BOOMER_SOONER

I am moving away from my hardtail 29er and purchased a 650B SC. I have never had a bike with tubeless wheels, and these are already setup. My question is what do I do? I am uncertain how long they have been this way, what is in them, is it still liquid? I really don't want to go and break them down as I want to ride, but can I just add some new liquid to really "know" I have some protective fluids in the wheels?


I am reading up on as much information I can find on dealing with tubeless, mine appear to be the easier system. (tubeless ready rim and tire)


Can I just purchase some of this Vittoria Pit stop and add a small amount as needed? Are all of these fluids basically the same, what about slime, is that solely for tubes?


I just don't want to add something and inside my tires end up being a caked gooey mess.

Tim_Iowa

Are you positive that they are set up without tubes? Most new bikes that are tubeless-ready still ship with tubes in place. Ask the seller.

If the wheels are set up tubeless, then you need to top up the sealant occasionally. The length of time between occasions depends upon the sealant used; go by the manufacturer's recommendations.

BOOMER_SOONER

I was told yes that they are currently tubeless. I guess I will have to break them down to verify?


What sealant lasts the longest, I just now read that the slime is 6+ month but can't verify other brands.

FrozenK

To know if they are setup tubeless, unscrew the nut holding the valve stem a little bit and push the valve in. If that releases air, they are tubeless.

To add sealant, your valves should have removable cores. Remove the core and squirt sealant of your choice -Stans two ounce bottles work nicely for this. As for how often you need to add sealant, it depends mostly on weather where you live.

Some people have to replenish sealant every month. I have taken off tires after three months and sealant was still good. I have no experience with the Vitoria sealant, just Stans. Keep in mind that Stans will eventually congeal into the "boogers" or "Stanimals" so you'll have to pop the tire to remove residue.

If you do remove the tires, you may need an air compressor to seat the bead again.

Tim_Iowa

You could figure it out by letting all the air out, and removing the lock nut on the valve stem. You'll be able to tell if there's a tube attached to the valve without breaking the tire bead.


Not sure on sealants. Search on this site, MTBR, and elsewhere for reviews.
I know of folks that zealously defend Stan's, Orange Seal, Caffeelatex, or homebrew sealant as the absolute best. Slime has a bad rep from their green slime-in-a-tube days, so I know a lot of folks want to hate on their tubeless recipe even if it is OK.


Personally, I've used Stan's and now the Bontrager stuff. My girlfriend works at a Trek shop and brought a bottle home, and it seems to work really well. I like it better than Stan's.

SpeshulEd 

I'm currently using Continental sealant, it's ok, but I prefer Stans out of the two. Stanimals for the win.

In the Phoenix summer heat, I have to add sealant about once a month, in the winter you can go a few months.

Hardest part about tubeless is setting the bead. An air compressor works best for this.

Leebo

DO not use green slime, all the mt bikers I ride with use stans or orange seal.

gsa103

Not really. Rotate the wheel so the valve stem is at the bottom, let the air out and remove the valve stem. You can then stick a zip tie into the bottom of the tire and use it like a dip-stick. The tire beads will typically remain seated, so its easy to re-inflate.

If the sealant is dry, simply pour more in with the valve core removed.

Save yourself some effort and don't bother cleaning out the gooey mess inside tires. It doesn't really effect anyting, and most people agree its not worth the effort.

Tim_Iowa

Oooh, I like the dipstick method.

BOOMER_SOONER

OK great, thank you all for the quick replies! I have rode the bike once, and it feels completely different but it's also a new setup to me. Going back to a FS bike from a hardtail is a big difference since I had my old FS (Cannondale Jekyll) back 10+ years ago. The 650B wheels compared to a 29er is also different. I will check out what's readily available in my area but it seemed like from a quick glance on the internet is that Stans is pretty proud of their "juice".

Canker

https://www.amazon.com/Stans-2-Ounce.../dp/B002WY12PO
buying one of those along with a valve core remover is the easiest way to renew the sealant. You just pop out the valve core and screw that on. Then you can inject whatever sealant you want without having to bust the tire's bead off the rim. Every so many times though you will want to take the tire off and clean out the build up, stan's boogers. Slime makes a tubeless specific sealant now.

Kapusta

Easiest way to check if there is still liquid sealant in the wheel is to take it off the bike, then shake it back and forth. If yoo can't here anything sloshing around, you need to add some.

I don't know the ins and outs of mixing different sealants, but if you can find out what is in there now I would either use more of the same or check for compatability.

Tim_Iowa

Those do work well, but at the price ($12) I'm pretty happy with just using the medicine syringes you can get for free from any pharmacy counter.

BOOMER_SOONER

Do you fill it like 5ml at a time? We have tons of these lying around and from what I remember they are only about 5ml?

Tim_Iowa

I ask for the bigger size if they have it, which is about twice the smaller size.