Tubeless tires anyone?

[Balor]

Absorb implies energy loss, right?

Well, better in the tire than in rider's tissues, perhaps, but vibration *isolation* is what tires are supposed to do! It does smack of 'fancy marketing' indeed. Otherwise downhill tires with super-tacky compounds do a lot of 'absorption' allright, but I doubt you would want to ride one anywhere but, well, downhill...

 

[ed72]

If the sidewall is stiffer, the liability exposure is lessened for those who run tires at 28 mm tires at 40 psi and wonder "what happened" after crashing in a high speed corner.

If the compound and casing at the road surface are more flexible, then, the stiffer sidewalls would impede the transmission into the lossy human issues and presumably, much of the energy would be returned at the road surface.

Riding at a modest power of 105 watts would get me 1 km/hr with 15% lower rolling (I'd use latex tubes) but of course at higher speeds, the effect would not be as noticeable as aero swamps the rest of losses. They won't be as fast as the Vittoria Speeds but they won't be 100 bucks a tire and will last longer than 100 miles, too.

 

[Osiris]

 

[chicorider]

I've been running road tubeless for about six years now, and while they are a little bit of a pain in the butt at times, I've never had the trouble he had in that video. I do know that over those six years, there have been dozens of times that I have not had to stop to fix a flat while on a ride, when I would have had to running tubes. I will trade an occasional headache in the garage for rides that are flat-free 99.9% of the time any day.

I noticed that he was using Schwalbe sealant. I've never used it, but I'm guessing that it likes to stick to itself when it is semi dry. I've tired other sealants, and every time, I come back around to Stan's.

 

[Balor]

Schwalbe sealant

Stan's.

Schwable is repacked Stans, they even admit that much on their site.

 

[chicorider]

Interesting, and good to know. I've still never had the trouble the dude in the video had with the tire sticking to itself. Hmm...

 

[Bruce B]

Yesterday, with both Schwalbe Pro One tires at 90psi, I was on a ride headed north on Bosque Road, out of Canutillo, Tx.. My attention wandered as did my front wheel and suddenly I was riding in dirt and weeds. Both wheels were covered with goat head thorns. Each tire had 3 or 4 punctures bleeding Orange Seal with many small thorns on the tread and several on the sidewalls. When I brushed the thorns off several of these left a smaller hole with Orange seal oozing out. Spinning both wheels for 15-20 seconds stopped most of the air and sealer loss. Quickly heading home seemed the best plan. Within a minutes or so the wheels had completly stopped leaking and I got home without difficulty.

At home the front tire was at 56psi and the rear at 71psi.

Scraping away the remaining tiny thorn tips imbedded in the tires caused a few spots of sealer to ooze but all stopped quickly. I inflated each tire to 100psi. This afternoon the front tire was at 96psi and the rear at 94psi.

Tubeless tires and Orange Sealer sure saved a lot of time and bother.

 

[Gary123]

Glad we don't have those here in NC. They sound bad.

 

[Brad R]

Sorry about opening an old thread, but I just started riding tubeless, Conti GP 5000 TL.

I had bought some Orange Seal Endurance a few years ago when I first intended to go tubeless but never gat around to it. I have been using it.

I will new to buy more sealant soon. Is TruckerCo Cream (II?) still the best recommendation?

Can I change sealant on the tires that have been running a different brand? Do I need to clean out the old sealant? How best to do that?

Thanks for the help.

 

[RojoRacing]

Nah I’ve tossed in both orange and TruckerCo at the same time. I’m still using TruckerCo.

 

[Brad R]

Nah I’ve tossed in both orange and TruckerCo at the same time. I’m still using TruckerCo.

Thanks for the info!

 

[rx7mark]

Nah I’ve tossed in both orange and TruckerCo at the same time. I’m still using TruckerCo.

Me too. I switched to TruckerCo when my LBS would not stock the orange. Glad I did, love the TruckerCo cream!

Mark

 

[Brad R]

Me too. I switched to TruckerCo when my LBS would not stock the orange. Glad I did, love the TruckerCo cream!

Mark

I saw your earlier post in this thread. Glad to here that you still like it.

Are you using original or Cream II?

 

[rx7mark]

I saw your earlier post in this thread. Glad to here that you still like it.

Are you using original or Cream II?

I still use the original, because I still have some left from my first order. Might try the new type when I reorder, but I really like the original, so maybe not.

The only thing about the original is that it will actually seal the valve stem. I have take the core out every once in a while and use a nail or drill bit to clear it.

