A good way to prevent flat tires while cycling is to replace your inner tubes with liquid latex. Liquid latex has been used since the year 2000 and has long been proven. Latex has a number of major advantages but also disadvantages.
The main benefits are lower rolling resistance, more grip, control and comfort, excellent puncture protection and lower rotating weight. The disadvantage is that it is more difficult to replace the tires. Many riders who want to switch to Tubeless often have a lot of questions. In this article we try to answer the most frequently asked questions.

Tubeless Ready is the term coined by Schwalbe. With this system you mount a Tubeless Ready tire on your rim and pour latex into the tire through the valve.

With a Tubeless rim you need rim tape to fill the rim and make it airtight. Notubes, DT Swiss and Tune have very good kits for this, but you do have to measure your rim width. You also need latex and a Tubeless valve.

We have different types of latex: Notubes/Schwalbe, Joe's No flats, Dt Swiss latex, Tune latex. Although these latex look the same, there are differences: Notubes used a latex that has been used with great success since 1999. It makes almost all tires airtight, but the latex will harden after a few months. Schwalbe offers latex in its own packaging, but in principle this is just Notubes latex. Joe's No flats has also been supplying good latex for years that works with rubber rim tape. TuneandDT Swiss have also recently launched a latex. This latex contains no ammonium or protein. This prevents the latex from hardening, meaning the liquid will remain good for more than a year.

Schwalbe has designated suitable tires with the label 'Tubeless Ready'. These are mainly tires with a Pacestar compound. At Continental, only tires from the Protection series are suitable. However, many riders also use the Race Sport tires, but these require more patience when installing. Vredestein has designated the tires as TLR and there are many other brands.

After these choices you can start assembling. The installation is divided into the following activities: 1. Make the rims tubeless if necessary, 2. Prepare the tires and 3. Inflate the tires.

To make these rims airtight, just place the rim tape and a valve. Notubes calls this tape Yellowtape. The rim tape is available in 3 sizes: 21, 25 and 27mm. The 21mm is suitable for rims with an inner size of 15 to 18mm. The 25mm tape is suitable for rims with an inner diameter of 18 to 22mm. The 27mm tape is suitable for rims with an inner diameter of 22 to 26mm. The valves contain a loose valve core, which you must remove before installation. If the ribbon is mounted correctly, it will fall straight into the rim.

Clean the tires thoroughly. It is best to also make the tires free of grease/silicone. You can do this with a clean cloth and gasoline or brake cleaner. Place the tire on the rim and spray/lubricate the sides with soapy water. Make sure that the tire is in the middle of the rim bed and does not touch the side of the rim bed. If this is the case, it will be very difficult or impossible to get the tire on.

When you inflate the tire, the tire will stick to the rim at approximately 2 bar (7 bar Road version). This is accompanied by two or more loud bangs. This is because the tire is pressed out of the center of the rim and therefore fits very tightly around the rim. Now deflate the tire and fill it with the latex. Install the valve core back into the valve. Now inflate the tire to 2 bar (7 bar for road version). If you can't get enough air into the tire, you can also try without the valve core. You then quickly place the core when you remove the pump. After this, pressurize the tire again. Now shake the tire completely so that the latex is spread throughout and place the wheel horizontally. Let it sit for at least 15 minutes and repeat the shaking. Then place the band on the other side.