The trials of going tubeless!!

The newly converted to tubeless Giant Anthem.

I always been a bit old fashioned about my wheels, preferring to run tubes instead of going tubeless but last winter I was having as many as 3 punctures a day courtesy of the local agricultural contractor who cuts all the hawthorn hedges that line the tracks I ride on my way over to the Pentlands. Dougie, who's been tubeless, or at least his bike is, for a couple of years has no such problems, just bikes through them, gets thorns in his tyres and they never seem to deflate, at least not a lot, and then he just blows them up again. So, sod it, I decided as thorn cutting time was approaching it was time to upgrade. I already had a tubeless ready front wheel and the odd old tubeless ready tyre so with the aid of some "green gunge" for lack of a better word to describe the anti puncture slime I managed to get for nothing the front wheel was reasonably easily converted. Not having a suitable back wheel, and wanting a lighter one anyway I bit the very expensive bullet (not like me) and bought a Stans No Tubes rim with a Hope hub (for the clicky effect). This was where the fun started as the tape on the rim was faulty but I never discovered this until I resembled the Incredible Hulk and my garage floor was awash with green slimy gunge. Eventually realising the problem I removed the faulty tape and re-taped it with some new rim tape. The new tyre went on and inflated straight away without sealant and held pressure no problem as I did a 20 mile ride up in the hills, though I was a bit nervous!

Once back home as a precaution against thorns did put some sealant in (just to be on the safe side), so here's hope for a puncture free winter (fingers crossed!!)