Tubeless woes pt4?

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livpoksoc

Guru
Location
Basingstoke
After picking up a puncture last week (Schwalbe Pro One TLE 700x28), couldn't get it to seal so put a tube in to get me home.

Back in the garage, I discovered I appear to have three punctures that aren't sealing. Two x 5mm cuts and a smaller pinhole puncture. I appear to have been able to seal one of the 5mm cuts with a plug, but the other won't seal despite my best efforts with the tedious plugs. The pinhole one also doesn't seem to want to seal itself, but think that may be down to not being able to actually run the tyre properly whilst it is compromised.

Whenever I pump the tyre up, it reaches about 60 psi and blows and leaks. Plug still in place, but doesn't want to take the strain of full inflation.

So the question is, how do I now fix this cut? I've seen videos suggesting that dedicated tubeless patches are good, but others dismiss them entirely.

In these supply chain buggered times, I have frantically sought a spare set of Pirellis to keep on standby should I be unable to fix this, but overall not convinced this is a sustainable solution as this would in effect be my third set of tyres on these wheels in a year and I've only done 1800 miles in that period. (the first were continental GP5000s I have abandoned due to being a bastid to get on my rims).

FWIW I have several small cuts in the tyres that have sealed successfully that would have otherwise had me replacing tubes by the side of the road over the year, so I am as yet undeterred by the switch to tubeless.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Ouch. I don't have any issues with tubes, and haven't even moved the MTB to tubeless. Fair bit of faffing. Some folk manage fine with tubeless, others get a right run of bad luck. What sealant are you using - some are beter than others.
 
For any non sealing punctures i just patch a small piece of old inner tube on the inside of the tyre, had good results so far with that.

I often find that worms will only temporarily seal a puncture once the hole gets to a decent size. If i can't be bothered to remove a tyre then i'll typically deflate the tyre partially and then use some Shoe-goo around the worm, leave it for 24hrs or so and then inflate and give it a ride.
 
i had a non sealing puncture after 5 mins on a brand new tyre, i fitted a tubes completed the ride but couldnt get that tyre to ever seal again, a combination of it being a sidewall hole and all the sealant that had turned to hard glue around the bead meaning i had gaps in the seal everywhere. Super annoying and expensive but still a perfectly useable tubed tyre on another wheel and bike.

Luck of the draw sometimes.
 

wonderloaf

Veteran
In the past I've successfully used a tubeless repair kit such as this one:
https://www.leisurelakesbikes.com/m...kit__306750?currency=GBP&chosenAttribute=VT40
I picked up a couple of punctures on Sunday (the farmers have been trimming the hedges around here) one on the front and one on the back. Both sealed immediately but found the front did leak slightly every time I stopped, so I hit it with a worm and plenty of glue and that seems to have done the trick. It was still holding air last night but I'll probably use one of the above patches to seal it permanently just to be on the safe side.
 

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
I went to tubeless and then moved back to tubes. Even when tubeless is working well, they still tend to lose air faster than tubes and they can be a pain to set up. All the tubeless riders I know carry a tube on the road and so I cannot see the point. My commute in the morning starts at 4.30am and I can change a tube in 5 minutes. I would struggle with tubeless.

I am just of the opinion that tubeless is a really good idea, but it is only 95% sorted out at the moment. There just needs to be another 5% to be perfected.

I am sure many riders swear by tubeless. But I am not one of them.
 

Tribansman

Veteran
What's wrong with it? Offers a workable, reliable solution!

Especially in these 'supply chain buggered times'
 

T4tomo

Guru
Give you referred to GP5000's I assume this is a road bike for riding on roads....
Whenever I pump the tyre up, it reaches about 60 psi and blows and leaks. Plug still in place, but doesn't want to take the strain of full inflation.
What pressure are you trying to get to? Tubeless "systems" aren't designed to take high pressures, the were "invented" by the dirty MTB bunch, its ideal for MTB and gravel riding so you can run to 20-50psi, and thus get decent offroad grip, and not run the risk of pinch punctures. If you are trying to run 25/28mm road tyres at 75-80psi tubeless then you are likely to get issues.
FWIW I have several small cuts in the tyres that have sealed successfully that would have otherwise had me replacing tubes by the side of the road over the year, so I am as yet undeterred by the switch to tubeless.
Decent tubed tyres come with a kelvar protection band which means such cuts don't cause a puncture provided you regularly check you tyres and get any embedded bits of flint out. Tubeless ready / specific tyres often omit or have reduced protection to keep them lighter as they rely on the fluid to reseal any holes.
 
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Your sealant may not be helping, I tried to be eco friendly and tried a non latex sealant, I might as well of poured water in it was useless. Normally I was using normal Stans and that seamed to cure most holes but not the bigger it ones it blows out of bigger holes at higher pressure ( I had this problem only yesterday see my post in your commute today with normal Stans) . However race Stans race sealant has bigger "crystals" in it which I find cannot be injected via the valve ( with core removed) and has to be poured into the tyre while its off the rim, nothing has defeated this sealant so far for me, I wish I had it in yesterday.
NB I have never used plugs only had one hole a slit too big for old stans just used a spare tube, instead when i got home binned the tyre.
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
I went to tubeless and then moved back to tubes. Even when tubeless is working well, they still tend to lose air faster than tubes and they can be a pain to set up. All the tubeless riders I know carry a tube on the road and so I cannot see the point. My commute in the morning starts at 4.30am and I can change a tube in 5 minutes. I would struggle with tubeless.

I am just of the opinion that tubeless is a really good idea, but it is only 95% sorted out at the moment. There just needs to be another 5% to be perfected.

I am sure many riders swear by tubeless. But I am not one of them.
I'm slowly beginning to come round to your point of view. I'll continue with it until my current tubeless tyres are getting worn out - should take a year or 18 months or so - and take a view then.

It's been a learning experience so far and I'm not a fast learner. Maybe in a year I'll be wiser and carry on with it.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
I've said it before but it's worth repeating. Why try to re-invent the wheel?
It isn't "re-inventing", it is a minor change/improvement.

Tubes and sensible tyres (and I don't mean Marathon+'s!) Work perfectly.
That is the issue - they don't work "perfectly".

They work "OK" for most.

Tubeless still aren't perfect - I've had to chuck one because of a 10mm gash that I couldn't get to seal - I couldn't persuade a bit of old inner tube to stick to the inside of the tyre, and even putting a tube in it failed to hold after a day or so.

But I am stopping less frequently for punctures than I did with tubed tyres. And the lower pressure I can run at does make them more comfortable to ride.

So for me it is a definite improvement - and not as much "faff" as some people would have us believe.
 

Alex321

Veteran
Location
South Wales
What pressure are you trying to get to? Tubeless "systems" aren't designed to take high pressures, the were "invented" by the dirty MTB bunch, its ideal for MTB and gravel riding so you can run to 20-50psi, and thus get decent offroad grip, and not run the risk of pinch punctures. If you are trying to run 25mm road tyres at 75-80psi tubeless then you are likely to get issues.

The tubeless road tyres I have tried are both designed to be run at 75-80psi.
First, two Hutchison Fusion 5 11storm (range 74-99psi as marked on the tyre).
Then a Goodyear Eagle F1 (max 85psi, no min marked). This bought as a replacement for the one I had to chuck (see previous post).

These are in 28mm, but I expect 25 would be the same pressures.
 
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