Tubeless conversion weight change

[kwikee]

Tonight I have converted my Syncros wheelset to tubeless with Maxxis High Roller 2 and Ardent tyres.
The question is often asked "why convert to tubeless?", and one of the reasons given is to save weight. I was curious as to exactly how much weight there was to be lost, so checked some stuff as I went and this is the result.

Wheels as they were on the bike, with Icetech 180mm discs, XT cassette and Maxxis Ardent 2.25 single compound on the front, Ikon 2.2 single compound rear:

front: 1891g, rear: 2321g, total 4213g.
Front tube:139g, Ardent 667g.
Rear tube: 197g, Ikon 552g

I removed the Syncros rim tape, put 2 layers of Stans yellow tape, then the Stans rim strip. The front Ardent was put on the back, and a new High Roller 2 single compound 2.3 (857g) fitted with 2 scoops (nominally 120g) of sealant.
The Ardent was fitted to the rear, with 1 1/2 scoops of Stans.

Front: 2129g, allowing for extra weight of HR2 over Ardent (190g), this is still a gain of 48g. I can only assume the Stans is slightly heavier than 60g/2oz.
Rear: 2391g, allowing for extra weight of Ardent over Ikon (115g), this is a loss of 45g.
Total: 4520g vs 4213g before.

Given I have added 305g of tyre weight, the nett weight gain/loss was almost neutral. In other words, in this case the conversion neither saves nor loses weight, however this bike had pretty light tubes. You could also use a bit less sealant, depending on your tyres.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

 

[choiboi]

Very interesting. I always suspected it was nearly negligible. Cheers

 

[slippy]

Weighs a lot less without rim strips.

 

[Knuckles]

Tonight I have converted my Syncros wheelset to tubeless with Maxxis High Roller 2 and Ardent tyres.
The question is often asked "why convert to tubeless?", and one of the reasons given is to save weight. I was curious as to exactly how much weight there was to be lost, so checked some stuff as I went and this is the result.

Wheels as they were on the bike, with Icetech 180mm discs, XT cassette and Maxxis Ardent 2.25 single compound on the front, Ikon 2.2 single compound rear:

front: 1891g, rear: 2321g, total 4213g.
Front tube:139g, Ardent 667g.
Rear tube: 197g, Ikon 552g

I removed the Syncros rim tape, put 2 layers of Stans yellow tape, then the Stans rim strip. The front Ardent was put on the back, and a new High Roller 2 single compound 2.3 (857g) fitted with 2 scoops (nominally 120g) of sealant.
The Ardent was fitted to the rear, with 1 1/2 scoops of Stans.

Front: 2129g, allowing for extra weight of HR2 over Ardent (190g), this is still a gain of 48g. I can only assume the Stans is slightly heavier than 60g/2oz.
Rear: 2391g, allowing for extra weight of Ardent over Ikon (115g), this is a loss of 45g.
Total: 4520g vs 4213g before.

Given I have added 305g of tyre weight, the nett weight gain/loss was almost neutral. In other words, in this case the conversion neither saves nor loses weight, however this bike had pretty light tubes. You could also use a bit less sealant, depending on your tyres.

Hopefully this is helpful to someone!

You can also lose the rim strips, the tape is sufficient. That'll save you some coin too. That being said, the only reasons I changed to tubeless is the lower pressure, thorns and delicious kool aide.

 

[The Duckmeister]

Here's my observations:

Wheels are Shimano XT, so already tubeless compatible, therefore a nice stable benchmark. Standard folding-bead Maxxis Crossmark -> 535g + tube 140g = 675g.

Maxxis Crossmark LUST (UST variant) -> 695g + 60g sealant + 5g tubeless valve = 760g. That's an increase of 85g per wheel going tubeless.

However!

I successfully ran the standard non-UST tyres tubeless for some time, so -140g tube but + 60g sealant + 5g valve = 75g nett reduction from original tubed setup per wheel.

 

[Minlak]

What knuckles said..... I run either 1 layer of tape ( I now use bear outdoor masking tape it's thinner and lighter than stans) or a rim strip never both. Rim strip is always a cut down 26" tube on 29" rims they are thinner than the factory rim strips. I use 2 scoops of stans ( and now add an extra scoop of fire retardant ). I do it for the pressure and thorn resistance though not weight.

Having said all that well done on supplying factual data on your change not just the usual rhetoric that goes into most posts.... Keep up the good work.

 

[redbruce]

Given I have added 305g of tyre weight, the nett weight gain/loss was almost neutral. In other words, in this case the conversion neither saves nor loses weight, however this bike had pretty light tubes.

Here's my observations:

Wheels are Shimano XT, so already tubeless compatible, therefore a nice stable benchmark. Standard folding-bead Maxxis Crossmark -> 535g + tube 140g = 675g.

Maxxis Crossmark LUST (UST variant) -> 695g + 60g sealant + 5g tubeless valve = 760g. That's an increase of 85g per wheel going tubeless.

However!

I successfully ran the standard non-UST tyres tubeless for some time, so -140g tube but + 60g sealant + 5g valve = 75g nett reduction from original tubed setup per wheel.

Pretty much my experience also. DT 1450 wheels (not tubeless ready so two layers of stans) with both Maxxis Advantage (non UST) and Schwalbe tubeless ready.

I found both were very floppy on the rim at the front with low pressure (the reason I looked at tubleless in the first place) so I ended up going to back to tubes next tyre change and enabled me to run out my stock of tube type tyres.

Mates run snake protection tubeless but standard tyres with 129g tubes ends up at basically same weight. Punctures haven't been an issue for me although I will look at Snakeskin/tubeless when current tyres need replacing.

 

[teK--]

Even if you use rim strip and UST tyres and the weight ends up being unchanged or even more, IMHO still worth it to run super low pressures without punching and also not getting flats. I have not had a flat tyre for over 3 years but have had dozens of punctures.