Need help with tubeless / Tubeless 101

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
So i got a new ride and it came tubeless. Cool. But.. I know nothing about tubeless tires. I'm looking for maintenance requirements, tips, and any other bits of info anybody may have.

If i get a flat in the trail am i screwed? How do i prevent a flat int he first? How hard is it to change a tire? If i decide i want to go back to tubes is that going to be a problem?

I’ve been looking around the internet for 2 days and found bits and pieces of info but I'm really looking for some knowledgeable helpful soul out there too spell it all out for me.. of give me a link to an article that does just that.
 

gtluke

The Moped
you can patch a tire similar to a tube. i bought a tubeless tire patch kit but haven't had to use it yet. i hear you can just use tube patches as well.
thing is, in the trail you usually can't inflate the tire because you have to "seat" the bead and with a trail pump, you can't get enough volume to do it. so you have to use CO2, but if it fails to seat, you are still flat.
so, instead of carrying a patch kit and CO2, i just carry my regular trail pump and a tube.

you'll find that once in a while you'll pop the bead off momentarily on tricky rock sections and you'll hear a bunch of air come out. that happens, you just have to pump it back up. usually it only deflates the tire like 10psi and you'll be fine. it happened to me twice in about 6 weeks.
the remaining air pressure in the tire re-seats the bead. i haven't had it ever go flat enough where i needed to use my tube.
 
D

DANSPANK

Guest
You'll likely get loads of feedback on here. I've been tubeless for about a year. I add Stans sealant to the tyres and haven't had a flat in all this time.

The sealant usually takes care of any thorns and things and you typically never notice that your tyre has been harpooned - you just carry on riding.

Should you rip a tyre then you can install a tube to get you out of the woods. Just be careful to run a finger around the inside of the tyre to check for thorns - pull 'em out. Then patch the ripped tyre with a dollar, gu wrapper, tape, anything that's other than paper (paper will et wet and fail).
 

monteverest

New Member
i started riding tubeless this year and did they unlock the full potential of the bike. i do have a question - the tubeless tires were a monster to mount. my hands still bear the scars. i carry a spare tube for trail emergencies but how does anyone expect to mount a tube inside one of these tires on a trail? yikes.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Hmm... practice? I'm not sure. I run Continental and Michelin UST tires on my Yeti which has older Mavic D3.1 (now called 823) rims. I can remove and install them by hand and do so a few times a year (I run the Conti's for XC and the Michie's for lift/shuttle riding). I don't run any kind of goop since it would be annoying considering how often I swap tires. I've only ever had one flat with them - a slightly torn tread block on a Conti when I made the mistake of running them at Whistler a few years ago. I patched it (after switching to the Michie's for the rest of the day) with some vulcanizing cement and a std patch on the inside and it's been fine ever since.

The trick for getting the tires on/off is making sure to get the beads of the tires into the center groove of the rim opposite of the stem. Then work the tire around both side of the rim (simultaneously) while keeping the bead in the center (sometimes easier said than done). By the time you get to the stem, there should be enough slack in the tire to ease it over the rim. Sometimes I get lazy and use a plastic tire iron. Use dish-soap and water as a lubricant and seating assistant during installation.

If running something other than a Mavic UST rim, all bets are off... No experience there.

For me, the most annoying part is usually needing a compressor to seat the tire on the rim. I've done it once with a floor pump... once...
 

gtluke

The Moped
i didn't find it too hard to get them on and off.
the trick is to open the tire up and put the rim inside the tire, so both beads are outside of the rim. then push the one side onto the tire, flip the rim over and push the other side on the exact same way. if you try and push the tire over the rim and then try to follow with the 2nd bead over the SAME side of the rim, it gets much harder.

though, i mount my car tires by hand sometimes too, so bike tires are nothing :)
 

MixMastaMM

Team Bulldog Rider
I have more trouble mounting new tires on my roadie than UST tires on my Crossmaxes. As said before, make sure to get the bead centered in the channel on the rim. I can mount and unmount USts by hand, you dont need those stinking plastic levers that just break.
 

Steve Vai

Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Your bike is "Tubeless Ready". Meaning, it can be converted to tubeless by getting rim strips, valves, and sealant. Right now you have tubes in there. The process is very straight forward, I swap tires all the time on my bike. Stop by and I'll show you what you need to do...

-Jim.
 

jShort

2018 Fantasy Football Toilet Bowl Lead Technician
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Your bike is "Tubeless Ready". Meaning, it can be converted to tubeless by getting rim strips, valves, and sealant. Right now you have tubes in there. The process is very straight forward, I swap tires all the time on my bike. Stop by and I'll show you what you need to do...

-Jim.

sweet. Thanks Jim
 

Neilism

I Owe Norm $10
Slow Leak

Found a teeny tiny visible only by the bubbles in creates in water puncture hole in my rear tubeless tire which is resulting in a loss of air pressure. Let me get this straight...proper remedy is remove the tire....patch the puncture.....reinstall the tire.......use compressor to seat it..... .know its seated when i hear a snap, crackle or pop......adjust air pressure.....ride again?
 
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mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Couple things first what brew are using and how long since you added some. 7 months on stans would tell me it's all dried up. Sure sign is you can't see where it is coming from, shake it and see if you hear some sloshing around...
 

Neilism

I Owe Norm $10
Well I did listen for the sloshing and heard nothing. To be honest Im not sure what was in there, Ill have to ask J.....but there used to be something for sure.
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
My best guess is no brew, I would recommend CaffeLatex and 4Tbs. large sparkly glitter. I have over 9 months with without adding any extra. Stans is in most cases good for 3 months...
 

Neilism

I Owe Norm $10
ight!

so now......explain to me, if you dont mind, how this latex+glitter is added to the tire with regard to the steps I outlined in my first post.
 

mattybfat

The Opinion Police
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Break the bead on one side only add sealant and glitter close it back up add air until bead is set (POPPING) and your done. Good to go. Compressors good to have and no worries about patching sealant will take care of it
 
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Check to see if you have a removal valve b/c if you do, you don't need to remove the tire at all. Just take the valve out, add some more goo, put valve back in and inflate.
 
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