Tubeless road - it actually works

Well finally went tubeless with schwalbe pro one 28s on dt swiss 411 rims. Tyres easy to get on no harder than previous gp4000. Bit of a palaver with the first wheel as it's an asymmetric rim, had to reshape the washer that goes next to the rim to the profile of the rim. Then it turned out I had not gotten the tape to seal around the valve and nicked it too much when fitting the valve. So removed it and went again, 1 wrap of tape. valve sealed but tyre would not. Frustrated I eventually added another wrap of tape. Tyre seated and straight up with track pump.
Now did not have enough tape for front, so I used a run of gaffer tape as well.. tyre went straight up.
Interestingly the Schwalbe 28 measures 27mm wide, the 25c 4000 measured 28. The rims are 19mm internal.
Will see how we go but should be comfortable. Bike is mostly for commuting but I've a longer charity spin coming up

Taxuser1 wrote: »

First spin on tubeless and on a new bike. Got 10km in and heard a rear hissing. Rode on hoping there wasn’t anything amiss but the rear was feeling softer and eventually pulled in. Sealant sizzling out so I waited and then 3 or 4 minutes later pumped the tire. No joy, the air was escaping. Not a good start. Sealant everywhere. No repair kit or worm. No tube with valve that was over 40mm so a taxi was called. Longer slit on outside but small on inner tire but I just replaced the tyre, new sealant, bought a few repair kits and bought longer valve tubes. A very expensive start to my tubeless and confidence is completely knocked now

Hope you turned your Garmin or Wahoo off in the taxi

Taxuser1 wrote: »

First spin on tubeless and on a new bike. Got 10km in and heard a rear hissing. Rode on hoping there wasn’t anything amiss but the rear was feeling softer and eventually pulled in. Sealant sizzling out so I waited and then 3 or 4 minutes later pumped the tire. No joy, the air was escaping. Not a good start. Sealant everywhere. No repair kit or worm. No tube with valve that was over 40mm so a taxi was called. Longer slit on outside but small on inner tire but I just replaced the tyre, new sealant, bought a few repair kits and bought longer valve tubes. A very expensive start to my tubeless and confidence is completely knocked now

Unfortunate. In your view was the slit small enough that the sealant should have worked ?

I've got a slit once which hadn't a hope of sealing. I've also had one puncture hole that I am aware of which did seal. But since I switched to tubeless I've had 2 full racing seasons (13-15 races each year) puncture free. Before I was always getting them in races. This may be purely down to the elimination of pinch flats (potholes usually don't get called in races) but either way I'm happy

Taxuser1 wrote: »

First spin on tubeless and on a new bike. Got 10km in and heard a rear hissing. Rode on hoping there wasn’t anything amiss but the rear was feeling softer and eventually pulled in. Sealant sizzling out so I waited and then 3 or 4 minutes later pumped the tire. No joy, the air was escaping. Not a good start. Sealant everywhere. No repair kit or worm. No tube with valve that was over 40mm so a taxi was called. Longer slit on outside but small on inner tire but I just replaced the tyre, new sealant, bought a few repair kits and bought longer valve tubes. A very expensive start to my tubeless and confidence is completely knocked now

This happened to me once too after rolling over broken glass at low speed that I didn't see although only 3km from home. Adding more sealant wouldn't solve it, and I was finding once I got above 60 psi the sealant would fail. Tried using one of those rubber worms but to no avail. In the end I had to patch the inside of the tire which wasn't the easiest as you need to clean the inside of the tire to do so then hold the patch in place until the glue dries - didn't remove the tire entirely though.

Not sure how I would fix a similar hole on a ride in the future though. Possibly a tire boot outside the tire. I've never gotten the hang of those tubeless repair kits.

