Slow puncture repair

[JerryHone]

I boughht myself a Boardman SLR 8.6 road bike a couple of months ago, just in time for lockdown exercising!!! I'm pretty sure that the spec on the bike said 'tubeless ready' but as Boardman's website's disappeared, I can't confirm that! Now, I have a rear wheel slow puncture so what to do to repair it?
Q1 - if it really is 'tubeless ready', does that mean that there's a tube inside, or just that there may be a tube inside? How can I tell?
Q2 - Does 'ready' refer to just the wheel, or the tyre or both?
Q3 - I've tried taking the wheel off and submerging it section by section in a big tub of water to try and find the puncture, but no luck so far...it is very slow! Any other suggestions?
Q3 - I'm considering getting myself a floor pump, cos pumping up with a small hand pump is getting tiresome! Are there any recommendations, especially if I may need to pop a tubeless tyre back in following repair?

 

[sleuthey]

1/2 no experience of tubeless but I’d imagine ready means the wheels are compatible with tubeless tyres

3 that’s not a reliable way of finding the puncture with the tyre on the rim. Take it off and examine tyres and submerse tube in water

If it were me I’d just patch the puncture if possible if not replace the tube

 

[screenman]

Stick some sealant in it, problem over.

 

[13 rider]

Post a picture of the value that will tell me wether it has a tube in

 

[Specialeyes]

Post a picture of the valve that will tell me wether it has a tube in

ftfy

Pretty sure there'll be a tube in there - so when you come to take the tyre off and fix the puncture, be sure to note where abouts on the tyre the valve was and which way round the tube was, so you can find the offending flint or other wee nastie if it's embedded itself in the tyre. (That's why it's a good idea to align tyre logos with valves when refitting... plus it looks better

Tubeless-ready and tubeless-compatible are terms that aren't properly defined - when applied to tyres it could mean that the tyre has a butyl liner to hold air, or it could mean that it doesn't so will need sealant injecting into it to stop air leaking slowly out and instead just has a deeper tubeless bead. Actually, thinking about it, this could be your problem... so, erm ,yeah, a pic of the valve will answer it!

When applied to rims, tubeless-ready sometimes just refers to to the edge of the rim which has a deeper channel to mate with the tubeless tyre's bead. It doesn't necessarily mean that the rim is airtight and it might need the spoke-holes sealing.

 

[boydj]

Tubeless Ready wheels are not usually supplied tubeless when you buy the bike, so it's very likely you've got a tube in there. The valve will confirm - you'll be able to see if the valve is attached to a tube, or if it's tightly sealed to the rim. Or let all the air out and look inside the tyre.

 

[Milkfloat]

How slow is slow? A highly pressured road tyre will need air adding weekly even without punctures.

 

[Racing roadkill]

In the case of the Boardman in question, the wheels are sealed and ready to go as tubeless. You just need the tubeless valve and some sealant. You will almost certainly not be able to seat the tubeless tyres with a standard floor pump. You’ll either need a charge pump ( it has a reservoir which you pump up to pressure, then it’s released in one big shove ) and / or a CO2 inflator. Then you just get the tyre positioned centrally, and make sure the bit of the valve poking up Inside the rim is covered, then blast the tyres into position. Leave them to equilibrate ( you’ll hear lots of pinging and popping as the beads seat ). Then let all the air / gas out, Remove the valve core, inject the sealant through the valve body, clean any excess out of the valve body, replace the core, then pump up with a normal floor pump, checking for any seepage round the rim. Then job’s a good’un, no need for tubes. You’d be best off running them at lower pressures than you would with a standard set up.

 

[Ajax Bay]

to Cycle Chat.
Tell us what the tyre says on the outside.
At this stage just get a Halfords basic track pump, with a pressure guage. Once you have spent time with it you'll then have a better idea of your needs.

 

[JerryHone]

The tyre does indeed have a tube and I found and repaired the puncture - we're all go again. It appears as if the elasticated rim tape is not central in a couple of places so the inner tube was rubbing on the edge of the tape and the channel. I had a go at centring the tape but it's formed into shape and keeps pinging back. So my expectation is that I'll get another flat at some point when the same thing happens although next time it's got to wear through the patch as well.

On the subject of pumps, the "Intellipump" rechargeable number looks OK on paper - does anyone have any experience, good or bad?

 

[monkers]

I boughht myself a Boardman SLR 8.6 road bike a couple of months ago, just in time for lockdown exercising!!! I'm pretty sure that the spec on the bike said 'tubeless ready' but as Boardman's website's disappeared, I can't confirm that! Now, I have a rear wheel slow puncture so what to do to repair it?
Q1 - if it really is 'tubeless ready', does that mean that there's a tube inside, or just that there may be a tube inside? How can I tell?
Q2 - Does 'ready' refer to just the wheel, or the tyre or both?
Q3 - I've tried taking the wheel off and submerging it section by section in a big tub of water to try and find the puncture, but no luck so far...it is very slow! Any other suggestions?
Q3 - I'm considering getting myself a floor pump, cos pumping up with a small hand pump is getting tiresome! Are there any recommendations, especially if I may need to pop a tubeless tyre back in following repair?

https://www.boardmanbikes.com/gb_en/products/2130-slr-8.6-alloy.html

 

[JerryHone]

Thanks for the link - that site had disappeared last week, but it confirms the "tubeless ready", although I now know it's tubed!

 

[13 rider]

As a bodge repair cover the spokes holes up with electrical tape or order some new rim tape as your using tubes didn't have to be tubeless tape

 

[Ajax Bay]

It appears as if the elasticated rim tape is not central in a couple of places so the inner tube was rubbing on the edge of the tape and the channel. I had a go at centring the tape but it's formed into shape and keeps pinging back. So my expectation is that I'll get another flat at some point when the same thing happens although next time it's got to wear through the patch as well.

Very likely what caused your puncture was the useless supplied rim tape slipping sideways to expose the edge of a spoke hole. These are drilled and often have sharp edges. You need to get better rim tape in both the wheels (unless you're going to go 'tubeless' in which case you need tubeless rim tape, valve and sealant and some expertise gained from viewing a few videos, perhaps). 'Velox' is the rim tape leader but there is a range. Probably need 16mm width for the road wheels ETA: (but though I can't discern the actual spec, from the "Boardman Alloy Tubeless Ready" text description, maybe 18mm would be better - look on the rim and see if it says 622-17: if so +1mm).

 

[CanucksTraveller]

+1 to what Ajax said.
If you check your tyre fully and there's nothing poking in, it's odds on to be the tape gaps. I've only had that once a long time ago, i had a repeating puncture that turned out to be a spoke end poking the tube from the inside... all due to tape that wouldn't align (like yours, it kept pinging out of the well).
New tape is the fix, and the good news is that it's not dear and it's a really easy fix. New rim tape will snap right into that well nice and snug.