.
* Damaging the rims on installation is highly possible due to the light construction when compared to alloys.
By: Aravind Rb
* There might be leaks when the spoke tension is adjusted.
* Some rims might not at all fit the tubeless tyres.
* Spoke wheels don't have the safety bead, which is very important to keep the tyre in place when there is an occasion of flat tyre.
* Damaging the rims on installation is highly possible due to the light construction when compared to alloys.