T120 Tubless Rims.

He's called Doug Richardson, based in South Molton and used to own the Devon rim company.

 

i too am interested in tubeless setup for my new to me 18 T120, there are many options for sure + DIY is the cheapest using Outex kit or the marine adhesive + 3m tape noted on you tube but i would like the lighter alum wheels + would be more comfortable with a factory sealed Alpina set if available in stock sizing. thought Canyon wheels would be the answer but only 2.5 or 3.5 wide up front + they want to sell you tyres as well to check their sealing, however they do it. i am in USA + looked a lot + find the Alpina site not easy to understand whats what. i would prolly do 2 thou delivered but not much more for OE sized sealed alum rims taking all OE rotors etc.

 

I was told Alpina aren’t the greatest quality and are prone to leakage, I think the only properly sealed rims are Kineo but their style isn’t to everyone’s taste.

 

Kineo like BMW's setup isnt the best lookin bit bullet proof. i would be PO'd if i spent 3 G's + had a leak. on that note i got a set of custom sized sealed steel wire wheels from American Wire Wheel for 1800 a few years back + never leaked even after bending the rims edge + pounding it out! heavy but sturdy for sure compared to aluminum which is lighter but not as stout + expands + contracts a lot. i like my 32 spoke OE wheels + after 2 yrs + 7,xxx with another owner they look like new!!! the lesser spoke count made cleaning much easier as i found out last night.

 

I've got a Street Twin. It came with tubeless, cast wheels. I wanted spoked wheels, even though it meant switching to tubed tyres. This was purely for aesthetic reasons. As part of the original deal my dealer fitted the spoked wheels from a 2017 (i.e.new at the time) T100. A straight swop. This was before Triumph listed spoked wheels as an aftermarket accessory.
So that means I have a pair of brand new, never-been-on-the-road, tubeless, cast wheels going spare. Triumph charge around £600/pair. I'll take £350 + postage (or they can be collected).
They will obviously fit the T100 and probably the T120 if it's got the single brake disk up front. Let me know if you're interested.

By the way, I'm not convinced tubeless tyres give a Bonneville much improvement performance-wise, it's not a sports bike (except perhaps the Speed Twin). I've had one puncture. Cost me £12 for a new inner tube as opposed to £80-100 for a new tyre.

 

that is surely a good deal, but being on the other side of the pond-USA + the fact that new T120's have 2 discs that would be a loss unless as is sometimes true it could be mounted by correctly drilling the wheel. i too love wire wheels + the 32 spokers on my T120 are easier than higher spoked wheels to clean. just checked + they are the same size as the T120,s + its common that manufacturers build similarly so parts can be exchanged aka a parts bin bike that some shun when in reality can be a bargain if its closer to what you want because having changed many parts on different bikes i can say it gets expensive as noted by the dealer cost of your wheels. i do like that style for an alloy wheel as i liked my traded base 2012 bonnie with factory alloy wheels

 

I did quite a bit of research into alternate wheels for the 2016-2019 Bonneville T120.

First of all, the tubed tires are a poor choice if you are going out of town. In order to replace the tube on the rear tire, the mufflers need to be removed and set aside. Then, even though they have tubes, in order to remove the tires on the T120 you have to break the beads just like on tubeless tires! This is not a job you are going to do on the side of the road. Any flat implies a call to the tow truck, a trip to a shop and opening up a big can of patience.

Thus removing the tubes was a priority for me. My idea of fixing a roadside flat is pulling out the nail, stuffing a plug in the hole, and blowing the tire back up again. That only works with tubeless tires.

The Kineo wheels are truly tubeless. The spokes are mounted to an aluminum wheel and do not protrude through the wheel. I think that they look cool but are definitely neo-retro rather than purely retro.

Alpina and Canyon make beautiful wheels that can be provided tubeless. However...how do they do it? They simply add sealant tape to their regular spoked wheels. So for $2,500 you get new wheels that have been made to be tubeless just like you can do yourself with your stock wheels for $100.


In the end I took my stock wheels to a local DIY shop (shout out here to the Motoshed in Seattle--the guys there are aces). They took the tires off (remember the bead break is required). I cleaned the inside of the wheels with contact cleaner until they shone. I laid in a layer of 3M sealant tape and heated it lightly with a heat gun to make it all melty and seal up nice.

I then covered it with Gorilla Tape for a workmanlike look. I installed two new angled valve stems (buy nice ones, they are about $15).

Motoshed popped on new tires (Bridgestone Battlax T31 sport touring tires from Revzilla, tubeless natch) and blew 'em up for me.

This entire process at the Motoshed took about 90 minutes. It was not hard. I spent more time taking the wheels off (remember, first you gotta take off your mufflers...then you gotta put them back on after) than I did sealing the tires.

