Outex Tubeless Rim Kit - Don't Waste Your Money!

Well, after a load of hassle with delivery, I finally received my Outex rim kit from Japan. I was very reluctant to try this because it is very expensive, but convinced myself that it would be worth it, but I'm sorry to report that it isn't!

I have a spare front wheel, so I thought that I would fit the rim kit to it, then strip the tyre off the wheel on the bike and fit it to the Outex wheel. First problem is smoothing out the rim weld. The instructions say to rub them down until they are smooth, but this is easier said than done as my weld had been ground concave in the factory, so I was not sure that the tyre would seal, or whether the rim tape would seal either.

After several hours grinding, cleaning and degreasing I was ready to fit the sealing tape, but it immediately became obvious that the tape is not wide enough. The spoke nipples on the SCs are so proud of the rim, that by the time the tape had been worked all around them there was just not enough tape in contact to effect a good seal. The instructions do tell you to plane the nipples to make them smooth, but that is a step too far.

When it was finished, I began to take the front wheel off my bike, but called it a day; I just have no faith that the Outex rim would seal and I can't face all that work for nothing. So now I am back to square one, no tubeless tyres, a rim that has super-sticky tape all over it that is probably impossible to remove and worst of all I'm £130 out of pocket, money that could have gone towards a fork kit. What a bummer!