[IanMSpencer]

Messed up and contemplating an oncoming car didn’t notice a chuck of collapsed road edge and gave myself a pinch puncture on the front wheel.

The small tear was just on the rim, too big to self-seal and I thought about a plug but I realised that the side wall was not going to get pressed into place and then I realised the kit was in my other bike (also clearance isn’t good on the Defy so last attempt with a cheap plugging kit on this bike was a failure).

Tyre had been on for 18 months. Came off rim without problems (Conti sealant – Schwalbe 1s glue to the rims, which might be the Schwalbe sealant aka Stan’s, I believe). I carry pliers so no trouble removing the valve. The Conti popped off the rim with a couple of tyre levers. Last year’s sealant still sloshing around happily. Inner tube popped in, gas inflated up, tyres popped onto the rim and got home.

Experience no worse than tubed tyre.

I’ve been procrastinating over replacing the worn out rear anyway so time to go up to 28s (sitting there waiting since last year) from the 25s.

Topic

[ktache]

I have waited an entire year

I have waited an entire year for these to be released, thing is the one hole in the tyre I could have used them on, was a bit dead, the rubber was doing the cracking thing.

Lezyne Tubeless Pro Plugs Tubeless Repair Kit

Might never use them, hopefully not, still haven’t used the Hutchinson MTB tubeless repair kit. 

[Judge dreadful]

I use a tubeless set up, on

I use a tubeless set up, on my best bike. Because I find that it makes the ride, and performance of the bike much more enjoyable for me. However, I fully expect to have to treat it as I would, if riding with a conventional clincher / tube set up. I carry a spare tube, levers and gas / a mini pump. I’ve had to sort a puncture or two, that have defeated sealant, and worming, over the years, and learned the hard way ( 5 mile hike in cycling shoes / cleats with an unrideable bikes ) not to chance riding without the normal supplies.

[ktache]

Self satisfied smile?

Self satisfied smile?

[Steve K]

As a recent tubeless convert

As a recent tubeless convert I had a very satisfying moment earlier this week.  I heard a sharp “psst” of air and felt a tiny spurt of sealant hit my leg (too little to even see afterwards).  And then I just carried on with no noticeable loss of air pressure at all.

[hawkinspeter]

IanMSpencer wrote:

Sometimes the sealant just needs a little peace and quiet and a helping hand to help it seal. I think normally, the offending item that causes a puncture is best left in place – certainly for thorns as they soon get rubbed down, though I guess glass splinters are going to just worm around and do more damage.

Sometimes the sealant needs to shut the hell up and get on it with its job. I hate it when there’s a bit of sealant flying off the front tyre each revolution. You just know that at some point the sealant’s going to run out and in the meantime it’s just spraying over your shoes.

[IanMSpencer]

Sometimes the sealant just

Sometimes the sealant just needs a little peace and quiet and a helping hand to help it seal. I think normally, the offending item that causes a puncture is best left in place – certainly for thorns as they soon get rubbed down, though I guess glass splinters are going to just worm around and do more damage.

[hawkinspeter]

I use CaffeLatex and I assume

I use CaffeLatex and I assume that if it’s liquid that it’s still good.

However, a couple of weeks back, I was riding back from the office (just over 20 miles) and got a front puncture after a couple of minutes. It started spraying a small amount of sealant around and then seemed to seal, then after a bumpy bit of road, it started spraying again. I carried on riding, hoping that it would last the journey and attempted to help it seal by pushing my finger against the hole when I was stopped at traffic lights. Got back into Bristol with my front tyre at about 10 psi which makes for interesting handling with 28mm tyres.

Maybe next time, I’ll actually stop and attempt to fix it as I too carry spare sealant which might have helped.

(The front tyre was quite old and I’d planned on replacing it, so when I did, I found a small bit of stone embedded in the tyre which must have prevented the sealant from working properly)

[IanMSpencer]

Having deinstalled the tyres,

Having deinstalled the tyres, front had a good lining of dried sealant and I’d guess 20-30ml fluid which looked ok. Rear sealant was really just a puddle of water with a good lining. I think the original Conti 5000TL(?) were in principle able to be ridden without sealant as they had a self-sealing layer which I believe they dropped for the current version. Rather than faffing, last time I topped up, October I think, I just stuck in 30ml each tyre on the basis I hadn’t done it since about March. Bike lives in a cool garage, no extremes. I carry a pouch of sealant with me on the basis that my sealant might have gone off, leaked or been expelled in a bad puncture. I have a super-small plug kit but for some reason it lives in my other bike, when it should live in my phone pouch.

My principle is minimum effort rather than optimised cycling!

[IanMSpencer]

I was riding my 25s at 65 on

I was riding my 25s at 65 on the front, which may indeed be the reason why I pinch punctured, but I’ve been doing that for the last 2 seasons. I’ll probably start off at 65F/70R and see how we go.

New tyres Giant Gavia Course 0 on without levers and rear tyre on with just a track pump. Front reluctant to inflate which I suspect was packaging kinks so needed CO2 (I did calculate how many CO2 canisters it would take before it was economical to get a super-inflator and decided to stick with CO2). The tyres had a comprehensive installation leaflet with all the tips and tricks I’ve picked up over the years, including leaving them overnight with an inner tube if they are being uncooperative.

Even better, I’d already booked a trip to the tip, so got rid of the old tyres too. Rear tyre was beyond wear marks but not down to canvas. Front was holed where a repair wasn’t going to be safe and about 2/3 worn with the rubber looking quite scabby and cracked with hints of canvas elsewhere near the rim (perhaps running too soft?).

[hawkinspeter]

peted76 wrote:

Good to hear Ian, tubeless set up correctly just works. 

FWIW.. if your sealant is still viable from last year.. I’d guess you probably put in an awful lot of sealant. I use approx 40ml per tyre and check it about every three/four months with a small pipe attached to a big syringe (if it’s brown and clear it’s gone off, if it’s milky it’s good). 

I was surprised by that too. I don’t know about sealant going brown, but I find it tends to disappear rather than “go off”. Maybe it depends on how many unseen tiny puncture that you get or permeability of the tyres. A three monthly top up of sealant works for me to ensure that there’s approx 40ml per tyre.

[peted76]

Good to hear Ian, tubeless

Good to hear Ian, tubeless set up correctly just works. 

FWIW.. if your sealant is still viable from last year.. I’d guess you probably put in an awful lot of sealant. I use approx 40ml per tyre and check it about every three/four months with a small pipe attached to a big syringe (if it’s brown and clear it’s gone off, if it’s milky it’s good). 

[Flintshire Boy]

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Air-liners is the way to go!

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[mark1a]

Good news all in then. You

Good news all in then. You might be able to go down on the pressure with the wider tyres, I’ve put 30mm tubeless on my “comfort” bike (Vaaru MPA) and have them at 65psi, it makes quite a (good) difference. 

 

[Author]

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