Tech Question: Will tubeless tires work on "tubed" rims?

[SteveFrench]

Will tubeless mountain bike tires work on old (not-tubeless) rims if a tube is included? I just put a new pair of kenda tubeless tires on my mountain bike. I put tubes inside of the tires because my bike has old mavic 521 rims. These are not tubeless. I have gotten 3 flats in three days. One flat tire each day. Two flats in the rear and one flat in the front. I'm starting to wonder if maybe my tubeless tires won't work on old school clincher rims. The rims are true and undamaged. All flats have happen while riding up and down the pavement with 50 lbs in each tire. Thanks for your help!

[dvs cycles]

Make sure you are not pinching the tube. Tubeless are probably harder to mount just like they are on road wheels and make pinching easier to do.

[SteveFrench]

Thanks for your thought. Interestingly enough they slipped on very easily. I inflated each tube to a few lbs and stuck it inside the tire before I mounted the tire to the rim. Just like how a motorcycle tire is mounted. I've mounted tubeless mtn bike tires on American Classic tubeless wheels and I needed a tire lever to mount those suckers.

[Mark McM]

In general, standard and tubeless tires and rims are meant to be cross compatible (although you can only omit the tube if you use a tubeless tire on tubeless rim, or use some type of tubeless conversion kit with a sealant).

What type of flats did you have? Where on the tube were the holes?

[DfCas]

I have used tubelss tires on tube type rims with no problem, so I am going to say yes they are. Have no idea what your problem is.

[Richard]

Do the tires have old sealant in them? I suppose it is possible that the sealant may cause the tube to inflate in a way that mimics a twist or catches the tube and pulls on it in an odd way or maybe the sealant has bits of dirt or crud clinging to it which causes a puncture. That said, I run tubeless tires with tubes on my MTB and have had no problems.