Tubeless Blues

[PedalUma]

I have been trying for days to do a tubeless set-up on a gravel, adventure, road bike. Normally I can do it with a regular hand/foot pump. I purchased at my personal shop a doughnut pump with 110, psi 8/bar, loud air pump. The rear still wouldn't seal. It has a crack in the AL rim at the joint. What are your tubeless bliss blues? And as a Specialized bonus, you get 5 points whenever you smoke a Vado on your bike, ringing the bell three times and saying 'Overtaking to your left' to a fat guy in spandex and Yellow like he just won the Tour de France,.

 

[Stefan Mikes]

You do this either with a compressor or a CO2 cartridge.
The problem you cannot install tubeless is you, not the tubeless.
The more you smoke the harder it gets.

 

[Chargeride]

A lot of our public gas station compressors have a fast fill mode, Ive seen a friend reseal his tubeless tyre with one, just be careful you dont spray someones car

 

[lnanek]

There are better pumps that help. I have a Topeak Joe Blow Booster pump that has a mode where you can fill up a tank then blast it out all at once.

Shouldn't any crack be covered in rim tape anyway? Make sure the rim and valves are advertised as tubeless ready and remove the valve core.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I've never had any luck getting a tubeless tire to seat with a normal floor pump.

Also I'd be very skeptical of that cracked rim -- depending on where and how it is cracked that alone may make it impossible to seal. Keep in mind that the reason you use rim tape is that sealant isn't going to plug holes in aluminum or carbon fiber very well.

 

[spokewrench]

You seat the bead by shooting air in faster than it leaks out. That's why I bought a compressor with a tank, years ago. To shoot air in faster, you remove the core and put a trigger-operated conical rubber nozzle on your hose. If you don't take care, you could burst the tire.

The redneck method is to shoot some starting ether through a crack, then ignite it.

Before I had a compressor, I did surprisingly well with a slow pump and Black Jack Tire and Tube Mounting Compound. It has the consistency of wheel grease. You put the tire on, use a cotton swab to apply the compound around the bead for lubrication, tighten a rope around the crown to push the beads nearly into place, and use a cotton swab to seal cracks with Black Jack. The lube lets the beads pop into place more easily, and if the cracks aren't too big, it will hold air to let the pump build up the necessary pressure.

It's also used for mounting tubes. Maybe the lube would allow tube tires to run at lower pressure.

To me, it's identical to Murphy Oil Soap. It's supposed to be for wooden surfaces, but it also excels for brakes and wheels.

 

[PedalUma]

cracked rim

On that particular rim, opposite the valve is the weld is the seam. That is the leak. And hence my tubeless blues on that bike. I couldn't get to first base with Stan's but a newer product with polymers let me set the bead. Those boost pumps are cool.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Two weeks ago, I deflated my tubeless tires to replenish the sealant. Front reinflated just fine with my Ryobi electric pump (looks kinda like a cordless drill).

But the rear bead wouldn't seat with either the Ryobi or my neighbor's bicycle floor pump. Ended up taking it to Cadence Cyclery, where they got it to reseat first try with their compressor while I waited. They're the best!

There are better pumps that help. I have a Topeak Joe Blow Booster pump that has a mode where you can fill up a tank then blast it out all at once.

Have one of these on order now.

Lingering concern department: Several months ago, I hit a deeply recessed drainage grate at speed. (It was hidden in deep shade on a bright sunny day — never saw it coming.) Launched me right off the seat and pedals but somehow didn't fall!

Rear wheel took the brunt of it. No external rim damage on close inspection, and the wheels miraculously stayed true. But I wonder if the groove for the rear tire bead might have been distorted in the process. We'll see how it reseats with the new reservoir pump.

BTW, between the ultra-high-end bikes they sell and the bikes that come in, Cadence Cyclery is definitely the go-to place for bike porn around here. A customer's totally aero Pinarello Dogma.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Looking at that Dogma and given a recent concern for the UCI is mechanical doping, they are not helping themselves with that carbon fibre BB area - you could stash a whole Bosch CX motor in there!!

