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Having a nightmare start to the season on my 'summer' gravel bike, mostly down to tubeless faff.
Having removed the winter tyres and swapped for summer tyres (same brand, same carcass, same tyres I ran last summer) I first had issues with taping the rim (which I also moaned about on here). Clearly my taping was at fault, but the sealant did nothing except eventually show me how the air was getting out (by the trail of sealant under a wrinkle in the tape leading to the valve hole). So the sealant failed to seal the very small gap formed between two layers of tape pinched shut in part by the valve core and the tyre beads. Not a great start...
Also in the past I've had punctures at the bead not seal at all, although I've forgiven the sealant for that one as it's a tricky place to get the sealant to 'pool', despite lots of shoogling of wheels trailside.
Final issue was a deflated tyre at the weekend, which on closer inspection was a good old fashioned Haw-thorne in the sidewall. I was surprised the sealant hadn't coped but pulled the thorn out and re-inflated, which held for 10 minutes on my next ride but then needed plugged and re-inflated. This held until I got home and deflated again. I've pumped up the tyre and left sitting with the plugged hole at the lowest point and just came back to a pull of sealant which has somehow managed to get through the tiny hole (you couldn't even see it) without sealing! Cue Basil Fawlty what's the point etc. etc. ranting.
Presumably if I want to swap to something better I need to clean all the old stuff off the inside of the tyre? Or can I just ditch the Stans and pour in some Orange Seal or something? Not meaning to be controversial but given that every time I've actually punctured, the tubeless system has let me down, I'm actually thinking about going back to tubes again 🙄
Presumably if I want to swap to something better I need to clean all the old stuff off the inside of the tyre? Or can I just ditch the Stans and pour in some Orange Seal or something? Not meaning to be controversial but given that every time I've actually punctured, the tubeless system has let me down, I'm actually thinking about going back to tubes again 🙄
Survivor bias (or what's the opposite of that?) you only notice it when it fails.
When my road tyres wore out I counted 32 bits of flint, thorns and cuts to the tread! And after a winter
I do use Stans Race though, it's more expensive but still cheaper than a couple of tubes over the life of the tyre and does seem to seal better on the road/gravel bikes. The only downside is that it can't be injected through the valve, so the tyre has to come off on one side.
Survivor bias (or what's the opposite of that?) you only notice it when it fails
I did wonder, but then there has been no evidence of punctures it has actually sealed, I keep looking for thorns or cuts in the tread (inside and out) but nothing. Testament to the construction of Vittoria tyres maybe.
Granted the loose chunks of foam insert floating around in the pool of sealant when I last demounted the tyres showed where the inserts had maybe done their job, but most likely when I was riding on a slow leak due to Stans not sealing 😂
I'm a Stan's fan Monk. My mtb summer rear has multiple thorns in it when i put it on the other day. Had a glass splinter in it the other day that hissed and it sealed within 100 meters - and it usually seals very quickly when it's a hissy one. Had a gash in the roadbike tyre and that needed a leg of one of those stans darts, but it has sealed and stayed up for months. But MTB wheels came taped from the factory, and the road wheels are Fulcrum that are airtight by design
Standard Stans or Stans Race Susepic?
I should have mentioned that the thorn puncture was also on the sidewall as opposed to on the tread, so maybe I've just been unlucky that all my punctures have been sidewall where the sealant doesn't repeatedly flow over ..
I reckon (*based on the very unscientific fact that on my 26 x2 tyres with inners I regularly had at least 20 punctures a year [and a stunning record of 10 in an afternoon - depressing long narrow canal path, hawthorn hedge, day or so after it was scalped] after converting to tubeless on all bikes I’m down to about 5 that need trailside fixing a year) that it works (I use standard one) but does need checking/topping up and there are deffo hole size and placement limits. It’s a keeper for me.
Yeah... I never suffered that sort of frequency! Tubeless offers meca very marginal reduction in pressure to avoid pinching the tyre, but at appropriate pressures I might have suffered one or two tubed punctures a year.
Being able to reduce those pressures a little bit usually seems a worthwhile trade-off for additional tubeless faff but after two or three issues in a row I was starting to reconsider...
