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I've gotten a bike with very nice tubeless wheels, however I have little experience with fixing or replacing tubeless tires/wheels. I would much prefer to be able to put a regular mountain bike tube in the tire and rim without problems or much hassle. Is this possible?

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Yes - take off the tire and the tubeless valve, clean up the rim, put on some new rim tape and then install a tube + tire.

If you're running tubeless and you have a failure, you can always just pop a tube in and continue your ride. And tubeless has its advantages (lower pressures since you can avoid pinch flats), so you may want to embrace it.

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  • Do you know if there are any tubeless rim standards that are not compatible with clincher tires?
    – Rider_X
    Jan 7, 2015 at 23:10
  • There aren't any, to my knowledge.
    – Batman
    Jan 8, 2015 at 2:12
  • If the rim is tubeless then a rim tape is redundant.
    – cherouvim
    Jan 9, 2015 at 7:51
  • If its truly a tubeless rim, yes. If its one of those which is marketed as "tubeless ready", possibly not.
    – Batman
    Jan 9, 2015 at 13:09
  • It should be noted that, in theory, a tube-type tire needs to "breathe" -- air needs to be able to get into and out of the space between tube and tire/rim. If this is really necessary on a bike tire (I have no idea) then presumably it could be facilitated by replacing the airtight rim strip with one that's a hair leaky. Oct 7, 2015 at 3:14

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