Tubeless for Dummies

[Hot Flatus]

I'm not sure it is wise to pop the bead to refill. When you initially set up the tyre some of the sealant is used to seal the bead. Seems a bit daft to break that seal.

[bludger]

Just found out that I've been riding road tyres tubelessly that weren't tubeless compatible. Gulp...

[sojournermike]

What method does anyone else use to top up the sealant?
I thought I had found a quicker method than the syringe, which was to unhook one bead, pour a bit in, and then push it back on and re-inflate.
But I did that just now and it wouldn't reseat, even when I'd cleaned all the sealant out, and wiped it with soapy water.
It did seat however after I'd run it with a tube in for a bit, and then took the tube back out again.

I just take out the valve core and squirt sealant in with a little pointy bottle from Schwalbe, or a syringe. Then you can put a new valve core in at the same time. Doesn't take long and much easier than breaking the bead seal.

[Ben T]

I'm not sure it is wise to pop the bead to refill. When you initially set up the tyre some of the sealant is used to seal the bead. Seems a bit daft to break that seal.

think that's probably it. You live and learn...

What method does anyone else use to top up the sealant?
I thought I had found a quicker method than the syringe, which was to unhook one bead, pour a bit in, and then push it back on and re-inflate.
But I did that just now and it wouldn't reseat, even when I'd cleaned all the sealant out, and wiped it with soapy water.
It did seat however after I'd run it with a tube in for a bit, and then took the tube back out again.

I just take out the valve core and squirt sealant in with a little pointy bottle from Schwalbe, or a syringe. Then you can put a new valve core in at the same time. Doesn't take long and much easier than breaking the bead seal.

Interesting that you say you put a new valve core in, do you always put a new one in whenever you top up the sealant? Do you get a load of spares at once at the same time as getting new sealant?

I usually reuse the same one but the one on my front tyre's getting a bit stiff to undo now, possibly due to sealant making it a bit sticky.

[Ben T]

Just found out that I've been riding road tyres tubelessly that weren't tubeless compatible. Gulp...

Stop instantly.

[bludger]

Yes I've put tubes in. I might be selling some nearly-new 28mm gravel kings on here for a song in the near future. Great tyres but I really dig tubelessness.

[sojournermike]

I'm not sure it is wise to pop the bead to refill. When you initially set up the tyre some of the sealant is used to seal the bead. Seems a bit daft to break that seal.

think that's probably it. You live and learn...

What method does anyone else use to top up the sealant?
I thought I had found a quicker method than the syringe, which was to unhook one bead, pour a bit in, and then push it back on and re-inflate.
But I did that just now and it wouldn't reseat, even when I'd cleaned all the sealant out, and wiped it with soapy water.
It did seat however after I'd run it with a tube in for a bit, and then took the tube back out again.

I just take out the valve core and squirt sealant in with a little pointy bottle from Schwalbe, or a syringe. Then you can put a new valve core in at the same time. Doesn't take long and much easier than breaking the bead seal.

Interesting that you say you put a new valve core in, do you always put a new one in whenever you top up the sealant? Do you get a load of spares at once at the same time as getting new sealant?

I usually reuse the same one but the one on my front tyre's getting a bit stiff to undo now, possibly due to sealant making it a bit sticky.

No, I only replace when they get sticky. However, they do gunk up over time. I just buy 10 or 20 periodically and keep them in the drawer. They're cheap enough.

[bludger]

I service mine. I take the whole thing out and remove the core. Spray both with GT85 and rub clean. I use lithium grease on the core's threads, and on the valve itself.

Helpfully you can get loads of free cores by going to any bike shop and asking for punctured tubes. Half of them will have removable cores you can pull out yourself.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yes I've put tubes in. I might be selling some nearly-new 28mm gravel kings on here for a song in the near future. Great tyres but I really dig tubelessness.

Ha! When I bought Gravel Kings, at least a year ago, I did the opposite: didn't realize until they arrived that they were tubeless compatible. Panaracer seem to do two versions and I'm not sure it's always made clear which you're getting. Anyway, I still haven't got around to setting them up tubeless, not even sure my rims are compatible. (And no we can't swap, mine are 40mm!)

[Bolt]

Just found out that I've been riding road tyres tubelessly that weren't tubeless compatible. Gulp...

If the non-tubeless tyres provided a secure fit on the rim and held pressure... what exactly are the risks? 

I recently had to remove a tubeless Schwalbe G-One for a warranty return and only had a non-tubeless version of the same tyre as a spare.  Out of curiosity I fitted it without a tube and found it to be as a secure fit on the rim as the tubeless version.  The side walls of the non-tubeless tyre are slightly thinner but the beads appear identical, snapping and sealing nicely onto the rim when inflated and the tyre stays securely mounted when deflated.   

