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• #3027
Has anyone tried helium in their tires?
It was a thing on elite level track bikes in the olden days. While the diffusion rate is higher than for air or nitrogen, it wouldn't be an issue for a one hour CX race. It's also the source of a legendary (or perhaps mythical) tale of Secret Squirrel psy ops in the first decade of the 21st century when Team GB painted their compressed air cylinder to look like Helium in order to trick the Australian team into wasting money
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• #3028
Haha amazing. I've often wondered how much impact it would make (not being scientifically minded enough to work it out myself) and concluded that it can't make much difference or people would do it.
I was also wondering at the weekend whether gases other than co2 can be used to make drinks fizzy.
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• #3029
wondering at the weekend whether gases other than co2 can be used to make drinks fizzy
For "drink" we assume that the gas is non-toxic both in gas phase and in solution. For "fizzy" we assume a reasonably high level of solubility. Suddenly our options narrow considerably. Nitrous oxide might just about work for some definitions of "fizzy" and "non-toxic", that's the first one I'd try if I wanted to experiment.
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• #3030
So I actually thought of this because I booked on a long ride and put a small can of coke in my bidon, then inhaled co2 when I opened the cap to drink from it - and then wondered whether a nicer gas than co2 could be included so I wasn't inhaling something that won't help performance.
Nitrous would make for an interesting ascent up a hill if the quantities could be large enough!
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• #3031
Tips for getting the old gunk out of tyres?
Let it dry out?
Just leave it?
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• #3032
If it's not much I won't bother. Massive boogers I'd let it dry out and peel it
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• #3033
Tyre inflates, bead pops into the bead channel, tyre holds air.
Let tyre down to add sealant and the bead pops out every single time.
What to do?
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• #3034
it'll hold with sealant (hopefully)
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• #3035
But you can't get the sealant in, because when you deflate the tyre to put the sealant in, it pops off the bead.
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• #3036
Too much or too little tape? The tyre can’t be seating properly if it pops up off when deflated.
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• #3037
Adding more tape now, it's got five wraps in now, and it's had 2 and 3 and 4 so far.
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• #3038
How come you can't inflate and pop the bead with sealant in?
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• #3039
Because that blows sealant all over the place
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• #3040
Ok, with two wraps of tape you could hear the bead pop into place, with five it won't make that noise. With two the bead would not stay in place when you deflated the tyre, however.
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• #3041
Ok, with six the tyre goes on with a track pump rather than the bottle, it holds air, but the bead jumps out on both sides, all the way round the tyre, when pressure gets low enough.
Too much tape? But we've tried 2/3/4/5/6 now, and its the same with all.
We could try 1, but that strikes me as far less than I've ever used before.
The bead banged into place (last) at 4 wraps.
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• #3042
Put sealant in wiggle it around and give it a bit to dry then pump a bit more sealant to compensate for the bit of leakage would help. Then pump up .
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• #3043
Nah, it'll be fine.
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• #3044
nah just pour it in the open tyre, rotate the wheel 180 so that the sealant is away from the opening and then put the last bit of tyre into place
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• #3045
I've heard people recommend that method, sounds like sealant bukkake waiting to happen. Sealant in syringe before seating is the only way for me. I'm quite mechanically inept but still seems to work without any mess or tears.
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• #3046
I swing both ways when it comes to sealant. Both with varying success.
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• #3047
What to do?
- Tell us which rim and tyre
- Keep adding more and more tape until the tape fills the whole tyre. You'll then have a nice run-flat assembly which doesn't need sealant.
- Tell us which rim and tyre
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• #3048
Can anyone (@snottyotter ?) recommend a bike shop in Manchester that I can ask to look at this tomorrow morning?
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• #3049
I'm not in the shop unfortunately, but if you nip to Rapha you can get a free coffee at the cafe, which stays open until 1800, and I'll tell Dave to risk just whacking sealant in and pumping up, because it'll be fine. I'll let you decide on how much tape seems best.
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• #3050
Workshop open from 0830 but Dave ain't in until about 0930, no cafe or coffee until 1000.
I use Argon, but only for commutes. Anything less than Radon for crits is short sighted.