What to carry with tubeless wheels?
 

Hello, I have just bought my first tubeless gravel bike (2021 Giant Revolt Advanced 0). I have never run tubeless before and I am excited to put it to the test. Normally I carry a tube, patches, bike multi tool and a Lezyne road drive hand pump mounted beside my water bottle cage.

Do I still need to carry a spare tube and pump with me on rides? Do you use these if the sealant doesn't do it's job and seal the puncture? So if I get a flat with a tubeless set up and it won't seal I am basically taking the tire off and installing a tube old school?

How hard is it to get the tubeless tire off the rim? Is it a really messy job? Do I need to carry a pump with me? Thanks

Road bacon, pump, spare tube, and tire boot

If you are riding remote areas and want to be sure you'll get home, carry the same stuff you would if you had tubed tires. Extra tube or two, CO2 inflator and cartridges, mini pump, patches, tire boot as Elvo says.. Also carry some kind of plugging tool. I've used the bacon strips, but recently tried a Dynaplug tool on a 4 day 412 mile ride across NYS and the Dynaplug was worth it's cost...plugged a cut that was almost 1/4 inch in just a few seconds and rode on.

PUtting a tube in is a bit messy but not a huge deal...dump the excess sealant first. Had to do this on a solo remote-ish ride where I pinch flatted on a pretty rugged forest road a few weeks ago - sliced the tire right near the bead and sealant wasn't working.

Keep your sealant fresh. It's worth the cost. Every season at the very least, and top it up after flats. Change it every 2-3 months to be more certain it will work.

For my regular shorter rides not far from home, all I bring is CO2 inflator and one cartridge. I'm talking rides I could get a ride back from, or have a nice long walk home from if somehow I got a really bad puncture or gash. Anything longer, it's the CO2, a spare tube, a mini pump, tire lever, boot, bacon and tool. If I was going on a long bikepacking journey, I'd bring a way to sew up a bad sidewall gash.
I live where it's hot and dry and put in 2oz sealant in each tire every 3-4 months.
If you're new to tubeless, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how little (if ever) you use half of this stuff out there!

Thanks
 

Thanks for the reply's, sorry for my lack of knowledge here but this raises another question.

With regards to topping up the tires every 3-4 months do you just top it up thru the valve stem without taking the tire off? The old sealant does it just stay in there? Do you have to unmount the tires every 3-4 months to add more sealant? Thanks

What is “bacon”?

"Bacon" is a term for a plug. There are a number of plugging systems now. Since I use Stan's sealant, I am thinking about getting their Dart system. I have yet to have a puncture bad enough to need them though.

With tubeless, you still need a way to add air to the tire because you could get a minor puncture that the sealant fixes, but you lose some air in the process as the sealant gets pushed out the puncture. And of course there's always a chance of an unfixable puncture or tear.

Here's what I carry: air pump, CO2, CO2 inflator, tire lever, tire plug tool (the Stan's mentioned above is good), and a tube.

https://www.jensonusa.com/Genuine-In...Of-Bacon-Plugs

This is the refill kit. The regular kit has the applicator tool.

I have used them several times with great success.

A few rounds of Gorilla tape around my pump body for that.

The only thing I have ever actually used over the years was a tire pump. I've gotten pinch flats that of course won't seal before all of the air is gone.
By letting the sealant pool near the puncture and using low pressure, they both sealed up fine (with about 5 minutes of finagling).

I wouldn't want to use CO2 when trying to get sealant to plug a hole.

Take off your wheel and shake it. Do you hear any fluids splashing around inside the wheel? If yes, then you're fine. Re-install wheel and ride. When you don't hear anything splashing around (or you feel the splashing noise is very low), then add sealant. If you have an injector, you just remove the stem from the valve and inject fluid without having to remove the tire (cleanest method). If you don't have a valve injector, then pry a bit of the tire off and pour in some sealant. But this breaks the bead and you may need a compressor to re-seat.

No need to clean or remove the old stuff. Just add sealant. Personally, although I check every few weeks, I usually add sealant about once a year. I ride often and it lasts me a lot longer than 3-4 months.

For my short rides (less than 10-15 miles from home), I carry Gup Tire Sealant. Works pretty good on tubeless set-ups. On longer rides, I carry a spare tube, boot, and co2. Once I ran over a razor sharp rock which made a small gash in my tire. Too large for the sealant to work, so all the sealant leaked out. I used the GUP and it couldn't completely seal it either, but it sealed it enough so I could limp back home on about 10 psi.

Small piece of soap, to make a slip out of for the tyre bead install.

Hooked needle and strong dental floss.

Small amount of sealant in tube, plus valve injector head plastic tube.

Disposable foam earplugs.

Beer.

A tube is needed if you get a puncture / gash that sealant won't fix, or if your sealant is all gone from sudden loss, or not keeping it topped up enough. Sealant level does need to periodically be checked, and how often is based on mileage / temps (more miles, higher temps = more often), or if you know you lost a lot from a puncture (usually there will be dried sealant all over your frame). Personally I just crack the tires open, drain what's in there out, reuse the old sealant if there was still a lot left (Orange Endurance), and refill to 2oz.

What's in my tool bag:

-Tubolito CX tube (expensive, but light and compact)
-co2 head with one 20g cartridge for regular rides, and an extra for weekend excursions
-Lezyne pocket drive pump with gorilla tape wrapped on it
-Basic tire plug tool with bacon strips
-Two small boots cut from old tubes
-Pre-glued tube patches (they weigh almost nothing and take up no space)
-Small cone shaped piece of plastic that is wedged in the strap of my saddlebag for very quick access to temporarily plug a hole (you need to plug big holes fast to minimize air / sealant loss)

I recommend practicing with your plug tool on a used tire, and also testing if your co2 and / or mini pump will inflate a completely flat tire that may have had the bead start to come off the rim. It's obviously better to get the tubeless fixed on a ride than having to go to the tube, but again, you want the tube as a backup too.

Daily sort of ride: Stan’s darts, bottle of sealant, pump (not CO2). The sealant is there for if I’ve neglected it long enough it all dried out. I don’t plan for tire damage bad enough the darts won’t work.

If I were touring or going somewhere remote I’d have more stuff.

I'm pretty much decided on the 2021 Giant Revolt Advanced 0. How is it for comfort?
And how do you like it so far?

Giant
 

QUOTE

I guess comfort is all relative. I am coming from a mountain bike background and comfort hybrids so these road bike geometries is foreign to me. that being said this is my second gravel bike this year I used to own a Norco search XR but I sold it in favor of this giant revolt. I find the giant pretty comfortable and the gearing to be spot on. I have never wished for a bigger or smaller gear. The GRX-800 line is incredible The shifts are lightning fast and smooth as butter. I am 6'1 or 185 cm tall with a 34-in inseam and I went with the size large. It is pretty much perfect has a nice amount of seat posts exposed to allow for some flex in the diffuse seat post. It came with a 100 mm stem but I am really thinking about shortening that to an 80 or 90 mm stem because I feel too stretched out to get to the hoods. That's not a big deal though everything else on the bike is amazing. However I did switch out the maxis velocity tires that it came with because they are basically slicks and I put on some WTB Riddler 37 and they are incredible! Enjoy the bike if you get it I truly think it is the bike of the year for 2021!

Wait, you bring a bottle of sealant on every daily ride?

The 2oz. I'm not great about remembering to top it off on schedule, and at least until this month's replacement, I had tires that wept

If i may ask, why the ear plugs?

In case of tyre blow-off, using co2.

I blew a mountain bike tire off the rim once in my garage. My ears rang for two weeks.