Some More Great Road Tubeless Tips

Valves

I have been using Stan's valves since they came out for road. They have had the rectangular rubber plug at the end. Recently, I actually pulled the valve through the hole into the cavity between the walls of the rim. The only way to extract it was to actually drill out the rubber!

Now, I have noticed that Stans is now shipping valves with round rubber plugs. This seems like a much better design, as I had always had issues with trying to get the bead around the rectangular plug.  Invariably, tightening the nut would cause the rectangle to rotate, making it even more difficult to seat the bead. Frankly, the only problem I have with these valves is their cost. At $8 each, I have yet to see the justification for a valve costing twice as much as an entire tube.

Punctures

The other day, I had a puncture of my Hutchinson Fusion 3 Tubeless tire. Stan's sealant squirted out until about half my pressure was gone. Re-inflating it was no help as it would continue to leak down to about 50 psi. This would have been fine for an off-road application, but it was marginal for road riding. I was able to complete my ride, albeit cautiously.

Later, I was able to re-inflated it to full psi, only to have the leak re-appear one minute into my next ride. At that point, I did the unthinkable and utilized my spare tube. At the very least, it gave me the opportunity to note the poor ride quality of a tubed tire, something I had not experienced in some time.

The moral of the story is that you need to apply a tire patch to any puncture large enough to visibly leak sealant. Sealant is, at best, a temporary solution.

Rim Joints

For the birthday of a good friend, I decided to upgrade him to road tubeless. Frankly, I was tired of sitting on the side of the road fixing his flats when we rode. Unfortunately, his rims were pinned, not welded. As in the past, I have had trouble sealing these rims. Surprisingly, one of the two sealants I have tried failed to seal the rim. I tried the other and it worked.  The key was continuous air pressure from a compressor while shaking the rim with the joint side down. I did this while immersing the joint in water so I could visually detect the minute leak. I took about two minutes to seal.

Which sealant worked and which did not? Stay tuned to this blog to find out.

Why Pros Don't Use Tubeless

Lennard Zinn at Velonews is a tireless advocate for road tubeless. This week, he answers a reader's question about the relative lack of road tubeless on the Pro circuit.  It turns out that it comes down to several factors. Pros depend on sponsors, and there really aren't many road tubeless wheel and tire manufacturers out there that are ponying up the sponsorship bucks. Also, they are weight weenies and carbon tubulars will always be lighter than clinchers of any material. He also cites tradition. Frankly, most pro teams are very conservative when it comes to revolutionary new technology. Pros were slow to shift from steel to titanium and carbon as many consumers were using these frames before the pros. LeMond's famous use of aero bars to win in the 1989 Tour de France in the final time trial is another example. Fignon lost because he wasn't interested in the aerodynamics at a time when even recreation riders like myself were using aero bars.

On the other hand, think about what it means to be a pro. On every ride, be it a race or even a training ride, you have a team car following you with not just spare wheels, but entire spare bicycles. It must be nice. Me, I set out on 6-8 hour rides deep into the Colorado Rockies. I could see snow in the middle of summer riding hours away from the nearest bike shop. Do I really want to carry a spare tubular tire? Do I want to make the bet that one will be enough? With tubeless, I carry a spare tube that I can go years without using. Should my spare fail, I can fall back on another rider's tube. I also can't afford to replace an $50-$100 tubular tire should I get a flat.

In conclusion, tubulars are a great option for people who are followed around by a support vehicle. For the rest of us, you can't beat tubeless road tires.

Strange Tubeless Tires

Just when things are running smoothly on my multiple bikes equipped with tubeless road bike tires, two really strange things happened to me. I was replacing the rear tires on my racing bike and my commuter bike. When I do this, I move the front tire to the rear and put the new tire on the front, in order to get the most life out of my tires while keeping the newest tire on the more critical wheel.

I ordered a Hutchinson Fusion 3 for the racing bike and a Hutchinson Intensive
for the commuter bike. The orders were from two different sources. Inside the package of the Fusion 3 was actually an Hutchinson Atom?!  To their credit, the seller has agreed to provide me with the correct tire, no questions asked. As for the Intensive, it developed a bulge in the sidewall and is incapable of holding more than 30 psi.  I tried two different sealants, both would allow the tire to inflate to full pressure, but the tire would slowly leak air down to almost nothing.  I am pretty sure the manufacturer will replace the tire under warranty.

