Triban RC500 road bike - Journey to tubeless set up (Unsuccessful!...but to be continued)

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Tapper3279

Regular
Topic -
--------------------
Hello all, first post here so I thought I would make it a good one!

I thought it would be useful documenting what I went through trying to get tubeless on my Triban RC500 road bike which I purchased last month from Decathlon in the first week the store opened back up!

Having been out on a few trips now I do always have the concern that I’ll get the dreaded puncture and from everything I’ve read online the Triban RC500/RC520 (drop bar road bike versions) are a nightmare to change at the side of a road, so tubeless it is!

Having never even changed a tyre before I thought it would be a good idea to document this as I know the RC500/RC520 is quite a popular bike for newcomers to cycling like myself and so a lot of people upon googling the bike will probably see the same posts about difficulties with tyre/wheelset.

Hopefully this thread helps anyone else thinking about these bikes. I think the bike is great by the way and I think if I was buying my first bike again, knowing all of the below, I probably still would have bought it again!

-----------------
Sources -

This youtuber claims its really difficult to change tyres -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf1QW9v59ME&t=290s


I watched this a few times but ultimately doesn’t show the final part of going tubeless -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2yaqvyL6e8


Forum member breaking a thumb from changing tyre! - https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/replacement-wheels-for-triban-rc520.257005/page-5
-----------------

The bike -

0.jpg


Existing tyres are the stock ones that come with the bike -

1.jpg

Resist Protect+ 700x28c tyres.

I think they cost about 10 pound each at Decathlon. (Non tubeless compatibe)These tyres feel strong! To be honest, they seemed like perfectly fine tyres to me, felt fast and comfortable at the same time but I wanted to change to tubeless for the puncture aspect.

New tyres -
2.jpg

Panaracer Gravel Kings (slick version) 700 x 32c (TLC - tubeless compatible) - brown wall. Folded tyres. Evans @ 32 pound each.

I looked at tubeless kits and buying stuff separately to save money, but for the first time I felt it was easier just going for the kit and buying the STANs tubeless kit, going for the 21mm width tape because the inner width of the Triban wheel was 17mm. Evans @ £32.
3.jpg


The wheels are standard from Decathlon, I am not sure if my front wheel is different from my back wheel (or different generations on it, this is the sticker on the front wheel -
1.jpg


And the rear wheel has no sticker but it has this marking -

4.jpg



Getting the tire off was actually quite easy. Deflated the tyre through the valve, squeezed the tyre into the centre of the rim and then just used two tyre levers to pull the initial part off the rim and then work around the rim. I didn’t see any of that residue that the “sweet cyclist” youtuber mentioned. I got the tyres off in a few minutes -
5.jpg


There is a loose yellow tape that goes around the rim, so I pulled that off because the way it went around the wheel was quite wavy and so I thought it might create gaps everywhere after my tape -

6.jpg


I then spent a bit of time, using Isopropyl alcohol wiping the inside of the rim, it was quite clean but some grease around the bead of the rim.

8.jpg

The rim itself has a centre channel which goes quite deep, I didn’t push the new STANS tape right into the rim and I also left some air bubbles but to be honest I didn’t see this having an impact as long as my tape went edge to edge so the tyre edge would effectively be pushing down on the tape. I went round the rim twice starting at the right of the valve hole and ending at the left of the valve so everywhere has two layers apart from the valve.

And this is where things went downhill for me!

Getting the Panaracer tyres on were not easy and took a fair bit of time and some sore fingers. Annoyingly I had to do this with two tyre levers and had to ask my wife for help but if I had four tyre levers I think I could have done it by myself.

I don’t have a track pump and so seating the tyres was always going to be tricky so my plan was to take it to the local petrol station and use their pump to blast the tyres onto the bead. I took both wheels to the petrol station and tried this out (with soapy water on the tyre walls and bead). Both wheels, I managed to blast the tyre onto the bead, but then there was a lot of air coming out from around the bead area (soapy bubbles helped show this). The front tyre held air for quite long (five minutes) but the rear tyre I had no luck at all and would immediately deflate through the bead around the whole rim.

