Tubeless Tyres -"saying the same things about tubeless tyres over and over again" Hippy read the first f**king post

Discussion of these turns up elsewhere but perhaps it's time for a thread devoted to them. The different options, installation, sealant...

Tubeless is not perfect but tends to be better than using inner tubes. I managed to get 6000 miles out of first generation Schwalbe S-One tyre. That was commuting on London's finest roads, through winter on a bike with mudguards and a rack. It was only when a tyre was struggling to re seal that I finally checked them. The tyre had squared off, it was cut to shit. The mudguards were lined with sealant. What it told me was I had had multiple punctures but they had resealed. This was when I was when I became fully convert to road tubeless.

Setup

If when you install the tyres they don't pop into place with a track pump often the best thing to do is put an extra layer of rim tape on.

Rim tape - ideally edge to edge of the rim should be covered.

Also it can be worth putting some sealant in the tyre and then pumping it up - though there is the risk of jizzy explosion this has never happened to me.

If your tyres/wheels don't hold air - pump them up and cover with a washing up liquid and water solution. Bubbles will form at the point of leaks, shake wheel around so sealant gets to the leak and hopefully it will seal.

Sealant, they all seem to work different people have different opinions.

What to carry when riding with tubeless tyres?

Hand pump (CO2 may fuck with sealant)
Tyre worms and insertion tool
Ruberised superglue
Superglue dries faster when wet, so spit on it.
You may carry an inner tube, but if your tyre gets so badly cut up that it won't seal it is pretty fucked and would likely need a boot as well.

Useful stuff from @cycleclinic here

@Paradroid was first to mention “Just in case it's not common knowledge, stan's yellow tubeless tape is supposed to be Tesa 4289 you can find on ebay”

Tyre Pressure according to @mdcc_tester

Don’t fuck around with ghetto tubeless for road bikes, the pressures involved probably won’t work and are potentially unsafe if the tyre pops off.

@spotter repair kit

#rtfp
#rtffp

Green Tape

So far I have used Schwalbe Ones which have lasted quite well but one picked up a sidewall cut after a three months. I sealed it with a bit of sidewall from an old dead tyre and it continued to function well - that was until the bead totally detached from the tyre (in a different location). bikediscount.de have said send it back to them for a warranty replacement.

I have noticed the front one of these get quite a few punctures and the sealant has worked its magic. The tyre is looking worn and has multiple little cuts so I will continue to use it.

Hutchinson Sector/Secteur had put one of these on after the bead malfunction on the Schwalbe, it was much more supple (its the same volume tyre) for the same pressure. However it has only been on the bike for 2 weeks and the sidewall split yesterday - the rubber split and the threading inside got exposed. Sealant could not do its job so I had to install an inner tube.

Have contacted Wiggle and they will be doing a warranty replacement.

In general I am happy with tubeless, but just feel I have suffered from a couple of manufacturing issues with a couple of tyres I have bought.

It is clear that the sealant has done its job a few times, and when it can't it is just a slightly messier job when you put an inner tube in.

I have invested in the Bontrager pump that has a tubeless charging chamber for helping install tyres, and it really helps.

I keep hearing people complaining about sidewall problems with tubeless, that's a concern :-/

Wanna try to go tubeless with the new Pro One but I'm really wary of introducing new problems to an old technology.

Sounds like @dancing james is doing beta testing

I've really enjoyed using Schwalbe Ones. I'm going to either get the Schwalbe One Pros or Vittoria Corsa Speed for the racing wheels next.

You race now?

road and fixed crits yeah.

awesome, good on you.

I haven't tried the latest Schwalbe's but the Ones feel really fast and grippy, the Sector tyre felt much more plush.

From what Schwalbe are claiming their new tyres are even faster.

Might be helpful to add what rims and tyre size you guys are using.