I have Mavic tubeless (Yksion pro UST tires)
Noticed a bubble on the rear tire before I went out today. Didn't think much of it and figured it had developed on the surface and wouldn't matter if it burst. Oh how wrong was I
2.5 hours into my ride today and it burst. Sealant just p!ssed out everywhere. I had a tube with me so pooped that in and it was grand but there's a nasty gash in the tire where the bubble burst.
Such a day for a puncture too. I was soaked wet within 30 minutes of starting out. Velotoze leaked after about 40. So 2.5 hours in, the last thing I need was a puncture.

Not sure how I feel about tubeless now. Still have to bring spare tubes with me as today proved. I guess they'll still seal with a thorn puncture etc.

If there is a structural tire problem you're in trouble regardless of whether or not you are running tubeless.

manafana wrote: »

...do tubeless levers help?

Oh wow! I didn't realise there were tubeless-specific Tyre levers! Just googled it there now and saw them and why they are needed. I've been riding around with my normal levers in the saddlebag - lucky I haven't had to call on them. Will pick up a set today I think.... Ye learn something new every day ðŸ‘

manafana wrote: »

For the guy who threw tube in, how did you find getting the tyre back on? from new i had get a little help to pop it on, do tubeless levers help?

I just had ordinary €3 Park Tool levers. Never knew there was such a thing as tubeless levers. Got the tire almost all the way on but used a lever to pop the last section on. No issues with it.

not yet wrote: »

Lads, Any idea where I would get the stans sealant, of if someone could recommend another sealant available in Dublin.

Cheers.

I got a bottle of it in Cyclesuperstore. They had several types in stock (for road, for MTB, and I think there was another type there too). I just asked them which is best for my road bike and just took whatever they handed me )
Got myself the syringe thing and the valve core remover and even some plugs...was a real life "shut up and take my money" sort of moment!

not yet wrote: »

Ha Ha, cheers for that. I'll head up there tomorrow. Was it easy enough to put it in..

It's dead easy. If you want you can just take the tire off the rim on one side or partly off one side and pour in the sealant........ You really don't need to add it in through the valve if you don't want to/don't have core remover.

G1032 wrote: »

It's dead easy. If you want you can just take the tire off the rim on one side or partly off one side and pour in the sealant........ You really don't need to add it in through the valve if you don't want to/don't have core remover.

yeah that's true. In my case I had already seated both tyres just to see if I could actually do it and get them to inflate.
Didn't wanna 'break' any seals or whatever so that's why I got the valve core and injector - filling them that way was handy enough but in my case I did need a second pair of hands because the Stans Injector and my Mavic valves didn't connect....the threads didn't match up so I had to hold the injector firmly on the valve while my wife put the sealant into the injector and inject it while I was holding it in place to make sure none spilled out. Only takes seconds to do.

One lesson I did learn, was that don't just take the injector straight off after putting in the sealant. Tilt the wheel left or right a little bit and then slowly remove the plunger. That way you avoid the sealant naturally getting 'ejected' back out of the tyre after you pushed it in - I just took the injector away immediately and all my sealant burst back out of the valve and all over the floor :eek:
- was a simple thing...certainly won't happen again

harringtonp wrote: »

Ejectors and plungers ?

On my setup it can be poured without difficulty through any nozzle that is small enough

Hehe!
Yep this yoke....
Stans NoTubes The Injector https://g.co/kgs/LtwwJE

not yet wrote: »

One more thing lads,

If your not taking the tyre off and putting it through the valve do you not need to clean out old sealant.

I asked the guys in CSS that...
in the case of the stuff I bought (the Stans road sealant....and maybe it's the same for all, but I'm not sure), they said you don't have to empty out the old stuff because it basically just evaporates after a few months. So all I have to do is 'shake' the wheel and listen for the liquid inside. When I can't hear it, that means I just need to pour in a new dose of 60ml sealant. No need to unmount tyres or clean/wipe out the old stuff.
Bike stored in my house, so they reckoned maybe after 3 or 4 months check it.

