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I think I already know the answer, but humour me anyway...
I have a new bike which has been set up tubeless and whilst out riding yesterday the tyre started deflating and I have found a small puncture mark where air is clearly leaking out.
What reasons are there for the sealant not plugging the puncture?
I am not moaning about the bike or the bike shop as I know they will sort it out, I'm curious?
It can depend on the size of the hole, the type of sealant, the location of the hole and the pressure of the tyre. And probably other things
Its a tiny hole from a thorn or something and its a road tyre so a high pressure.
Holes that won’t seal you need to put something in them to plug them.
Bacon strips for trail side repairs and rubber mushrooms & vulcanising glue for larger permanent repairs.
The strips really are supposed to be temporary but depending where the hole is, I’ve left them in until the tyre is worn & needing changed.
Edit: Just seen your last reply, I’ve never dealt with road tyres. I presume it’s actually got sealant in.
Has the tyre got sealant in it, and is the sealant any good?
There's pretty much only Stans that I used successfully to stop a wee hole in a tyre, and the container needs a good shake before you put it in the tyre to make sure the particles of latex that actually do the sealing are in suspension, and haven't just sunk to the bottom.
Has the tyre got sealant in it, and is the sealant any good?
I would hope so as it was done by a bike shop.
I have a new bike which has been set up tubeless
A few things of I'd check on this:
Is out actually set up tubeless, even for Mtb it's very often the case they're "tubeless ready" when supplied new but not actually tubeless.
If it is tubeless, as above, does it have sealant?
Is the sealant any good or has it split/solidified etc?
If the answers above are all yes, a tiny hole would normally be expected to seal unless it's in a rubbish place like right at the bead. That being said nothing is 100% effective and sometimes you'll get unlucky.
I would hope so as it was done by a bike shop.
Not all setups need sealant, not all sealant is equal and it doesn't always stay in the tyre - I've had at least one incident where a tiny hole resulted in my front wheel turning into a Catherine wheel jet of sealant until it all ejected. It was a right pig to get out of my beard.
I would hope so as it was done by a bike shop.
Has the hole got sealant around it?
I would hope so as it was done by a bike shop
"Hope" is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
I'd definitely be checking and topping up the sealant if needed.
Its all new to me!
I should have stuck with the good old inner tube! lol
If it's setup tubeless, there *should* be a load of (usually white) sealant sloshing around inside the tyre. Probably 20-30ml for a road tyre. When you get a puncture, it should start spraying out of the hole until it seals or all the pressure is gone. If air is coming out and you're not getting covered in sealant, something is probably wrong.
If you're rolling, that usually sloshes the sealant around sufficiently, but if you're stopped, you may need to orientate the wheel to get the hole somewhere near the bottom of and shake it to encourage sealant to get to the right place.
More likely, it's either a) not set up tubeless or b) the sealant has dried up.
A newly setup tubeless tyre can often use all the sealant to seal around the tyre bead or porous side walls and will then need a top up
Tubeless is great...but I agree with the others....either its not set up tubeless or you have no sealant in there.
If you had sealant in the tyre then you would have seen white squiggly lines all over the frame while it patches the hole while you ride...it sweeeet