shoota 

Have any of you gone with new tubeless rims for your vintage bike? I don't know of any tubeless rims that also look the part. Curious if any of you have done it and what your experience has been?

ThermionicScott 

Pacenti Brevets come to mind. You could set up an old road bike tubeless with those rims and no one would be the wiser...

shoota 

Oh yeah for sure, those are nice. Anything in black?

Dylansbob 

I've seen people set up various SUN (CR-18/Rynolites) rims tubeless with a split tube. It's getting harder to find dull silver (or polished for that matter) ones, but they are out there.

ThermionicScott 

That's a tougher question! I know of a few vintage style rims that are painted black or hard-anodized, but none that are also tubeless-compatible. Are you trying to update a bike from the 1990s?

masi61

DT Swiss R460. A very affordable tubeless ready black anodized rim with machined sidewalls. Would build up just fine with vintage hubs and a person could then have the best of both worlds - that super classy steel framed vintage ride along with the luxury of running modern tubeless tires for all the advantages they bring.

shoota 

Yeah 89-90 Tommasini Super Prestige.

Thanks, I actually did look at those. They are cheaper and with the decals removed might look pretty good. The other question is do I really want to mess with tubeless 28mm tires...hmm...

BMC_Kid 

I built up both my Tesch S-22 (DA.25th Anniversary) and Zullo (Superbe Pro) using Stan’s rims.





I also have a Pro (DA AX) and Team Miyata (DA EX) with silver Mavic CXP33s set up for tubeless.

masi61

These particular rims have the graphics either painted or laser etched, not decals. I bought mine before COVID when they were only about $36 each. When I looked today they are more like 59$ each, still not a bad buy. The DT Swiss tubeless rims with two R’s such as the RR411 (which comes in asymmetrical or symmetrical) or RR 511 rims are a bit more. My theory is that the R460 is Chinese manufacture and the RR411 might be European manufactured. The RR’s come with their own “Squorx” spoke nipples which might provide some strength benefit against rim cracking.

As to whether you want to mess with (28mm) tubeless, that’s up to you. This is how I felt about it too but I went ahead and had my LBS wheelbuilder take a 24 hole Dura Ace (gently used) front hub and an NOS Dura Ace 7800 28 hole 10-speed freehub and build them up with lightweight DT Swiss Revolution spokes with blue anodized spoke nipples. These built up nice and light, perhaps too light because my rear wheel would make pinging noises at the spoke crossings. I’m now having the rear wheel rebuilt with the more robust standard thickness DT Swiss “Competition” butted stainless spokes. I rode these for something like 4,000 miles so far.

Messing with tubeless is just part of the hobby of cycling I think and I recommend it because once you get them set up, you get a lot of benefits, not just puncture protection.

if you go with the DT Swiss tubeless road rims, I recommend you make sure to spec the DT Swiss road (not MTB) valves for best air retention. The curvatures are more radiused for the road version, the mountain version is slightly less curved against the rim shelf and can allow slow leaks when used for road. You have to apply 2 layers of tubeless tape and make sure to pull the tape tight as you apply it and use something like the rounded end of a plastic tire lever to smooth out any trapped air bubbles. If you look after little details like this, when you mount the tires, they should pop right on with an Air-Shot air canister (what I use) pressurized to about 140psi. You blast a bunch of air all at once onto the presta valve with core in or core out if you require a stronger initial blast. There are several ways to instill sealant which all work. Road tubeless calls for less volume of sealant, say..45ml to provide good flat protection.

I did have some air loss frustration when I first implemented these wheels. I now know it was mostly my bad rim taping technique. I cheaped out on “Kapton” generic Chinese tape which shifted around some and allowed sealant to migrate under it toward the spoke holes. My overnight air loss was unacceptable at first. But it really is a different way of thinking about your tires and I still think it pays off. The lower tire pressures make ride comfort much better over rough pavement. I get the feeling that wet weather road holding is enhanced as is cornering grip. Some riders comment that ride harshness is sufficiently reduced in ways that will make a harsh aluminum frame more rideable or make carpal tunnel type hand shock tolerable. I still have not had an actual flat on the road. I ran Panaracer Race A EVO3 TLC 25mm tubeless tires and loved these tires. Apparently they have been discontinued. I wore the rear tread down to the cords so now I have a Hutchinson Secteur 28 on there which was even easier to mount and is fatter. It barely clears the rear brake bridge on my 90’s era Veritas titanium rim brake road frame. I weigh. ~195# and run the rear with about 82 psi and the front I run with about 75 psi and they are fast, fast and a real joy over broken pavement. I forgot what wide expensive tubular tires on lightweight tubular wheels felt like but I believe these modern tubeless wheels are more like those than everyday tubed clinchers.

Lightweight road tubeless tires with these lower pressures have better road feel and grip than even latex inner tubed expensive lightweight clinchers that everybody else uses. They are that noticeable. The fact that most road riders aren’t aware of this I guess has to do with the perception that tubeless is a pain in the butt which is unfortunate. If my weekend riding buddies or my fellow bike club members were to ask me about setting up a tubeless system I am happy to share what I have learned. But I have also learned not to offer unsolicited advice to someone not ready to hear about it - the information goes in one ear and out the other like static. All some people care about is flat protection. So much so that they take the tubeless option off the table and just get Gatorskins or some other flat resistant tubed tire that has nowhere near the fun factor.

tyrion

Velocity A23 or Velo Orange Voyager.

Velocity - A23 - 700c - MSW

https://velo-orange.com/collections/...ts/voyager-rim

repechage

AND you want black?
I have some black Super Champion arc en ceil rims, tubular of course.
Black, retro, tubeless compatible…
might want too much.

shoota 

I didn't think the A23 was tubeless. The VO Voyager is a good find though, thanks.

shoota 

Ah, good to know about the graphics, I definitely thought they were stickers. That probably won't work for this build. Mavic Open Pros might be a good fit though.
I agree about tubeless, and I'm certainly no stranger to tubeless. We mostly ride gravel around here so tubeless is our go-to. The difference is that we run our 40mm tires at 35-40psi, that's a big difference from road tubeless at 70-85psi.

Bianchigirll 

I always thought that what tubulars were. 😒.

Bruizer

Yes the Velocity A23 are tubeless. Nice rims and they come in black.

icemilkcoffee 

The VO looks nice and classic, but 638g? Yeeech!

shoota 

They're..."robust".. 😬

ThermionicScott 

Yeah. They're not just wide at 27mm, but tall at 19mm(!) Nice big target for your brake pads, and probably more resistant to terminal denting, I guess. Takes a little more aluminum to make a "box" that big.

By comparison the Brevet is only 15mm tall, and the classic Mavics that inspired it were a bit shorter than that.