Tubeless-Ready vs regular rims.

[tripleDot]

What exactly is the difference between these two?

I went tubeless early this year using an 8 or 9yr old model  WTB rim without thinking if it was doable or not. I just went for it, albiet I did had a mechanic do it for me. I just bought the tape and tubeless valve. I asked this because I'm been seeing/hearing/reading a lot of tubeless-ready rims, not to mention lots of folks new to cycling had been asking if they can go tubeless with their current setup. 

[gohloum]

The tolerances on a tubeless ready rim will be much closer. In other words, it will be harder to put the tire on and off the rim. 

However you can successfully convert a non-tubeless rim to tubeless fairly easy. I've done it several times.  I used Gorilla Tape and went around the inside of the rim 4 times. this built up the shoulder where the bead sits high enough to make a tight fit between bead and rim shoulder.

I also did the same for my son's 20" fatbike.  And the tires are wire bead and not tubeless rated.  I used Orange Seal for the sealant in his. Worked like a charm.

[carbonazza]

Any rim except if you are really unlucky can be converted.
However you should stick to tubeless ready tires, their bead is better made and has the right dimension to avoid jumping out from your rim at the worst moment 

[gohloum]

Yeah, he is right.  Definitely go with TR tires if you can.  With good sealant, the non TR tires will most likely seal up, but sometimes the sidewalls weep fluid.

Also, if you burp a wire bead tire, there is little chance of recovering on the trail unless you have a CO2 cartridge with you.  The wire bead pulls off the shoulder and doesn't flex back as well.  I found that out too.

Actually, Schwalbe just release their new ADDIX compound tires, so a lot of places are selling the Pacestar compound ones really cheap.  I picked up 2 Racing Ralphs for $33 each.  They were SnakeSkin carcass and Tubeless-Ready.