How To Maintain Your Tubeless Tyres | GCN Tech Maintenance Monday

Forgot to let the air out first... valve core currently somewhere in the upper stratosphere. 🙄

I was debating going tubeless but this sounds like so much work. Edit: I went tubeless last night!

Omg Ollie got through a entire video without mentioning his hour record once. That is a new record.

The best advice I received to seal large holes in tub less tyres was to superglue a standard patch over the large hole on the outside of the tyre This patch will gradually wear away but will give the sealant time to do it’s job

Switched to road tubeless two years ago. Love it! Never going back. A little more work than clinchers, but you don't need to do this maintenance all that often. It does depend a bit on the kinds of roads you ride, possibly, but I haven't had to change a tire for a flat out on the road in two years and I have not had a spray problem (these are for pretty big cuts). I still bring a tube with me in the saddle bag, just in case, a CO2 to pump that up, and some paper towels (tire lever of course, as the tubeless tires can be a little harder to get on). It's great! (for me)

I recommend the Milkit system. You can withdraw the sealant from the tire and keep the tire pressure at 20psi at the same time the valve core is removed so the bead stays on. Milkit has special rubber flaps that open and close on the bottom of the valve when you put the syringe tube thru them and still keep the air from coming out. Then when you extract the sealant, you open the valve slowly until you see just bubbles in the syringe and then close it off at the valve. Then if the sealant is low, you just withdraw the needed amount of sealant from the bottle, close off the valve and then put the tube thru the valve core hole, open the syringe valve slowly while compressing the syringe until all the sealant goes into the tire. Then withdraw the syringe and re-install the valve core and use a hand pump to put the desired pressure back in the tire. I usually top off to 60ml on my 32mm road tires every 4 months and after 1 year the tire treads are worn out and need to be replaced.

Are you using tubeless tyres? Let us know how you find them! 👇

"How do you know if it needs replacing?" I don't think I heard the answer to that one, other than removing the tire, at which point it all spills out and you definitely need to replace it.

you just convinced me to stick to inner tubes ! and I recalled that in a previous video you stated that rolling resistance is something of a myth ......

1. Had my first tubeless blowout the other day and -- the comparison to Bishop getting gutted by the Queen alien is spot on. Thank you for rekindling that childhood nightmare image. 2. I highly doubt Froome is cleaning and seating his own tires these days. 3. Awesome and very helpful video as usual.

Introducing sealant through valve stem is the only rational way. Way cleaner period.

Thank you for this very informative and honest video, Ollie. The only honest and unattractive thing you did not show was the clumping of dried up and congealed sealant on one side of the wheel, if it’s a wheel set that has gone unused for a while, or the messy process of cleaning the mess from the inside of a tire. Also, would have liked to have seen the roadside installation of a tube into wheel/tire which held sealant. I really want to deal with that mess. Anyways, the video was more than enough to convince me to leave this trend for the baggy cargo shorts 🩳 set 🚵🏻‍♂️ .

Being new to mountain biking and having just purchased my first fat mountain bike with tubeless tyres, this has been very useful and probably the best video I’ve watched to date.

I've gone GP5000 28mm tubeless on winter bike, GP5000 25mm latex on summer bike. The tubeless is a faff and depending on set up, only marginal gains and some losses. The faff vs benefit balance is still too close to make tubeless a clear winner for me. The GP5000 + latex is actually lighter, more supple, less rolling resistance, less faff and not punctured once in over a year

Tires with tubes can also self-repair with sealant inside the tube. I don't agree with running lower pressure. Tubeless tires can "pinch flat" where the casing sidewall splits open from the pressure of being squeezed between a rock and the rim. The setup is marginally lighter, maybe. You need to run more sealant than is recommended, and the sealant dries over time and must be topped off occasionally. The dried sealant inside a tire probably helps with sealing punctures, but it does add weight and potentially imbalances the wheel. A good tire with a latex tube or lightweight butyl tube is pretty good at rolling too. When a puncture is small and sealed by the sealant, tubeless is great. When the puncture is large and not sealed by the sealant and too large for a repair plug, be prepared to be on the side of the road for a long time sticking in a tube, assuming you brought a tube and proper tools to remove the tubeless core. And the mess, wow. Tubeless tires are good for racing on a relatively good road. I no longer train on them due to the hassles associated with the occasional flat and cleaning up the mess from sealant getting sprayed everywhere. A tubeless tire can be repaired from the inside using a piece of butyl tube and tubular cement. But inflating a used tire can be a real hassle. You will need a compressor or a charge pump. You may need to take some time to remove all the dried sealant on the tire bead in order to get a seal. Tubeless tires must be pumped every time you ride. They simply will not hold enough air from day to day. They are like a tubular as far a air loss. The tubeless valve core needs to be tight, otherwise it leaks. Oh, and the tape. The tape! what a hassle. Stans tape has worked ok for me. You need to double wrap and make sure that there are no air pockets! Takes real patience and a lot of force to get a good wrap. The bottom line for me is that I would not recommend tubeless road systems, even those with rims and tires matched (Mavic) to provide a better system. I just don't see the alleged marginal performance gains to be worth all hassles dealing with tubeless tires.

Thanks for that good video, it gives a good overview. It would be worth mentioning though that with the milKit valve system you can make many of these steps much easier and faster - leaving the whole mess away! Among other advantages it lets you measure the old sealant and add new sealant without releasing the air from the tire and popping the bead.

I run a local shop so thank you for the loads of people that will now attempt to seat a TLR bead and take it to me after they give up.

Totally missed that many syringes now have a needle-like end that allow you to inject and remove sealant much more cleanly directly through the valve. The older screw-on kinds were always a mess. This is also a good way to remove sealant prior to servicing a tire/rim that requires a removal of sealant. Works great to get the majority of sealant out, thereby reducing a mess.

I really do enjoy the improvement in ride quality with my tubeless setup but in all honesty, it just isn't worth the hassle for me. Not many great options for repairs in the field and fitting a tube to a tubeless setup can be a real challenge on the side of the road with sweaty hands and sealant flying everywhere. You certainly do get fewer flats but, you end up spending more time on the side of the road fixing the few that you do get. And the freakin' tires - the sizes are all over the place. Some fit quite easily but most don't play so nicely. It's just nice to swap a tube and be on your way in a few min vs. all the b.s involved with service and maintenance of a tubeless setup. I ride my clinchers way more often these days :)

"I don't know how I got this job" I'm sure riding Si's new Pinarello (that he's not even ridden yet) through the mud - for science! - has nothing to do with it ;)