spelger

yesterday while out on a ride i came across a guy with a flat. i was able to pump it up for him and get him going. i was going to try to patch the tube for him but found that there was sealant that had failed to do its job.

i thought he rode in water but after feeling around for a tube and finding none i determined it was sealant and i found no tube so no patch. the sealant was much thinner that i expected.

to my surprise i was able to get air into the tire with just a little bike pump. everything i read about on these forums indicates that a fast blast of air is needed to get air inside. is this right or do i have it mixed up with something else?

he was a bit discouraged but i told him that he may have had numerous punctures that were hidden from him due to the sealant doing its job properly.

biker128pedal

Did the liquid look like this dirty water? Bontrager sealant after about 6 month. I extracted the water and added new. I expected the sealant to have dried up. Oh if the bead is not broken any pump will add air.

mschwett 

the big fast blast is to seat the bead. the vast majority of little punctures in properly set up tubeless just leak some air and sealant and seal up. then you just pump it up, no quick blast needed unless you unseated a lot of it. normally you wouldn’t unseat any of it since you’d also fix a big puncture from the outside with a plug.

urbanknight

+1 usually the tire stays seated and you just have to add air. Most of the time the tire plugs up before going completely flat. I have been able to ride 3 punctures to the next regroup point in the past 2 years even.

Sorry the rider was discouraged because it sounds like the sealant did its job, but if it was thin it might be time to refresh it as is needed every 2-6 months depending on type.

spelger

the sealant looks like oil to me. at first i thought it was water because the tire on the inside looked wet. definitely not water, a bit sticky. that is when i knew what it was. there was not much as far as i can tell but i run tubes so really don;'t have the experience with this.

i was able to get my index finger inside the tire and feel around. that is how i knew there was no tube. gave the pump a try anyway and was surprised and very happy that it took air. he more than i suppose.

jgwilliams

I'm sure a fast blast of air helps but I can confirm it isn't necessarily required. I recently replaced the tyre on my mountain bike. I'd never done this before and, like you, I was a bit concerned about whether I'd be able to get it to inflate since I didn't have anything that would provide that fast blast of air. I sprayed soapy water liberally around the rim and pumped it up with no sealant in using a track pump. Somewhat to my surprise it all popped into place first time with only a small amount of over pressure. I deflated it, put the sealant in and pumped it up to the correct pressure. I rode it last weekend for the first time after about a week in storage. It hadn't lost significant pressure and behaved perfectly on the ride. I now have a road bike with tubeless tyres as well; it will be interesting to see if that is so well behaved. Hopefully it will be more than a year before I have to worry about that and I think I might get myself a CO2 inflater before then.

indyfabz

I thought I was going to see a photo of a yummy BLT.

staehpj1

I am not sure what the Bontrager sealant looks like when fresh, but if it is white like some other latex sealants I suspect it may have gone bad in some way. If so I'd rinse it out and put in new. I had the Stans in one wheel turn a clear amber and stop sealing. The other wheel was still fine. The only difference I knew of was that I had used CO2 on the one that went bad. I have read thed CO2 can interact with the sealant and cause the latex to precipitate out so I blamed that. I can't say for sure that was what happened, but I would suggest either never using CO2 with tubeless or letting theCO2 out and refilling with air as soon as convenient if you do.

All that is assuming Bontrager is water base latex and similar to the Stans stuff I use.

biker128pedal

The latest Bontager sealant is a light blue color. I’ve read online so it must’ve true it was originally white. The blue stuff is supposed to be like Stan’s but with black solid bits to seal better.

spelger

it was good...

Iride01 

I've been wondering where that BLT was too from the moment you posted this thread. I didn't want to ask because I considered the possibility BLT might be another meaning in the tubeless tire world. And then I'd be showing my typical ignorance.

Rick_D

My first tubeless encounter in the wild was a fellow with a nice road bike, hands and arms splattered with blue stuff, trying to mount his emergency tube and having run out of CO2. Lent him my frame pump and he was able to complete the job. No idea why his plug kit didn't handle the leak, perhaps a rip or somesuch, but I did not envy him riding home covered with tire goo and the actual fix he faced.

No great takeaway other than I saw the other side of going that route, before I considered going that route. Solve three problems and add four?

PeteHski

What was your second encounter with tubeless like? Or was this a one-off experience? Over the years I've had many encounters with randos struggling to fix flats. My only conclusion is that some people are clueless, regardless of their gear. So I tend not to take much notice.

spelger

after getting just a little of the sealant on my hand i thought about having to put a tube in should that ever be needed. seems like such a mess. i suppose if the sealant does its job in the majority of cases it is probably worth it since that should be very rare.

PeteHski

So rare that I don't even carry a spare tube unless on an epic ride in the wilderness.

spelger

this guy i helped was older than me and not as in good a shape, not bad mind you, but was not able to pump for very long after i tired. he was on an e-bike that looked relatively newer. specialized if i recall, nice looking ride.

msu2001la

I've never understood why people are so worried about getting sealant on their hands.

Y'all will walk around with chain ring tattoos and mud stripes up your rear, but if a drop of sealant touches anything other than the inside of the tire it's like "welp this is stupid I'm going back to tubes".

indyfabz

I’ve had to do it 3 times in 7 years, and one of those times was my fault. Early season ride without refreshing the sealant.

The stuff is water-soluble, so it’s easy the clean off your hands.

Bald Paul

BLT = Badly Leaking Tubeless

staehpj1

Yeah, I don't get it either. It rinses right off with plain water unless there is some kind of non waterbased sealant that they are using. If you let it get dried on a bit it is a little messier, but still not a big deal. It washes off easy enough. Dirty chains are far worse to deal with when using most lubes, probably even wax.

Heck your hands probably get dirtier taking a tire off to patch/change a tube than getting a little sealant on your hand when putting in a plug. Putting in a tube in a tubless because the tire is too damaged for sealant or plugging to work may be a bit messier, but a very infrequent occurance that you may never have to do and isn't all that bad any way.

I've been tubeless for a few years on my mountain bikes and have never needed to put a tube in a tubeless setup or gotten much sealant on my hands when out on the trail. Even needing to put in a plug has been a very rare occurance. Before tubeless fixing punctures was a frequent thing.

spelger

not sure where the worry about sealant on the hands is coming from. as mentioned, i got it on my hands. no big deal. messy? yes. end of world? no. it was my first ever experience with it, never saw it before until that day.