[900] My Bike's Tubeless Tires

I had to refill the tubeless sealant to both my tires this past January. Now I did my research before and I do know that you will have to do this, but I wasn't expecting it to be this soon.

It started with the rear tire. I inflated it once in preparation for the next day's ride. Luckily for me I used the bike trainer that afternoon because after using the trainer I saw that the rear tire had no air pressure left. So I checked and there were lots of leaks.

Two days ago it happened to my front tire as well. I inflated it for a ride the next day, got around to riding and went home. The next day it had no air left.

When I re-filled it with sealant I decided to use more sealant than before. Just taking precautions. Also with the front tire after applying sealant it was still steadily leaking from somewhere. So I unscrewed the Presta valve core and poured some more sealant through the valve stem. After that the tire held air.

So after this past month's experience I've decided that next time I need to re-fill the tire with sealant my new process will involve:

1. Unseating the tire and pouring the sealant directly into the tire by removing one side of the tire from the rim. Then I'll use lots of sealant, because the sealant I'm using might need more instead of the recommended.
2. Once the sealant fills the gaps and sets I'll fill it with air and do the usual ritual involved with having new sealant in the tire.
3. Remove the air, remove the valve core, then pour some sealant through the valve stem. This is just in case there are gaps near the stem that the sealant didn't get.
4. Refill with air and check if it holds pressure.

Anyway I've gotten suggestions of just switching to tubed tires since it would save me money in the long run. I'll be thinking about that but I already have the tubeless tire repair kit. And I do have two spare inner tubes, one in my bike's bag.

I do like the fact that I was able to upgrade my bike to tubeless tires even if the rims weren't tubeless ready.

Out.

[886] Converting to Tubeless, Lessons Learned

One of my goals with my gravel bike build is to go to a tubeless tire setup. This week when I got the wheelset I decided to attempt it. I watched a few videos online about how to do the conversion, specifically for non-tubeless ready rims. Here are two good videos I watched, one from Park Tool and another from Dusty Betty. Also a very useful video from Oz Cycle teaching you how to remove and install a tire without tools.

Now before I continue I have to admit that I struggled a lot. I learned a lot of important things during my attempt to go tubeless. At the moment I have so far succeeded in having one tire hold air. I'm letting the sealant set as I write this. Anyway here are some lessons I learned during my attempts.

1. Minimize the air bubbles on the tubeless tape, but I really don't think it will have zero air bubbles. On my end at least, I checked online and confirmed that other people also had air bubbles on their tubeless tape. Specially over the spoke holes of the bike.
2. Patience is a virtue. I know I was excited but I was always tempering myself and setting expectations that I won't succeed the first time.
3. The method shown by Oz Cycle how to install a tire was very, very useful. Seriously, that's how I managed to mount my tire.
4. The only time I needed to use tire levers was when I wanted to remove the tire from the rim. I chose to remove it to make sure I sealed the tubeless valve properly. And I needed to take stock if what I was doing was correct.
5. No matter how much you inflate the tire if there is no sealant the beads won't seat. This was what frustrated me the first time I tried to inflate the tire. I had this misconception that you needed to inflate the tire to get the bead to seat before adding sealant. Silly me didn't realize that no matter how much air I pump in it will escape from the gaps.
6. Sealant is the key. This morning I decided to throw caution to the wind and add sealant inside the tire. Probably added too much if you ask me, but better safe than sorry. I moved the tire around the same way I saw in the videos. Then when I tried to inflate it for the nth time, it finally did! I heard the popping sounds signifying that the beads were seating.
7. Give it time. Let the sealant seep around, then when you inflate the tire it will naturally have the sealant leak out from the massive air gaps. Just wipe it a bit so it doesn't get the rims dirty and keep moving the wheel around so the sealant has a chance to fill in all the gaps. Let it stand for a few minutes before inflating and the tire will hold air.
8. You have to move the tire occasionally while waiting for the sealant to set. Also make sure you check the air pressure. I'm at this stage with my first wheel.

By tomorrow I will be applying tubeless tape to my second rim, then hopefully I'll be able to add the sealant and have it be ready for use by the weekend. All that's left is to get finish assembly of my bike.

Special thanks to my friend JD who encouraged me to keep at it with the tubeless conversion and who shared his experiences with me doing the same thing. I got him into gravel bikes but he got a gravel bike earlier than me.

Out.