[bikerbaba]

Note for the mods: If you think this should be in a different thread, please let me know ormove it where it belongs.

The lovely tubeless rims for the Himalayan 450 are unlikely to be available soon. Our local Chandigarh dealer said I should not expect them before Diwali/EOY.

I was planning an off-road course with a few friends and wanted to get some tubeless setup before I embarked on it.

Yes, I know that tubeless Rims are not recommended for off-road adventures, but this is not real off-roading, and the Himalayan 450 is not a real off-roader. I tour a lot and have already clocked nearly 7k km on the bike since I got it on February 20th.

Some friends I have in the local Harley group recommended a "Jugaar" setup by Ranjeet Randhawa.
Ranjeet Randhawa is a local auto enthusiast who lives in Kharar, a town near Chandigarh. Using the same method, he has successfully converted dozens of Harley Davidsons, some old Triumph Tigers, and his own BMW motorcycle to tubeless setups.

He did the Tubeless conversion for my Himalayan 450, and I am glad to announce that it has been a resounding success.













The conversion process used the standard commercial self-healing solutions available with many brands, including Way2Speed and his special, "self-curing technique". He did not feel comfortable sharing what he was using, and with the number of positive reviews running into dozens, I did not really bother.

Price: ₹5000 for the Himalayan 450, both Rims
Time taken to complete the conversion: 24 hours

Process followed:
1. Rims are taken off the bike, tyres are taken off
2. Rims are washed with water to remove debris/residue
3. The inside of the rims are scrubbed with scotch brite to make the surface a bit coarse
4. Rims are dried completely
5. The spoke ends are covered with an adhesive-like paste and left to cure for 2-3 hours
6. The Rim is "bandaged and glued" with adhesive strips
7. The edges of the strip are glued
8. The edges are smoothened after waiting an hour or so
9. The rims are left to cure for a minimum of 12 hours, ideally 24h
10. tyres are inflated to 40PSI instead of 32 and are checked for any leaks

Post-conversion update
It has been 20 days since I completed the conversion, and I have covered over 800km with this setup, including a 40km off-road rocky course that allowed me to test the setup for its intended purpose.

I got a puncture on the rear wheel during my off-road run, and my first thought was - "did it leak??" but it hadn't. The setup did not leak air from anywhere.

The 2" long nail I picked up somewhere caused the puncture, and I was able to fix it with my car puncture kit.
Here's an image of the "tubeless puncture" I mended on the way. It took me 5 minutes to extract the nail and use a standard ₹300 tubeless puncture kit to fix it and fill the air in the tyre again.

Although this is not a perfect setup, the sheer number of people who had gotten this done and used it for over 4 years made me take the plunge instead of waiting for the tubeless rims.

[madrasilemon]

Very valuable information. Did you change the tyres or are you continuing with the tyres used in tube set up? Does anyone know about similar options in Chennai? I get paranoid about getting a puncture on my Bullet 350 now a days.

[bikerbaba]

Originally Posted by madrasilemon

Very valuable information. Did you change the tyres or are you continuing with the tyres used in tube set up? Does anyone know about similar options in Chennai? I get paranoid about getting a puncture on my Bullet 350 now a days.

Same tyres, even though they are puncture magnets. I got a puncture right after the conversion but thankfully the tubeless setup works fine. Way2Speed offers this solution for many bikes in many cities, although for a bit higher cost.

I was suggested this solution after my friend Inderpal got two punctures on the first day of his maiden ride to Kanyakumari on the Himalayan 450.

He spent 5 agonising hours looking for someone who would fix these punctures around delhi and made up his mind to convert the tube setup to a tubeless one.

Post his epic, partially solo 9000km ride to Kanyakumari in jan, he contacted Ranjeet and got this conversion done, following which I got mine done too. So far, so good.

He was possibly one of the first people to go from north to south India and back on the Hema 450 and reported all the issues he faced to us and the RE team here in Chandigarh. This post wouldn’t be possible without him.

