This is the personal blog of Paul Petch a self professed outdoor addict, reformed graphic designer, picture taker & IT geek living in Christchurch NZ. While you are here why not subscribe to my tweets, Flickr, RSS and Vimeo?


DT Swiss 5.1 & converting to tubeless

It’s close to midnight and it has been one hell of a week. Not content with manic days at work and the Wife being away so I’m fending for myself …….i’ve just managed to at last convert the new set of DT Swiss wheel set to tubeless. It has only taken me several nights of finger breaking, back twitching, & hair pulling….. but hoo-fukin-rah! It looks as if i’ve finished.

Even using the official DT Swiss conversion kit and instructions- this has been the trickiest pain in the bum ever! Thankfully I picked up some sweet “shuttle” tyre levers from Topeak that have a stainless steel inner- covered with plastic. Without these tyre levers ALL aspects of the setup would have been REALLY tough (well even more of a pain in  the arse). Even the final step of seating the Conti Rubber Queens was a horrible task as they are as tight as a ducks arse- and we all know that they are water tight (boom – tish).

If you are considering tubeless- go Mavic 819 or even Shimano XT….as these would be far less hassle. You have been warned! Anyway, they sit at 60psi overnight finished. Fingers crossed that they are still inflated come the AM……..and talking of which…good night. I’m knackered…….

Edit. I’ve uploaded some better pictures & they held 60PSI overnight so that’s a great sign. This weekend they will see some dirt!

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Related posts:

  1. Bontrager Race Disk tubeless wheelset – long term review

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Bike Stuff and tagged with , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

9 Responses to “DT Swiss 5.1 & converting to tubeless”

  1. Zane says:
    October 30, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    Yep. DT 5.1′s are tight rims, even tighter with the tubeless conversion kit!! Does depend what tyres you are running though. Maxxis tyres do seem to be a lot easier to fit than many.

    I used to find the Specialized Eskars to be a tight fit, but not too bad with the 5.1, but putting the Intense 909′s on to the 5.1 is a bit of a nightmare as well!

    Reply
    • Paul says:
      November 1, 2009 at 5:59 pm

      I heard the rubber queens were tight- as Spencer is running them on the same rims- but he is a girl :) They were tight- but I worked out a way to get them on in the end though. I’m now carrying the Topeak levers in my pack when out on the trail though- as other levers would just not do the trick i think.

      Yesterday’s ride to Godley put the tyres through their paces and I love the setup all ready. They just “feel” so much more connected to the trail- they kind of mold around stuff. I’m sure the bigger bag helps- but yeah- they feel real nice. They roll pretty well to at 1050g vs the 710g of the Specialized Eskars.

      Very happy.

      Reply
  2. spencer says:
    November 2, 2009 at 10:50 am

    Heh. The only explanations is that maybe the larger 2.4′s UST are *a lot* easier to get on than the 2.2UST. I had no problems with the 2.4 front non-UST. I did it with my hands without much pain.

    The 2.2UST on the other hand was a complete bitch to install. Even getting the first bead on was a nightmare and the second bead defeated Cycle Trading and the guys at BikeHQ took shifts to get it on *with* tyre levers.

    Even then I noticed that the bead wasn’t sitting properly and was burping a bit. I then spent another 2-3hrs replacing the rim strip and tape, and made sure that the bead was sitting in the corrects channels. It now sits perfect.

    I reckon the DT system is better for creating a perfect seal once it’s on correctly, but boy is tricky to get the bead to sit when the bead is as tight as it is with the RQs.

    In comparison running Eskars with the rim strip were a bit tight to get on, but I did manage to do without resorting to tyre levers.

    Reply
    • Paul says:
      November 4, 2009 at 5:11 am

      My 2.4′s required some serious leverage- there was no way they were going on with just my hands. The rim tape and its seating it pretty much key isn’t it? My second wheel took me 30mins- yet the first a few hours and it needed to have the stip re-aligned too. lol….I offered to help Brent with his conversion- but we went for Chinese instead and then he took them to the bike shop…. :D

      Reply
  3. matthew says:
    November 3, 2009 at 9:30 pm

    good news all round [once you got the suckers on]
    man, it does look really nice and aggressive sporting those kind of bags.

    i still need to go tubeless, which means new rims, which mean more money

    Reply
    • Paul says:
      November 4, 2009 at 5:07 am

      I’d not rush into that mate- maybe try a stans conversion kit first. I hear that folk have great results with that setup. I would have gone that way with my existing wheels but there were just to many dings for it to realistically work.

      Reply
    • spencer says:
      November 5, 2009 at 9:58 am

      I only bothered to go tubeless on the rear to resolve repeated pinch flat issues. Just from my experience, if you’re going to go tubeless use a proper UST tyre, especially if you’re a bit on portly side. I found that Eskars 2Bliss tyres just squirmed horribly when I went tubeless with them (they were a great tire with tubes). The UST RQs on the other hand are super rigid even at low pressures.

      The only advantage I see with the tubeless setups are puncture resistance. Those that try to save weight at the same time are just asking for trouble. UST + sealant FTW -which will typically add a fair bit(~100-150gms) of weight over a regular tubed setup.

      If you’re not getting regular pinch flats I really wouldn’t bother.

      Reply
      • Paul says:
        November 6, 2009 at 5:21 am

        Yes- pinch flats :) That’s why i decided to go UST as well…..they were killing my rides. Now i have to get the wheels trued as a few rides in- they wobble like all hell :D

        Reply
        • spencer says:
          November 6, 2009 at 9:50 am

          Yes, your pinch flats were killing my rides too, as I’m sure my prior pinch flats were killing yours. I hate pinch flats. :)

          Reply

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