Punkawallah
Veteran
I live to serve :-)
Greatest cycling invention of the last 25 years?
- Thread starter Jameshow
- Start date
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I live to serve :-)
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
I've had to do this once. It wasn't really messy. The thing is, once you have liquid inside the U shape of a tyre, it doesn't want to come out. So sticking a tube in was scarcely different to just changing a tube. My hands were a bit tacky afterwards, that's all. Just had to remove the valve stem from the rim first.
When I got it home and took the tube out ... that was messy!
Edit: Mind you, I do ride with mudguards, which caught the initial squirt.
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That's exactly how I feel about Tubeless. Advocates crack on, myself I'll just carry on down the road as I am with tubes. It's never really a problem to warrant changing.
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Widnes
Question
If tubeless can have a sealant that automatically seals in the event of a hole
then why can;t a tube have the same?
I have sealant in my tubes and it does seem to save some punctures
but not as much as people say it does with tubeless
If tubeless can have a sealant that automatically seals in the event of a hole
then why can;t a tube have the same?
I have sealant in my tubes and it does seem to save some punctures
but not as much as people say it does with tubeless
I'm not an expert on tubeless but I think the sealant only lasts a few months before it needs changing because it goes hard? So if in a sealed tube that would be very tricky. Again, correct if wrong.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
According to this: https://www.bikeradar.com/news/faux-tubeless
Inner tubes with sealant have been around for a long time. But the thin casing and flexibility mean that, if you get a puncture, the tube doesn’t tend to seal properly, and will leak air and sealant into the space between the tube and the tyre casing.
So - if that's correct - it's the fact that the tube is so thin, there's nowhere for the sealant to really grip on to (unlike tubeless where it has the thickness of the tyre casing). The link above solves this problem (allegedly) by gluing the tube to the inside of the casing meaning that the sealant goes into the hole in the tyre casing and seals it, rather than leaking between the tyre casing and the tube This means that the sealant is enclosed in the tube (no mess, no faff) but it also seals more effectively. I thought it was a totally stupid idea when I first saw it, but on further reading and thinking about it ... maybe not.
There's though this from the article and the guy who invented it :
"Hallett reckons a full tubeless setup still works better if you have a tubeless-ready wheel and tyre. It also weighs less and is more pliable, increasing ride comfort and performance."
So, on face of it the faux tubeless looks decent but faff involved for a system that isn't as good as actual tubeless so for now I'm sticking with inner tubes.
matticus
Guru
Jeez - why aren't you guys using modern tech yet?!?
ebikeerwidnes
Guru
- Location
- Widnes
Thanks - that makes sense - I have been wondering
It does mean that a solution would be to design tubes that are thicker - and therefore less likely to puncture anyway
and designed to allow the sealant to "grip"
It would be heavier and all that
but for hobby riders and commuters (in some cases) then it would be better
maybe
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I feel tubeless is very much a marmite thing. I wouldn't go back to tubes after 6/7 years of tubeless. It's purely a comfort and convenience thing.
The initial setup 6/7 years ago was tricky, especially finding decent valves which were the source of all the issues I experienced. I know people who have tried tubeless and binned it, after chatting with them it was clear some fundamentals weren't followed at the beginning. One didn't know it is necessary to top up the sealant every 6 - 9 months, when she punctured there was no sealant left!
I've had four ocassions in 6/7 years requiring me to stop. The first time a buddy saw I had a puncture, "oh God you're tubeless" was his response. I whacked in a plug, some air and we were off in five minutes. The second was on a gravel ride when it took a while to get the plug in, perhaps a 10/12 minute stop, the third was yesterday, five minutes. The fourth was a catastrophic failure. I rode over a broken beer bottle, large gash in the side wall, perhaps 1cm. It was pouring with rain, I was drenched, the sealant got everywhere. Somehow I got a tube and tyre boot in but that failed about two or three miles from home. I walked. My feeling is beer bottle incidents are unlikely to be solved tubed or not!!!!
The thing about the sealant drying up is, for me, an urban myth. Mine gets topped up every 6 - 9 months. I've never known it dry up.
I still carry a tube
old habits.........................
PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
Is this a real thing? If so what on earth is it? If there are benefits I'd like to know.
Dogtrousers
Lefty tighty. Get it righty.
It was one of the magical cobble-defeating gizmos on show before Paris-Roubaix.
Its a kind of inner inner tube I think. Its a smaller tube that sits inside the tyre without contacting the tyre itself, so if the tyre punctures it's still inflated and you can still ride. Something like that.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/bikes/p...double-bubble-safety-system-at-paris-roubaix/
Oddly enough the guy who actually won was riding for a team whose magic gizmo was banned by the UCI just before the race so he had to make do with non-magic tyres
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fritz katzenjammer
Der Ubergrosserbudgie
When I retired I got a part time job at a classy one make bike shop assembling new bikes. I got to work on lots of nice stuff including $20000 road bikes and the occasional custom build. It was fun and stress free and the money I made was immediately blown on bikes and parts. ( win / win! )
fast forward five years and the bikes are a pain in the ass to build with more cabling moving inside and the quality dropping off making each and every new machine just that much harder to get to work properly. I’m likely quitting soon to go work at the local community bike shop. The bikes are often filthy junk and the pay is zero but that’s where the fun is so off we go.
fast forward five years and the bikes are a pain in the ass to build with more cabling moving inside and the quality dropping off making each and every new machine just that much harder to get to work properly. I’m likely quitting soon to go work at the local community bike shop. The bikes are often filthy junk and the pay is zero but that’s where the fun is so off we go.
I feel tubeless is very much a marmite thing. I wouldn't go back to tubes after 6/7 years of tubeless. It's purely a comfort and convenience thing.
The initial setup 6/7 years ago was tricky, especially finding decent valves which were the source of all the issues I experienced. I know people who have tried tubeless and binned it, after chatting with them it was clear some fundamentals weren't followed at the beginning. One didn't know it is necessary to top up the sealant every 6 - 9 months, when she punctured there was no sealant left!
I've had four ocassions in 6/7 years requiring me to stop. The first time a buddy saw I had a puncture, "oh God you're tubeless" was his response. I whacked in a plug, some air and we were off in five minutes. The second was on a gravel ride when it took a while to get the plug in, perhaps a 10/12 minute stop, the third was yesterday, five minutes. The fourth was a catastrophic failure. I rode over a broken beer bottle, large gash in the side wall, perhaps 1cm. It was pouring with rain, I was drenched, the sealant got everywhere. Somehow I got a tube and tyre boot in but that failed about two or three miles from home. I walked. My feeling is beer bottle incidents are unlikely to be solved tubed or not!!!!
The thing about the sealant drying up is, for me, an urban myth. Mine gets topped up every 6 - 9 months. I've never known it dry up.
I still carry a tube
Why then would you need to top up sealant of it's not drying up? Surely not evaporating?
Anyway, good it's working for you. I still can't see me bothering. I know Ollie from GCN and others have given up on tubeless and gone back to tubes. I think TPU tubes was the factor for them along with hassle of maintenance.
I'll add I'm still on butyl tubes as I'm confident of them and know if required I can patch a tube roadside if I need to. Not sure how good TPU repair patches are for emergency repairs. Again, not used or tried so no experience of TPU.
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PaulSB
Squire
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I must be sealing more holes than I realise!! I take your point and if I'm honest I haven't a clue. By "drying up" I was thinking literally of the sealant drying and forming a crust or flaky powder. I'm going to find out............My buddy's experience of TPU is not great and an expensive lesson!!
