Tubeless sealant doesn’t seem to work on tubes. Too thin.
I was an early adopter and soon abandoned liners for my road bike for this reason. It didn’t help that I was mounting them in Continental GP5000 TL tires, which are notoriously difficulty to mount, even without the liner.
I live in a remote area, so I settled upon staying with tubeless for offroad, but abandoning tubeless for the road. If I still have to carry a tube, and so much caring & feeding is required of tubeless…?
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Not entirely true, you just need the right sealant. Caffelatex is designed specifically for tubes. I use it for my CX tubulars. Works great.
Food wrappers work in a pinch.
I have a small saddle bag where I can fit a mini pump
( more reliable than co2 imo), some type of plug tool, a multi- tool and a tube.
I basically leave it on my bike unless all the time, unless I’m doing a short <2 hour race. I ride groad in secluded areas most of the time so I always live by the words; rather be looking at it, than looking for it.
On the road: small multitool, levers, 1 tube, small patch kit, minipump, +/- CO2 if I left it in the saddle bag
Gravel: the above +/- extra tube, plugs, sealant (depending on remoteness of route, type of gravel, length)
I go back and forth on road tubeless. Currently, I have all 3 wheelsets setup tubeless, but I have a few sets of vanilla GP 5ks, so I’ll go back to latex tubes when I need new tires. I do think tubeless has reduced my pinch flat rate, and I have a lot more confidence on our pothole-ridden New England roads (especially when I start my rides in Boston). I guess on the road I feel like if I get two tire-destroying flats and only have one tube, I’m probably frustrated enough that I’m calling a ride. If I’m riding somewhere remote (eg, Vermont), I’ll sometimes bring two tubes just in case…but I would be doing that if I were riding tubes anyway.
That’s a good idea
1$ works just as well at 20% of the price unless you are a big spender.
Joe
A phone with Uber/lyft/significant other/mother
Same experience. The plastic tends to break off when you need to press a dart into a small puncture. It’s pretty flimsy. I thought it was a cool idea, but it’s poorly made. The dynaplug racer plug tools are far superior.
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two plugs later
and the Wed night crew rolls by, all 30+ of 'em, and I wave them off
that didn’t work.
So I installed a tube and it had a hole in it. Now I’m out of CO2.
so I’ve got Lyft and Uber open, seeing which is cheaper, and then Manny and Debbie come rolling up.
Debbie hands me a tube, Manny hands me a CO2. And I’m rolling again! And putting the Vittoria AirLiner insert back in - only 6 rides on this tire and needed to replace the insert so rode without it the last 2 weeks.
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Has anyone seen the Tacx tire levers? I’m wondering if they would be particular useful for tubeless on the side of the road. Maybe useful with foam inserts?
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The picture makes it look easy.
Joe
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I was thinking about those tire levers. They work like a tire jack for installation but they offer no extra help removing a tire on the side of the road.
You still need to do it right. This guy can’t install a GP5000 even with a tire jack but he also does everything wrong.
I just put a gp5000 S TR with Vittoria AirLiner insert on, and only needed to use the tire jack for the final grab&roll
Tomorrow I’ll post some “screwed and end of ride” lessons learned when I repack my seat bag. Last time I got “screwed” was 2 or 3 years ago.
Below is the best tool I’ve used, and works for tubeless and tubed. Even made light work of marathon plus. Needs to be hooked rims. I can’t remember if I used them installing with inserts, but I assume I did. Getting a tyre off on the side of the road with inserts, i’m not sure, but it is on my list to test when I do change those tyres in the comfort of my shed!
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Dynaplug works great for these
I just noticed this WTB plug kit. The plug heads are actually recyclable. Of course, you have to go retrieve them when you change tires.
Does anyone else think these plug kits are insanely expensive for a few clever bits of metal?
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