New to tubeless tyres

[Brian696969]

I have recently started using tubeless tyres, and have a couple of basic questions, so please be patient.
I have Schwalbe Pro One tyres
I'm using Seal, endurance tubeless sealant.
1) How much sealant do I put into each tyre ?
2) How often do I need to check the sealant level ?
3) Should I still carry a " tube"
4) Anything else that I should be aware of ?

Many thanks.

[Dave W]

I'm interested in this also. A couple of lads in our club have started down this route. Apparently it helps to have a special inflator to get that initial blast to get the tyre to seal quickly. You can make one from a coke bottle. Special rim tape seems to be another. You can fit a tube I've heard but you need pliers for the valve (not sure why). Someone on the Isle Of Wight Randonee was stranded when they got a puncture. I believe the tyre wall got cut and couldn't seal with the gunk.
It's all new to me.

[mattsccm]

I fitted Schwalbe S ones last autumn and think they are great. No punctures but I might not have had any anyway. Feel happier with lower pressure than with tubes. Before I was using 30mm Challenge Strada Bianca's so no change in tyre size or quality. Importantly to me I feel happy that a big bang won't blow the tyre of the rim and put me on my ear.

Fitting. I use Pacenti rims and they go on with just one lever. I am too stingy to use special rim strips so use either Gorilla tape or Tesa tape with cheap valves. All went up easily with a track pump. That's a SKS Renncompressor which gives high pressure but not too much at a time. The latter would be beneficially but hasn't been needed.
The tyres seat and hold air without the sealant but like others I use some. About 70ml a tyre but there is little research behind that. Apparently the sealant goes off after a few months but mine is still fine after 7 months.
I do carry a tube in case I slash a tyre but as I have never done that on road or MTB in my life I don't know why. It's a skinny little tube that really is most useful to stop the other bits rattling in the bag.

[Brian696969]

Well, as mentioned I have the Schwalbe Pro One tyres and Giant tubeless rims,so no problems regarding compatibility.
I have had them for about three months, and have learnt the following :
I use " Seal" tubeless latex, and each tyre needs about 4 ozs . I have to deflate the tyre and take out the inner valve, then connect up the Seal latex tube and squeeze in about 4 ozs of sealant. I do this about every 3 months, BUT every two weeks, I use the supplied" dip stick" to check the level of sealant in the tyre. I never did this, until I had a puncture and found that there was no latex left, and so the puncture did not seal.
I have had no problem with small punctures, they sealed fine, as long as I have sealant in the tyre ( which is why I check every two weeks). Oh, when checking have the tyre off the ground to get an accurate reading.I had one problem, when a piece of slate slashed the tyre wall, and I had to replace the tyre .
So now when I'm out I carry 8 oz of sealant, a spare tube just in case, and all seems to go well
Instead of riding at 100 plus psi, I ride at around 85 psi, so a more comfortable ride.One final point, is that when inflating, I have to use a good stirrup pump, or if on the road, a CO2 canister, and the small hand held won't do the inflation on a tubeless.
Bottom line, I think that tubeless is the way to go, but ther is an initial learning curve.
One, final, final. I had a situation where I had a large puncture on the rear tyre and yes the latex all squirted out and did it's job, but it also did a job on my clothing !!! Latex does NOT wash off. Let it dry complpletely, then using your finger nail, you have to pick off every little piece of the latex. It's a real pain, but that was the only way that worked for me.If anyone has any better ideas, or feedback ,then again, very much appreciated .

[Brucey]

pliers are necessary for the valve stem because the locknut is usually tightened when there is air in the tyre but needs to be loosened (to fit a tube) when there is none. This usually makes the locknut incredibly tight and difficult to remove. Why they are not more often made with a hexagon on, so they can be unscrewed using a spanner is beyond me.

A word of warning; not all sealants are made equal; latex-based ones are often stabilised by adding something rather alkaline and this can corrode any exposed aluminium that sees it (eg if it leaks past the tyre bead or is used on a rim that needs no rim tape).

Seating tyres successfully can vary from an easy process to one where you can be losing the will to live before it all starts to work OK; it all depends on how well the tyre fits the rim, and whether there are leaks or not.

cheers

[Samuel D]

Assuming you don’t want your rim to bang against the ground without its customary air cushion, I don’t see how tubeless allows lower pressures. What’s the thought behind this common claim?

I think this thread has already listed many downsides of tubeless while the only benefit appears to be that some punctures can be sealed automatically. Since I seldom get punctures, which are anyway inconsequential events, the whole scheme seems perverse to me (not to mention currently very expensive).

[mattsccm]

Not running tyres that low. Idea seems to be that you can run them below a likely pinch puncture threshold but that's still above rim banging pressures. Not convinced on the road as both are lower than normal road pressures IMHO. I use them to reduce thorn type punctures, avoid catastrophic blow outs ( rare but it has happened and that's my particular paranoia) and they tend to be good quality tyres.
I find no drawbacks as yet.

[pq]

I use tubeless road tyres. Apart from the puncture reduction, they have similar benefits to riding silk tubulars. Because they flex more, you can run them at higher pressure than normal with the same comfort to get lower rolling resistance, or run them at lower pressure for greater comfort and the same rolling resistance. All of these benefits are very obvious to me when I'm riding, but whether they're worth the extra expense and faff setting up is for the individual to decide.