[bludger]

In my case it just deflated very rapidly and without warning. Thankfully I was going a very slow speed having just moved off from a road junction near Richmond Park and it was the back one that went, but if I'd been going anywhere quickly let alone down a hill...

[PeterM]

I had a visitation on yesterday's swim ride back from Andover in pouring rain.  Sealant was spraying from the puncture, so I waited a couple of minutes with the puncture against the road surface.  It sealed, but began spraying again when I set off.  On further examination, a flint was still stuck in the hole and was disturbing the seal when it contacted the road.  I prised it out and the puncture sealed with no further drama.  So maybe sometimes it can be best to remove the foreign body.

It was a big flint, but Stan's Race Sealant was up to the task.

[Davef]

Most of the time my tubeless punctures are sealing themselves unattended. On the 3 occasions where I have had to intervene and top up fluid etc it has always been during heavy rain. Three is not really enough to be statistically valid so it could just be a coincidence.


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[vorsprung]

ok another tale of stupidity from me

I had some conti gp 5000 last summer and did a few rides (longest a 300km audax) on them
For various reasons (see my blog for carbon fibre repair story) after I took them off following a side wall deflation I just left them hung up in the garage

Earlier this year I tried to mount the gp 5000 on a rim and they just wouldn't work

Usually, I just add a bit more sealant and it's fine but they resisted all attempts
Looking at them carefully I noted that there was a lot of leftover dried sealant - like dried snot

I bought some Xylene and carefully cleaned all the traces of old sealant from the tires.  It was mainly on the bead.  This took a lot of time.   I rubbed Xylene on it, then pealed it off with a stanley knife.  After this I wiped it down with Isopropyl

I finally got around to trying them again and they popped up to pressure fine

So, yet another potential problem with used tubeless tires.  Leftover dried sealant.
The fix seems to be to clean it off with dangerous solvents

[simonp]

Hmm, I’ve just gone round rim and tyre with a cloth.

[vorsprung]

Hmm, I’ve just gone round rim and tyre with a cloth.

I think that would work mostly but if you've left a tyre with a lot of sealant "snot" on it for months then it needs more attention

[Hot Flatus]

Peels off, I find. I've only ever bothered to get it off the bead. Cant see that it matters elsewhere.

[chrisbainbridge]

brand new tyre, less than 3 weeks old.  I was replacing the disc pads when I noticed a big gash in the tyre.  As I looked at it the sealant gushed out.  I put a dynaplug into it and it seems to have sealed.  I do not want to discard the tyre so looking at ealing it on the inside.  What patches do people recommend?

[Hot Flatus]

You can get tubeless patches that are like slightly thicker tiptop patches. I've used them succesfully

[Ian H]

My rear tyre is pretty well worn now.  Normally I'd replace it but, as it's my first foray into tubeless, I'm leaving it to the bitter end as an experiment.  It has one inside patch (repairing a puncture from before I took the tubes out), and a Stan's Dart (not a show-stopper, it sealed at a reasonable pressure to get home, but needed repair to hold 50psi). 

Still not sure about narrow tyre tubeless though.

[Hot Flatus]

Its an absolute no-brainer for winter. Summer, less so.

[Ian H]

Its an absolute no-brainer for winter. Summer, less so.

You puzzle me.  Why the seasonal difference?

[Hot Flatus]

Lower chance of having to mend a puncture in the dark, in the pissing rain in sub-zero temperatures in summer

[Bolt]

Joy of all joys, for today marked the first occasion when I actually succeeded in fixing a non-sealing puncture at the roadside without having to resort to fitting a tube   I'm not sure what caused the great gaping wound in the tyre but it was big enough to cause a full deflation within a few seconds.  I used a Vittoria tubeless repair kit which contains a selection of plugs in various widths, selecting the biggest one.  My goodness they're incredibly sticky things and the biggest challenge was to free one from the plastic wrapping, so much better than the Weldite ones I'd tried in the past that were so thick that I couldn't actually get them into the tool to insert them

Anyway, I feel that I have finally passed a rite of passage and am considering reducing the number of spare tubes in my saddlebag to 1

[BrundonBianchi]

I got yet another side wall slice on a tubeless set up yesterday. There was no way that was fixable roadside, so I put an emergency boot in ( a five pound note that’s been hanging around before this virus stuff started). Put a tube in, and managed to get home. That’s 6 Irreparable failures from 6 tubeless tyres, in a year. I’m not using them anymore on my road bikes. I’ve still got them on the 29er, they work brilliantly on that bike, just not the road bike.