Tubeless spoked rim

Ebay Item No. 300902912629
I used to manufacture parts for a HD custom bike builder in OZ, he had and used complete spoked wheel assemblies for his choppers that were made for tubeless (made in China) and very good quality, the center area where the spoke nipples are was vulcanized with some kind of rubber, there was no way these rims would ever leak. great as long as you dont wish to disassemble your wheel.

There's lots of MX type shops that offer rim sealing that lasts, using stuff like gas tank sealer, which I may yet do as I esculate up scale of sealing methods. On Peel's rear I've installed the Tubliss system but it ain't rated for hi way use so may of wasted $100 but for the times of very low PSI for trial and other off road stuff. Sillycon its not up to the task as does not adhere very well. What ever is used to seal must resist tire case bead dragged across on installs and take offs. I want to stick with spoked rims for a number of reasons, most d/t off road work outs and rubbing sports bikes noses in old school wisdoms on the easy as pie stuff they get so excited about.

madass140 said:

Ebay Item No. 300902912629
I used to manufacture parts for a HD custom bike builder in OZ, he had and used complete spoked wheel assemblies for his choppers that were made for tubeless (made in China) and very good quality, the center area where the spoke nipples are was vulcanized with some kind of rubber, there was no way these rims would ever leak. great as long as you dont wish to disassemble your wheel.

Click to expand...

re; "the center area where the spoke nipples are was vulcanized with some kind of rubber, there was no way these rims would ever leak"

I think you might have misunderstood the principal of the wire spoked wheel invented by James Starley.
It is the top spoke that takes the load of a shock of hitting a bump, i.e; the top spoke(s) pushes up into the rim tape.
The BMW alloy rim I am referring to has it’s wire spokes inserted into the side of the alloy rim, thus the tyre section has no spokes protruding into it at all, whatsoever. Hence it can use tubeless tyres.
No amount of sealant will hold air inside a standard wire spoke wheel that are inside the central of this type of rim for long .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wheels#On_motorcycles

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_wheels#On_motorcycles

A well known Racer named Bob heath he of the Visor maker and helmet accesories .Built a very special Seely G50 and a Seely 7R,they were very special with loads of Titanium and a lot of holes,and hollowed out studs,he did not even paint the frames as he worked out that a tin of paint weighs a few pounds so that was out/
Well he got his wheel builder to build the rim and used silicone RTV on the ends of the spoke nipples and that sealed the rim where the valve was he used modified car steel rim ones, and guess what!! it worked,he had reasoned that the tubes weighed a pound or two so there was a gain there.
Well he won Classic races over and was very succesfull over the next few years with these bikes.
Peter williams used tubless tyres on the Works Nortons,his patented cast wheel rims were just normal rims not spcified for tubeless .

[video]http://youtu.be/vbJueZ5prnU[/video]

This comes up on the " Porky" BMW forum from time to time, guys run tubeless tyres on the tube type alloy rims.
Some say it gives you more time to slow down in the event of a puncture, others say the tube rims are not designed for running tubeless.
Personally I don't mind tubes as long as I fit them myself as the ones I had the bike shop do had rubbing punctures due to creasing the tube on install.
From what I can see modern bike guys would not be able to change a tyre anyway. My Ducati has a centre stand but no useful tools to speak of.

72Combat said:

This comes up on the " Porky" BMW forum from time to time, guys run tubeless tyres on the tube type alloy rims.
Some say it gives you more time to slow down in the event of a puncture, others say the tube rims are not designed for running tubeless.
Personally I don't mind tubes as long as I fit them myself as the ones I had the bike shop do had rubbing punctures due to creasing the tube on install.
From what I can see modern bike guys would not be able to change a tyre anyway. My Ducati has a centre stand but no useful tools to speak of.

Click to expand...

Tubeless rims have a bigger safety bead that that keeps the tire on the rim better in the case of a tire failure. Bigger safety bead also makes for a harder time breaking the bead for tire changes. Easy to change tires on modern bikes at home. On the side of the road a plug will usually fix a flat.
My ktm doesn't have a center stand but it isn't necessary to change tires. I have paddock stands and a full chest of tools.

On tubeless rims Even w/o the slight extra over hang on rim lip plus slight extra recces for softer slightly & bigger tube tire bead, a flat don't seem to come off rim much less than blow outs on plain tube rim lips. Must be very careful mounting tires not to let the tire bead drag across the tape edges or may bubble out.