I can only imagine this is because they are brand new tyres and need a bit of stretching out before they can pop out onto the bead especially when I didn’t have a pump/C02 with enough pressure to do this.

Once the front tyre was seated onto the bead, the tyre slowly deflated and so by the time I got home the tyre had fully deflated and the tyre had pulled itself back into the centre of the rim. I made another journey to the petrol station to try again and it was the same result for both wheels.

I done all the above without any sealant.

My thinking is that sealant may have helped me, but to give me the best chance, what I will do now is ride around with the tyres tubed first and seated in the bead properly using a tube, hopefully that gets the tyres stretched out and the right shape and then I will have another shot at tubeless again.

Having a track pump or a track pump with booster canister would be helpful but I don’t want to fork out for it because I won’t be changing tyres that often. I might also try a C02 when I get round to trying this again.

So ultimately, I failed this time around but I will give it another shot later and I will update this post to show how I get on! Hopefully this thread will help others and if anyone has any tips for me for my next attempt I would be happy to hear about it!

I won’t buy new wheels yet as I really want to see how Decathlons (tubeless ready rim) statement stacks up!

I still love this bike! and I'm liking the brown/tan sidewalls :smile:

10.JPG
 

C R

Guru
Location
Worcester
Topic -
--------------------
Hello all, first post here so I thought I would make it a good one!

I thought it would be useful documenting what I went through trying to get tubeless on my Triban RC500 road bike which I purchased last month from Decathlon in the first week the store opened back up!

Having been out on a few trips now I do always have the concern that I’ll get the dreaded puncture and from everything I’ve read online the Triban RC500/RC520 (drop bar road bike versions) are a nightmare to change at the side of a road, so tubeless it is!

Having never even changed a tyre before I thought it would be a good idea to document this as I know the RC500/RC520 is quite a popular bike for newcomers to cycling like myself and so a lot of people upon googling the bike will probably see the same posts about difficulties with tyre/wheelset.

Hopefully this thread helps anyone else thinking about these bikes. I think the bike is great by the way and I think if I was buying my first bike again, knowing all of the below, I probably still would have bought it again!

-----------------
Sources -

This youtuber claims its really difficult to change tyres -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf1QW9v59ME&t=290s


I watched this a few times but ultimately doesn’t show the final part of going tubeless -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2yaqvyL6e8


Forum member breaking a thumb from changing tyre! - https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/replacement-wheels-for-triban-rc520.257005/page-5
-----------------

The bike -

View attachment 536147

Existing tyres are the stock ones that come with the bike -

View attachment 536148
Resist Protect+ 700x28c tyres.

I think they cost about 10 pound each at Decathlon. (Non tubeless compatibe)These tyres feel strong! To be honest, they seemed like perfectly fine tyres to me, felt fast and comfortable at the same time but I wanted to change to tubeless for the puncture aspect.

New tyres -
View attachment 536149
Panaracer Gravel Kings (slick version) 700 x 32c (TLC - tubeless compatible) - brown wall. Folded tyres. Evans @ 32 pound each.

I looked at tubeless kits and buying stuff separately to save money, but for the first time I felt it was easier just going for the kit and buying the STANs tubeless kit, going for the 21mm width tape because the inner width of the Triban wheel was 17mm. Evans @ £32.
View attachment 536150

The wheels are standard from Decathlon, I am not sure if my front wheel is different from my back wheel (or different generations on it, this is the sticker on the front wheel -
View attachment 536151

And the rear wheel has no sticker but it has this marking -

View attachment 536152


Getting the tire off was actually quite easy. Deflated the tyre through the valve, squeezed the tyre into the centre of the rim and then just used two tyre levers to pull the initial part off the rim and then work around the rim. I didn’t see any of that residue that the “sweet cyclist” youtuber mentioned. I got the tyres off in a few minutes -
View attachment 536153

There is a loose yellow tape that goes around the rim, so I pulled that off because the way it went around the wheel was quite wavy and so I thought it might create gaps everywhere after my tape -

View attachment 536154

I then spent a bit of time, using Isopropyl alcohol wiping the inside of the rim, it was quite clean but some grease around the bead of the rim.

