Help, going tubeless for the first time

[gtturbo]

Everyone has their own methods but here is mine. Forget the sealant for the minute so you can do all this initial stuff without any mess. The most important thing is the tape in my opinion. If that's not fitted properly and leaks you are on a looser from the start. If you are fitting new tape I would then mount the tyre with a tube and leave it for a good few hours so the tape is pushed down and stuck nice and firmly. Then take the tube out,. Try and just take one side of the tyre off to get to the tube so when you pump it back up one bead is already seated so you have reduced what you have to do to get the tyre to seat by 50% already. Pump like mad, if you dont have a compressor, and see if you can get the other bead to seat. A smear of washing up liquid on the bead can help if its particulary stubbon to seat properly. If you didnt fit new tape and cant get both sides to seat again try fitting a tube first so you when you take it out you can leave one bead seated. The tell tail ping is normally a good sign the bead is engaged. No I know there is still no sealent added but depending on the tyre rim combo you can get surprising;y good fairly air tight results. If you are happy there is only minor leaking or even better none at all take the valve core out and use an injector to add the sealent. An injector is a handy tool as its important to top the sealant up as most seems to dry out over time so with this you can do it easily with no mess although eventually you will have to clean all that old gloop out the tyre. Lastly once fitted with the sealant you got to get that wheel spinning to get the sealent in the places it needs to be. I find the best bet is to ride up and down the road for 10 minutes.

That all said I no longer run tubeless on my my modern bikes, but my son does on his road and mtb which is how I learnt the above method which seems to work for me. I always say tubeless is great until it isnt. It's probaby silently saved me many puntures in the past but ocaasionally I have had punctures that wont seal and then you have to put a tube in anyway, or risk being able to repair it in the middle of nowhere with those tubless patch/anchovie things if you are brave enough to not carry a tube. That in my opinion is where the mess comes in when you have to take the tyre off to fit a tube. Finaly if you get a punture when riding it tends to spray selaent everywhere but hopefully it then seals on its own and you just carry on with you and the bike looking like a painters radio. I know some roadies in the club I was in didnt like the mess all over their precious bike but your a mountain biker right so thats the least of your worries.

 

[gtturbo]

Tubeless is great when it works, you can double the traction with low pressure.
But when it fails, some riders find they can't get the tyre off to fit the spare tube they bought , so it's "phone a friend" time.

The gloop goes off.
The very fact it seals holes means it reacts with air.

You need to put more in every year or so, and eventually you get a golf ball of latex rolling inside your tyre.

Cleaning and refitting is necessary at this point.

If you're mtb-ing regularly enough it should be worthwhile.
If you only get your mtb out every few months, it might not.

Bikeworkshop makes a good point about the tyre sometimes can be hard to remove. I know this from a brand new Enve rim costing £££ and a Schwalbe G1 tubeless tyre on my gravel bike. Now I've been riding for 30+ year and never had such a fight to get a tyre off and typically it would be on the most expensive wheel I've ever bought. After litterally a couple of days of carefully trying all the tyre levers I had and ones I borrowed I just couldnt get the bead to pop off the rim. Then I bought some of these tyre levers below. Probably not the best for big downhill tyres and the like but I now swear by these to get XC sized and road tyres off either tubed or tubeless. They are thin enough to get in and pop the bead and being plastic unlikely to damage anything. Interestingly on those particular wheels even once I got one bead off I still couldnt get the other off by hand. Nornally you can just rip the tyre off even with quite tight ones. I since fitted some other tyres on those wheels which were fine and I do think the Schwalbes are perhaps a tad smaller hence the super tight fit.

https://www.merlincycles.com/schwalbe-tyre-levers-x-3-148924.html?utm_source=PHG&utm_medium=AffiliateMarketing&utm_campaign=phg-GB&ucpo=77938&clickref=1100lBAgXL3G&source=PHG&utm_medium=Affiliates&utm_campaign=redbrain

 

[bikeworkshop]

Bikeworkshop makes a good point about the tyre sometimes can be hard to remove. I know this from a brand new Enve rim costing £££ and a Schwalbe G1 tubeless tyre on my gravel bike. Now I've been riding for 30+ year and never had such a fight to get a tyre off and typically it would be on the most expensive wheel I've ever bought. After litterally a couple of days of carefully trying all the tyre levers I had and ones I borrowed I just couldnt get the bead to pop off the rim. Then I bought some of these tyre levers below. Probably not the best for big downhill tyres and the like but I now swear by these to get XC sized and road tyres off either tubed or tubeless. They are thin enough to get in and pop the bead and being plastic unlikely to damage anything. Interestingly on those particular wheels even once I got one bead off I still couldnt get the other off by hand. Nornally you can just rip the tyre off even with quite tight ones.

