Road Tubeless Tips **update re leak**

[Pale Rider]

You say the sealant is seeping through the sidewalls, which means the carcass is not airtight.

Nothing wrong with that, the carcasses of most bicycle tyres are not airtight, but it's a bit cheeky of Hutchinson to call your tyres 'tubeless ready'.

I've been slightly underwhelmed with my low pressure balloon tyre tubeless set-up.

Front has been fine, but the rear loses pressure at varying rates.

I've now done two top-ups and manipulated the wheel as much as I can.

As others have said, spreading the sealant around the inside of the tyre needs more effort than just spinning the wheel.

The rear has held pressure since Sunday, so it looks like the extra sealant has done the job, although I won't be declaring victory until I've done a couple of rides.

It's taken a lot of sealant to get to this stage.

The inside surface area of the 2.4" Schwalbe balloon tyre is relatively large, but I reckon in total I have used about half a litre of goo.

The first lot installed by the bike shop soaked into the carcass entirely in a couple of months, and I've since topped up twice.

The Alex rims are tubeless ready, but the Moto X tyres are not.

I think the moral of the story is that even though most tyres can be persuaded to seal, it's better to use a genuinely tubeless ready tyre and a tubeless ready rim.

Such a tyre will have an airtight carcass and a bead designed to seal on a rim which is also designed for the job.

 

[HLaB]

T

Hello all.

I'm fairly mechanically minded (build up my own bikes and wheels) but I've never fitted or used a tubeless tyre. I have read and watched plenty and generally know what to do.

More out of interest I've ordered some Hutchinson Fusion 5 11storm tyres due to what seems to be universally good reviews.

Any general day to day tips you learnt which yoy wish you knew from the start?

***update*****
Installation was very easy and completed 3 days ago. They have not been used yet but the rear is losing around 40 psi over 24hr. The front about 5.

I expected some loss at first until I rode them and the sealant circulated more but am surprised at that rate.

The tyre and valve is secured and I've put both wheels in a bath to look for leaks. The bubbles form on the sidewall so (a lot lot more in the rear) so the air is escaping through the walls and not the rim interface.

I added 60ml sealant per wheel. Is it normal to have to add more or do I just need to ride them to get the sealant circulated around the inside of the tyre?

I don't loose much psi at all and 40psi would be about 3 weeks for me.
The first sealant I used on road tyres said 30ml only but the current stuff I'm using says 2-3 Oz (55-85ml).

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Genuine question here.

This all sounds like a lot of hassle.

Are the benefits of going tubeless really worth it, and if yes, what is the one benefit that makes it worthwhile for you?

I only ask this as I’ve had no bad experience with tubed tyres in 28c. Very comfortable and four punctures in 22,000 miles.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I've never used tubeless, but from what I've read of people's experiences I think I'd rather go back to sprints and tubs.

 

[Milkfloat]

Genuine question here.

This all sounds like a lot of hassle.

Are the benefits of going tubeless really worth it, and if yes, what is the one benefit that makes it worthwhile for you?

I only ask this as I’ve had no bad experience with tubed tyres in 28c. Very comfortable and four punctures in 22,000 miles.

Hundreds of thousands of people are happy with tubeless, myself included. Do a quick search to find the pros and cons, they have been covered lots of times.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

Hundreds of thousands of people are happy with tubeless, myself included. Do a quick search to find the pros and cons, they have been covered lots of times.

I have read the many posts on the pros and cons of going tubeless and, if I wanted to read them again I would do a quick search.

Thanks for taking the time to identify the one pro that swings it for you.

