Tubeless for Dummies

[Hot Flatus]

I do it at least once a year. They cost pence. If I'm topping up sealant (once every 3-4 months) and there is anything I don't like about the core then I stick a fresh one in.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Cheers.

Although the Silca needs to be put directly into the tyre, I see that the replenisher does go through the valve (after 90-120 days they say), so I’ll just change the core then.

Having said that, it will be impossible to know whether it needs replenished without unseating part of the tyre.

[Hot Flatus]

I wouldn't unseat it. Just top it up a bit every 4 months. If you get a load of punctures in succession it tends to mean the ture is worn and time for a change.

[ElyDave]

ANyone know of any 650b tubeless ready tyres of the less knobbly variety (replacing GP 4 Seasons in terms of rolling resistance) of about 32-35mm diameter due to limited clearances. I'm looking for a bit more comfort on the recumbent than 28mm at 90psi can give me.

Conti Contact Speed seems the right kind of tread pattern, but I can't seem to find out whether they are tubeless ready or not. 

[Sergeant Pluck]

I wouldn't unseat it.

Noted.

It’s a pity you can’t really run a Brompton tubeless - that would be my next best candidate for conversion.

The gravel bike is best left with its spendy TPU tubes, all being well with those.

[Sergeant Pluck]

7 days in, ridden on 5 of those days. Rear needed 7 psi added today - bringing it to 41 - and the front needed 4 psi to bring it to 40. No signs of any sealant anywhere. I wouldn’t have noticed the pressure drops when riding at this stage, they are a fat 40mm and I think could be ridden at 30. So in effect no change from my routine weekly top-up with tubes.

So far so good 

[Zed43]

ANyone know of any 650b tubeless ready tyres of the less knobbly variety ( of about 32-35mm diameter

GP5000 is available in tubeless 32mm for 650b. Schwalbe G-One Allround is slightly knobby in 35mm.

[ElyDave]

ANyone know of any 650b tubeless ready tyres of the less knobbly variety ( of about 32-35mm diameter

GP5000 is available in tubeless 32mm for 650b. Schwalbe G-One Allround is slightly knobby in 35mm.

Ta!  Now just a matter of finding any!

[fd3]

Orangeseal reckon sit lasts longer, anyone used it and how long did you leave between swappingz?

[Hot Flatus]

Orangeseal ENDURANCE. There are 2 types of OS IIRC. 

Yes, I have used it and it is decent stuff. But in all honesty, after 7 years of using various sealants I've got to the point where I don't care too much about what goes in as long as it isn't FINISH LINE which is about as effective a sealant as water. 

I think I've got STANS in the aut/winter/spring roadbike, and OKO motorcycle gloop in the gravel bike. Like I said, I think that is what is in there, but I'm not sure because I don't really care

[sojournermike]

Orangeseal ENDURANCE. There are 2 types of OS IIRC. 

Yes, I have used it and it is decent stuff. But in all honesty, after 7 years of using various sealants I've got to the point where I don't care too much about what goes in as long as it isn't FINISH LINE which is about as effective a sealant as water. 

I think I've got STANS in the aut/winter/spring roadbike, and OKO motorcycle gloop in the gravel bike. Like I said, I think that is what is in there, but I'm not sure because I don't really care

This exactly. I’m mostly on OKO at the moment because I got a few bottles cheaply.

[ElyDave]

ANyone know of any 650b tubeless ready tyres of the less knobbly variety ( of about 32-35mm diameter

GP5000 is available in tubeless 32mm for 650b. Schwalbe G-One Allround is slightly knobby in 35mm.

Looking online, I is confused, I think I've looked at the Schwalbe before, but they seem to have two versions, one of which is tubeless ready, the other is not. The 35mm seems to be in the not camp.

[StuAff]

ANyone know of any 650b tubeless ready tyres of the less knobbly variety ( of about 32-35mm diameter

GP5000 is available in tubeless 32mm for 650b. Schwalbe G-One Allround is slightly knobby in 35mm.

Looking online, I is confused, I think I've looked at the Schwalbe before, but they seem to have two versions, one of which is tubeless ready, the other is not. The 35mm seems to be in the not camp.

https://schwalbe.com/en/gravel-reader/schwalbe-g-one-allround suggests all sizes & versions are TLE (tubeless ready). My 700x35s certainly are, it's printed on them....

[ElyDave]

I'm looking at 650b's seem to be different, there are two variants evolution, or performance

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/gravel-reader/schwalbe-g-one-allround

Unclear which is tubeless if you lookat merchants, Merlin, for example has the performance as non-tubeless

[StuAff]

I'm looking at 650b's seem to be different, there are two variants evolution, or performance

https://www.schwalbe.com/en/gravel-reader/schwalbe-g-one-allround

Unclear which is tubeless if you lookat merchants, Merlin, for example has the performance as non-tubeless

Mine are performance. The evo & performance variants (in 650B and 700C, all widths) are all tubeless, at least the current on-sale versions. If in doubt, check the HS number of what you're looking at & ask Schwalbe. I'm not sure if any of the older G-one models were sold non-tubeless, but I don't think so, test reports always seemed to run tubeless.