View attachment 536156
The rim itself has a centre channel which goes quite deep, I didn’t push the new STANS tape right into the rim and I also left some air bubbles but to be honest I didn’t see this having an impact as long as my tape went edge to edge so the tyre edge would effectively be pushing down on the tape. I went round the rim twice starting at the right of the valve hole and ending at the left of the valve so everywhere has two layers apart from the valve.

And this is where things went downhill for me!

Getting the Panaracer tyres on were not easy and took a fair bit of time and some sore fingers. Annoyingly I had to do this with two tyre levers and had to ask my wife for help but if I had four tyre levers I think I could have done it by myself.

I don’t have a track pump and so seating the tyres was always going to be tricky so my plan was to take it to the local petrol station and use their pump to blast the tyres onto the bead. I took both wheels to the petrol station and tried this out (with soapy water on the tyre walls and bead). Both wheels, I managed to blast the tyre onto the bead, but then there was a lot of air coming out from around the bead area (soapy bubbles helped show this). The front tyre held air for quite long (five minutes) but the rear tyre I had no luck at all and would immediately deflate through the bead around the whole rim.

I can only imagine this is because they are brand new tyres and need a bit of stretching out before they can pop out onto the bead especially when I didn’t have a pump/C02 with enough pressure to do this.

Once the front tyre was seated onto the bead, the tyre slowly deflated and so by the time I got home the tyre had fully deflated and the tyre had pulled itself back into the centre of the rim. I made another journey to the petrol station to try again and it was the same result for both wheels.

I done all the above without any sealant.

My thinking is that sealant may have helped me, but to give me the best chance, what I will do now is ride around with the tyres tubed first and seated in the bead properly using a tube, hopefully that gets the tyres stretched out and the right shape and then I will have another shot at tubeless again.

Having a track pump or a track pump with booster canister would be helpful but I don’t want to fork out for it because I won’t be changing tyres that often. I might also try a C02 when I get round to trying this again.

So ultimately, I failed this time around but I will give it another shot later and I will update this post to show how I get on! Hopefully this thread will help others and if anyone has any tips for me for my next attempt I would be happy to hear about it!

I won’t buy new wheels yet as I really want to see how Decathlons (tubeless ready rim) statement stacks up!

I still love this bike! and I'm liking the brown/tan sidewalls :smile:

View attachment 536145

I have the same bike, and have read about the tyres being difficult to remove, but I haven't tried removing them because I had no reason to. Can I take from your experience that the original tyres are actually easy to take out?
 

roubaixtuesday

self serving virtue signaller
This sounds like more hassle than an entire lifetime of puncture repairs! I thought sealant was essential, but I've never done it and have no intention of.

On tyre removal and refitting, my understanding is that "tubeless ready" rims and/or tyres are a curse and make the whole business more difficult regardless, and are increasingly the standard. I've not yet tried it on my new steed, which has these "tubeless ready" features.

Luck...
 

Milkfloat

An Peanut
Location
Midlands
A few tips for you:

  • Petrol station pumps are generally rubbish for seating Tubeless
  • As a cyclist you will find a track pump very useful on a weekly basis - just spend £15 and get one, you will not regret it
  • Normal Stans sealant is pretty much hated by road cyclists as it does not seal at high pressure, the Race version although expensive is supposed to be great
  • CO2 and most sealant is not a good mix
  • For the rear that is too loose, try an extra wrap or two of tape (after you have checked that the valve is tightly fitted).
 

vickster

Legendary Member
Didn't another thread establish that the 500 and 520 have different tyres and the latter are the problem child?
 
