Tubeless puncture question

[ms10]

Hi,

My new bike came tubeless, at my request. And after 150 miles the front suffered its first puncture today.

I immediately spotted the sealant spraying out, stopped cycling and quickly removed a small sharp stone from the 2mm hole.

At this point, i examined the hole with the wheel rotated so that the hole was at the top. The tyre, however, was soon fully deflated. (The sealant is Finishline - not that well reviewed from what I can tell)

My question is, after removing the stone, should i have continued at a slow speed to allow the sealant to continue coming into contact with the hole? It occurred to me afterwards that by stopping with the hole at the top caused the sealant to pool at the bottom of the tyre when I should have been continuing to distribute it around the tyre.

Thanks
Mark

 

[simongt]

Does not the sealant packaging give any instructions / advice as to what to do in such a situation - ?

 

[Sharky]

Never been tempted to switch to tubeless and at my age, to old to start learning new techniques.
But out of curiosity, what size tyres do you use?

I seem to be getting a feeling that tubeless is great for off road & larger tyres, but for road and narrow (25mm or less) a lot more hassle.

 

[Sea of vapours]

You definitely want the sealant to be able to get to the hole so stationary and at the top seems optimally bad. Some sealants claim to form a foam inside the tyre when agitated through rotation so might still seal like that. I've almost always just carried on moving, though once i did stop and held the hole at the bottom 'til the spray stopped.

 

[ms10]

Does not the sealant packaging give any instructions / advice as to what to do in such a situation - ?

It came with the new bike. Haven't looked at Finish Lines site though.

 

[ms10]

Never been tempted to switch to tubeless and at my age, to old to start learning new techniques.
But out of curiosity, what size tyres do you use?

I seem to be getting a feeling that tubeless is great for off road & larger tyres, but for road and narrow (25mm or less) a lot more hassle.

The tyres are 32mm Panaracer Gravelking at 60 psi. I ride road only but the back roads I use are uneven, pot-holed and hilly.

I took the plunge with these having previously used 23mm at 120psi after reading how wider tyres offer lower rolling resistance and better comfort and grip.

Yeah it's a learning curve. End of the day, get a puncture in the sticks, you have a problem

 

[Deleted member 23692]

You should have continued ridging, and the sealant should have formed a seal with minimal air loos. However, that would probably never happen with the finish line sealant.

Best bet is to drop the tyres wash the finish line sealant out(it is water soluble), let everything dry and refill with something decent. I recommend Muc Off sealant. It's pink and smells nice too

 

[Specialeyes]

You should have continued ridging, and the sealant should have formed a seal with minimal air loos. However, that would probably never happen with the finish line sealant.

Best bet is to drop the tyres wash the finish line sealant out(it is water soluble), let everything dry and refill with something decent. I recommend Muc Off sealant. It's pink and smells nice too

^ this ^ 100%

If you happen to notice and stop, be sure to give the wheel a spin and finish with the hole at the bottom.

Most of the time you won't even notice the puncture, but will finish the ride and spot congealed sealant on the back of the seat tube. I had one the other day where I felt the blast of air from the depressurisation and a splat of sealant on my leg for about 5 turns of the wheel, after which it had sealed. (Another vote for MucOff sealant here, plus it reacts to UV light so is easy to spot if you happen to have a UV torch). I carried on riding for a couple of minutes to the next convenient place to stop and check the pressure: it was fine and the hole had stopped weeping. Just be sure to shake the sealant up before adding it, as you want all the particulate sludgy bits in your tyre.

 

[figbat]

The challenge is that with a narrower, higher-pressure tyre you lose a lot of air in the initial burst which looks and sounds dramatic, and this also makes sealing the hole more difficult; as the pressure drops the air-flow drops and the sealant has more of a fighting chance. I have only once had to stop on a ride with a punctured tubeless tyre - it felt soft as I was riding so I stopped, put the hole at the bottom and let it stand for a few minutes. When it looked like it was no longer weeping I added some air and that was that - it is still sealed now.

