Rimlocks
 

I,m soon of to Africa ( Oslo/CT) in a few days, and I know I should have rimlokcs, but as I understand it, I will have to make a hole in the rim to install them, and that gives me some concern. Will that whole weaken my rim to such an extent that I should think twice about it? Is a selftapping screw a better solution? (What is a selftapping screw anyway?) Any suggestions guys?

If you like to ride with lowered pressure it might be an advantage. Personally I went Oslo CT - Oslo - CT with mostly high pressure and rims designed for tubeless tires so I didn't care.

selftapping screw = selvgjengende skrue
God tur!

Takk!

I ride a BMW F650 Dakar with tubes, and my concern is tirecreeping in either sand or mud. I,m going down the westcoast, trying to avoid the big cities as much as possible, and think the roads will mainly be gravel and dirt. What do you think AliBaba? I,ll be on TKC80,s (or Desert if I can find them in 17" anywhere) with heavy duty inner tubes .

I don't agree with the self-tappers through the side - they weaken the rim and tyre in the most vulnerable area and aren't as reliable as rim locks.

drill a hole that's just big enough for the rim lock and you'll be fine. don't leave home without them! they're at least as important as HD inner tubes which you don't really need on the back - their benefit is in stopping percussion punctures which are more likely on the front because of the suspension geometry

The point with selftappering screws are that they don’t weaken the rim much as long as you don’t make the holes to big (and why should you..?) I’ve never heard about rim problems because people have used rim-locks/or screws but I understand that you don’t like to drill a 8mm (or 10mm?) hole in your rim.

It’s easy to know if you need them, lower your air-pressure and drive like mad.

Personally I would have chosen MT21 or T63 instead of TKC80 but it’s a lot of opinions out there. It’s also nice to know that some of the heavy-duty tubes are impossible to patch.