Bringing tubeless to the 90's

[Colinmclelland]

Kid's mountain bike was a cutting edge dual suspension bike in the 90's. Now it's a bike from the 90's. Current tyres aren't quite from then but not far off! They are also baldish. So new ones needed.

The bike has old school Mavic Ceramic rims. I know nothing about MTB. Road tubeless needs tubeless specific tyres and tubeless specific rims.

Can I just add tubeless tape and sealant along with new tyres and be good?

Or is it just at lower MTB pressures you can run non-tubeless specific tyres tubeless but you still need tubeless rims you moron....

[zachateseverything]

Kid's mountain bike was a cutting edge dual suspension bike in the 90's. Now it's a bike from the 90's. Current tyres aren't quite from then but not far off! They are also baldish. So new ones needed.

The bike has old school Mavic Ceramic rims. I know nothing about MTB. Road tubeless needs tubeless specific tyres and tubeless specific rims.

Can I just add tubeless tape and sealant along with new tyres and be good?

Or is it just at lower MTB pressures you can run non-tubeless specific tyres tubeless but you still need tubeless rims you moron....

because the pressures are lower you can get away with rims and tires that weren't designed for tubeless use. You're probably going to have to run a rim strip. the traditional ghetto tubeless method would involve splitting a 20" bmx tube and stretching it over the rim. that worked fairly well for my friends during the early days of tubeless. YMMV.

you can get tubeless ready 26" tires from most of the usual suspects. current stock levels might be low though due to lots of 90's bikes with dry rotted tires getting dusted off during the pandemic.

non-tubeless rims and tires can be made to work. you'll want to be a bit conservative with inflation pressure at first. the last thing you want to do is burp a front wheel while cornering hard. it's also going to potentially be a problem getting the tires to seat the first time you air them up.

tubeless 26" rims do exist but if this is also a rim brake bike that's going to be difficult to accommodate.

https://benfrain.com/mtb-ghetto-tube...t-why-and-how/

[Gattonero]

Pinch-flats and loose headsets were the thing in the late 80's. The latter was sorted by Dia-compe with the Ahead-set that became the standard, but there's no such thing for the former, Tubeless tyres aren't consistent and it's all about trial-and-error unless you go for combinations that are meant to work together (i.e. Mavic UST rims)

[mack_turtle]

depending on the rim shape, you might need a tubeless rim strip or several layers of tape. Gorilla tape in 1" wide rolls works well for this, but it's messy if/when you need to remove it. the split tube method mentioned above might also work. the key is that the tire has to fit tight against the rim when inflated so it does not slide and burp air.

I'd get some tubeless-specific tires. if WTB is still making 26" tires like that, their TCS bead is similar to a UST bead and provide a tight fit.