OP
OP
T

Tapper3279

Regular
Thanks for the responses people!

I have the same bike, and have read about the tyres being difficult to remove, but I haven't tried removing them because I had no reason to. Can I take from your experience that the original tyres are actually easy to take out?
Yeah I didn't find the original tyres difficult to remove. Took me a few minutes to remove with two tyre levers. I would assume if it's easy to take off then it should be pretty easy to get back on, but I still wouldn't have much confidence doing this at the side of the road. Maybe one to practice later! Putting the Panaracers on was incredibly difficult, but could have just been because it was a new tyre so when I try and do this tubeless thing again it should be easier having been stretched out for several weeks!



This sounds like more hassle than an entire lifetime of puncture repairs! I thought sealant was essential, but I've never done it and have no intention of. On tyre removal and refitting, my understanding is that "tubeless ready" rims and/or tyres are a curse and make the whole business more difficult regardless, and are increasingly the standard. I've not yet tried it on my new steed, which has these "tubeless ready" features. Luck...
I think there are other tubeless rims available which are easier to deal with. It sounds like the Triban wheels are just that bit trickier!


Thanks for the tips Milkfloat!

A few tips for you:
Petrol station pumps are generally rubbish for seating Tubeless
  • yeah the petrol station one worked to a point but I could tell the air wasn't getting in fast enough. I also had to leave the valve core in each wheel to do the pumping because the Presta to Schrader adaptor actually screwns onto the valve core so that probably didn't help the seating process.

As a cyclist you will find a track pump very useful on a weekly basis - just spend £15 and get one, you will not regret it
  • I might eventually buy a basic track pump, but specifically for Tubeless set up I thought I needed the one with a booster cannister which I am really not keen on spending lots of money on just now. CO2 might be the cheapest option for now!

Normal Stans sealant is pretty much hated by road cyclists as it does not seal at high pressure, the Race version although expensive is supposed to be great
  • Interesting! I did buy the Road bike version of the STANs sealant kit but I assume this is just the same as normal STANS sealant which isn't that effective for high pressureS?

CO2 and most sealant is not a good mix
  • yep I read about this, my plan is to seat the tyres with CO2 first (without sealant), then deflate the CO2, and inflate with regular pump.

For the rear that is too loose, try an extra wrap or two of tape (after you have checked that the valve is tightly fitted).
  • Good idea, I will definitely apply another layer when trying again.
 
OP
OP
T

Tapper3279

Regular
Didn't another thread establish that the 500 and 520 have different tyres and the latter are the problem child?

Yeah having looked back it, its the thread with the user with a broken thumb (post 43) - Link. I initially thought it was just the difference between the drop bar versus the flat bar version of the rC500/RC520, but it seems the wheel diff is across the actual bike's themselves. If its even harder to change tyres on the RC520 then oh dear!

Triban RC500 - FLAT BAR
-----------------------
Triban Tubeless ready* wheels
6063T6 aluminium
ETRTO dimensions: 622 x 17 C
28mm high for greater lateral rigidity
Crossed steel spokes for improved rigidity (28 front and 28 rear)
Sealed bearings
Weight per pair (without cassette and QR): 2200g
*Conversion kit required, including 2 tubeless valves + 2 rim strips + bottle of anti-puncture liquid
Triban RC500 - DROP BAR
-----------------------
Triban Tubeless ready* wheels
6063T6 aluminium
ETRTO dimensions: 622 x 17 C
28mm high for greater lateral rigidity
Crossed steel spokes for improved rigidity (28 front and 28 rear)
Sealed bearings
Weight per pair (without cassette and QR): 2200g
*Conversion kit required, including 2 tubeless valves + 2 rim strips + bottle of anti-puncture liquid
Triban RC520 - FLAT BAR
-----------------------
Triban Tubeless Ready Light wheels*
6106T6 aluminium.
ETRTO dimensions: 622" x 17"
Height 24 mm for increased lateral rigidity.
Crossed steel spokes for greater rigidity (28 front and 28 rear).
Sealed cartridge bearings.
Weight per pair (without cassette and QR): 2000g
*Conversion kit required, including 2 tubeless valves + 2 rim strips + bottle of anti-puncture liquid.
Triban RC520 - DROP BAR
-----------------------
Triban Tubeless Ready Light wheels*
6106T6 aluminium.
ETRTO dimensions: 622" x 17"
.Height 24 mm for increased lateral rigidity.
Crossed steel spokes for greater rigidity (28 front and 28 rear).
Sealed cartridge bearings.
Weight per pair (without cassette and QR): 2000g
*Conversion kit required, including 2 tubeless valves + 2 rim strips + bottle of anti-puncture liquid.
 
