Certainly possible. The rear tire just gave me problems from the start. It went on very easily (like comically so), took a blower chuck with valve core out and 100psi air to seat every time, punctured 3 times.
The front was a champ. Easy setup, no issues, no punctures. Maybe just a finicky tire and a string of bad luck with it. Don’t know.
We’ll see how the Pirellis do. So far, quite a bit better on that rear wheel anyway. I am quite certain they will roll slower but this is a training setup so I don’t really care.
Converted all my bikes to tubleless. TT bike, Madone, Emonda and gravel bikes. No problem at all with flats, had a punture 15 miles from home, kept going and it
resealed. Bit of latex on kit, but only lost a bit of pressure maybe about 15 psi. In terms of setting them up… a lot is down to quality of tape and how well you tape the rim.
Having commented on here quite a few times in the past - I finally have a few updates after getting 3 GP5000TL and GP5000S-TR punctures in a month! (all 25mm)
For background, I had multiple years, thousands of miles per year on tubeless with no flats ever. I said that too many times I guess because this spring has been awful
One puncture was definitely my fault - full speed TT interval, hit a 2" high piece of railroad tie ballast rock dead on that I didn’t see in shadow - amazing I didn’t break a wheel. That was a 5000TL. One dynaplug fixed it and on my way.
Then a small construction stable double-punctured - sealant took care of a pinhole on center of tread from one side of it, while a plug was required for a cut towards the side of the tread. Again, 5000TL.
One was a much smaller piece of ballast rock that was hard to see in shadows and again at TT speed - but more damage requiring a dual plug in the sidewall - that was on the 5000S-TR. I was really impressed with this. Did a 26mph 20 min interval on it after that and no pressure loss the next day.
Things I’ve learned -
Dynaplugs are INCREDIBLE. I had been carrying them for 4 years and finally got to try them. Photo below is a double dynaplug after tearing a sidewall. All 3 punctures were resolved with them with absolutely no problem. And none would have resolved with Orange Seal alone.
I rode one of the dynaplug repairs for a couple weeks and it was perfectly fine
I eventually thought I should try using the hutchinson rep’air kit I bought 4 years ago to properly patch the two tires with a single plug that had more tread. I have 30 miles of TT aero testing runs on it and doing fine so far… but frankly, I’m not sure this was necessary vs. leaving the plug in - and if I did it again, I’d get slightly larger MTB patches to give myself more confidence in surface area that is holding things in place. Worst case, if it comes loose, I know the hole will seal well with a plug!
So, there’s my reality check for road tubeless at long last - no complaints thanks to the dynaplugs. I can’t possibly put a tube on these roadside, so I’ve stopped carrying a tube/levers, will keep 3-5 plugs with me all the time, and am just banking on plugs with wife/uber as my last resort.
Do you find any issues with your tubeless setup if you don’t ride one of those bikes for a period of a few weeks? If not, any recommended actions (such as rotating the wheels periodically) that help keep the setups working over time?
As an aside… my tape job on the rear wheel of my training setup appears pretty atrocious, but somehow it holds just fine. It was the fourth tubeless tape job I’ve done, and the first with the Flo tape that was apparently a little too wide for the Flo rim I did it on. After a few months riding on the first set of tires, there’s some warping in the top layer of tape, but the bottom layer seems to be holding fine - no leaks. Ugly AF, but I don’t see a practical reason to re-tape it… yet. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time?
I leave my cross wheels setup, but rarely ride them over the summer. Before cross season, I change the sealant. It’s always still liquid, but often seems to have separated somewhat (there is some clear liquid on top). But, I live in the usually wet NW of England. Maybe in drier climates it’d dry out?
Regarding ugly tape - before I learned the right amount of stretch to put on the tape, I taped some wheels too losely, and the tape ended up with crinkles. Still sealent fine though.
So far I can only report positive experiences with Road tubeless.
Conti GP5000 ‘s’ tubeless went on my new Bontrager wheels reasonably easy…
Initial air loss overnight diminished once I’d ridden on them a few times.
Since then I’ve had 6 months of riding on mixed surfaces, including compacted gravel, loose shingle and various roads of very mixed condition and state of repair (UK riders will know what I mean).
Haven’t had any issues and ride comfort at the reduced pressure has been noticeably improved .
I just pasted my 1 year road tubeless anniversary And I got my first puncture yesterday. I didn’t hear or see anything but I noticed I’d lost a bunch of air out of my rear tire. Stopped to check and the tire was way low but did not appear to be leaking any more. I pumped back it up with a hand pump and finished the last 10 miles of my ride. Stoppage time was a leisurely 2 minutes but it could have been 30 seconds or less if I was in a hurry and had a co2 ready to go. The tire is holding air just fine today so I think I’m good to go. Love it!
I’m also running 15-20 psi less than I ran with tubes and the comfort improvement is huge. I’m loving tubeless.
Many here have had negative experiences with it. My experiences have been very good. But you need to put 1oz more than recommended. It’s currently a top 2 sealant for me.
Avoid, it useless, never dries out to fill even the tiniest of p’tures. I almost gave up on tubeless until I realised it was the problem. Google found a lot of other stories similar to mine. I’d get a tiny p’ture which never sealed. It would lose air gradually until I hit a small bump (cateye/ road stud) and that was enough to unseat the tyre.
Got it originally because it odd supposed to be CO2 friendly. It didn’t work all that well and turned into nasty slime in the tire. I tossed an almost full bottle into the garbage.
So I have a half full bottle of Stan’s that has been sitting on the shelf for probably 10 months or so. It’s still liquid and white, though maybe a bit lumpy. Has a fairly strong ammonia odor. Is the stuff ok to use or should I dispose of it?
I’m really struggling to get a pair of Vittoria Corsa Control TL onto my Zipp 303s rims. I mean they mount easy, but setting the bead with a flash pump is proving impossible. I’ve tried the inner tube technique and taping around the rim with electrical tape. Next attempt is going to be with a ratchet strap around the circumference. Pray for me.
This is all down to their manufacturing method. They’re made flat like a ribbon so they’re reluctant to immediately confirm to the shape of the rim like a “normal” tyre.
I had the same issue with a different set of tyres in my Zipp 303S wheels, I think they are particularly hard unfortunately. It just took a combination of all known methods, soapy water, one bead mounted with a tube, flash pump, valve core out, massaging the tyre onto the rim as I inflate it. It’s a b*stard. The tube method will help give the Vittorias shape if you leave them for a day with the tube in.
Every known method indeed! I managed it at 10pm last night. Manually seated one bead by hand, soapy water on the loose bead, cargo strap tight around circumference, valve core out, flash pump pushed up to 170psi, hand on tyre by valve, and 2 glasses of Merlot. Bang it seated. I’m off shopping now for Stans race sealant and a syringe as my bottle of Stans standard might be 2 years old now (will splash it in the mountain bike).
Cheers for the advice / empathy! These Zipps better roll well after all this palaver.
You may be in for a shock using Stans Race in a syringe. It’s got some chunky particles in it and in my experience will block up most syringes unless they’re really big in which case you won’t get it in through the valve stem.
I was about to give up until I finally got them on with Kool Stop Tire Bead Jack, I was sceptical but was able to get the Gp5000 TL to fit, so satisfying, they are so hard to fit on the mavic cosmic pro UST but when they do, you can pop them in without pressured air, just pump works, because they are so tight! Also they hold air without sealant, so hopefully double protection with sealant!
