Friday, April 1, 2011

Milk Makes For The Best Road Tubeless Tire Sealant

Extensive testing by the authors of this blog has determined that there is a new, cost effective way to seal tubeless road bike tires. Over the course of the last few weeks, our team of scientists here at the Go Tubeless blog have been testing a variety of household products in order to determine their effectiveness in sealing tubeless road bike tires.The results have been astounding; Milk is the best sealant product on the market today.

Why Milk?

In a soon to be published interview with an Astana team mechanic, it was revealed that riders in Kazakstan have achieved considerable success using milk to seal their tubeless tires, specifically human breast milk. Lacking a source of that substance, I decided to use ordinary cow's milk.

At under $5 a gallon, it is far less expensive that the products that the bicycle industry would have you use. Although it is impossible to actually see inside an inflated tire, it appears that as the milk goes bad, it thickens and develops small chunks of milk fat. In the event of a puncture, the sour milk exits the tire while the chunks of fat seal the hole.

What Kind Of Milk Should You Use?

I tested skim milk, 2%, and whole milk. The best results were with whole milk as it has more fat to coagulate and seal the tire.The best results were experienced when I used milk from smaller, high end, boutique dairies. Unfortunately, this high price of the milk from these dairies negated the cost advantage of using milk over traditional sealants.

In Conclusion

Despite years of success with road tubeless tires running traditional sealants, I am now convinced that milk is a superior substitute. I have since removed all of the commercial sealants from my bicycles and filled them up with milk straight from my refrigerator. At room temperature, the milk sours quickly, ensuring a season of flat free riding. So stop falling for the industry propaganda about using their expensive specialty products. Make today, April 1st, the last day you waste your hard earned dollars on their mystery sealants and ask yourself: Got Milk?

Do Tubeless Road Tires Loose Air Faster Than Tubes?

I have been pondering this question since I started commuting daily. It seem that my tires are certainly loosing a few pounds a day. I don't have to pump them up daily, but certainly once a week. I have also observed Tubeless tires untouched will be flat in a month or two. Yes, I know it is blasphemy not to ride for weeks, but please keep in mind that I own multiple bikes, and I might not ride every one of them every week.


On the other hand, it has been so long since I have ridden a conventional, tubed road bike clincher, I forget how often they need re-inflation.

So here is the question to my ever growing cadre of readers; What is your experience?  Do you think tubeless tires need inflation more or less often than their tubed counterparts?