OP
OP
T

Tapper3279

Regular
I thought so too! I've never seen any videos in which someone converted their tires to tubeless without using sealant.

The videos I've watched suggest that you should seat the tyres onto the rims first without any sealant. Once seated on the bead hopefully with very little air leaks, then you would remove the valve core, delfate, squirt some sealant in and then inflate again.

Adding sealant in during your first blast of air could potentially result in it successfully seating without any air leaks on the first attempt but it could also result in the sealant getting sprayed all over the side if it comes out the side of the tyre from not seating properly.

I also didn't have much sealant from the Stans kit so wasn't keen on using it all up first go :laugh:
 

Vasukrub

New Member
Im exactly looking for the same Gravelking SS 32 to put on my RC500 then found your story, may i ask how it solved (or not)? Do you recommened it?

Topic -
--------------------
Hello all, first post here so I thought I would make it a good one!

I thought it would be useful documenting what I went through trying to get tubeless on my Triban RC500 road bike which I purchased last month from Decathlon in the first week the store opened back up!

Having been out on a few trips now I do always have the concern that I’ll get the dreaded puncture and from everything I’ve read online the Triban RC500/RC520 (drop bar road bike versions) are a nightmare to change at the side of a road, so tubeless it is!

Having never even changed a tyre before I thought it would be a good idea to document this as I know the RC500/RC520 is quite a popular bike for newcomers to cycling like myself and so a lot of people upon googling the bike will probably see the same posts about difficulties with tyre/wheelset.

Hopefully this thread helps anyone else thinking about these bikes. I think the bike is great by the way and I think if I was buying my first bike again, knowing all of the below, I probably still would have bought it again!

-----------------
Sources -

This youtuber claims its really difficult to change tyres -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xf1QW9v59ME&t=290s


I watched this a few times but ultimately doesn’t show the final part of going tubeless -
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2yaqvyL6e8


Forum member breaking a thumb from changing tyre! - https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/replacement-wheels-for-triban-rc520.257005/page-5
-----------------

The bike -

View attachment 536147

Existing tyres are the stock ones that come with the bike -

View attachment 536148
Resist Protect+ 700x28c tyres.

I think they cost about 10 pound each at Decathlon. (Non tubeless compatibe)These tyres feel strong! To be honest, they seemed like perfectly fine tyres to me, felt fast and comfortable at the same time but I wanted to change to tubeless for the puncture aspect.

New tyres -
View attachment 536149
Panaracer Gravel Kings (slick version) 700 x 32c (TLC - tubeless compatible) - brown wall. Folded tyres. Evans @ 32 pound each.

I looked at tubeless kits and buying stuff separately to save money, but for the first time I felt it was easier just going for the kit and buying the STANs tubeless kit, going for the 21mm width tape because the inner width of the Triban wheel was 17mm. Evans @ £32.
View attachment 536150

The wheels are standard from Decathlon, I am not sure if my front wheel is different from my back wheel (or different generations on it, this is the sticker on the front wheel -
View attachment 536151

And the rear wheel has no sticker but it has this marking -

View attachment 536152


Getting the tire off was actually quite easy. Deflated the tyre through the valve, squeezed the tyre into the centre of the rim and then just used two tyre levers to pull the initial part off the rim and then work around the rim. I didn’t see any of that residue that the “sweet cyclist” youtuber mentioned. I got the tyres off in a few minutes -
View attachment 536153

There is a loose yellow tape that goes around the rim, so I pulled that off because the way it went around the wheel was quite wavy and so I thought it might create gaps everywhere after my tape -

View attachment 536154

I then spent a bit of time, using Isopropyl alcohol wiping the inside of the rim, it was quite clean but some grease around the bead of the rim.

