Ghetto tubeless for those that haven't come across the term is the name given to a tubeless setup on non-tubeless ready rims. I bought some cheap Mavic Aksium's recently to use as winter wheels and thought I'd have a go at a ghetto tubeless setup and have decided to share my learnings to date in case they are useful to anyone else considering this option 
To start out I'd like to point out that I really rate tubeless tyres. I seem to have far less frequent visits from the fairy and have found them easy to repair on the odd occasion the sealant hasn't done the job. I use the little rubber ropes and prong to essentially turn a big hole in to a series of small ones. Its quick, effective and you generally dont even need to take the wheel out. But anyway, I digress...
I removed the standard rim tape from the non-tubeless ready Aksiums and fitted some tubeless tape. The only real difference is that the tubeless stuff tends to have an adhesive backing so it seals to the rim better. The tape was easy to apply, identical really to the tubeless ready rims I've done before.
I decided to use the Mavic Yksion tyres I had spare, these are a tubeless ready tyre so I figured would give me a good chance of success. In my (limited) experience of tubeless setups the tyres tend to be a pretty tight fit on the rim but these popped on very easily - too easily maybe. Once both beads were sat in the rim it was obvious the tyre was still loose. A tubeless rim has the central well designed such that the tyre forms a seal to help seat the tyre on inflation but this was plainly not the case here. Just for fun I tried to pump it up with my biggest track pump and it barely even registered
I reached for my tubeless inflator and after several attempts and much cursing I managed to get the tyre to pop on to the bead I then deflated it to add sealant, and it imediately fell off the bead hooks again 
After another couple of attempts to make it stay seated I resorted to popping one bead off the rim, pouring the sealant in, and reinflating with the airshot. With a few spins to spread the sealant around it held pressure very well so I repeated the process with the other wheel and left them over night.
The next day I found they had held pressure so decided to give them a go out on the road 25 miles in to the ride I got the familiar "pshhhhh" noise from the front wheel, complete with fine misty spray of sealant. I spun the wheel a few times and it stopped, happy days. Unfortunately it started again a few metres down the road so I stopped again and inspected the tyre to find a nice large cut. Out came the prong and rubber rope to fix it and a minute or so later I had the hole bunged and it was time to spin the wheel to let the sealant do its job.
Unfortunately I'd made an error - too much time experimenting had allowed the pressure to drop too far and before I could get it sealed there was the unmistakable twang of a bead disengaging from a rim hook, followed by a river of sealant What a pickle Annoyed at myself for allowing the situation to deteriorate I was just pleased that I had a spare tube on me. The tyre came off extremely easily and in went the tube and I continued my ride. I took a shortcut home as I'd wasted valuable daylight fixing it and as I rolled on to my driveway I heard a strange noise, this time from the back tyre... Yep, another sealant fountain
Today I received two inner tubes and two new tyres in the post which will be going on the bike very shortly "Ghetto tubeless" setups simply aren't worth it as far as I can tell - either stick with inner tubes or get kit that is specifically designed for tubeless. Or expect problems I'd be interested to hear what others that have tried it have found - For example I suspect its a different story on a mountain bike.
To start out I'd like to point out that I really rate tubeless tyres. I seem to have far less frequent visits from the fairy and have found them easy to repair on the odd occasion the sealant hasn't done the job. I use the little rubber ropes and prong to essentially turn a big hole in to a series of small ones. Its quick, effective and you generally dont even need to take the wheel out. But anyway, I digress...
I removed the standard rim tape from the non-tubeless ready Aksiums and fitted some tubeless tape. The only real difference is that the tubeless stuff tends to have an adhesive backing so it seals to the rim better. The tape was easy to apply, identical really to the tubeless ready rims I've done before.
I decided to use the Mavic Yksion tyres I had spare, these are a tubeless ready tyre so I figured would give me a good chance of success. In my (limited) experience of tubeless setups the tyres tend to be a pretty tight fit on the rim but these popped on very easily - too easily maybe. Once both beads were sat in the rim it was obvious the tyre was still loose. A tubeless rim has the central well designed such that the tyre forms a seal to help seat the tyre on inflation but this was plainly not the case here. Just for fun I tried to pump it up with my biggest track pump and it barely even registered
I reached for my tubeless inflator and after several attempts and much cursing I managed to get the tyre to pop on to the bead I then deflated it to add sealant, and it imediately fell off the bead hooks again After another couple of attempts to make it stay seated I resorted to popping one bead off the rim, pouring the sealant in, and reinflating with the airshot. With a few spins to spread the sealant around it held pressure very well so I repeated the process with the other wheel and left them over night.The next day I found they had held pressure so decided to give them a go out on the road
25 miles in to the ride I got the familiar "pshhhhh" noise from the front wheel, complete with fine misty spray of sealant. I spun the wheel a few times and it stopped, happy days. Unfortunately it started again a few metres down the road so I stopped again and inspected the tyre to find a nice large cut. Out came the prong and rubber rope to fix it and a minute or so later I had the hole bunged and it was time to spin the wheel to let the sealant do its job.Unfortunately I'd made an error - too much time experimenting had allowed the pressure to drop too far and before I could get it sealed there was the unmistakable twang of a bead disengaging from a rim hook, followed by a river of sealant
What a pickle Annoyed at myself for allowing the situation to deteriorate I was just pleased that I had a spare tube on me. The tyre came off extremely easily and in went the tube and I continued my ride. I took a shortcut home as I'd wasted valuable daylight fixing it and as I rolled on to my driveway I heard a strange noise, this time from the back tyre... Yep, another sealant fountain Today I received two inner tubes and two new tyres in the post which will be going on the bike very shortly
"Ghetto tubeless" setups simply aren't worth it as far as I can tell - either stick with inner tubes or get kit that is specifically designed for tubeless. Or expect problems I'd be interested to hear what others that have tried it have found - For example I suspect its a different story on a mountain bike.
Very good value too compared to the conti alternatives 
