Could have done without learning that tubeless fettling lesson tonight.
To start at the beginning my rear winter wheel pawls were jamming last night and I have not had time to fix it yet and my trusted lbs mechanic is on holiday also. So I swapped in the summer wheels which are tubeless. I took the valve core out of the rear to insert new sealant but couldn’t get much in and ended up snapping the syringe extension and it was rather messy. I had an inkling something was blocking the stem. So I pumped them up hoping the pressure would unblock the stem. Took out the valve core again and the tyre stayed solid. So I had a proper clean out of the stem. Lol, once I did so the sealant went straight in in seconds.
Having learnt my lesson I gave the front wheel stem a proper unblocking. After doing so its sealant went in in seconds also and there was no mess
First ‘road tubeless’ fail since getting my drivers license during the disco era and Carter administration A couple years ago we sold our sedan that had no room for a spare, and of course I included the car tubeless repair kit - sealant, plugs, and compressor - when it was sold. Sure could have used that on Saturday!
In case you are looking for new SUV tires, after yesterday I can highly recommend the Michelin Primacy Tour A/S based on driving 4 hours up and over the Sierra mountains on I-80. There are long sections of really poor road surfaces due to chain requirements during snow storms, and on dry roads yesterday these tires were both quiet and grippy!
Conditions look ok, depending on which resort(s) you plan to ski at and what type of skiing (green, blue, black, double black, cliffs) you plan to do. If you like the steep stuff like me, I always say “there might be 6 feet of base up top, but I like to ski the stuff with 8 feet of rock” At least that’s the way it works off the top ridge at Kirkwood and Palisades…
I’m content skiing blue groomers all day but my GF likes to explore steeper ungroomed terrain. We’ll probably postpone and go mountain biking instead that weekend.
I bought IRC Formula Pro X guards for the winter, on the advice of Malcolm from The Cycle Clinic (get past the slightly direct manner and he is a wealth of useful information). For a fairly hardy winter tyre they are very grippy and not that slow. They show barely a mark after a solid 2000km on some really crappy roads.
Given some better weather recently, I took out the summer bike (running Hutchinson Fusion 11s). About 40km into the ride, I thought the front felt a bit squishy. I stopped and saw 4-5 tell tale sealant blobs. I got as many of them as I could on the bottom of the tyre against the road and pumped the tyre back up with about half a canister of CO2. The whole process took less than 5 minutes and it held perfectly to the end of the ride. It’s subsequently losing about 10psi a day and will probably be replaced in the spring, but is still perfectly rideable, and the tech did its job. Thumbs up for a fairly affordable race/fast tyre.
Just mounted up some contis to a pair of Zipp 454s, the rims were true to the eye both before mounting and after with mounted and inflated tyres. Left them overnight and now they’re a few mm lateral out of true. Has anyone else experienced this?
I was surprised, because although I know tubeless tyres affect spoke tension, I assumed after mounting and seeing they were fine that was job done! Bit peeved to see all was not well today
Hoping someone smarter than me will chime it. Roads in New England are crap right now with debris, pot holes, etc. I’m running Schwalbe Pro One 700x32 tubeless and found this today. Either the sealant is working, and/or the cut wasn’t too deep, but should I worry about this? Wondering if I can seal that with superglue? Any tips appreciated!
@FrankTuna - If it were me I’d most likely replace the tire. If it’s on a B bike/wheelset I might put a Stans Dart in it. However, it just looks really compromised.
That was the case…just the top layer and it was a little flap of rubber. The tire never lost air with that little cut. Used Shoe Glue and it bonded perfectly. 100+ miles later no issues.
Just bought a pair of alloy “crit beater”/training rims that are already setup tubeless, so I figure… what the hell? Even though I’m a road tubeless skeptic, the tape is good, the valves are good… I have Orange Seal Endurance for my MTB and an air compressor… so why the hell not go tubeless on these wheels?
Here’s what matters most:
(1) Durability - I’m probably going to put between 150-250miles per week on these tires, so I’d rather not replace them every two months.
(2) The ability to use these as crit wheels/backup road wheels without faffing around with changing tires, so I don’t really want to run 19W RR tires.
After race season, I might run inserts when I don’t care about backup race wheels and the miles go up, so don’t care much about weight, and tubeless should solve the puncture resistance problem, so it’s really about durability and some speed/suppleness.
Seems the group generally settles on the Conti 5000TL or Schwalbe Pro One TLE Addix? Anything else I should even consider?
These are going on a set of Flo 30s, with 19mm/25mm int/ext, so running 25s, maybe a 28 on the rear.
I run 5000s w/ latex tubes on the Venge right now, great tire… been very happy with it as my daily rider, but might move over to Turbo Cottons on the Rovals now.
Maybe Endurance is not the best for higher pressure road applications? With Endurance you are trading sealing ability for longer lasting.
The biggest issue with road tubeless is sealing at 85psi is tough, if not impossible. Maybe if it’s really just a tiny pin prick that would be a slow leaker.
I like the idea of the new Silca sealant with the added carbon fiber bits. Carry a Stan’s dart or Dynaplug just in case.
That said, I’ve been using Orange Seal and the GP5000TL and haven’t had a flat in 2.5. years. I haven’t even noticed a self-repaired flat. Maybe I’ve just been extremely lucky.
Since GP5000TLs are sealed on the inside (not pourous at all), the sealant seems to never dry up.
I went with Schwalbe Pro One (because that’s what the LBS could get their hands on) for now, and picked up a pair of Pirelli Cinturados for after race season. Those things seem like they’re basically bomb-proof, last a long time, and roll OK. Seems like a good endurance training option.
Also bought a small bottle of Bontrager’s sealant since the LBS only had Orange Seal Endurance (which I already have).
So once I can get my rotors, I’ll give the Schwalbe setup a whack.
Now I just need to wear out the GP5000s on my other wheels so I can either switch those to tubeless if I like it, or run Turbo Cottons w/ latex.
At least that’s the way it works off the top ridge at Kirkwood and Palisades…