[ebonho]

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[Jaggu]

Am sure it works and looks pretty solid, but how will you adjust spokes after this. This wheels will need some adjustments sooner or later, right?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Am sure it works and looks pretty solid, but how will you adjust spokes after this. This wheels will need some adjustments sooner or later, right?

Not just that. Spoke nipples have a way of working themselves loose. And spokes do break and need to be replaced.

[Motard_Blr]

It's interesting to see that the rear rim has the safety hump for tubeless tyres but the front does not. I've marked the feature in the photo.



This basically means that at low pressure if the front tyre hits a big bump it can unseat and loose pressure instantaneously. Whereas the rear tyre would be held in place by the safety hump.

This is something a rim lock can solve but I couldn't say if it's possible to install and if it's worth the hassle. Rim locks are common on motocross bikes.

[bikerbaba]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

It's interesting to see that the rear rim has the safety hump for tubeless tyres but the front does not. I've marked the feature in the photo.



This basically means that at low pressure if the front tyre hits a big bump it can unseat and loose pressure instantaneously. Whereas the rear tyre would be held in place by the safety hump.

This is something a rim lock can solve but I couldn't say if it's possible to install and if it's worth the hassle. Rim locks are common on motocross bikes.

Yeah well….i noticed that too, but one must make do with what one has, right? I did discuss this with the guy, and he said that unless I hit something really hard, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hope that it holds on my upcoming ride to lahaul/spiti and Pangi.

[Motard_Blr]

Originally Posted by bikerbaba

Yeah well….i noticed that too, but one must make do with what one has, right? I did discuss this with the guy, and he said that unless I hit something really hard, it shouldn’t be much of an issue.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed and hope that it holds on my upcoming ride to lahaul/spiti and Pangi.

I wish you a safe and puncture-free journey!

[bikerbaba]

Originally Posted by Motard_Blr

I wish you a safe and puncture-free journey!

Thank you!
I am more concerned about punctures during office runs, which is the primary reason why I got this done. Somehow, many puncture shops in the area do not want to deal with tube-tyre punctures anymore, and work-mad-rush punctures aren't something I look forward to.

[bikerbaba]

Update to this thread:
We just completed a 1300km ride to Lahaul and Spiti. The road conditions beyond Losar provided a perfect test bed to see how the tubeless setup performs in adverse, off-road like conditions.

There was awesome, fresh tarmac from Chandigarh to Tabo, pothole-filled roads from Tabo to kaza, and bad off-road patches with dozens of water crossings from Losar to khosar.

Air pressure drop was less than 1.5psi during the trip, which is normal. We were in Spiti for a week with no punctures, no air leaks, and no problems whatsoever, making this experience a success!

[MileCruncher]

This looks good as a jugaad! But I'm also thinking of Excel rims. Are they available in India for the Himi 450 size?

[SingerWhoRides]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Not just that. Spoke nipples have a way of working themselves loose. And spokes do break and need to be replaced.

So this issue is not applicable just for this particular jugaad tubeless setup; but would also be applicable to proper tubeless rims (if and when they are launched)?
In which case, how big a concern is this? Worth the benefits of a tubeless rim setup, right?

[Sebring]

This is why I got one OUTEX kit for the Himalayan Rim spec

Originally Posted by ebonho

Not just that. Spoke nipples have a way of working themselves loose. And spokes do break and need to be replaced.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by SingerWhoRides

So this issue is not applicable just for this particular jugaad tubeless setup; but would also be applicable to proper tubeless rims (if and when they are launched)?
In which case, how big a concern is this? Worth the benefits of a tubeless rim setup, right?

No. Because a proper tubeless spoke rim setup takes into account that spokes are not permanent no-touch features of a wheel. And provides access to their attachment.

Originally Posted by Sebring

This is why I got one OUTEX kit for the Himalayan Rim spec

Any tubeless workaround that seals the inner end of the rim will have the same issue. I do not know the specifics of Outex though.(Edit: Just checked. Its a sealing tape, inner and outer. Those will need to be removed to tighten spokes. Or replace broken ones. And you will then need to use new tape and repeat the process. Same funda.)

Cheers, Doc