An afternoon on its side with a few shoogles finally seems to have sorted the pinhole leak at least. Dobbed some super glue on the outside just to be sure 😂
Stan's sealant quite happily seals a Stan's valve if you inject it too fast with a Stan's syringe injector 😉
Had to double check they hadn't given me the wrong stuff, but the label on the bottle is indeed the original, not the Race Day version.
Managed to unblock it with a wooden skewer, but it took some effort. Now I just make sure the sealant drains from the syringe tube in to the tyre.
For me it's Peaty's in gravel bike tyres with slightly higher pressures, and Stan's only in MTB lower pressure tyres. All in thru their respective valves.
Couple weeks ago a friend asked me about tubeless, off I went singing the praises , last for the life of the tyre blah blah blah . Later the same ride heard a telltale hiss from the front and saw a steady stream of jizz flying out 🙄Kept riding and it sealed then tipped it up when I got home.
A week or so later in a show of unity the back one decided to do exactly the same 🤢Did the same thing with the same result 👍
I usually expect to top up sealant if I've fitted a brand new tyre and carry one of those small bottles of stans with me 'in case I forget' I haven't touched wheels for 6 months (I never check the sealant is still liquid! 🤣 ). MTB only though. No experience with higher pressure setups.
I’ve tried several different brands (Stans, Bontrager, Muc Off, Orange Peel, a juice Lubes, Cafe whasito and several others) and always come back to Stans because it works better than most and keeps the air inside my (MTB) tyres.
telltale hiss from the front and saw a steady stream of jizz flying out
Known in these parts as a spuncture 😉
I've been using normal standard Stans Monk.
Changed to tubeless on the MTB in 21, and (i hope i don't cheese off the puncture gods) never had more than a hiss on 3 or 4 occassions so no stops for punctures in about 3500km. the road bike has done 2500 since 23 and that one gashed puncture that needed the dart to seal co of the higher presure, but otherwise nothing. And i'm a lazy sod so don't really bother with changing sealent regularly and the Stans keeps on going.
I've been using Stan's for 10 years at least. Only had a handful of punctures in that time, all fixable on the trail. I always inspect old tyres and find loads of thorns or splits and cuts.
I've only had irreparable blowouts on DH/bikepark stuff where you just limp home to fix it then jump back on the chairlift.
Personally found it great. It sealed my tyre after an errant golf tee went straight through the tyre. Always keep it topped up though
I think there might be better now tbh but it does basically work and work well, the only downside really is the lifespan.
if you're pissed off and want to try something else oko hi fibre/halo fibre is really good- seals about as well, but it's water based and soluble so you can dilute it, meaning you can also stop it from going solid over time just by adding water (doesn't help if it dries out, you have to keep it wet). Also it's dirt cheap. But tbh the big advantage stans has is you can get it anywhere, if you ever have an emergency or you're on holiday or something you can always get stans, while most folk don't stock oko/halo.
(I literally just had my first unsealed flat ever with this stuff today! been a few years, not bad, and I think it might have more to do with the wisdom of putting an exo+ on the back of a big bike)
Nope - it sort of works for a bit but continues weeping IME.
My tyres are often covered in damp patches, so yes. But anything that includes a hissing noise and sealant during rides, no. For these moments, a Weldite anchovie sorts it in no time 🙂
I had a front "spuncture" on my gravel bike a couple of weeks ago and the Stan's did it's job after a bit of standing around positioning the wheel with the hole at the bottom.
With MTB tyres I either don't get holes, or have to resort to anchovies to plug them when I do.
I had Stans in all bikes, MTB, road and gravel for years, however last autumn I started swopping them over to Peatys which seems to seal better and last longer. They are now all on Peatys and I check every 6 months and top if as required.
It's definitely a different experience nowadays. Going out with a big group riding on tubes there was always someone either thorn or pinch puncturing. That just doesn't happen now - can ride for many months without faff. I've taken tyres off and found shitloads of thorns, all of which would have punctured a tube.
I've had times riding with a mate who had a habit of running such low pressures they were burping all the time and topping up at the end of every run but they seem to have seen sense now. Most of the time now it's riding in really rocky places where either a sharp rock puts a big hole in or someone hits something hard enough to snakebite at the rim junction which is still a pain even with anchovies.