Mark

 

[RojoRacing]

I still use the original, because I still have some left from my first order. Might try the new type when I reorder, but I really like the original, so maybe not.

The only thing about the original is that it will actually seal the valve stem. I have take the core out every once in a while and use a nail or drill bit to clear it.

Mark

That’s true with every sealant I’ve used, it wouldn’t plug holes well if it didn’t. You can avoid it mostly if you don’t add or release air with the stem in the lower position where the sealant is at.

 

[rx7mark]

That’s true with every sealant I’ve used, it wouldn’t plug holes well if it didn’t. You can avoid it mostly if you don’t add or release air with the stem in the lower position where the sealant is at.

I used the orange endurance sealant for a year and never had this issue, and I had to top off one tire before each ride. Then I switched to the TruckerCo cream, and only have to top off my tires every two weeks or so. In my opinion no comparison on the sealing power of the two sealants. But those are the only two I have used, and this is the first bike I have had with tubeless tires, so sort of a newbie to tubeless. But I will never go back to tubes!

Mark

 

[paco1961]

Two questions.
1) How did you determine that you had to top off the tire before each ride? Did you have visible leakage?
2) Why will you "never go back to tubes"? Is it just the ability to run lower tire pressure or are there other reasons?

In my DF gravel racing days I ran tubeless (Panracer Gravel Kings 35mm, 40lbs front & 50lbs back) and loved the traction, feel and lack of puncture/pinch flats. Of course I have no idea how much of my flat avoidance was due to the heavy duty gravel tire as opposed to the tubless/sealant system. Have not done tubeless much on the road on my V20. Two weeks ago was riding with a friend who has been running road tubeless for about a yeare. Had about a 6" length of tire side wall explode (New Conti 5000 tubeless) including the tearing apart the bead. We think the tire somehow bubbled and caught the chainstay. When I asked him what pressure he was running he said he had recently DECREASED his running presssure to 110 lbs on the Zipp 303s. Seems to me that's probably 20-30 lbs to high

 

[3bs]

wow. my zipps run 90

 

[rx7mark]

Two questions.
1) How did you determine that you had to top off the tire before each ride? Did you have visible leakage?
2) Why will you "never go back to tubes"? Is it just the ability to run lower tire pressure or are there other reasons?

1) My Cruzbike T50 was pretty new to me at the time and I had had a hard time mounting and preasurizing my rear tire. So everyday I rode I would squeeze the tires to check pressure before I started the ride. My rear tire always felt low. Checking the pressure it would be about 5 psi lower per day. This was with orange seal. As I mentioned I switched to TruckerCo cream and this issue went away completely.

2) So far I am approaching the end of life of those tires after almost 6k miles. Note these are Michelin Protek Urban commuter tires 26 x1.85. In all those miles I have picked up 2 nails that I pulled out by hand, and which sealed themselves and I just rode home. No other flats at all!
Thats pretty impressive performance, I ride at 45psi with these tires. I have tried no other tubeless tires and have no other experience with tubeless. But my tubed experience, while quite a while ago, was not good. Lots of flats and at least one blow out that caused a crash that made me retire from biking for a while. With the tubeless I carry a compact pump and a repair kit, and a cell phone, but no tubes. Note I don't tour. Also note I custom built my wheels with WTB rims which are certified for tubeless.

Mark

 

[RojoRacing]

Two questions.
1) How did you determine that you had to top off the tire before each ride? Did you have visible leakage?
2) Why will you "never go back to tubes"? Is it just the ability to run lower tire pressure or are there other reasons?

In my DF gravel racing days I ran tubeless (Panracer Gravel Kings 35mm, 40lbs front & 50lbs back) and loved the traction, feel and lack of puncture/pinch flats. Of course I have no idea how much of my flat avoidance was due to the heavy duty gravel tire as opposed to the tubless/sealant system. Have not done tubeless much on the road on my V20. Two weeks ago was riding with a friend who has been running road tubeless for about a yeare. Had about a 6" length of tire side wall explode (New Conti 5000 tubeless) including the tearing apart the bead. We think the tire somehow bubbled and caught the chainstay. When I asked him what pressure he was running he said he had recently DECREASED his running presssure to 110 lbs on the Zipp 303s. Seems to me that's probably 20-30 lbs to high

when he said he had to top off the tire he meant with more air and not more sealant.

it should be noted that sealant will always work better the lower psi you need to run which is why I never recommend it for tires smaller than 28mm or psi over 80psi.