[ElyDave]

Good to know, I was going to drop Schwalbe a question today in any case

Confirmed this morning, all current models are TLE, tubeless ready, so just need to check whats on sale

[ElyDave]

Had my first tubeless visitation the other week, sealant pissing everywhere, and took a lot longer to seal than I expected, maybe 60s.  Still, it did stop, and I had enough remaining pressure to get home.  REmoved the wheel to clean the excess off the frame and top up the tyre, gave it a close inspection, and I couldn't even find the puncture again.

I'm impresed

[Sergeant Pluck]

I had my first visit a couple of weeks ago - well, second really, but the first was when I initially set up these tyres as tubeless: one tyre had a known hole from being used with tubes.

Like you, I found it took longer to seal than I’d expected. Next time, if I saw a similar volume of sealant being expelled I would get in early with a rasher. As it was, in the dark and pissing rain, minus my glasses  I wasn’t confident and as time passed I could see that the sealant was going to win. It would have been rideable, just, but I had a way to go so added some CO2.

Despite my mudguards preventing most of the sealant getting everywhere, there was still a significant amount of cleaning to do, largely because in the rain etc it took me a while to recognise what was happening. Easily cleaned off though.

Like you I have not been able to find the puncture, even when I looked for it with the tyre deflated when I replaced the CO2 with air when I got home.

Back to usual performance - I add literally 2 or 3 PSI a week.

The rear is getting quite worn so I think I will soon do a proactive replacement. It will be interesting to see how it looks in there. I am confident that the Silca sealant does not 1) completely evaporate and 2) eat rim tape, as has been reported.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Having now witnessed a couple of “episodes” on others' bikes - one quick successful seal, one requiring a rasher - I am leaning towards tubeless for the gravel bike in addition to the General Purpose Bicycle.

I think the benefits of being able to stop or repair a puncture with the wheel still in the bike are much greater on gravel rides, rear wheel particularly. Invariably deflations will occur when the bike is covered in shite and in awkward spots that will only add to the mess.

[ElyDave]

Also leaning towards going tubeless on other bike, starting with the Airnimal as that would be easiest if the wheels are compatible (e-mail sent to CycleCentric to check), current tyres are 26" Conti Gatorskins, anyone have any experience of attempting to fill these with sealant and run as tubeless?

Cheers
Dave

[Hot Flatus]

Having now witnessed a couple of “episodes” on others' bikes - one quick successful seal, one requiring a rasher - I am leaning towards tubeless for the gravel bike in addition to the General Purpose Bicycle.

I think the benefits of being able to stop or repair a puncture with the wheel still in the bike are much greater on gravel rides, rear wheel particularly. Invariably deflations will occur when the bike is covered in shite and in awkward spots that will only add to the mess.

Tubeless is ubiquitous in MTB and has been mainstream for almost a couple of decades. Seems to make perfect sense offroad.  Bit more moot on road in summer.

[Sergeant Pluck]

Changed over a couple of weeks ago - new Terra Speed on the back, used Terra Trail on the front - no problems at all during set-up. Both tyres stayed up without sealant. I've also changed to Maxalami Maxseal - made by OKO.

[RichForrest]

I'm getting fed up with trying tubeless on my Sonder. Not sure what I'm doing wrong though!
Cleaned tyres and rims with brake cleaner and alcohol, fitted the tyres with no sealant and a lot of pressure to seat them.
Add sealant and valve, pump back up and all good for a few days.
That is until I get a flat, the tyre then seems to move and sealant leaks out around between the rim and tyre and will not seal up again.
A few times I've had to stop and pump it up 3 times on the 7km ride home from work.

Have currently got tubes inside but would like to sort the issue out!

[Sergeant Pluck]

How does the rim tape fit across the rim bed? It should be like the top part of this image:



The edge of the tyre and the tape come into contact in such a way that the sealant doesn’t actually contact the rim itself.

all good for a few days.
That is until I get a flat

What tyres are they, out of interest?  When you say a flat, do you mean a true puncture or the tyre becoming unseated?

Ideally the tyres should stay up without sealant in them - the sealant is for when you get a puncture, not to keep the tyre from deflating in normal use.

[RichForrest]

I did wonder if it was the tape, it just seems to be sat at the bottom and not up the sides (as such).
Did think it may need to go round twice slightly to one side then the other. The tape is the same width as the rim when putting it on and doesn't go up the side at all.
Tape is Muc-off and supposed to be the correct size for the rim, tyre is Panaracer Gravelking SK TLC
It doesn't seem as pliable as the tape in your picture, it's more like Sellotape.

1st time was a puncture the 2nd just seemed to go down after a few days. Both times it has then leaked sealant from around the rim.

The tyre stayed pumped up overnight without sealant when I 1st inflated it.