Originally Posted by
Kimmo
Whoah. I could just about fap to that.
Not a fan of tubeless generally; the mess, the hassle of mounting a new tyre, the goop slopping around inside, hardening into skanky chunks...
But given the sizeable PITA associated with tubular flats, sealant looks a lot better in that context already, and what's that you say? A TYRE THAT CAN BE FIXED ON THE RIM? Dude!
That's just about enough of a reason to go tubular on its own!
My only reservation is, what can you do about hardened sealant? I don't suppose there's a solvent that'll work...?
Well, I generally wear out a rear tire about every 1500 miles or so. In that time, typically there is still plenty of sealant.
Depending on the sealant, and if you’re riding frequently, it tends to be pretty much a coating on the tube (this, from my tubeless experience with clinchers). I’ve been using Orange endurance and it seems to last most of the season for me and I haven’t had it concentrated in one spot in the tire. If you’re riding frequently, then there will be no problem.
There are also syringes that you can use for tubeless clinchers that would allow you to remove the sealant from the tires (or at least most of it) if you weren’t going to ride for a time. All the tubeless tubulars have removable valves in order to add sealant in the first place. So let the tires sit for a less than a week in the same orientation (valve down) so the sealant pools in the bottom just under the valve. Take the valve out and suck out any remaining liquid or at least most of it.
Since I’ve been riding tubeless tubulars for the last 10 years, I’ve gone from 6-8 punctures with tubed clinchers per 3000 miles to less than one. I far and away tend to wear the tires out down to the threads without a flat.
I’ve been using the Donnelly/Clement ones in 25mm for several years now. They ride well and work well for me. I’d really like it if they went to a 27mm or so. That would be pretty plush.
As far as puncture repair, I’ve been using DynaPlug and it has worked well on my clinchers. There is even a version that allows you to air up the tire through the puncture before you leave the plug in place. Doesn’t get much easier than that.