noodle soup

What does your LBS charge for setting up your wheelset tubeless, if you buy the parts(valves, tape, and sealant) from them?

phrantic09

If I buy tape, valves and tires? $0

noodle soup

I should have said "excluding tires".

shelbyfv

I think the shop owner I ride with occasionally mentioned $20/wheel. I don't know anyone who actually pays a shop to do this but apparently it's not unusual.

WhyFi

I've never had the shop do the whole set up for me, but I have brought in wheels/tires when I've had difficulty seating them. Never a charge for that, though.

mack_turtle

prices for labor vary widely by region. I would expect a job like this to cost 1.5 to 2 times what a tube replacement would cost.

rivers

I bought a new set of wheels and tyres from my LBS last June. They set them up tubeless for me,and did not charge me labour. Same for a set of wheels and tyres I bought last year for my winter bike. As long as I buy from them, they are quite happy to do the set-up free of charge.

ericcox

I had never needed a shop to mount tires for me in 20+ years of riding, but the tire / rim combo I just got proved to be difficult. I could have fought it and probably won, but decided going to my LBS rather than risking any damage to the rims was worth it. I did not buy my most recent bike from this shop (they are having supply constraints and I found a bike in my size that I wanted at a friend's shop in another town). In the past, they've done small things for free on bikes I've purchased from them. I expected to pay for this - it was $20 / rim. I could have fought with it longer, but the price was worth it to me rather than battling it for a few hours. Talked to the person that did the mounting - she showed me the crank brother levers she used. She might have been trying to make me feel better, but noted that these were a particular pain in the ass. I'll be getting a set of the levers she used for the future. I also don't mind paying this shop for service on occasion because a) they do good work; b) humor me when I have questions; and c) I like their shop.

I should note - I mounted the rotors and cassette before taking it in - that took all of five minutes.

edited for a really weird word substitution.

Ogsarg

My LBS quoted $25/wheel after buying tires and everything else from them. Seemed high to me so decided to do it myself. Even with never doing it before it didn't warrant spending that much and it'll take a lot less time in the future.

I like supporting my LBS and buy some stuff from them even when I know I could get it cheaper on line but I can't get myself to pay to have them do something I am comfortable doing myself.

DaveSSS 

If you're going to use tubeless, you better know how to fix a big puncture by installing a boot and a tube. I recently made sure that the fulcrum tire levers I carry would break one bead so a tube can be installed, then seat the bead, so it could be reinflated. To install new tires a bead jack might be needed.


https://www.amazon.com/Kool-Stop-Tir...54439296&psc=1

cxwrench

You walk in the shop I work at and want the 'set up' done...clean/tape/valve install/tire install w/ sealant it's $40.00/wheel. If it's a bike or set of wheels you buy from us, no charge.

Ogsarg

In my case, the Schwalbe tubeless tires were way easier to put on the rims than the GP5000 clincher, which was a major PITA even with a kool-stop jack.

jaxgtr

When I was in the LBS I got my domane at, I noticed one of the service chaps have a rough time mounting some gp5k on a set of Enve rims. One of the other guys went to his car, grabbed the crank brothers lever he had just gotten in the mail at home and got he time mounted. He ordered 6 for the shop to have and said it was worth it as tubeless can be a major pain to mount. I bought one just in case, but I did not have any issues with my tire\rim combo putting mine on.

ericcox

My combo was gp5k / ffwd rims.

jaxgtr

I never had any issues mounting gp4k or its variants on any of my rims in the past, but I have heard nothing but horror stories on the gp5k getting them mounted, the first time at least, so this has led me to avoid for the time.

Greatestalltime

Is it common, I’ve read that it’s done, but how much I don’t know, to convert any wheel to tubeless? Or are we talking tubeless ready rims?

I have c24s cl, c40 (35 really) DA, and some Bora one.

Would it be a good idea to convert any or al of these to tubeless?

After 10 years I think I’m very sick of flats.

WhyFi

We're talking about setting up wheels and tires that are tubeless ready/capable.

Converting non-tubeless rims to tubeless is known colloquially as "ghetto tubeless." I'd consider it at MTB pressures, but not at road pressures. I doubt that any self-respecting wrench would set someone up with ghetto tubeless.

Edited to add: if any of the wheels that you've mentioned were bought in the last few years, they're likely tubeless-ready. take a look at the rim bed profile -



I only know of one or two rims that have the distinctive center well that aren't tubeless ready (the new Rovals).

Greatestalltime

Thank you.

mstateglfr 

Ive only taken a set in once- about 5 months ago. It was already taped and the tires simply would not seat regardless of all the insane internet tricks I tried.
It took 2 guys 15 min each with constant high pressure air(more than my pump chamber blasts or a gas station pump) and a lot of grunting to seat the tires.
I hadnt brought any sealant since I figured they would just snap the tires in place and I would pay whatever they asked for labor. They ended up filling the tires and charged me for a couple small bottles of Stans. So $12 or so in total?


If I brought them wheels to fully set up- I would expect to pay $20 per tire for them to set the wheels up, even if I bought the products from them. Taping is not tough, but it is a time suck.

Hiro11

$30/wheel for labor alone.
I paid that (outrageous) price for four wheels and then invested ~$150 total in a 6 gallon compressor on sale from Amazon and a Prestaflator Pro gun. I do it myself now, it's easy.

WhyFi

As with most things, technique and materials matter. With a little practice and good tape (DT Swiss is awesome), taping shouldn't take more than a couple minutes per wheel (assuming the rim is clean).

mstateglfr 

Shops charge for adjusting brakes, adjusting shifting, changing flats, etc and all those also shouldnt take more than a couple minutes each.
In my mind, the taping taking time is if/when they need multiple layers for some tires. Its trial and error and though once take a couple minutes, it adds up when you need multiple layers.

Koyote

This is a good reason to buy tires and such from your LBS -- mine will generally not charge for the mounting labor if I have purchased the tires from them...Especially if the bike is in for other service anyway. And the tires I use the most (WTB, Rene Herse) aren't really available at any significant discounts on the 'net, so I might as well get them from my shop.

cxwrench

It really takes time when the customer uses tire levers and screws up their previously perfect tape. Then sealant gets under the tape and inside the rim. They bring the wheel in because the tire won't hold air and you remove the tire to find the damaged tape. Then you swear a little, remove the tape and sealant starts dripping out of the spoke holes in the rim, meaning you can't put new tape on til it's clean and dry. That takes time. Multiple layers of tape don't take much time at all.

jadocs

Cost my buddy around $50, brought all the supplies and tires with him so it was just labor.