In praise of Stan's No Tubes

[trailgumby]

On a hilarious exploratory ride with a good mate around the trails either side of West Head Road today (which included awesome views, some crazy steep fire trails, a knee deep wade across one of the Pitttwater bays at low tide through the seaweed in our bike shoes, with our bikes held overhead, some help from a kind resident who supplied a hose to wash the sand and salt water out of our shoes and got their son to guide is to the track at the top and soem impressive waterfalls), after a stop I noticed a distinct lack of air pressure in my front tyre.

Given that some of the descents to come were steep and fast, this was not a good thing.

A quick inspection which revealed no obvious holes and only a light hissing sound, I opted to pump the tyre up by hand, spin it quickly to distribute the sealant, and keep going.

I stopped again probably half a kilometre further on to top up as the tyre was still a bit soft and squirmy, but couldn't hear the hissing so I pressed on again after adding some more air. Tyre stayed up for the remainder of the trail with no further loss of pressure.

Modern mountan bike technology is cool

[Mugglechops]

I really should get around to running some sealant in my tubeless tyres.

[skull]

I had a hole get my tubeless tyres the other day, unfortunately it was a rather large gash and the sealant did diddly squat. So I got a bit messy putting a tube in. Didn't realise the tube was sticking out but still managed to get 30kms of trails out and back home before noticing.

[trailgumby]

I had a hole get my tubeless tyres the other day, unfortunately it was a rather large gash and the sealant did diddly squat. So I got a bit messy putting a tube in. Didn't realise the tube was sticking out but still managed to get 30kms of trails out and back home before noticing.

Yep, unfortunately there's a limit to the size of the hole it can plug and it's why I still carry a tube (2 for races 50km or longer).

This is where that used gel wrapper that you didn't throw on the trail, or that $5 note you've been keeping in your Camelbak comes in handy ... herniating tubes can be just as risky as underinflated front tyres

In this case, it worked as intended for me - the second time I've seen Stan's in action. The other time was a sidewall puncture on a group ride in Taree. The guy just tilted the bike over and topped up with a gas bomb.

[skull]

Yep I am still a fan of tubeless, this was just a freak hole. I also carry spare tubes for just'in, usually carry two but was running with just the one that day. The best thing I find with tubeless is I can run a much lower pressure than I can with tubes and get better traction.

As for placing something inside the tyre for protection, when I stuck the tube on for the life of me I could not find where it was and decided to risk it without something up inside the tyre between the tube and tyre wall.

[jules21]

how do you put a tube in? i tried to install a tubeless tyre on a mate's bike and it just wouldn't go on - i snapped a tyre lever. he took it to his LBS and they managed to get it on.

[gcouyant]

Yes there's only so much sealant can do. During training on the fat bike there were more than enough milky moments.

This one I could have put two fingers in but it would have looked rude. You can see the rest of the culprit stick poking through the inside of the rim a bit further on. This tyre was a throw away job as were two more the week before we were to be at the start line of the SDBC.



Actually, on this flat the tear in the tyre was so big that the tube wouldn't stay and at just five or six psi would push up through the hole. I always carry a sterile suture packet ready to stitch up skin but this time it was put to good use on the tyre. All good fun but it took over half an hour to get going again.

[gcouyant]

Oh a really handy repair for a hole that is just a tad too large for the sealant to work is a tubeless plug (coated string). It's quick and very effective. If the bits are handy you can be ready to go well before your riding buddies start moaning.