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Tube tires on a tubeless rim

John Luke

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Is it dangerous to run “tubed tires on a tubeless rim? I bought them not realizing that it was a tubed tire. Isn’t a tube just designed for rims with spokes? Anyway I just was curious to see what y’all would have to say. I may just run them on there because I don’t want to send them back due to the box they were shipped in is gone. Is there a way to use a tube in a tubeless rim? Thanks!
 
BTDT.

You MUST use a tube, the tire will never air up otherwise. You need to check inside of wheel for any roughness that might wear a hole in the tube. Remove it smoothly if you find it. Tube tires have a slightly different size and shape edge that may be slightly loose on the wheel, you need to air up tire slowly while working it by bouncing it hard on ground to move the edge around to be even and centered on both sides. I air and deflate at least once to allow the tube to work itself out to not have any foldovers in it. Done correctly they run and wear like normal.
 
I just mounted the tire and the bead set and it holds air easy. Once again its a shinko 240 and it is tube type but my rims are tubeless.

Thanks!
 
I strongly advise you to NOT RUN that setup, the beads are NOT the same (there are seams in them on a tube type that will leak and the lip change is not nearly as violent as a tubeless is) and if holding air now you could encounter a sudden loss of air to have an accident. The tube type bead does not lock as well and low on air it will then slip under hard braking as the tube is what locks it in place on the wheel. BTDT. I bet when the bead 'set' it did it very easy, you should have to pump the tire up to like 60 psi to set a tubeless and not doing so screams bead is not tight. It should set the bead with a sound like a gunshot. Tube type won't do that. Not to mention that the tube type tire was never made to hold air pressure with zero leaks across the tire inside body itself, tubeless tires have another layer of special rubber that does that. Now if the tire says 'tube/tubeless' it is OK to run.

Yours and do with it as you will. I wish you well.
 
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But you are saying I can run that setup as long as I toss a tube in there? I mean it did pop, not like a gunshot but it made a noticeable pop. I want to make sure I say this right. I can run a tube-type tire on a tubeless rim as long as I run a tube in it.

Thanks!
 
But you are saying I can run that setup as long as I toss a tube in there? I mean it did pop, not like a gunshot but it made a noticeable pop. I want to make sure I say this right. I can run a tube-type tire on a tubeless rim as long as I run a tube in it.

Thanks!
 
Yes. I did it for a long while. Don't let the tire ever get low on air, the tube type tire does not lock to a tubeless rim as well as a correct tubeless tire does, it can slip under hard braking to rip valve stem off if pressure is too low and the tire to rim lock does not lock as well. If you can air the tire up and at full pressure still see a clearance at the rim edge that a fingernail will hang on then the indicator of that less than ideal fit. A tubeless tire on tubeless rim has the tire go all the way tight to rim with no slight clearance there at all. You may have to install rim locks to absolutely stop the tire from slipping on the rim under hard braking. Then again, it may not slip at all. I had no locks in my case and no issues, but I've seen another that had to add the locks to stop trouble.
 
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