I have had ordered standard clinchers that were defective, and I have also received the wrong item on several previous occasions from all sorts of companies. Neither of these problems are unique to road tubeless, they are just an example of how weird things can happen even when you purchase your favorite products.

How To Seat The Tire Around The Valve Stem

Here is a new feature on this blog called "Ask Mr. Tubeless".  Think of it like the Car Talk show.  The readers asks any question about tubeless road bike tires, and I will supply the answers including wise cracks. You could pose your question to me in an email or as a comment anywhere on this blog.

Here is the latest question from a reader named Brian:

To say that it [installing tubeless road bike tires] can be a bit of a struggle is a severe understatement. At one point I seriously questioned whether I had a 600c tire. The 30 minutes I spent wrestling a Hutchinson Fusion 3 on a rim was no fun. At one point I seriously questioned my manhood, and debated whether my lack of grip strength was a sign of some aging disease. I managed to get it on, which at the time seemed a miracle, and had sore (and stained) fingers for the weekend. Of course none of that mattered as no amount of soap suds, tire sealant, and frantic pumping would seat the tire. I could not get the bead to seat near the valve stem, it seemed the rubber seal on the end of the stem got in the way. I may try yet again, on a separate rim (alas, not a Mavic UST) but am already contemplating an eBay sale to recoup my losses. I would pay a shop to mount the tires, but as you suggested, all my local mechs look at me as if I am asking to have a live rattlesnake installed on my rim. If you like the Fusion 3, watch eBay this summer as a pair of Hutch Fusion 3 are going to go to the lowest bidder.

Don't Give Up Brian

Many people claim the best way to install a tubeless tire is to start with the valve. I disagree.  I always do the valve last, and here is why. As Brian discovered, narrow road bike rims don't have that much room for the bead of the tire to fit between the rim and the valve stem. If you don't immediately get the bead seated, it will be unbelievably difficult to get the bead over the rim on other side of the wheel.  If you do the valve last, then you have no immediate worries about seating the bead. Also, make sure you are using a valve stem designed for road tubeless, as MTB valve stems are too wide to use in most road bike rims!
 
As for technique, I will seat 3/4 of the bead by hand, and then hold one side with my hand while inserting a blue plastic Park Tools tire lever on the other side, just an inch or so past the part that is already seated. I rotate it, pulling the bead over the rim, slide it over a centimeter or two and rotate it down and up again.  I repeat, holding the other end of unseated bead, until the entire bead snaps into place. This is most difficult with new tires. After the tire has been inflated and deflated a few times, you can even do this with your bare fingers sometimes.

As Brian found, if you can't seat the bead around the valve, no amount of miracle sealant (even milk : ) will seal your tire. Once both of the tire beads are completely over the rim, the easy way to fix this is issue is to loosen the nut on the valve stem almost all the way.  Then, push the valve into the tire, opening up room between the rim and the valve for the bead to fall into. Next, push the valve back into place by pushing on it through the top of the tire. Finish seating the valve by firmly tightening the nut. Inflate the tire with the compressor first, using soapy water along the bead if necessary.  Only after you have heard all the satisfying popping noises will you know that the tire bead is firmly seating. Then deflate the tire, remove the valve core, and add sealant. Re-inflate and you are good to go!

Please update us Brian to let us know how you did.

If you have any more questions,please feel free to let me know!

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.

Search Amazon.com for bicycle pump

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?

Sealant Corrosion?

Will the sealant corrode my rim? This is a real hot button issue among people who want to go tubeless. The big ruckus was started back in 2009 when Velonews printed these pictures, allegedly of rim corroded through use of sealants. (The picture above is not bicycle related!)

In recent months, Velonews followed up with information from Stan's saying that their is an infinitesimal amount of ammonia currently in his fluid, and that its composition has changed over the years it has been in production.

Search Amazon.com for tubeless tire sealant

While the pictures from the first Velonews article are very scary, I have been using sealant on my road tubeless rims for four years now. If there has been any corrosion, I haven't seen it.  I have mostly been using Stan's, but I am also trying the Slime Pro product on one of my bicycles.

As an early adopter of road tubeless technology, my advice is to use your favorite sealant, relax, and enjoy the ride!