Dealing with a tubeless tyre which has come unseated, at the side of a road

[danrough]

Early this morning, on my way to the Upper Thames audax, I rode over something which put a hole in my rear tubeluess tyre so large that the sealant in the tyre couldn't reseal the hole. I pulled over and put a plug in the hole, which sealed it up.

I wanted to top the sealant up though with some that I carry with me for such occasions. When I let the air out of the tyre, it unseated - possibly because I let the air out too quickly, possibly just because. I was a bit stuck at that point, the pump I carry with me did not generate enough pressure to reseat the tyre. I had to abandon my planned ride.

I'd like to know how others deal with such situations. I normally carry an inner tube with me, but of course this morning, I had forgotten it. I don't carry CO2 canisters as I have read that the CO2 affects the sealant and solidifies it.

I'm intrigued to know if others out there have methods that would have saved me and allowed me to continue on my way. (I was quite near a petrol station, and I tried to use the airline there, with the adapter from my pump, but that was unsuccessful.)

Would appreciate to hear people's tips!

[mzjo]

I can't comment on cycle tubeless, not being a user, but something I have seen somewhere, either on a car tyre or(more likely) on a motorbike tyre, was a tourniquet placed around the tread and tightened to force the sidewalls out of the well and so help them to seal. Don't know if it would work on a cycle tyre though. If it did, a piece of string in the toolkit is not a terrible penalty for the weight weenies

[PaulF]

Assuming it’s only unseated at one point, put that point on the ground with some weight on it whilst you pump it up. That should push the bead on the rim.

Depending on your pump and dexterity you may need a third hand....

[PaulF]

P.S.  I’ve used that technique with mtb tubeless, not tried with road but should work

[mzjo]

Assuming it’s only unseated at one point, put that point on the ground with some weight on it whilst you pump it up. That should push the bead on the rim.

Depending on your pump and dexterity you may need a third hand....

Do I hear the magical words "CO2 cartridge"?

[danrough]

Assuming it’s only unseated at one point, put that point on the ground with some weight on it whilst you pump it up. That should push the bead on the rim.

Depending on your pump and dexterity you may need a third hand....

Do I hear the magical words "CO2 cartridge"?

It was unseated in multiple locations - the tyre popped off the bead as it deflated.

I had previously heard/read that CO2 with tubeless sealant was a no-no. It might well have done the trick this morning. It might also have been left behind with the tube that I would normally have inserted as a last resort.

[danrough]

I've done a little looking into whether I could have used the petrol station's air line. I've decided that I am going to put one of these in my kit http://www.wiggle.co.uk/stans-no-tubes-presta-schrader-valve-adapter/ - it might work - who knows - it's another option though, I suppose.

[Kim]

I think CO2's the only way you're going to win this one at the roadside, unless that roadside happens to be within walking distance of a bike shop or a garage with a compressor.

By all means deflate the tyre and refill with air at the first convenient moment to preserve the sealant.

[Kim]

I've done a little looking into whether I could have used the petrol station's air line. I've decided that I am going to put one of these in my kit http://www.wiggle.co.uk/stans-no-tubes-presta-schrader-valve-adapter/ - it might work - who knows - it's another option though, I suppose.

I always keep one of those in my puncture repair kits (alongside other small-but-potentially-extremely-useful things like SRAM powerlinks and spare cleat bolts).  It's the sort of thing that could save the day if your pump fails [to be in your bag where you expect it to be].

[Brucey]

I would suggest that you carry a tube and be prepared to use it. This involves having something which will unscrew the locknut at the base of the valve, even when the tyre is flat; it is of course much easier to undo when the tyre has air in it.

CO2 does indeed react with most types of latex-based sealant; the chemistry is that the latex remains in solution as long as the solution is alkaline. CO2 makes carbonic acid and this causes the latex to come out of solution. Not all sealants react in the same way.

I'm guessing that the rim isn't a dedicated tubeless one, or if it is, it isn't a very good tubeless design, and/or the tyres don't fit very well. With better designs/fits the tyre beads should be located behind two ridges in the rim well and shouldn't come off as soon as the tyre is deflated.

Of course the traditional solution would be to use tubed tyres (chosen so that they come off the rim very easily) and that you whack a new tube in and carry on. This rarely takes more than a couple of minutes to do and is likely to be 100% successful.  Until tubeless kit is improved, I'm disinclined to risk prolonged sticky-crap wrestling matches by the side of the road.

cheers

[danrough]

Thanks Brucey

I would suggest that you carry a tube and be prepared to use it. This involves having something which will unscrew the locknut at the base of the valve, even when the tyre is flat; it is of course much easier to undo when the tyre has air in it.

Notmally, I do. I made the mistake of leaving it at home today though.

CO2 does indeed react with most types of latex-based sealant; the chemistry is that the latex remains in solution as long as the solution is alkaline. CO2 makes carbonic acid and this causes the latex to come out of solution. Not all sealants react in the same way.

Good to know, thanks. I'll do a little research into what sealants and which don't play nicely with CO2.

I'm guessing that the rim isn't a dedicated tubeless one, or if it is, it isn't a very good tubeless design, and/or the tyres don't fit very well. With better designs/fits the tyre beads should be located behind two ridges in the rim well and shouldn't come off as soon as the tyre is deflated.

