Going tubeless...step by step.

I posted last week that I had gotten sick of flat tires on the Fargo and decided to go tubeless.  So I dutifully ordered the stan's no tube kit.  I've been sitting on it for a week (mostly because I'm lazy)....but I finally got around to it this weekend.  It's a bit of a messy process, but they go together pretty easy.  Here's how it looks.

What you need.  All told a kit will set you back about $80 bucks.

First things first.  Get the tire off the rim and kiss your tube goodbye!

Get everything soapy and wet.  This helps everything slide into place and makes bubbles at problem spots.

Same goes for your rim liner strip.

Have tons of fun trying to get the nice tight liner strip (which is soapy and slippery) over the rim (which is soapy and slippery)!

Soap up the bead of the tire.

Once you've got the tire back on the rim remove the valve core with your special little tool.

Check, valve stem removed.

Screw on the injector.

Fill'er up with Stan's No Tube solution and pump it into the tube.

My first tire went great....this one leaked because I didn't have the bead set quite perfectly.  No big deal though. 

Finally, air that baby up and watch the solution do it's magic.  Basically you roll the tire around to any place you see soapy bubbles and the stan's pugs the leak in a few seconds.  I would note here....you want an air compressor for this.  To get the bead to seal the first time you need to pump it up really fast.  If you were using a hand pump, I don't know if you could do it....at the very least it would be rather hilarious to watch someone try to pump that fast.

I don't know why I didn't take pictures of the inflation and sealing.  I guess I didn't have enough hands at that point.

Overall, the whole process, while a bit messy isn't too bad.  These tires were definitely not new and had plenty of holes and gashes and the Stans handled them all after a bit.

**Follow up**  First ride report....

Wifey and I rode downtown to try to hit Under the Rose Brewing, but they were closed (even though they said they were open).  Along theway down 4th St. I hit something big.  Well, big enough that I had a puddle of Stans and lost tire pressure down to about 10 psi.  I wasn't that amused that it wasn't sealing.  However, after walking the bike for a block or two, it seemed to have sealed up.  I road it over to Old Bridge Pub and then the 3 miles home with out further issue.  And this morning I pumped it up and rode to work without problem.  So....so far it's looking like Stans definitely keeps you going without much work!