Tubeless problems?

I like the idea behind running tubeless, and think that I saved myself a lot of headache this year by not running any tubes. Having said that, I did encounter a few problems and was wondering if people have experienced the same, or could suggest preventative measures.

1) In Kicking Horse, I came down hard on a rock and dented the rim, worst of all I ripped a hole in the sidewall at the same time. I hadn't put goo into my tire in about 3 months. No one down at the bottom had any goo, so I had to put in a tube. Bought a downhill tube, but pinched it with a tire lever putting it in and so had to buy another downhill tube. All said and done, about 2 hours and $50 down the drain.

2) Was in Whistler last weekend and noticed tire pressure was a little low. I bought and added 2 small bottles of Stan's sealant and pumped the tires up to about 35psi. A few runs in and I hit a rock when jumping a water bar. End result was a hole in the tread pattern of the tire. Couldn't keep pressure in the tire above 15psi for the rest of the day, so had to stop and add air manually every 5 mins or so.

As far as the most recent problem, someone suggested drying out the tire and putting a patch inside to seal the hole and then adding Stan's.

My wife on the other hand thinks that it is time to end the tubeless experiment based on the downtime and frustration encountered.

Thoughts?

1: A lot of the time, you can repair a dented rim by carefully bending the bent section back straight. Also, in my experience, DH tubes are never worth the weight penalty, and it's cheaper to buy a patch kit than a second tube.

2: It's easy to patch the inside of the tube.

I've had really good luck with tubeless, singly ply minions and the ghetto BMX tube method. The best trick I can recommend is to wet the bead of the tyre with Stans before mounting, then the tyre will be glued to the rim, forming a solid bond.

Only you can decide if it's worth carrying on. The few disadvantages of tubeless really pale compared to the benefits in my opinion.

1: A lot of the time, you can repair a dented rim by carefully bending the bent section back straight. Also, in my experience, DH tubes are never worth the weight penalty, and it's cheaper to buy a patch kit than a second tube.

2: It's easy to patch the inside of the tube.

I've had really good luck with tubeless, singly ply minions and the ghetto BMX tube method. The best trick I can recommend is to wet the bead of the tyre with Stans before mounting, then the tyre will be glued to the rim, forming a solid bond.

Only you can decide if it's worth carrying on. The few disadvantages of tubeless really pale compared to the benefits in my opinion.

I have a ghetto tubeless setup (721's with Nevegals) that has been sitting in storage for 8 months and they haven't lost any air.

All of these problems have been since I got the 823's and mounted first a Minion, and then a High Roller UST.

what tires?

If you are running non DH tires tubeless for Park riding. you deserve it.

2: It's easy to patch the inside of the tube.

Assume you mean't tire?

Dented rims are unavoidable if you don't use proper pressures. You have to use a bit more w/out tubes, but should get similar grip. I've found that 35psi works well for DH and 30 is pushing the dent envelope.

Holes in tires need to be patched or tire needs to be replaced. The stans demo shows the sealant patches nail holes, but I've found that once you have a rip in the tire, the air pressures don't hold. In this case I'll place a business card against the hole and toss in a tube. That'll get you through the day (or even a couple of days) until the tire can be replaced.

tubes would've been flat too so you can't really pin it on tubeless. Just use higher pressure in the parks and you'll be fine.

1) In Kicking Horse, I came down hard on a rock and dented the rim, worst of all I ripped a hole in the sidewall at the same time. I hadn't put goo into my tire in about 3 months. No one down at the bottom had any goo, so I had to put in a tube. Bought a downhill tube, but pinched it with a tire lever putting it in and so had to buy another downhill tube. All said and done, about 2 hours and $50 down the drain.

2) Was in Whistler last weekend and noticed tire pressure was a little low. I bought and added 2 small bottles of Stan's sealant and pumped the tires up to about 35psi. A few runs in and I hit a rock when jumping a water bar. End result was a hole in the tread pattern of the tire. Couldn't keep pressure in the tire above 15psi for the rest of the day, so had to stop and add air manually every 5 mins or so.

My wife on the other hand thinks that it is time to end the tubeless experiment based on the downtime and frustration encountered.

Thoughts?

1. A tube would have been pinched and flatted too I mean you dented the rim because you did not have enough air in the tire for that hit.

2. You would have put a hole in a regular tire too but the tube would have pushed out that hole and flatted

3. Always always always listen to your wife. Just don't do what she says particularly when it comes to things mechanical. So you had two days where you did in some tires and a rim which is completely unrelated to the fact that there was no tube in the tire. Two days in an entire season? Brother that's not a problem at all. Last season with tubes, did you have a flat or 6? Have you never dented a rim or torn open a tire with tubes?

There are kits available to patch smaller punctures in tubeless tires using a glued in plug like one uses for a car tire. You simply cut a strip of rubber and stick it through the awl which is large sewing needle type thing, glue it up and stick it in the hole, cut it on the other side from where you jammed it in and remove the awl leaving the rubber strip in the tire. Trim and ride. Larger holes can be patched but if you have cut through too many casing cords, the tire is probably done.

Eye Dee Ten Tee user error .. ha ha ha ha

just kidding Gotham :) But none of these issues are directly because of the tubeless.

For the record, wives only suggest these things because they don't want to have to listen to hubbies that bitch and complain for weeks about how crappy the tubeless is…

what tires?

If you are running non DH tires tubeless for Park riding. you deserve it.

EXACTLY what I was thinking. I have run tubeless in DH TIRES for 3 full seasons of riding and NEVER ONCE a flat. My wife the same.

If your running thin tires (non DH) you "lose the right" to complain about flats of any kind park riding ;)

I.D. 10T

Not enough air?

Been loving my Deemax UST with Michelin Comp 24 2.5 UST and Minion 2.5 UST.

Only two problems in two years:

1. too low air in the front caused the front to roll off the bead off the Salvation log drop. That was ugly. I also broke the UST valve core putting the replacement tube in that night.
2. tore a hole in a rear tire in the Okanagan coming off a drop onto a sharp pointy rock. Duct tape and a tube got me out.

Compared to the number of times I've waited for others to fix thier flat tubes in the last 2 years, I'm totally sold on UST.

PS - DH tires for DH trails.

Compared to the number of times I've waited for Shirk to fix his flat tubes in the last 2 years, I'm totally sold on UST.

fixed

EXACTLY what I was thinking. I have run tubeless in DH TIRES for 3 full seasons of riding and NEVER ONCE a flat. My wife the same.

If your running thin tires (non DH) you "lose the right" to complain about flats of any kind park riding ;)

DUDE Never say the 'F' word after "never once had a"
Now your in for it.

Question: with tubeless, if there's an impact strong enough to bend a rim, will it always cause a flat? Or is there some tolerance for slight bends?

-m

Question: with tubeless, if there's an impact strong enough to bend a rim, will it always cause a flat? Or is there some tolerance for slight bends?

-m

not necessarily

this is where the ghetto tubeless sometimes has an advantage on the stan's strips. A dent in the side of the rim can push the tire bead off the sealing part of the stans strip whereas the ghetto tube will form around the dent and keep it sealed.

I've had lots of flat spots and small dents that didn't affect the seal at all, even with Stans strips.

to the original poster, it sounds like you would have flatted with a tube in both of those situations. I generally always carry a tube with me, it's pretty painless to remove the strip and slip in a tube and carry on with my ride, dealing with fixing the tire, or re-sealing it later when I get home.