Hi, Bob -
The "dust" may be talcum powder, which is supposed to be added inside the
tire prior to mounting to lubricate between tube and tire. Allen Hendrix
always uses the powder when he mounts a tire, and I think that was common
knowledge at tire stores when tube tires were common.
The rubber bands protect the tube from chafing on the spoke heads, but do
not seal the wheel to make it airtight. The rings seem to have been
replaced with plastic tape nowadays. You can get the tape from Allen
Hendrix. To seal the spoke heads for tubeless operation, you can use
silicone sealant. Although some have used the regular wire wheels intended
for tubes with tubeless tires and no tubes, Allen Hendrix doesn't recommend
this. The argument is that with "spirited" driving, the side loads on the
tires can break the tire-to-bead seat seal (which was not designed for
tubeless) and suddenly you have lost a tire in a hard turn.
My problem with the original wheels was that water got past the spoke heads
and generated enough rust to chafe through the tubes. I had flats
frequently. Since Allen installed new tubes and tires on my Dayton chrome
wires with stainless spokes several years ago, I have not had any flats at
all in almost 25,000 miles. I try to be careful to suck out with compressed
air any water that gets into the wheels during washing air so that rust
hasn't been a problem anymore.
Yes, you can "suck" out the water with compressed air.
Steve Byers
HBJ8L/36666
BJ8 Registry
Havelock, NC USA
>On Tue, 29 Mar 2005 11:37:10 -0500 Bob Johnson
<robert.w.johnson@adelphia.net> wrote.
>On my BJ8 I have tubeless tires. All of the tires have tubes in them and
the
>wheels are the original 48 spoke wheels. The only problem that I have ever
had
>with this arrangement was a tire going flat because the tube failed.
>Apparently the tube had rubbed against the tire long enough to cause the
tube
>to fail. When the tire was taken off the rim, there was a lot of "dust" in
the
>tire, presumably tube rubber. Since that time, my worry is that another
tube
>will fail. I have about decided that I want to go tubeless. So, what makes
a
>rim a tubeless rim? I know that it is the shape of the flange on the rim,
but
>does that little rubber strip that is around the spoke ends really keep the
>air in or is there something more? Where can I get replacement rubber
strips,
>and what are they actually called? (Can't really be called "little rubber
>strips" can they?)
>
>Thanks,
>
>Bob Johnson
>BJ8
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