D.I.Y. Tubeless

So I was riding the other day and tore the valve stem on my rim strip. Instead of spending more money I really don't have and waiting a miserable week for the UPS truck, I decided to take a crack at the D.I.Y. option. The whole process went off without a hitch and saved me approx $20. I don't know if it's overkill or not but I used a double thickness of tube. I peeled a 20" tube in halve, stretched the top side around the rim, trimmed it to fit, bored a hole for the valve stem, mounted the other half, trimmed that to fit, then put on the tire, added sealant, then aired it up. It took a little coaxing for the bead to seat, but all in all it was pretty straight forward and painless.

Maybe the Universe is trying to tell me something. So I got my bike back into working order and my first ride out and a tangle of young vines tear my rear derailleur off -- singlespeed conversion kit to the rescue I guess. I've gone through more derailleurs in the last few years than in all 16 years since I started riding. I guess the Universe is on its bullhorn telling me to pay more attention to trail maintenance.

I got out today for my first dedicated ride (no stopping with the loppers) for ten and change on the singlespeed. Good stuff. We are close to having passable trail -- a season or two away from buff trail. The D.I.Y. rim strip held its own. (Stan will still get my business for sealant, but rim strips will be "ghetto" from here on out.) Happy Trails. Looking forward to heading up that way before too long.

I hope you mean you are breaking the replaceable hanger to the deralileur and not actually destroying the actual deralileur!

Ever since I've been back on the "steel is real" wagon, unfortunately it's been the actual derailleurs. Since I've been back in Missouri (nearing ten years now), I've had to replace 4 hangers on the NRS and at least 3 derailleurs on the Zion 660. (Prior to that I had only pretzeled one.)

So far I'm really enjoying the singlespeed (and to my surprise the only times I've reached for a lever that isn't there has been looking for a taller gear)