[Samuel D]

Because they flex more…

Why would tubeless tyres flex more? They have to incorporate an air barrier in their construction, inevitably leading to a thicker sidewall.

No doubt some tubeless tyres flex more easily than some tube-type tyres, but then the comparison is probably not like with like. Although I have heard from still other people that that’s the point of tubeless: to allow use of a lighter tyre than normal while relying on sealant to fix punctures as they occur.

[Gattonero]

Assuming you don’t want your rim to bang against the ground without its customary air cushion, I don’t see how tubeless allows lower pressures. What’s the thought behind this common claim?

I think this thread has already listed many downsides of tubeless while the only benefit appears to be that some punctures can be sealed automatically. Since I seldom get punctures, which are anyway inconsequential events, the whole scheme seems perverse to me (not to mention currently very expensive).

Is not claimed, it is reality.
There is a reason why all the fat-bikes, the vast majority of people in Mtb, and in CX all the ones that don't use tubular tyres, do use tubeless.
You can run less than 20psi (that's how fat-bikes run), in CX is common to use 25psi with 35mm tyres, in Mtb as well though you have 2" at least.
In fact, most of the modern rims are optimized to reduce the chances of denting the rim hook, right because the low pressures used as there's no inner tube to pinch you go full gas on the rock gardens.
All this translates in good reliability, bear in mind is a "new" system, for the common users that would not push the bike to the limits.

The tubeless system also has a massive advantage on big tyres. You don't even want to know how heavy is an inner tube for a 2.5" or 3" tyre Though is true that tubeless tyres do weight more than the same model that is not for tubeless use, there is still a weight saving that becomes more important as bigger the tyre goes. And to be fair, even a 700x25 road tubeless tyre+sealant is still on the same weight of a comparable tyre+inner tube, though with the tubeless you have less chances of punctures

[Gattonero]

I have recently started using tubeless tyres, and have a couple of basic questions, so please be patient.
I have Schwalbe Pro One tyres
I'm using Seal, endurance tubeless sealant.
1) How much sealant do I put into each tyre ?
2) How often do I need to check the sealant level ?
3) Should I still carry a " tube"
4) Anything else that I should be aware of ?

Many thanks.

1- it depends on the sealant and the size of the tyre. Broadly speaking, on a road 700x25 tyre, you put slightly less of the equivalent of a shot glass
2- it depends on the conditions it is stored: if kept inside in a warm environment, you ought to check every two monts, it's likely to have the "blob" forming after 3 months or so. I've seen bikes always kept outdoors that had a good level of sealant and no "blob" coming up after 6 months.
3- yes, carry a tube and a tyre-boot for peace of mind. You know Murphy's law
4- every now and then spin the wheels to prevent the sealant to clog on a portion of tyre only. Do not leave the wheels permanently exposed ot the sun or close to a radiator.
Also, as noted by Brucey, it is true that some sealants can corrode alluminium. This varies greatly, and is true on rims that are not well anodized and/or made with some 7000 series alluminium, some Shimano wheels do have this problem though is not a big deal as long as you remove the tyre and wash clean the wheel inside out once a year (you are supposed to remove the tubeless tyres every now and then anyway)

[pq]

I have no idea why tubeless tyres flex more, but having ridden thousands of miles on mine, I can tell you that they do, and the benefits are as I describe. I compared them to silks, because I rode them a lot back in the day and the effect was similar.

I'm so impressed I'm in the process of converting all my road bikes to tubeless. To me it's well worth the extra expense and faff.

I also think that once your bike is fit for purpose, tyres make more difference to how well it rides than anything, so I'm always happy to buy the best, although I may compromise elsewhere.

[Brucey]

don't get me wrong, I like nice tyres as much (if not more so) than the next chap; however I would be more impressed with the claims of 'more flex with tubeless' etc if folk always used the exact same tyres with and without tubes. As it is, it seems to me that many people use different tyres when they convert to tubeless and that this (rather than the 'tubelessness' per se) might be where a lot of the perceived difference arises.

cheers

[flat tyre]

I've been using tubeless on one of my bikes for about 6 months now. I've fitted Hutchinson sector 28s. Done about 1800 miles in wet weather on poor roads. Fitting was initially easy with a track pump, but I have removed the tyre a once or twice and used a co2 cartridge to get the tyre to reseal. Overall the tyres have been very reliable. I've only had one occasion where a hole in the tyre didn't seal and that was due to using a plug to repair a big hole that had occurred previously...the plug came out when I was riding, no big problem, I just fitted a tube and went on my way again. I've found it best to leave the tyres to look after themselves in the case of small holes, larger holes have all sealed, but I usually put a patch on the tyre when I get home. Personally I think that using a plug on a road tyre isn't a good idea as it tends to extend the damage caused by the original puncture. I've topped mine up about every 2 months by popping a section of the tyre off the rim rather than through the valve.
When using co2 to seal the tyre I have found that co2 reacts with the sealant some how and reduces its sealing properties, so I've made sure that I've replaced the co2 with air.

[mattsccm]

As I suggested before, one of the many reason tubeless feel nice is that they are always a better quality tyre. ie you won't see a cheap one. ( ignoring all the marketing inflation) Often comparisons are made when a switch from conventional tyres is made, but are people switching from an equally high quality tyre?
Good tyres feel nice.