Oh ouch, that looks like it was painful. Hope you heal well, and glad to hear you were only going 15 mph… sounds like dedicated tubeless rims are the way to go.
@Todd_Palmer oddly enough its not painful, just annoying and stopping me from riding outside for now. Did try to a ride or three outside and called one “Rattle and thHUMb” for all the U2 fans 
and that was when I started to realize its time to call the doc.
my wheels are tubeless optimized, and like Lennard Zinn in the Velonews article speculates, and matching my own suspicions, a sloppy tape job could make it easier for a tire with low psi to burp out air and flat instantly. In my case the front tire was likely about 20-30psi at the time it burped out all the air and causing the front wheel to slide out during cornering.
I had to push out tube tires (Cont GP4KSII), prior to going tubeless. Enve specs are 2 layers, and every tire except one (Hutchinson Sector 28s) has required forcing the tire off the bead.
Tape has been the root cause of all my leak issues. It always edge rolled putting the tires on. Two layers of the proper width tape and I was good.
Once I got the tire on the rim and the bead seated it took everything I had to get the bead off. I actually had to squeeze the tire with Channel Lock pliers to break the bead, lol. After a couple (OK 6 or 7) remounts it was easier.
Imho that is the way u want them to go on. It’s like it has to compress the tape down so much on the bead that it creates a ridge in the tape that helps hold the tire on. In every “i cant get my tubeless to set and seal” thread, I always feel the tape is the culprit. The tighter that seal, the easier it seats (to an extent).
Anybody in here have personal comparisons between the Schwalbe Pro One Tubeless and the Conti GP5000 Tubeless? I’m at over 2,500 miles on my 28mm Pro Ones and really really like them, but as its time for a new set of tires I’m interested in maybe giving the GP5Ks a shot. Thoughts?
I’m wondering if anyone has thoughts on the lowest pressures advisable to run with road tubeless. As a ~58kg rider I can get away with pretty low tire pressures and have run as low as 50f/55r on my 25mm Schwalbe pro ones, which measure more than 27mm on wide rims. This brings the pressures in line with recommendations I’ve seen in charts like this one. The recommendations from ENVE a few posts above for my weight are similarly low.
I’ve had decent results in terms of speed and comfort using these pressures. However, I’ve recently heard a couple of comments cautioning against running tubeless tires that low (below ~60 PSI). I believe one was from a Lennard Zinn article, and another was one the AACC podcast, although I don’t have the exact sources handy at the moment.
Is running tubeless tires at the recommended pressure for a lightweight rider possibly bordering on unsafe? I’ve had no issues so far, and I’d like to keep running my pressures fairly low if possible for comfort and grip, but I’m starting to worry that there might be safety issues with this.
both, unless you are on a super smooth surface lower pressure is almost always faster, and more comfortable, and will seal quicker, and is less likely to puncture in the first place (the tyre can deflect more around debris rather than have it push through)
I recall listening to a podcast with a ZIPP guy talking about testing lower pressures, they found basically as pressure got lower the power required to complete a section of road got less right up to the point the tyre rolled off the rim because there wasnt enough pressure to hold it on.
Ive been running low pressures for a long time now, even as low as ~35psi on 32mm commuter tyres when I was commuting. These days 55-60psi (70kg rider) in my 28mm pro ones tubeless is good for me and has done well for approx 20,000km
Suspect the guy at Zipp may have been Josh who now owns Silca. Interesting blog from him here on optimising tire pressure for rolling resistance - https://blog.silca.cc/part-4b-rolling-resistance-and-impedance
Certainly not the case that lower pressure always means faster. More the case that higher pressure means faster up until a certain point, but the penalties for inflating beyond that point are quite steep. And where that point is depends on weight, road surface, tire width and tire casing. The challenge of course is figuring it out for your particular conditions! As it happens I’m similar weight (175lbs plus bike) and use the same tires (25mm GP4000s) as in the study Silca did, plus most of my races are on very smooth roads. So their data suggests my optimal pressure for speed (ignoring comfort or puncture resistance) is 110psi, I normally run at 100 which I figure is on the safe side. Be awesome if they could build up a database of different weights, surfaces, tires, etc.
Ive been using tubeless on my cx bike for three years now, and usually running below 30psi without any fluid in the tyre. Never had a tyre roll even in the worst conditions.
On my roadbike i hover around 70-80 psi depending on conditions, even for fast chain gangs and racing. Not a comfort issue more of a grip issue for me, I can corner so much more faster than people pushing 100plus psi and cant see that I lose any time on the straights to them.
