Tubeless tyres - Road/Tri bike questions

[sammyboy]

Morning all,

I’ve got an Ironman next week and my race wheels on my Canyon Tri bike are Tubeless ready, I haven’t actually used them before as all my training and other races this year has been done on a pair of clinchers and my knowledge of tubeless is not great,

I know I can change the tyres on the wheels to clinchers but I think it’s a waste of good new tyres for now.

I have two concerns, first being I got the wheels last September and they have not been used. Do I need to put some more sealant in before next week? If so how much as there will already be some in the tyre? Any sealant recommendations, or is it all the same?

Second concern is what should I carry to repair if I puncture, I only need it to get me through the race. Should I just carry a tube and leavers? Will that work with the tyre? or should I get some tyre patches, sealant?

What are peoples thoughts?

[lufbramatt]

If you want to put a tube in make sure you can get the valve out of the rim. Stopped to help a guy on sat who was sat at the side of the road with sealant all over his hands trying to get the valve out as a flint had gashed the side of the tyre and the hole was too big for the sealant to do it's thing. A plug may have worked but he didn't have any of them. Neither of us was carrying a pair of pliers.

good stuff about tubeless here:

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/pages/tech-page

I run my MTB tubeless but havn't (knowingly) punctured yet so don't actually have that much experience! They ride nicely though

Edited by lufbramatt on Tuesday 19th June 11:56

[Jimbo.]

fk changing ANYTHING (wear and tear aside) a week away from an Ironman!

[ALawson]

The other issue with Tubeless (being running it 3 years on a road bike, IRC tyres) is that if the tyre will not seal seal you have the options Malcolm uses i.e. worms etc. If they do not work you are down to sticking a tube in, make sure you are used to and have practiced taking a tubeless tyre off and remounting. Taking some gloves with you!

Its easy to remount with IRC tyre levers, however, if putting a tube in the risk is you ruin the tube in the process. Conversely if you put a patch on the inside of the tubeless tyre re-inflating and getting a seal will be an issue.

I tend to run with too much sealant in and top up 30ml every 3 months. I started using Stans and have now moved to the sealant Malcolm recommends. I took a tyre of recently and there was a lot of cured latex/sealant inside the tyre having gone off.

I will give that "for life" sealant a try as they reckon you don't need to top it up, I wouldn't be trying new kit before an IM.

[m444ttb]

You say the wheels are tubeless ready, but are you sure they actually have tubeless tyres on? Tubeless ready rims is really common now, but coming set up tubeless isn’t.

[oddman]

I'd change the tyres for some trusted clinchers.

New bike wheels and tyres a week before an Ironman? - I wouldn't even trust new goggles!

[sammyboy]

ALawson said:

The other issue with Tubeless (being running it 3 years on a road bike, IRC tyres) is that if the tyre will not seal seal you have the options Malcolm uses i.e. worms etc. If they do not work you are down to sticking a tube in, make sure you are used to and have practiced taking a tubeless tyre off and remounting. Taking some gloves with you!

Its easy to remount with IRC tyre levers, however, if putting a tube in the risk is you ruin the tube in the process. Conversely if you put a patch on the inside of the tubeless tyre re-inflating and getting a seal will be an issue.

I tend to run with too much sealant in and top up 30ml every 3 months. I started using Stans and have now moved to the sealant Malcolm recommends. I took a tyre of recently and there was a lot of cured latex/sealant inside the tyre having gone off.

I will give that "for life" sealant a try as they reckon you don't need to top it up, I wouldn't be trying new kit before an IM.

Appreciate the reply ALawson, I think you have made up my mind for me. I will change the tyres to clinchers tonight.

[sammyboy]

m444ttb said:

You say the wheels are tubeless ready, but are you sure they actually have tubeless tyres on? Tubeless ready rims is really common now, but coming set up tubeless isn’t.

This is my second set of "tubeless ready" wheels and both have come tubeless. I assumed the first set from Giant had tubes in them as I didnt really know what they were until one went flat one morning before a ride last year.

[was8v]

My experience of buying a new bike with tubeless rims and tubeless tyres is that is came delivered with tubes in place.

So check if there is already tubes in there first!

If so I would leave alone for this event. In fact I would run your old wheels that you know you can get the tyre off.

Afterwards set them up tubeless and do some training rides on it to get a feel for the setup.

[outnumbered]

sammyboy said:

What are peoples thoughts?

Mainly that all your tyres are actually clinchers. It's only Tubulars (aka tubs) that are not clinchers.