2,500 miles later all is well. They hold air flawlessly.

 

D'you carry a foot pump or have you just got very big lungs?

 

many have sealed their typical wire wheels successfully + even thou i like my heavy shiny OE spokes on my just purchased preowned 18 T120 after a lot of looking + reading i ordered alpinas last night directly from italy with the help of Johnny F10 on Triumph Rat. they take a deposit at time of order + the rest when shipped 30 to 60 days later for a total 1960 european dollars + the exchange rate varies its on a lower trend now. you pick the finishes on their web + prices vary by finish + i went with polished which is xtra as is other shiny finishes. they took my visa after declining + getting e-mail of possible fraud from chase + after confirming it was ok the card went thru, but johnny from canada said he needed to send a bank draft. wheels are sealed + said to be stock sized but the web only showed 2.5 + not 2.75 up front as the T120 is but it still works with OE or the 110-80-R18 i have waiting, rear is 4.25 X 17. a little spendy but being retired with no other bills i treated myself!!

 

I ordered up a set of Kineo wheels today. I'd toyed with the idea of doing a tubeless conversion on my wheels, even bought the m3 tape, but in the end decided I wanted to buy tubeless wheels. The look isn't for everyone but I quite like them. There's a wait of up to ten weeks for delivery but will post a few photos when I have them.

 

Steve, when you get your wheels I’d love to see some pics!

The Kineo wheels may not seem right to a purist who wants old school wire wheels, but I think that they look great. I’d be pleased to have a set on my Bonneville.

Also, let us know if they are lighter. The stock wheels aren’t particularly light and lighter wheels would certainly change handling for the better. Not a super big deal on the Bonnie—it’s not a sport bike after all—but if they are significantly lighter you’d feel a difference.

 

I ordered up a set of Kineo wheels today. I'd toyed with the idea of doing a tubeless conversion on my wheels, even bought the m3 tape, but in the end decided I wanted to buy tubeless wheels. The look isn't for everyone but I quite like them. There's a wait of up to ten weeks for delivery but will post a few photos when I have them.

I read somewhere on the rat forum that there's a weight saving of 8 or 9 Kg over the stock wheels, that should quicken up the steering a little, not that that's the reason for buying them!

 

like the OE BMW spokes on some models you get used to them, myself i preferred the classic look + went with Alpina's . Johnny F10 was very helpful answering questions as i learned to navigate the alpina web. the weight savings as well as knowing there will be no leaks with factory built wheels is another plus. recently johnny posted pics of how alpina builds their sealed wheels + that the rims are very strong one piece forged aluminum. i recently e-mailed Alpina + got a quick response which makes me feel good about the purchase so far away, not my first long distance transaction as i bought bitubo cartridges for my 2012 mag wheeler + saved about $300 delivered over overpriced specialized triumph resellers.

 

If those wheels are a 20 lb weight savings, you will definitely notice it. And you get to go tubeless, and they look great.

Be sure to keep us in the loop.

 

they look great on johnnys bike + i opted for the same raw hand polished finish but black hubs. had a set of high quality alum billet wheels on an older car + people asked if they were chrome, very easy to keep lookin great!

 

Yeah I'll do that, just got a few weeks to wait now

 

we all like better stuff on our rides but it gets spendy for sure, which is the bottom line! i stretched my "budget" with the Alpinas but wanted to get things rolling while the weather dont allow riding, but working on the bonnie with the pot belly stove roaring in the shed is comfy + passes the time when not clearing snow etc. i will add better discs + a few more goodies as i rebuild my kitty + pay off the VISA!! as i always do as to NOT incur any crazy interest they charge!!

 

It's no good giving us this info in ancient, out of date units..what is 20 lb in kg's? Is a US lb the same as the old UK lb? I know a US gallon is different to an Imperial gallon, but why? We had it first .
Thank goodness we adopted the centigrade scale in preference to the tricky-to-spell fahrenheit thing, which I think many of you US guys still use.

And bernard j czech, what is a european dollar?

Think I'll have a word with your wonderful and internationally admired president, to see if he can drag the US into the 21st century!

 

Bloody hell, you must be ancient surely no-one under 60 still thinks in ounces unless you're using one of Mrs Beatons cookery books. You must be continually trying to convert one to the other.
I have no understanding of fahrenheit, celsius just makes sense. Have you switched to decimal currency yet or are you still counting 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound (of money, not weight!)?

 

we are all used to various forms of measurements + the answers to convert are just a few keystrokes away, thankfully! on that same not many usually youngers use slang aka short cuts that many myself included need to look up! it is what is!!