I’m giving up on my Schwalbe Pro Ones. Out for a ride yesterday, I took yet another puncture that just (re)sealed enough 3 or 4 times to get me home on 40psi. By my count in under 900km that is at least 4 that required sealing, one was borderline enough to plug so I did. Apparently it is entertaining to see it happen, according to my wife and curious onlookers on the path. There are also numerous other small nicks and cuts which lead me to believe that they are a fairly soft compound and not particularly well suited for my roads/paths. In comparison I have run regular tubed GP4Ks on a brakeless fixed gear for over 2500km (skid braking) and Pirelli Pzero Velos for 5-600km with no issues.
A pair of GP5K TLs are coming from Amazon today as I have a big ride next weekend and simply don’t trust the Pro Ones enough.
I also gave on Pro Ones. Just started riding GP5K TLs and have maybe 200-300 miles on them. Ironically on Sunday was briefly on a group ride behind a guy on GP5K (non tubeless) and he flatted from some small glass at the crest of a riser. Stopped to help him fix the flat, and he had just put the tires on two days prior. Not confidence inspiring, but hey, its happened to me on Specialized S-Works Turbo Pro tubeless in 26mm and then one lasted almost 3000 miles (the other suffered a sidewall gash or something). The Specialized tubeless became scarce earlier this year and have now disappeared from Specialized website. Guessing they will be replaced by Specialized Turbo RapidAir tubeless.
I have no complaints about how they ride, like fast pillows, but “soft” fast pillows, and quite honestly they were a PITA to put on they were so tight, but that (should have been) a one time affair.
The other ones to look out for are the Hutchison Fusion 11 Storms, but will go with the GP5Ks as a reasonably safe bet for now.
the Pro Ones proved to be too fragile. I had problems with Hutchinson Sector 28s - some were a reasonably tight fit to install (good) and some were so loose they were guaranteed to burp off the rim in a low pressure situation. In fact I had one that was reasonably tight and it came off on a descent, although it may have been my fault for running them at 90-100 psi. Given the manufacturing variances I’ve seen with Hutchinson, its going to take a lot of rave reviews of the Fusion 11 Storms before I’d consider testing them. I’d be really suspicious of any tubeless tire that easily slips on a rim.
I’m curious to know what sealant people are using? Has anyone had any good / bad experiences with any brands?
Currently using Stan’s “regular” because it was easy to get at the LBS in a pinch. Going to give Finish Line a go next because it is supposed to last longer and work with CO2 if I ever need a top-up on the road…
Update: Finish Line isn’t good. It wouldn’t seal small bead leaks after mounting new tires. This, in retrospect, happened before as well but I attributed it to my inexperience. It also has a weird slimy consistency.
I’ve been happy with Orange Seal.
I’ve been on the 5000 TLs for this entire season. I have had one puncture during that time and sealant didn’t catch it (to be fair I hadn’t put any new sealant in the tire in over two months, so that’s more on me than the sealant), so I flatted entirely and had to grab a wheel from neutral support.
Based on my experiences and those of several teammates (probably around 20,000 miles between us on the 5000 TLs) they have good puncture resistance but bad sidewalls. My flat is the only one that came from a traditional puncture through the tread but between us we’ve had three sidewall failures from various things. These range from incidents that would’ve caused a problem in any tire (huge gash from going into a pothole on the side of the tire) to relatively innocuous rocks that seemingly shouldn’t have caused a problem
It’s hard to judge the sidewall of a road tire fairly due to the random nature of sidewall contact during road riding, and I’m still a strong advocate of the 5000 TL, but wanted to put that experience out there.
I use a “dip stick” that came with Orange Seal to check sealant level via valve core. Usually need to add sealant after 1.5 - 2 months. Hadn’t ridden outside in 3 months, and last week I couldn’t detect any sealant in front wheel! Added 30ml and will clean out the goop in tire in two months.
I’ve had more than my fair share of sidewall tears, mostly on GP4K (tubes) because that’s what I ran before going tubeless. Had 2 sidewall tears on tubeless. Sidewall issues seem to be a problem with any fast tire.
Funny, knock on wood, but sidewall punctures have not been an issue for road tires for me. When I was mountain biking however they were a fairly common occurrence from bouncing sideways into rocks.
I think the 5Ks are on my doorstep so it’s a done deal for now.
Finally changed my first gp5000tl on rear as I was seeing threads. No visible flats in well over 2k miles including at least 20 on gravel. They are FAST. Using orange seal. As before, it was an epic battle to fit the new tire on Reynolds assault rim, but worth it. I may go back to my panaracer Evo A tubeless tires for winter as they have more sidewall protection, but slower - had something like 10k on multiple tires never flatting.