The rim has been fine with other brands of tyre, this tyre has been a pain to deal with since the very beginning.

Of course the traditional solution would be to use tubed tyres (chosen so that they come off the rim very easily) and that you whack a new tube in and carry on. This rarely takes more than a couple of minutes to do and is likely to be 100% successful.  Until tubeless kit is improved, I'm disinclined to risk prolonged sticky-crap wrestling matches by the side of the road.

I've ridden somewhere in the region of 10,000 km this year without a puncture until today and without any cause for concern. I do change the sealant every couple of months, but other than that, tubeless has been hassle free in the 3 or 4 years I've been running it. It's a trade off, I suppose.

[danrough]

I've done a little looking into whether I could have used the petrol station's air line. I've decided that I am going to put one of these in my kit http://www.wiggle.co.uk/stans-no-tubes-presta-schrader-valve-adapter/ - it might work - who knows - it's another option though, I suppose.

I always keep one of those in my puncture repair kits (alongside other small-but-potentially-extremely-useful things like SRAM powerlinks and spare cleat bolts).  It's the sort of thing that could save the day if your pump fails [to be in your bag where you expect it to be].

Yep, I have the power links and the cleat bolts - a mech hanger too, had never thought to carry one of these too. I will be from here on in

[Frank9755]

Once you've lost the seal it's usually time to abandon tubeless for the day and put a tube in.  Unless you have a portable version of what you use to inflate at home, which isn't really worth it because it happens so rarely. I've only had it happen twice in three years of tubeless: one was my error and the other was a friend's pump which unscrewed my valve core

[dim]

I'm new to tubeless, and have only been using tubeless tyres for the past month (840 km so far) and I always carry a spare tube and a spare clincher tyre, aswell as a bottle of orange sealant.

I need to get the CO2 kit and the kit to seal/plug the bigger holes. I have also read that CO2 affects the sealant, but perhaps you can use the CO2 to seat the beads, then deflate the tyre so as to get rid of the CO2, then add a bit more sealant and pump it up again with your hand pump?

I've had one puncture so far (that I know of), and that was during the Cambridge Autumnal 100 a few days ago .... lost most of the tyre pressure before the hole sealed, but a few pumps, and it was fine

I'm using the 2017 IRC Formula Pro RBCC tubeles tyres and rate them highly .... super grip and roll very fast

[Frank9755]

I've ridden somewhere in the region of 10,000 km this year without a puncture until today and without any cause for concern. I do change the sealant every couple of months, but other than that, tubeless has been hassle free in the 3 or 4 years I've been running it. It's a trade off, I suppose.

My experience from a bit more distance over a similar period is that tubeless very rarely fails but, when it does, it fails badly!

[zigzag]

my clubmate had a third puncture in recent months that didn't seal and could't fix at a roadside. uber to the rescue and now he's moving back to tubed clinchers. it depends a lot on where you ride. from what i've seen so far, cuts from broken glass are least likely to seal. unfortunately, london's roads have plenty of broken glass on saturday mornings (following friday night outs) before it's swept/hoovered throughout the day. sundays aren't much better in that regard either.

[Ivan]

I guess you weren't using any lubricant to get the tyre to reseat? Carrying some 'Easy Fit' seems a bit excessive, if the garage had some soapy water that might have helped?

[danrough]

The tyre was on the rim, it wouldn't seat into the bead properly though. No matter how hard I tried to pump air into it, to inflate it and get it to seat (I tried removing the valve core), it wouldn't pop onto the bead. In fact, all of the sealant that I'd added just oozed out of the tyre while I was trying to inflate it further.

What I have decided since the weekend, and based on some of the input that I've received in this thread:

I will check twice that I have my spare inner tube before leaving the house,
I'll carry a schrader-to-presta adapter in my tool kit - that may help me reseat a tyre should I need to,
I'll revert to Bontrager tubeless tyres, which I've run for the last 3 years without issue (this is confirmation bias at work folks - they haven't failed me to date, ergo, they won't fail me in the future),
When tubeless works, it works and is brilliant. When it doesn't work, things can get a bit sweary in the heavy rain at the side of the road, early in the morning.

Thanks everyone for suggestions / assistance!

[GraemeMcC]

I've not used it myself yet (still contemplating options for newly bought Shimano RX830 wheels and Pro One tyres, but deferring until Spring whilst I've a stock of good tubed tyre casings to see me through winter) but the Caffelatex sealant claims to be CO2 resistant chemistry - to both the sudden temp change, the air blast effect and the acidity. It also claims to have longer in-tyre life than other brands of sealants. Can anyone here verify these claims from current experience?

They (Effetto Mariposa) also sell a combined gas/sealant cartridge (Expresso) which seems to have the capability to inflate, pop in the beads and replenish the sealant, all in one go. Might be worth considering for touring / long Audax ? Otherwise, standard CO2 cartridges, maybe with the Milkit bladdered valve fittings (to slow down the in-rush blast effect) look like they should be up to re-seating a casing and get you back on the road, with or without a re-injection of sealant thru' the valve.

Otherwise, as noted above, its the toolkit/levers/gunk-mopping kit to fit a boot and a tube to a gashed casing wall. You pays your money and takes your choice...