Motorcycle Tubeless Conversion: DR650

Here is a cheap way to get a set of spoked motorcycle wheels converted to a tubeless set up.
Affiliate links for items used in this conversion can be found below:
Gorilla Tape: amzn.to/3BbsAE7
1" wide Gorilla Tape: amzn.to/3CaSkSv
Slime Tire Sealant: amzn.to/3jAa81Y
Tusk Fender Pack+ Tire Levers: amzn.to/3pvHQtt
Valve Stems: amzn.to/3CdZy86
Tire Plug Kit: amzn.to/2Zu9j3U
12v Air compressor:
If you are still wondering why a tubeless set up, well its mostly laziness. Changing tubes is a pain, and with cheap plug kits you can often times get by with a quick plug, and a little airing up from a cheap 12v compressor and continue the ride. If I really wanted to lie to you I would say I did it for the weight savings, the lower rotational mass (performance), and the improved grip and tire feel but I don't want to lie to you... So plug kits, exclusively for plug kits.

[@patrickjoy9551]

A wife that helps you aaand brings you a beer!!!!!!! You got a keeper right there bud. Love the way you interact with the kids too. Keep the rubber side down and stay safe.

[@philipkearns9757]

Nice to see the family interaction and lots of patience. Many thanks

[@RYwoodview]

How great! You act like me changing a tire. Thanks for the positive reinforcement. It actually CAN get done.

[@dogfeathers5646]

Here to wherever, I have a 2020 DR650 and would love to have tubeless tires to plug if I get a flat on the road away from my garage so watched with great interest what you did. I watched another video where a guy put adhesive silicone on each nipple then taped it. BUT my jaw dropped when you put Slime inside your tire to seal a leak that you had. It did seem to work but here is a BIG WARNING to you and others. I had a BMW R100 GS with spoked but tubeless tires. At some point I had a slow leak s on my front rim so put some slime in the tubliss tire with my aluminum rims. All was well…for about two years. Then on a long ride and luckily slowish speed my front tire went flat very quickly. Luckily no traffic behind me on a secondary road and a good place to pull over and check it out. I could find no nail or puncture and the valve stem and valve were ok. I pumped up the tire and waited a while and it held air just fine. Two days later on my way home, I was on a freeway cruising at 65 mph with traffic all around me and decided to pull off the freeway for gas. As I exited the freeway I slowed to about 35-40 mph and suddenly the front tire went flat and I was all over the road….then the tire came OFF THE RIM and was just flopping around the front wheel. My aluminum wheel on pavement does not provide much traction so down I went at about 30mph? There was a pickup behind me and luckily he sensed something was way wrong and backed way off and I did not get squashed. I had lots of bear on so only got minor bruises and minor rash. I dragged the bike off the road and collected my wits and after I calmed down I got the bike about a 1000 ft to a gas station and called a nearby friend to help. He picked me up in his truck and took me home about 60 miles away. A day later I examined the front wheel and crapped my drawers. Over the two or so years the Slime made a chemical reaction to the aluminum on the wheel and it -really corroded the inside of the rim and bead area. So much so that it severely corroded the bead area and affected that area so much that it essentially destroyed the wheel and the sealing area where the tire beads. I had to buy a new BMW front wheel. A new one was about $1600 but I found a used one for $500. I later read the Slime label in detail and there in tiny print it give lots of loopholes about getting off the legal hook no matter what. Slime in your aluminum rim may Kill you. Use caution!

[@andrewcannon587]

thanks fot warning. I had used green slime on one of my truck's aluminum wheel. It held air for a year, then a slow leak re-emerge again so pump in some more slime. It worked by i won't do that again knowing the slime corrode aluminum. Project Farm channel showed it didn't corrode steel but that's was a short time period test.

[@dogfeathers5646]

​@@andrewcannon587 Hi Andrew….and others. I just reread my tale above and thank “auto spell” for making me sound like I hit my head a little too hard in the above “Slime induced” crash! But thanks to Slime and their thinly veiled legalese that gets them off the hook, I will no longer use their products. Whenever I am in a store and see the bottles of “the green death juice”, I recall the close call with death I had using that stuff. Lesson learned….when the fine print gets very fine and littered with legal speak, there is a reason for it. Go immediately to Plan B!

