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How long do you leave it between top-ups, what brand etc?
I'll start;
Orange seal endurance - 6 months. Thought I'd top up as the rear had started going soft after a couple of days.
As a recent convert interested to know how this compares to others experience
I think it's supposed to be about six months, but in reality, I just ignore mine till I swap the tyres. This does depend on how quickly you get through tyres.
I'm using Finish Line sealant now so hopefully won't have to top up at all.
I’m using Finish Line sealant now so hopefully won’t have to top up at all.
Can you report back.....reviews have been mixed.....
I just shake and listen. Guessing 3 -5 months or so in the summer, but I would likely swap tyres before that anyway. Stans or stans race.
Stans Race sealant, still nice and runny and working perfectly after six months.
Like others, don't bother unless I change a tyre or there's a problem - use Stans. This doing nowt strategy is tried and tested for me over years on tubeless - generally on intermediate sort of tyres. If I was running lightweight tyres then it might be different, but prob not in reality - be arsed with a maintenance schedule for a bicycle.
Leave the bike or wheel standing overnight then shake. If you hear sloshing then there's still sealant, if you hear a knocking or tapping then you've a stanimal 🙂
It is very much temperature dependent as to how long the sealant lasts, the listening test only tells you if you have fluid in there, not if it's still effective.
I'll top up roughly at between 6 & 12 month intervals if I'm not changing tyres and also before long races/events if I remember.
What whiteston said.
I'll normally top up when changing tyres, which is only before a decent race (i.e. either very muddy or very long & dry). Otherwise my minions stay on year round and they get a shake every now and then.
I think it does vary a bit on where you store your bike - lasts longer in a cool garage than a warm house. Ours are in the house at 20C and I reckon after 3 or 4 months need a top up.
Doesn't seem to vary between the latex based sealants (Stans, Conti, currently the first dose from a 5L thing of Hutchison).
I set up a tyre on Friday night for a race on Saturday using diluted art latex, I got a non-sealing leak/puncture in the race and the little liquid left was basically water
Latex on its own won't seal a hole - it needs to have some sort of particles / fibres in there to do that.
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #555555; font-family: 'Noto Serif',serif; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Like others, don’t bother unless I change a tyre or there’s a problem</span>
This.
Using Joes as it was cheap. Set my road tyres up in Oct 2016. Swapped front to back last week and its still liquid and appears to be the same as in the bottle. I guess it's working as I definitely had a puncture the week before and it sealed instantly.
Latex on its own won’t seal a hole – it needs to have some sort of particles / fibres in there to do that.
I used to use Wheel milk from JRA which had no particles in it and was very effective at sealing punctures . Also when I needed to top it up I just injected it in , straight through the tyre with a syringe of the type the doctor would stick in you to take blood . As it had no particles it didn't block the syringe and as soon as you withdrew it the sealant blocked the hole and you were good to go .
Shake, no sloshing, top up time.
While just leaving it will keep it sealed as is, dried up inside it may not cope with a fresh hole. Though you could carry anchovy style repair kit and/or tube in case.