 

[Will Spin]

I have been using tubeless for about 18 months and done about 6,000 miles on them.
Pros;
Greatly reduced number of punctures (I ride in all weathers on some fairly puncture producing roads)
Cons;
Expense, the tyres are more expensive than tubes tyres and there is less choice available. The sealant is expensive too.
The available tubeless tyres seem to be in my view quite soft and not very hard wearing so I was struggling to get much more than 1500 miles of each tyre before they had problems due to large cuts.
Maintenance, I found that bigger holes, if they sealed while out on the road required a tyre patch to be fitted when back at home, otherwise the sealant would give way again. Taking the tyre on and off for maintenance is more complicated than for tubed tyres.
Non sealing punctures (had only a couple of these) required a fair amount of faffing about beside the road to get them sorted, probably more than is required with tubed tyres.
In my view it's only worth going tubeless on a road bike if you are experiencing lots of punctures due to road surface and weather conditions. Even then it might be easier and cheaper just to stick with the tubed tyres and be prepared to fix a puncture at the road side ( a few minutes worth of effort). I've taken my tubeless tyres off now and gone back to tubed (I might change my mind again when winter comes along!).
If you've only had 4 punctures in 22,000 miles then it definitely isn't worth going tubeless.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

I would dispute the cost if you do not always patch a tube. Replacing tubes for a puncture is expensive, and soon adds up,in costs. So tubed tyres can work out more expensive.

 

[Venod]

Are the benefits of going tubeless really worth it, and if yes, what is the one benefit that makes it worthwhile for you?

If you only won't one benefit as an answer, I would have to say less punctures.

I am bound to put a curse on myself saying this.

I have run tubeless on the MTB for about 4 years with no punctures on all sorts of terrain and over all sorts of debris.

On the CX/Road bikes about 2 years with same lack of punctures.

I don't run high pressures, as I find another benefit (OK I know its more than the one you asked for) is running at lower pressure thus more comfortable.

Although 4 punctures in 22,000 is a very good reason not to bother.

 

[smutchin]

I would dispute the cost if you do not always patch a tube. Replacing tubes for a puncture is expensive, and soon adds up,in costs. So tubed tyres can work out more expensive.

Throwing tubes away rather than patching them seems frivolously wasteful to me.

 

[smutchin]

As for the benefits of tubeless, I don't think "fewer punctures" is strictly the correct answer. Since converting to tubeless a couple of months ago, I've had two punctures. However, in both cases, the real benefit of tubeless was that I could keep on riding when they happened as the hole sealed itself within moments.

 

[Milkfloat]

I have read the many posts on the pros and cons of going tubeless and, if I wanted to read them again I would do a quick search.

Thanks for taking the time to identify the one pro that swings it for you.

I am confused, if you have read all the threads on this before, then you should be fully aware of all the pros and the cons, so would not need to ask again.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

I am confused, if you have read all the threads on this before, then you should be fully aware of all the pros and the cons, so would not need to ask again.

I'm sorry you're confused. Had I asked for people to list what their perceived pros and cons of riding tubeless were I would be able to understand your confusion.

As it is, I asked them to "identify the one pro that swings it for you" which is a different question.

 

[Pale Rider]

The one pro that swung it for me will take a little explaining.

The bike came with tubeless ready rims, but with tyres with inner tubes.

It was surprisingly hard to release the bead of the tyre from the rim to fix a puncture.

Worst of both worlds - no self sealing and extra difficulty in changing a tube - so I went tubeless.

 

[Tenacious Sloth]

The one pro that swung it for me will take a little explaining.

The bike came with tubeless ready rims, but with tyres with inner tubes.

It was surprisingly hard to release the bead of the tyre from the rim to fix a puncture.

Worst of both worlds - no self sealing and extra difficulty in changing a tube - so I went tubeless.

That's interesting actually, because I've built a couple of sets of wheels up with Pacenti SL25 and Forza rims which are also tubeless ready.

I've previously mentioned how few punctures I seem to suffer, but the most recent one I had was in May last year, 30 miles into a 1000 mile LEJOG which is typical. I also noticed how difficult it was to release the tyre bead from the rim and was glad that I carry a pair of gloves to protect my fingers when wrestling with tyres.