Canis Lupus wrote: »

So puncture on the way home. It's no9t massive, a mm or so from I assume the glass I cycled into accidentally and the sealant worked although I only noticed at a long red light so I'd lost a lot of pressureaa.. I've left it alone since yesterday and there's minimum pressure in the tyre.

What are the next steps? Should I take the tyre off and look to see if there's any foreign object in the hole then lots of sealant and blow up the tyre and rotate till sealant seals it off?

Leave the hole alone, makes sure there's plenty of sealant in the tyre and inflate to cycling pressure and see if it holds?

Install a road bike patch on the inside? Drop of super glue?

I'd be inclined to leave the wheel standing, with the hole at the bottom. Letting the sealant gather round that region. Then pluck out the glass from the outside. Sealant should sort that bit out.
Unless the offending foreign object might somehow be long enough to scratch against the inside of your sidewall and cause damage there (like a nail might in a car Tyre e.g) then no need to dismount the Tyre.
Possibly the pressure loss might have been because you were stood at lights but the hole and sealent might have been at opposite ends....hence I recommend find the hole and put it at the bottom just long enough to let the goo/sealent to make its way to that area and seal it all up. Might only take one minute.

In theory that shouldn't be necessary as the sealant should coat the entire Tyre but in practice I'm not yet convinced that works....seen a few cases where there's white gunk spewing out all over the place rather than just sealing a simple hole.
(No rude replies or innsuations please )

I've found for a glass puncture that sealant won't seal the tire when you try to inflate back up to 80psi or so - I've used an inner tube patch on the inside of the tire.

No idea what would happen if that happened out on the road though

who_ru wrote: »

i've tried to re seat a tubeless tire after a similar incident - spent a lot of time trying and in hindshight wish i hadn't. just put a new tire on, i know they cost money but it's not worth the hassle really.

That can't be the only solution. Do you use a compressor?

I'd prefer not to load up with the full dose of sealant until I know it's going to seal. So I'd try first without anyway, if that's not working then a few ml, like a teaspoon.
On re use I transferred a schwalbe pro one from my old wheel to new , 3 months and probably 1200km on it, and it went up with no bother.. new schwalbe went onto the back and that didnt seal as easily

manafana wrote: »

see thats why im sold on mavic stuff, even if it does unseat during travel, no need for anything but track pump,

in terms of back up, i think im going look aty a presta converto so i could use a compressor pump at petrol station, and get a patch too along with tubeless levers for emergency tubes.

I have the convertor but the chuck on the compressor needs to be one that has a rubber gromit thingy to make the seal airtight otherwise it's fine for inflating but you don't get a proper push of air to pop the tyre onto the bead if you're having trouble.

CantGetNoSleep wrote: »

Has anyone tried the dynaplug repair kits?

Yes, I have the Dynaplug Racer. I've only had to use it once in anger but it did the job perfectly. I had a puncture that wasn't sealing (more down to the crappy Finish Line sealant than the hole being too big methinks:() so I stopped, pulled out the Dynaplug, took off the lid, plunged the end into the hole and pulled it out. The 'barbed' brass bit sicks in the tyre and leaves the plug end sticking out. Sealed it instantly and I didn't need to add air. I'd say I was stopped for all of 45 seconds max, the last 15 of which was me marvelling at the simplicity of the solution!:p


It's a very nicely finished bit of essential kit and you can get spare plugs to replace the ones you use. The Racer has one plug in each end, a large one and a small one. I'd recommend that anyone running tubeless carries one. You can also stick 2 plugs in if the hole is too big. I got mine in 360 Cycles in Clontarf.



All I carry when I'm on the tubeless bike is the Dynaplug Racer and a Topeak Race Rocket mini pump (the Dynaplug sits snugly under the pump's rubber retaining band). No tubes, no repair kit. I was freaked about getting a puncture while running the tubeless wheels but had a eureka moment when I came across Dynaplugs. Highly recommended.