Tubeless 29+ ghetto northpaw and knard

Kit needed to ghetto convert your Northpaw 29+ (29er Plus, 29er+) rims to tubeless with Surly Knard 27tpi tyres. I forgot to include a cloth in this picture to wipe the powder from inside the split tube. The Wheel goo was sent to me to test in this set up

First off remove the tyre and tube and make sure the rim tape is seated properly. Give the rim a quick clean to make sure the tape will stick then run a layer of duct tape around the inside of the rim, the 45mm wide roll works perfectly without any cutting. I only did one layer but it hardly weighs anything, so 2 layers if you like the extra security.

Measure and cut the foam. I used pipe insulation as it was closed cell and quite firm. To get the right size I simply laid the foam into the cavity in the rim and marked it with a pen and then cut it with a craft knife and metal ruler. The foam is used to stop the tyre dropping down into the gap in the center of the rim and create a better seal. I wasn't sure which way was best to lay the foam. I went for the middle strip facing up so the concave bit was looking out when it was wrapped around the rim

Rap the foam around the rim, I only secured it with tape at either end...starting from the valve. I left a small gap of about 1cm around the valve with no foam to allow the valve stem to seat squarely. As you can see the foam fits quite nicely.

The next step is to cut the inner tube. If you slightly inflate the inner tube it is easier to push the scissors into. Obviously take care not to go right through! I am using a 24" inner tube on this 29+ rim as its is quite tight and hold in place well when mounting the tyre.

The inside of the inner tube has a fine dust in it to prevent the insides from sticking together. Wipe this off with a damp cloth.

The next job is to place the split inner tube over the rim, I found the easiest way was to put the valve in then pull the split tube over the rim on the opposite side to the valve and work the tube on from both sides at the same time. As you can see its quite tight allow the split tube to hang over the edge of the rim and make sure its centered all the way around. Also its a good idea to make sure the foam hasn't moved at this point before mounting the tyre.

The Surly Knard 29x3 27tpi tyre is quite floppy, Spray or brush on a soapy mixture to help the tyre seat. It took a couple of minutes to work out the best method to get it back on the 29+ Northpaw rim. The method that seemed to work best was to sit the rim in the middle of the tyre between the 2 beads then work one side on at a time. Go round and pull the tyre to the edge of the rim as best you can. Then being the impatient type I had to see if it would seal without sealant...it did with a track pump. It was leaking a little but it inflated up to pressure. I then it it down and poured in three quarters of the Wheel goo sealant (the wheel goo clearly says that it isn't designed to be used tubeless but for tubes only) and re-inflated the tyre. I could still here a slight hiss. As it was quite cold outside I took the wheel into the warm. I left it for half an hour came back and the hissing had stopped and the tyre was still inflated to the pressure I had set it at. (18psi) Success!

All that's left to do is to cut the excess inner tube off that is hanging over the edge of the rim.