View attachment 536156
The rim itself has a centre channel which goes quite deep, I didn’t push the new STANS tape right into the rim and I also left some air bubbles but to be honest I didn’t see this having an impact as long as my tape went edge to edge so the tyre edge would effectively be pushing down on the tape. I went round the rim twice starting at the right of the valve hole and ending at the left of the valve so everywhere has two layers apart from the valve.

And this is where things went downhill for me!

Getting the Panaracer tyres on were not easy and took a fair bit of time and some sore fingers. Annoyingly I had to do this with two tyre levers and had to ask my wife for help but if I had four tyre levers I think I could have done it by myself.

I don’t have a track pump and so seating the tyres was always going to be tricky so my plan was to take it to the local petrol station and use their pump to blast the tyres onto the bead. I took both wheels to the petrol station and tried this out (with soapy water on the tyre walls and bead). Both wheels, I managed to blast the tyre onto the bead, but then there was a lot of air coming out from around the bead area (soapy bubbles helped show this). The front tyre held air for quite long (five minutes) but the rear tyre I had no luck at all and would immediately deflate through the bead around the whole rim.

I can only imagine this is because they are brand new tyres and need a bit of stretching out before they can pop out onto the bead especially when I didn’t have a pump/C02 with enough pressure to do this.

Once the front tyre was seated onto the bead, the tyre slowly deflated and so by the time I got home the tyre had fully deflated and the tyre had pulled itself back into the centre of the rim. I made another journey to the petrol station to try again and it was the same result for both wheels.

I done all the above without any sealant.

My thinking is that sealant may have helped me, but to give me the best chance, what I will do now is ride around with the tyres tubed first and seated in the bead properly using a tube, hopefully that gets the tyres stretched out and the right shape and then I will have another shot at tubeless again.

Having a track pump or a track pump with booster canister would be helpful but I don’t want to fork out for it because I won’t be changing tyres that often. I might also try a C02 when I get round to trying this again.

So ultimately, I failed this time around but I will give it another shot later and I will update this post to show how I get on! Hopefully this thread will help others and if anyone has any tips for me for my next attempt I would be happy to hear about it!

I won’t buy new wheels yet as I really want to see how Decathlons (tubeless ready rim) statement stacks up!

I still love this bike! and I'm liking the brown/tan sidewalls :smile:

View attachment 536145
 

Eziemnaik

Über Member
I have had a version of Gravelking made for Fairweather (I believe it is the same tyre with the same herringbone pattern) - it was a PITA to mount and sealant would leak like crazy from sidewalls - literally bleeding to death
 
Last edited:

Ajax Bay

Guru
Location
East Devon
The rim itself has a centre channel which goes quite deep, I didn’t push the new STANS tape right into the rim and I also left some air bubbles but to be honest I didn’t see this having an impact as long as my tape went edge to edge so the tyre edge would effectively be pushing down on the tape. I went round the rim twice . . . so everywhere has two layers apart from the valve.
I reviewed your July OP and found this text.
I wonder if the difficulty of sealing you've found is caused by using 21mm tape, double thickness, on a 17mm internal width rim and the edges of the tape are 'pushing up' towards the beads, and the interface there is imperfect in places.
From Stan's FAQs: "What width Yellow Tape should I use?
"If you are using our tape in a different (non-Stan's) tubeless-ready rim, the tape should go from sidewall to sidewall (ie: not just over the spoke holes). We recommend tape that is 1-2mm wider than the internal width of your rim to account for the drop channel."
 
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