[@bigfan1088]

Congrats on another funny "how to" video. You do an excellent job explaining....then showing how it is done! I really enjoy you working your wife and kids into your videos. Nicely done!

[@Liberty4Ever]

9:20 - Waifu: "So are you going to go ride?" Moto Hubby: "After this third beer."

[@klasikpanthra]

Thanks for this. I have to do this now. I bought tubeless tires already and there's no going back now 😊

[@atonyathehun6639]

I love how good you are with family… my son used to try n hell me work in motorcycle too! Usually by running at it with a crescent wrench😱

[@truffletrouble7819]

What a boss. By the way I like the bike wall back there 👍

[@user-ts9hm1gz2p]

Out here with iron sights doing the lords work bless you and all your rides children also all your endeavors

[@Liberty4Ever]

I've wondered if this was possible or practical but never searched to see if others had converted a tubed rim into a spoked tubeless rim. I figured I'd randomly encounter it without a specific search, and thank the KZbin algorithm god, I did! Tubeless wheels was a big selling feature when I bought my bike. If I ever buy a used G650GS, the first time I change the tires, I'll convert the rims to tubeless. The method I've been contemplating would ScothBrite the inside of the rim and clean with isopropyl alcohol, then push a foam earplug into the valve stem hole. Make a simple fixture to spin the rim at approximately 10 RPM. I could 3D print conical hub pieces to make a spindle with a pulley that I can turn with a DC gear motor that I have. As the rim slowly spins, I'd pour 3D printer resin onto the center of the rim to create a thin coating and cure it with a UV lamp or sunlight. The resin is a UV curing polyurethane that has a viscosity similar to 40W oil that cures to a durometer similar to a hockey puck. Slowly spinning the rim prevents the resin from dripping off the rim or pooling as it cures. Drill out the ear plug, install the valve stem, and the rim is now tubeless. If the rim is damaged to prevent a bead or the tubeless tire is slashed preventing a bacon strip from plugging it, pull out the valve stem and reinstall the tube, so you pretty much have the best of the tubed and tubeless tire setups.

[@user-ts9hm1gz2p]

Hyperfixate much mate relax

[@manipicao]

What, What, What?! Your woman brought you a beer in time of need? Where do you find these females?

[@meckkz387c]

Pro tip put a bead of slime flat fixer on the valve stem and be sure to use tubeless slime learned this from mtb now going to do it on my 650 vtwin Yamaha

[@muriuwangai3617]

Nice cool job. Am planning to do the same on my Serow. But I intend to seal up the spokes from the inside of the rimm with ussual Silicone sealant then apply the tape like you have done. Like your content waay from Kenya.

[@craighoffman6876]

Adorable kids and your "my thumb is the indicator / do you want a beer>" wife helped in the garage? OMG she's a unicorn! Ah yes, the old strap around the tire trick to spread the bead. Do that in conjuction with soapy water for EZ bead seating. After years of using a 15" steel car wheel with split tubing on it I finally rewarded myself with a Rabaconda with their levers. It was money but OMG it almost makes tire changing fun. I don't accept money from my friends, but I do accept beer for tire changing assistance. I did a rear tubeless conversion on my Husky 701 Enduro using 3M 5200 white Marine sealer for each spoke head, wrapped with 3M 4411N extreme sealing tape, no Slime. I'm hesitant to do the front wheel the same way but since it is a narrow 21" rim I may do it anyway and put a TuBliss in there as a double failsafe - been using that for years on my dirt bikes and it works great. TuBliss is not really approved for street but neither is sealing with duct tape over the spokes 😆

[@jamesdecarlo6829]

Here's a idea,I have used clear silicone over the spokes just a finger around the entire rim works like a champ and of course the gorilla tape

[@souvikprofile]

Is it works? I want to do with my royal Enfield...

[@B.Undrum]

Great video, I enjoyd this! Had a great lot of fun. I know the feeling when finding leftovers after a fix. Haha. Good Job. 👍

[@HeretoWherever]

Thanks for the comment I appreciate the good vibes. Most of the time when I find parts left over I just call it weight reduction! 🤣

[@B.Undrum]

@@HeretoWherever Hahaha! Yeah those parts are most likely not important anyway. Good one! 🤣

[@mosa4688]

Get a tire pressure monitoring system on. You can get ones that just work off the valve cap - you want to know as soon as you have a problem/puncture, so you don't have the tire completely flat and the bead pop.