 

[PedalUma]

We built a 2025 SL Vado yesterday. Set it up tubeless and added a range extender. That bike is porn on wheels.

 

[Jeremy McCreary]

Looking at that Dogma and given a recent concern for the UCI is mechanical doping, they are not helping themselves with that carbon fibre BB area - you could stash a whole Bosch CX motor in there!!

Good point. Have any pros been caught yet with hidden motors and batteries in sanctioned races?

 

[fooferdoggie]

most of my issues have been valves. either coming loose and plugging up. Now they stay tight and pedaluma's idea of using silicone grease takes care of plugged valves. but the valves themselves can still plug up but its easy to fix.

 

[PCeBiker]

You guys are doing it the hard way.

All you need is WD-40 and a lighter,..

 

[Chargeride]

You can use a smaller inner tube, mount it to one side of the tyre and inflate it, then inflate the tyre till it pushes the tube out of the way, also a ratchet strap around the circumference can help.

 

[Catalyzt]

I don't do (most of) my own work, but the issue I had on Mercury, the 29er w/ the TSDZ2B, was that time and time again, one tire would start getting slow flats. Since this has happened before, now I just live with it as the the leak slowly gets faster...

...until inevitably, I'll be filling the tire w/ my cheapo Chinese tire inflator, and the valve will start hissing like an angry rattler. (Or my turtle, who has a VERY loud hiss when he is pissed off.) At which point, I point the valve in a safe direction, as if I were handling a firearm, and check to make sure the dogs aren't downrange... and the valve core blows right out.

I will then turn the bike upside down and ride the other one (Mercury is off the road at this moment, I'm saying historically) until I finally have the energy to dig into my bag of valve cores and replace it.

Only happens on the 29er, and happens both when I replace the valve core or when the shop does. I do run the tires, which are 50 PSI max, at 44 PSI, so that could be part of the problem. But they are the same valve cores I use on Seeker, which has max PSI of 60, and I run those at 50.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Good point. Have any pros been caught yet with hidden motors and batteries in sanctioned races?

Not a pro no, Few years back an amateur, a top Dutch (I think) girl was caught at a National cyclocross race with concealed motor/battery system. She was banned for a couple years. Blamed her uncle who provided the bike but it was all very murky and raised questions not really answered. Caused some cycling journos to start investigating. Nothing yet but they have been getting interested in just how many bike changes are happening towards the end of stages recently - whisking the bike away so UCI x ray machines can't check them? To show UCI is concerned, random x rays are now being carried out at the finish of some races. Where it might make sense is in the TDF on one of the 4 or 5 high mountain days where an attack powered by even 10 seconds of boost from a concealed tiny mid drive, could gain a crucial 40 seconds/a minute over rivals by finish and that could be enough - if say Vinegaard used one to steal away from Pog. The margins are so tight. But no evidence and still a head scratcher if all theory or if teams are actually trying it. Watch this Space I guess.

 

[PedalUma]

Good point. Have any pros been caught yet with hidden motors and batteries in sanctioned races?

Motor Doping is a real and proven thing. How does someone stay in the saddle and pass every other pro rider on a climb? When they are all out of the saddle. Or a rear wheel spin out of control for a minute spinning the bike around several times after a crash when it is a carbon wheel and has little residual inertia? Typically a worm gear comes down from the seat tube to the BB driven by essentially an electric drill. There is only one proven case I know of and it was found by the heat signature. Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

Oh, that new Vado we built is an SL carbon 6.0 in satin Stanford. The logo is very small and almost invisible until a light is shined directly on it, then it is reflective.

When I have time I will take apart that mess and tape at the rim leak with wide flexible rim tape.

 

[Chargeride]

I think they use thermal cameras now to check for hidden motors.