Road:

ZTR Grail + 28mm Schwalbe One Tubeless Mk1 (OK)

Cross:

ZTR Iron Cross + Schwalbe Racing Ralph (tres bon)
ZTR Iron Cross + Michellin Mud ii (pinch flats and dies)
ZTR Iron Cross + Panacracer Cinder Cross (pinch flats and dies)

MTB:

ZTR Flow EX + Schwalbe Hans Dampf Performace (tres bon)
ZTR Arch + Schwalbe Nobby Nic (tres bon)
Ancient Mavic UST rims + Schwalbe Rocket Ron UST (tres bon)
ZTR Arch 29" + Schwalbe Racing Ralph TR (tres bon)

#boastpost etc

I've used 23mm Schwalbe One's on Mavic SL's, Easton EA90 and Shimano RS21 (with Stans tubeless tape). I've got some Ritchey WCS Apex ii wheels that I'm going to try tubeless too.

what is the actual width of 28mm schwalbe one on grail?

I can verify that the Bonty pump that @dancing james has is a fucking beast.

Tried tubeless on my mtb but didn't get on with it.

I suffered pinch flats a couple times that put a hole in the tyre (sidewall/edge of tread) too large for the sealant to fix.

1st time the tyre was half worn so didn't mind that it had become unusable (for tubeless), second time was on a tyre that was only a week or so old. I chucked the sealant, went back to a tube and haven't regretted it.

Out of curiosity, if you're having to fit a tube on the road/trail, what do you do with the sealant? Dispose of it in an environmentally sound way? The twice I got pinches I called it a day, rolled back to the car and sorted it at home.

I was doing ghetto/diy installs with split tubes and struggling to get inflated with a normal track pump, one of those Bonty ones may have helped me get along with it. Don't think the nature of my install had anything to do with the pinch flats by the way.

what is the actual width of 28mm schwalbe one on grail?

30mm

I suffered pinch flats a couple times that put a hole in the tyre (sidewall/edge of tread) too large for the sealant to fix.

This is what was happening to me...in cross. Your pressures were too low and tyres not robust enough I'd imagine.

Out of curiosity, if you're having to fit a tube on the road/trail, what do you do with the sealant?

Stans reckon their gloop is environmentally OK. The times in cross where I've bothered to fit a tube to get home there's been so little sealant left I haven't had to do anything with it.

The new Schwalbe TR stuff goes up like a clincher, real easy.

Your pressures were too low and tyres not robust enough...

Not sure about tyres not robust enough, cheap Conti mtb tyres so the heaviest/least supple casing I'd have thought.

As for pressure, yeah, lack thereof was definitely to blame for the pinches but isn't that why you run tubeless in the first place? Now that I'm back running tubes I don't feel I've had to increase pressures massively.

I dunno, maybe it was a combination of my weight, my bike being completely rigid and my riding style being umm...unsympathetic(?) that led to my issues or just makes it less of a benefit to me. My mtb is as far from weight weeny as you can get so I guess the weight savings weren't noticeable/appreciated, especially since I was adding the weight of a few wraps of tape and a split 20" tube anyway.

Also, I kinda figured that since I wasn't confident enough in the sealants ability to keep me rolling and was still carrying spare tube(s) when riding then I may as well just have tubes in the tyres all the time and save the faff of dealing with the mess of sealant.

Am I right in thinking that for those occasions when you'd need to install a tube, you'd also need to patch/boot the tyre because it's got a fairly large hole in it that the sealant can't deal with?

those occasions when you'd need to install a tube, you'd also need to patch/boot the tyre because it's got a fairly large hole in it that the sealant can't deal with?

Not always but it's possible.

Not sure about tyres not robust enough, cheap Conti mtb tyres so the heaviest/least supple casing I'd have thought.

The tubeless specific stuff has reinforced sidewalls to prevent pinch flats. I've blunt clattered TS Racing Ralphs into curbsides and rocks, felt / heard the rim - and the tyre has been fine. Non TS tyres have been killed instantly in the same circumstances.

As above, not always. Those two tyres I ruined with pinches were fine with tubes, no boot needed.

Was cleaning the bike the other day and found the front mudguard was filled with dirt bound together with latex. Clearly the front tyre has had multiple punctures and sprayed out latex sealant but never enough to cause a significant loss of air.

The front tyre is cut to shreds, a couple of weeks ago it had a cut that kept opening and closing for half a day, but it has sealed back up and remained stable subsequently. If it were a normal tyre I'd have binned it by now just from appearances - but it seems to have loads of life left.