EDIT - sorry, no idea what the sealant is; it came filled-up when I bought it. My other bike gets Stan's and that has never caused me to stop on the trial.

 

[Deleted member 23692]

Does adding glitter to the sealant work on road tyres? It does help on MTBs

 

[Specialeyes]

End of the day, get a puncture in the sticks, you have a problem

Just noticed this bit. I've just put 35mm Gravelkings on my gravel bike, set up tubeless, despite having had puncture problems with tubed 28mm Gravelkings on another bike last year. I carry a spare tube as an absolute last resort, plus a little pack of 'bacon strips' and a MucOff reamer tool thing to thread into any holes that might be too big for the sealant to handle on its own. So far, so good. Oh, and a pump with a threaded, flexible hose rather than the lever-sealed type - as it can take an awful long time to inflate the bigger tyres with a Pocket Rocket type pump!

Emergency tube + tubeless repair kit + pump means a tubeless setup should be just as able to get you home as a tubed setup, if not more so.

 

[Jody]

Sealant seems to be hit and miss. My mate has had loads of issues with Slime not doing its job. Only time Stans has let me down is when I put a gash in the sidewall.

But out of curiosity, what size tyres do you use?

I seem to be getting a feeling that tubeless is great for off road & larger tyres, but for road and narrow (25mm or less) a lot more hassle.

8 punctures on last nights ride and not one stopped me (sorry OP)

I'm running 2.3's at about 25-30PSI but I've had them as high as 50 with no issues.

 

[ms10]

You should have continued ridging, and the sealant should have formed a seal with minimal air loos. However, that would probably never happen with the finish line sealant.

Best bet is to drop the tyres wash the finish line sealant out(it is water soluble), let everything dry and refill with something decent. I recommend Muc Off sealant. It's pink and smells nice too

Thanks. I assume though it's still best to stop briefly and remove the object that was sticking out of the tyre. I can only imagine further cycling pushing it further into the tyre

Based on reviews, I've ordered some Stans No Tubes Race Sealant

 

[ms10]

^ this ^ 100%

If you happen to notice and stop, be sure to give the wheel a spin and finish with the hole at the bottom.

Most of the time you won't even notice the puncture, but will finish the ride and spot congealed sealant on the back of the seat tube. I had one the other day where I felt the blast of air from the depressurisation and a splat of sealant on my leg for about 5 turns of the wheel, after which it had sealed. (Another vote for MucOff sealant here, plus it reacts to UV light so is easy to spot if you happen to have a UV torch). I carried on riding for a couple of minutes to the next convenient place to stop and check the pressure: it was fine and the hole had stopped weeping. Just be sure to shake the sealant up before adding it, as you want all the particulate sludgy bits in your tyre.

Thanks. I'd rather have sealant on my leg than the fat ex-slug I found stuck to my arse the other week. Maybe a symptom of 32mm tyres. This never happened to me with 23mm's.

 

[ms10]

Sealant seems to be hit and miss. My mate has had loads of issues with Slime not doing its job. Only time Stans has let me down is when I put a gash in the sidewall.



8 punctures on last nights ride and not one stopped me (sorry OP)

I'm running 2.3's at about 25-30PSI but I've had them as high as 50 with no issues.

Just noticed this bit. I've just put 35mm Gravelkings on my gravel bike, set up tubeless, despite having had puncture problems with tubed 28mm Gravelkings on another bike last year. I carry a spare tube as an absolute last resort, plus a little pack of 'bacon strips' and a MucOff reamer tool thing to thread into any holes that might be too big for the sealant to handle on its own. So far, so good. Oh, and a pump with a threaded, flexible hose rather than the lever-sealed type - as it can take an awful long time to inflate the bigger tyres with a Pocket Rocket type pump!

Emergency tube + tubeless repair kit + pump means a tubeless setup should be just as able to get you home as a tubed setup, if not more so.

Thanks.

I'm learning quickly. I did have a 'bacon strip' kit with me, but no pump. Once home (thanks to the wife...) I applied a strip, pumped it up to 60psi, and several hours later it's still at the same pressure.