Road tubeless experiences

Oh, if only it was this easy….then you would see groups of cyclists on the side of the road, each developing blisters as they desperately try to unseat a tire bead from someone’s tubeless setup!! :rofl:

You can get these little porous rubber strips (often calles bacon or anchovies) that you push into the hole with a small two-pronged fork. Lots of companies make them, and they’re cheap.

If you want a more convenient solution, look up e.g. dynaplug or Stan’s Dart.

In any case, I’d recommend watching a video or two about tubeless plugs, so you know how it works.

With regards to spare tubes and co2:
CO2 is still ok for an emergency, just deflate the tyre at home and re-inflate with air. You might need to top off the sealant anyway.
Tubes - depends. You can get holes you can’t plug, so if you’re far from anywhere, a tube is a good idea.

Do you need to reinflate the tyre after plugging it? Usually yes, because you loose air quickly. A pump is useful, so you can adjust pressure and top it up multiple times, if you need to.

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Dynaplugs seems to be the gold standard these days.

Always good to have a spare tube incase nothing else works.

Just make sure you have a mini-pump!

Depends on the severity of the puncture…sometimes you’ll never even know you had one, other times it will get soft and sometimes it will go completely flat.

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I use the lifeline one. LifeLine Tubeless Repair Kit | Puncture Repair | Wiggle
I’ve put a tube in once on the LEJOG before I realised that the finish line sealant is duff. Although touch wood I will never need it I still carry one though (but I’m a belts and braces kinda guy).
With CO2 I never used to carry it and had no problems with a hand pump the once I got a side wall gash requiring the lifeline kit but after borrowing one to blow up a flat gravel tyre I carry one now (but again I’m a belts and braces kinda guy).
If you get a p’ture that seals you’ll probably never notice it but even if its one where you actually see sealant spurting out for a few seconds before it seals it’s unlikely that’ll you’ll need to top up. With anything other than Finishline I’ve never had to.

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Small, maybe like half a pen. Though with the “bacon” tool, the biggest problem is imo that they’re quite sharp! So usually you need some sort of container, about the size of a co2 cartridge.

Best to google some pictures for an idea.

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I carry mine in my back pocket its small and light enough for that. I can’t actually find a tape measure at the mo but its bout the size of a couple of tyre levers and about 2.5x as thick. The screw driver type tools are about 3cm shorter and the folded blade about 5cm shorter but I wouldn’t really carry them loose; instead in the box in the pocket. I stick a quick link in the box too.

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The Dynaplug road kit has brass “bullets” and a couple times I couldn’t get the plug into the tire. Still carry it sometimes, it’s the silver pill box on the left:

Now I’m relying on the KOM Cycling green kit in the middle.

CO2 cartridge and tire levers in pic for a sense of scale.

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Road bike dynaplug.

I also have a small saddle bag (Lezyne Road Caddy) and dont like stuff in my jersey pockets. I carry the KOM Tubeless Repair Tool KOM Cycling Tubeless Tire Repair Tool - Multiple Colors. I cant speak to how well it works as I have yet to have a puncture that sealant didnt plug.

Edit, I see @WindWarrior already mentioned the KOM tool

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I have a Dynaplug with this rubber mount that uses the water bottle bolts. Very unobtrusive.

Http://www.dynaplug.com/carbonracer

Once I got that and broke the vanity based prejudice against keeping my bike clean and looking like I was in a race every time I rode it, I got this pump which is also mounted and very unobtrusive.

No longer any flat repair stuff in my pockets. I still carry a saddle bag with CO2 and a tube for that really bad day but my hope is I should rarely if ever need to actually open it.

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Sometimes but that’s the same with tubes (especially latex) and I find I can worry less about tubeless losing pressure.

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It’s a good Chance that’s gunk in the presta valves. Clean or replace the cores. Mine never hold air after first seating. It always takes a ride to get them fully set.

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stan’s dart vs dynaplug , which one better?

Dynaplug for MTB.

But since this is a road tubeless thread, neither.

IME, any puncture big enough to require those types of plugs means your tire is toast. If you’re lucky, they’ll hold long enough to get you home or to the nearest bike shop, but forget about riding another 50 miles on either of those plugs.

Those Youtube tests are meaningless. Nail punctures never look like that in real life, i.e. a clean hole, unless you somehow bunny hopped onto a nail while moving at 0mph. They usually look more like a slash, and air leaks out the sides of the plugs.

Save at least one CO2 for your emergency tube.

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Dynaplug Racer is all you need for road, IMHO. Will explain later.

Sealant is effective for the vast majority of small punctures, but it’s not straightforward in a road setting. Stans last a long time but doesn’t seal very well at road tire pressures. I’ve had small punctures where Stans kept spraying out of the tire seemingly forever. Orange Seal works great but only lasts a few months - requires more upkeep. I’ve lapsed on Orange Seal maintenance before and paid the price. Got a small puncture and it didn’t seal because all of the Orange Seal had dried up.

Pick your poison. I still prefer Orange Seal. At least it works.

If the puncture is big enough to require a plug, the plug only works a small percentage of the time, IME. Road punctures are often oddly shaped and the higher tire pressures and lack of tire tread don’t play well with plugs. That’s why I use a Dynaplug Racer. Compact and really fast to use. If it doesn’t seal right away, I can quickly give up and move on to the emergency spare tube, rather than F around with more plugs, bacon strips, etc for 15 minutes, only to end up in the same place after wasting 2-3 CO2 cartridges.

Do not ditch your spare tube. You will regret it, sooner or later.

In case you’re wondering why I even bother with tubeless, it’s because I’ve never encountered a situation where having a properly maintained tubeless tire with Orange Seal + spare tubes would leave me stranded. Tubeless-only or tubed-only have both left me stranded, requiring me to phone a friend for a ride.

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I’m finding with my training wheelset that I carry more than I used to with tubeless, but I’m also not worried about getting stranded or cutting short a 3-5hr ride anymore.

I run Stan’s (for now) but will switch to Orange Seal when I run through the Stan’s. Stans sealed up a puncture for me and I topped air off with mini pump and rode for another hour no issues.

But I still carry tube and CO2 in my Specialized kit. Now I also carry:

KOM cycling plug kit like @WindWarrior posted
Silca Tattico mini pump

So far so good. Haven’t needed the KOM kit yet.

Can’t see ditching the spare tube. Why would I? It’s under the saddle and takes no space.

With that I feel good about being able to get all my rides in even if I flat early on. No big deal, I don’t carry much other than my phone.

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Yup! The amount of time can vary even with the same type of tires. For example, I have Bontrager Aeolus 51 rims on my road bike with Schwalbe Pro One tan walls. The back tire looses 20+ psi over night, the front maybe 5psi in the same span.

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Dynaplug, but as mentioned, big holes in fast road tires generally means the end of the tire. For gravel/MTB, dynaplug or other ‘bacon strips’ work. Darts are the worst and close to useless in my experience.

do u carry orange seal every where u go?


this is what i have in my “skingrowsback” saddle bag, it is the smallest bag you can find.

i do have a water bottle to hold spare tube,extra co2 canister, tire removal lever.

I cycle oversea quite often these days… so need as much essential tools if possible.