I'd never run tubeless on a road bike... I've flatted a road bike like 3 times in my life. It's only worth it if you're going off road in my opinion.

 

+1

Andrew,

Ride it around within a few minutes at max psi. I typically ride a few circles leaning the bike over hard with a foot clipped out, to load the sidewalls and bead. Turn both directions. Don' skimp on sealant, use at least the recommended amount. Re-inflate to max psi and let stand overnight. I almost never have tires not sealed after the first try. The sealant dries out after 6-12 months, depending on environment. Check very 6 mos or so. Add sealant if they're dry.

Before tubeless, the fastest, best performing bicycle tires were glued on tubulars. Now that's an unholy mess and PITA. Takes 3 days (not joking) to properly mount a set of tubulars.

You might not say that after riding road tubeless. They roll faster, grip better, ride better, weigh less. That they're near impossible to flat is a just a bonus.

 

When I do tech-support for the Hawaii Ironman races I'll seriously have ~20-25 wheel sets at various stages of tubular gluing a day. My hands are so angry after stretching and gluing a bazillion tubulars.

 

Aha. I didn't ride it at all, just inflated the tires and left them overnight to check. I'll pull both tires, clean everything, use more sealant, and ride the bike around after mounting them tonight.

 

Took the kids out to Sea Otter this weekend, when I wasn't marshalling at the dual slalom. The 8 y/o worked on her MTB skills a little, she just learned to ride without training wheels a month ago so she's progressing right along. The 4 y/o spent most of her time winning a new bike in an Easter egg hunt (no ****) and looking casually deliberate and as hors as you can look with training wheels. Donut for messing with a her.

 

Tubeless strike 2. Stan's sealant plugged up the valve core on the tire that completely deflated. Replaced it and I can't get the tire to seat with the floor pump. Used a CO2 with the core out and got the tire to seat, and it immediately un-seated itself while I was trying to get the core back in.

Maybe I'm just naive, but when I put a tubeless tire on a tubeless-compatible rim with a $65 tubeless kit, I shouldn't end the evening pissed off with a garage floor full of latex sealant. Tomorrow when I'm less prone to throwing things across the garage, I'll clean everything and make one more attempt, and if that fails I'm selling the tires and dumping the idea. I want to ride the bike, not **** around with it endlessly.

 

Did you draw the requisite tubeless pentagram on your garage floor with talc-powder and sacrifice a tube beforehand?

Seriously though, that sucks. Ive had my fare share of infuriating tubeless installs. I know what you mean having stans allll over the place.

 

I have the SI crankset, not the $1k SI SL.

I realized your quote I said 250grams? Its 250 grams lighter than my sram rival crankset at 520grams. lol
M

 

I feel for you... tubeless sucks until the tire is on.



By the way- you can make an inflater for super cheap and they work awesome: Joe Barnes' DIY Coke Bottle Tubeless Compressor Hack - The Hub - Mountain Biking Forums / Message Boards - Vital MTB

I made mine with a 2-liter coke bottle, tubeless valves and some vacuum hose.

 

Andrew,

Compressed air is your friend here. And lol at setting up tubeless indoors. You can either tippy toe, treat it like a surgical procedure indoors and not spill anything or the slap them all together quickly out in the parking lot and not worry about the mess. Once they have been seated and sealed once, they re-inflate and seat more readily. Sometimes a new tubeless setup that requires compressed air to seat will reseat with a minipump once it's been ridden tubeless for a while. Sometimes. Meanwhile, I carry the normal flat repair stuff: mini pump/CO2/lever/patch kit/boot/tube. In about 20 years of riding tubeless, I've had maybe one flat I think.

 

tire struggles.


IDK why, but i was having issues with intalling mine last week too, though not tubeless.

I put new michelin pro4 service course tires on my mavic wheels and the tubes were really giving me a time not wanting to stay in the tire and wanting to pinch between the bead and the rim. even lowly inflated the tubes just wanted to grab the brake track.


one tube must have been twisted once i had the setup together too, because the tube blew a hole in itself mid install of the other tire.

Reminds me i need to get a new tube for a spare.

 

There is a product idea. Tiny little plastic or aluminum canister that one can fill with a floor pump just for tubeless reseating.

 

Did you mean 2 years? Or have tubeless been around in say, Mtn bikes, for a lot longer than for road bikes?

 

didnt bontrager just announce a track pump that you can pump up to seat tubeless tires?

Bontrager's TLR Flash Charger Floor Pump - Review - Pinkbike

 

20 years MTB. I did my first DIY tubeless conversion around '96 IIRC. Ed Arnett of MTB Action (magazine) was a friend and local racer, gave me the recipe. That's right about the time that Stan's started up using much the same formula. IIRC it was latex mold builder and some ultra fine chopped fiberglass or something like that. Been tubeless on the MTB every since. I also tested a prototype 25lb 700c (29'er) disc brake full suspension MTB in '96 and begged my then boss to put the bike into production. The boss thought it would never sell and wouldn't let me keep the proto

Road tubeless, about 3 years. Bought a set of 700x23 Hutchinson tubeless for my non tubeless compatible wheels and could never get them to stay seated and high pressure so I gave up. Kept the tires figuring the market would see more tubeless compatible road wheels soon. That time has come but now I want discs on my road bike so the S5 might go up for sale.

 

I went out today with my 3 year old son on his glider bike.. He is just starting to "glide" on it as opposed just walking while holding the bars. I'm hoping he can transition from this bike in a year or so straight onto a pedal bike with no training wheels. Gotta start them early. I once saw a 4 year old on a glider at the local MTB trail and he was absolutely killing it.

 

I had a thought today. In the spirit of big brake kits... why not void my warranty?

Holy **** that's a terrible photo... please excuse

 

Next up, dubs and spinners.

 

Scraper bikes!

 

upping the rotor size, or going from solid stainless to an icetech?