[@HeretoWherever]

Good suggestion! I am going to check those out. Any brands you recommend?

[@JohnJez]

Hey there, your video is great! I would love to know, is this conversation still working? If so how many miles has been done? Thanks, John

[@renenazareno8056]

Very nice idea bro.thanks for sharing,cute baby♥️🙏💚

[@portersherman9893]

James Franco fucking teaching me how to fix a bike

[@TheBigBlueMarble]

Need to seal the spoke nipples with a sealant either before or instead of the tape. And you really should use a TL tire. The original tire was probably TT.

[@Psyrecx]

Always better to do the tape wider than what you think is necessary.

[@BlazinBlades]

Amazing! So absolutely no marine adhesive/goop to seal the spoke nipples? Just two laps of Gorilla tape, Slime and no air leakage?

[@HeretoWherever]

100%! Has been sitting all winter and has not dropped pressure. Figured if it works for mountain bikes, it would work for big bikes. Seems to be holding true.

[@BlazinBlades]

@@HeretoWherever and some people go and pay $250 for an Outex kit only to fail on them… 😁

[@jackofnotrades5053]

i know i come to this video to learn, but i can teach the teacher. ALWAYS use lube when putting tires on and off, just soapy water like you had is plenty good. saves your wheels from scratches from prying so much, and also probably would have made beading the tire much easier.

[@JoseOrtega-xn4mj]

First of all, THANKS for the detailed explanation. I have never done this before & new to Honda DCT Africa Twin world. I was riding with the wife and had no clue as what to do when we got a rear tire flat, was a complete nightmare. Seeing your video I have purchased everything and will start the process this week. I do have a question 🙋🏼‍♂️ I’m going to replace my rear tire and don’t know if I buy for tube or tubeless? Please advise and advise is greatly appreciated. Again, thanks & ride safe.

[@DayFire725]

Thank you for the video! Do you notice any vibration issues at highway speeds? I currently run “Ride On” an orange alternative to slime in my tubes since it claims to self balance, and have never felt balance issues using it. I wonder if it could seal the tape as well as slime did for you…

[@intrigue175175]

Fantastic wife you got there bud. You guys are lucky to have each other. Funny thing is I was JUST thinking about using Gorilla tape to do this exact thing when this video came up. Is it still holding?

[@nicholasparry6859]

My only concern is the tapes adhesive could cimes unglued by the slime. Determining thw silicone method.

[@tox99jorge]

Hi! I love your video, I have a question for you... where do you get the Dakar-style front light?

[@nicholasparry6859]

Wondering if prepping for tubless and still running tubes is an option for me. Tired of patching tubes

[@dogfeathers5646]

Oh yes, at the very end you made a conversion to a low fender. Nice color match, who makes that front fender? Thanks

[@Jonathan-L]

Has anyone tried 'Tesa' tubless rim tape?

[@javiercoronel1169]

Next bike dr650, hustle hustle

[@frankcantrell9883]

Do u have a an update on your tubeless tire setup?

[@The97Ema]

Funziona ancora ?

[@swexplorer]

Awesome video brother 👍 how's it holding up? I'm going to try this.

[@nikgy]

2022 is it still holding air?

[@sumosamurai5420]

Can this be done on a rim lock wheel?

[@sstoro]

Thanks for the great video. Was the tire your using rated for tubeless or tube only? I’d like to do the same to my Honda CRF 250L but the original factory tire is rated for tube only. Thanks again.

[@HeretoWherever]

🤫🤫🤫 My tire is a Shinko 244 (tube only tire) I can't say how this will hold up long term but the tire is fairly stiff and my bike is fairly light so maybe that helps 😅?

[@DayFire725]

Its my understanding tube type tires either have a different bead that is less grabby or a different rubber compound that could allow air to permeate out of the tire vs tubeless rates tires. But if OP is getting along with it maybe it isn’t such a big deal.

[@mikga45]

Put silicon around the spoke 9n the inside after you clean the rust off wheel, let dry overnight. Than apply duck tape. While airing it up add a bottle of tire sealant. Use tubeless tires if you can find them.

[@PatrickSheely]

Next time use a little lube on rim and tire

[@robertotto3983]

You neeed to practie