You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
My first attempt at tubeless being unhappy with the Conti 5000 puncture protection but still wanting a fast tire I got the following:
- Orange seal tubeless valves - The round tubeless grommet seems to work best, the flat one risks interfering with the tire - learned this the hard way - so use the round one for narrow rims.
- Orange seal endurance liquid
- Conti 5000 TL 25 mm
- Farsports TL ready 25 x 60 mm carbon rims without holes in the rim bed
- Lezyne floor pump (not tubeless specific)
INSTALLATION
1. Fit the tubeless valves and used a plier to tighten them down a bit more than hand-tight (watch the anodizing!). Is extra tighten necessary? Don't know, maybe for pressures > 80 psi?
2. Fit the tires, this required using two blue parktool tire levers and a fair bit of cursing + brute force, koolstop tire jacks should work better but good to know two tire levers can do the trick.
3. Tried to inflate the tire dry to see if I could get it to seat, no chance in hell.
4. Added copious amount of soapy water around the rim bed, tried again, and the tire seated, got it up to 100 psi albeit it was not airtight. Once the tire deflated it unseated again - so if you get a puncture on the road that doesn't seal properly you better repair it quickly or the tire might unseat and you'll loose all pressure and ability to reseat it, maybe a Dynaplug CO2 road kit is your best bet here (CO2 doesn't ruin orange seal allegedly), but does it have enough oomph to seat the tire?
5. Unscrewed the valve core and added 40-50 ml of orange seal, screwed the valve core back in. Pumped the tire up to 100 psi, then let it go down to 80 psi where it seems fairly airtight.
Will see how well they hold air, psi for psi the tires feel a lot harder than tubed ones - maybe this explains the improved rolling resistance at equal pressure.
Think I'll have to carry a spare tube in case of large punctures, this is something I wouldn't normally need as I could carry a patch kit instead.
So, get a Dynaplug CO2 kit or Dynaplug Racer? (would need to carry something to cut the excess w both).
Is extra tighten necessary?
In my experience, no. A few times with road & gravel tyres I've fixed a leaking valve by loosening it slightly, so over-tight can cause issues. Also - do you want to have to use pliers to take the valve out by the side of the road if you end up having to put a tube in?
Once the tire deflated it unseated again – so if you get a puncture on the road that doesn’t seal properly you better repair it quickly or...
You'll probably find that once the tyre is seated properly this won't happen. Listen out for a really satisfying noise when this happens.
Also – do you want to have to use pliers to take the valve out by the side of the road if you end up having to put a tube in?
Very good point, argh..
You’ll probably find that once the tyre is seated properly this won’t happen.
It does happen with my tire at least when initially installing it, maybe it will seat better over time who knows.
It does happen with my tire at least when initially installing it, maybe it will seat better over time who knows.
Take them for a 5-10 min spin then deflate them to see if they un-seat. They almost certainly wont.
I should add - every tubeless tyre I've used has come unseated during installation but stayed in place in use.
The higher the pressure the more the pressure seats the valve if you've installed it right.
I've never had any problem seating MTB tyres over the last few years, or the Conti 5000 on my Hunt rims.
Schwalbe One's on my Fulcrum rims didn't do anything using soapy water.
I bought a Bonty Flash charge pump and Schwalbe Doc Blue tyre lube and my problems evaporated. As did half a bottle of Doc Blue.
I should add – every tubeless tyre I’ve used has come unseated during installation but stayed in place in use.
I really hope so!
Experienced my second road tubeless nightmare, 5 minutes into my first ride - already late to meet friends, the rear flatted, somehow it hadn't seated correctly even though it kept 80 psi just fine before.
I had loosened the valve lockring before so I could remove it by hand, but when the tires deflated there was no pressure pushing the valve out and it was impossible to remove by hand, after 10 minutes I figured out that I could use two plastic tyre levers squeezed against each side of the lockring and use them as a spanners - worked a charm. Then had to wrestle to get the tire onto the rim again, this time covered in orange seal - have a blister to show for it.
Front is doing fine. Reinstall the rear tomorrow..clean up the rim and tire then use the round valve rubber thing, screw the lockring on only hand tight, and try orange seal instead of dishwashing liquid to help seat it :S
Redid the rear, cleaned the rim and tire, installed the valve with the round grommet.
Seated without adding any soapy water, quite nice, expect it will hold up well, no issues with the test ride.
Note that this combo still makes the tires deseat at sub 30 psi, not ideal so you have to be quick.