Tubeless tyres need to be a tight fit on the rim to seal airtight.

The thickness of the tubeless tape sometimes takes out the fraction of slack available to pop the bead off.
(I use mavic ust rims, so no tape)

Many tubeless rims have been designed by engineers who don't give a flying hoot about future maintenance, and lack an adequate well in the first place.
We usually get a customer a week bringing their wheel in to swap a tyre because they just can't get it on/off or seated - first time in their life!

We have some extremely long levers and a compressor, and safety goggles!

As @gtturbo says:
"tubeless is great till it isn't"

 

[clubby]

I do sometimes wonder why you are on this site as you always seem to sneer at anything over five minutes old

No, I just sneer at bullcrap comments from people who’ve never given a proper chance to what they’re condemning.
I’ve ridden mtb’s continuously since 1989 but have always moved with the times. I still have one of my old bikes and appreciate it for what it is, without being stuck in the past. Likewise I love seeing everyone else’s builds, that’s why I’m still here. It is possible to love both.

Because I’ve kept up with the times, I’ve also lots knowledge in the post 98 era, which other might not have. Some people find it useful, others won’t but still feel the need to butt in with negativity towards anything remotely modern. But hey, that’s the internet for you.

 

[legrandefromage]

And you quoted my post, even though my post clearly had caveats that it wasn't for me and was only a personal opinion.

On watching a former sponsored rider (and 30+ year friend) getting covered in tire jizz from his utterly modern 'rig' on multiple occasions, I had chosen to stay behind with the other naughty boys and ride an old bicycle instead .

Having ridden both his bikes and my old tat, I simply preferred my ancient cross compatible junk (and it's back up shed s) rather than restock and start from scratch over and over again as each trend came and went.

Tubeless did nothing for me, a torn tire could be 'fixed' with a bit of card and a new tube and a careful ride home. Not something we could do with with his punctures at the time, the worst involving a drive back to collect him.

The best gift I got was a pack of Lezine self adhesive patches which was way better than farting around with glue

But anyway whats it matter, as you've wisely pointed out, even though an opinion was asked and given, it's the Internet and everyone is clearly wrong whatever they say.

Sneer away.

 

[Twozaskars]

How does this sealant affect the environment when it squirts out all over the place?

 

[bikeworkshop]

How does this sealant affect the environment when it squirts out all over the place?

Mostly latex, but some have plastics in there too.
Read the label, as always.

Compared to a tyres life of butyl tubes, it'll be patches all round when Ridin' wi Wee Greta

 

[Gtpulse]

I moved to tubeless due to several rides being less enjoyable due to hawthorn punctures. Since then I’ve had zero punctures in around 18 months, looking at the hawthorns stuck in my tyres when I clean, it’s about 15 punctures it’s dealt with. I do the same sort of riding on the same bike every week so worth it for me, it’s made it something I don’t have to think about.

One tip I’d give is to try a dry run without putting any sealant in to check the tyre/rim/pump combo you have will get the bead to fill out and seal properly. A drop of fairy liquid in a water spray around the circumference helped with this.

After that I just popped one side off and poured in “some” sealant, differs depending on tyre volume but found it doesn’t need to be super accurate.

I topped up after a year and found there was about a third of it left in there still.

My wheels had the rim tape already but I added more just in case! Think I bought a stans valve/sealant kit.

I still take a spare tube/strip of old tyre/patch kit as well as a tyre plug tool and strips just in case. I’m a bit overkill at just in case stuff but sometimes I’m miles from anywhere.

 

[93hero]

Let’s not forget the other benefit of tubeless…

Coloured valves

 

[legrandefromage]

<sighs gently and remembers wanging around the Peak District on a £15 Saracen with 20 year old tires and simply not worrying>