(not sure how many people I ride with are using rimpact type stuff but riding in Spain Basque mtb aren't fans as you still end up with punctures sometimes but now you've got to wear the spunky hoop of shame down the rest of the hill/ride)
I've tried various latex sealants, OKO off road (not sure if thats' the same as hi fibre) and have always gone back to Stans. Seems to last longer without drying up and be more effective.
Stan's always been great for me. Only thing it wouldn't seal was a road tubeless puncture from a staple. Was just too straight and long a cut. Initially sealed but kept blowing out if it was pumped above 40psi. MTB it's always sealed. Sidewall punctures are always going to be problematic as the constant flexing of the sidewall will open it up again.
Last wheelset I bought, the shop gave me Orange Seal as a freebie. Never used it before and after changing my tyres this week, never will again. Was like the tyre had been glued onto the rim. Was an absolute nightmare to remove.
I should have added that I've been using Rimpact inserts for a couple of years. Rim or tyre failures used to be quite common but they've saved me a small fortune.
I also like the way they ride and feel naked without them.
I just try not to switch tyres very often.
Stans was good, but Peatys is somehow more stableI had a front "spuncture" on my gravel bike a couple of weeks ago and the Stan's did it's job after a bit of standing around positioning the wheel with the hole at the bottom.
With MTB tyres I either don't get holes, or have to resort to anchovies to plug them when I do.
I thought Orange Seal was OK.
Not sure if the Conti stuff works?
I've tried various latex sealants, OKO off road (not sure if thats' the same as hi fibre) and have always gone back to Stans. Seems to last longer without drying up and be more effective.
Their range is a mess tbh. Offroad is an allpurpose sealant that they've marketed at some points for mountain bikes but it's not designed for it, it's for farm vehicles really. There's biobike now which is supposed to be more environmentally friendly (though of course they say the others are too), there's puncture free which they only advertise for tubes and ust for some reason, there's standard magic milk and magic milk hi fibre and they seem to be trying to pitch the hifibre as being somehow a race sealant, I think probably because the standard magic milk is made completely pointless by the hifibre since it's just the same but worse, but they want to sell both.
Oh yeah and they're competely awful at explaining it all. But I think in the end the best explanation is that when Halo and Uberbike wanted a sealant they had the choice of all of these products and went with hifibre. Nutrak buys the standard magic milk but I think they selected that before the hifibre launched
(I strongly suspect that Peatys is made by OKO but i don't think it's the same as any of the OKO products. No proof of any of this though)
Well on the evidence above I'll have to put it down to being a sidewall puncture, rather than a Stans failure. I came out to a glassy little bubble of superglue hanging off the side of the tyre with a dribble of sealant inside (I accidentally popped it before I thought to take a pic) so have zero faith in it holding on the trail.
Having just got the rear wheel sorted I'll now be taking front tyre off to patch now 🙄
Joking aside I'm hoping to fit wider tyres later this year, almost tempted to go back to latex tubes to try and objectively compare number of punctures vs. hassle...
It's definitely a different experience nowadays. Going out with a big group riding on tubes there was always someone either thorn or pinch puncturing. That just doesn't happen now
Unless you're riding with a mixed ability bike maintenance lot, and some of them don't do much and they'll puncture and then need someone to help sort them out. I've changed more punctures for other people than my own ones since 2021 (that's at least 5 vs 1 and i don't ride with people every outing)
I was taking tyres off today and wiping up the Stans residue. Front tyre had a small thorn and rear had something resembling a hypodermic needle. Was right through a tyre knob and protruding a good 8mm. God knows how long they’ve been in there, but both would have been a puncture repair on the trail. Neither had resulted in a noticeable pressure loss when out riding.
I'm still yet to go tubeless and all this stuff really puts me off, I don't understand how some sealants seem to work so well for some and others have no luck with them! I still want to go tubeless soon but I hate faff and don't want to be put off with a bad first experience, should I just try Stans regular first and see how that goes?
Just try Stans, and no more faffing! I've never used anything else, never tempted to try, and stans just keeps on working. it becomes a zero faff game