Robert A

Anyone happen to be using Conti 5000TLs with Easton R90 rims? I cannot get the tires to seat, even after letting air out to add sealant. I've used gas station pumps, C02 carts, the Bontrager TLR Flash Can at 160 psi. Nothing works, and each time I have to head off to the LBS for help.

Is this a bad wheel/tire combo or am I missing something?

Sy Reene

Obvious question.. ask the LBS how they're managing to do it?

Racing Dan

You are missing a compressor :-)

Robert A

if a gas station compressor can’t do it, what are the chances a home compressor will work?

masi61

I watched a YouTube video the other day where they sprayed Silicon spray onto the tubeless bead to make it slick. They indicated that this little trick could facilitate a quicker tire mount.

Also, you did remove the presta core when using compressed air in order to get more air in, yes?

WhyFi

Many gas station compressors seem to have pretty poor pressure and flow (vol/sec) - until two weeks ago, there was only one that I knew of, in my corner of the metro, that would unfailingly seat stubborn tubeless tires (I recently discovered that a place a couple blocks away seems to have upgraded and it's a champ, now, too). One of the factors is that car tire pressures are often much lower than that of road bike tires, so they may be dialing back their compressors so that idiots customers don't blow stuff up.

If the rim beds are clean, the tire beads aren't fouled, and you've moistened the beads/bed with a soapy sponge (I like to pinch and wiggle the tire all the way around the wheel, to make sure that the beads are moving freely enough to pop up on to the shoulders), there's not much else you can do but get more airflow to it.

WhyFi

Okay - just to be clear, do you mean that your tires are unseating when deflated? This is a different thing than not seating at all. If you can see the witness line all the way around the tire, it's seated.

In all of the tire/wheel combos that I've used, I have found one combo that doesn't like to stay bead-locked when deflated. It does make for a bit of a pain when checking/topping off sealant. I went to MilKit valve stems to somewhat mitigate the hassle (they allow you to keep 20+ PSI in the tire when using a syringe to add/remove sealant), though if I revisit the combo, I might try an additional layer of tape to see if it tightens it up enough to keep the beads in place.

Sy Reene

You already mentioned using a Bontrager Flash Charger. I'm not sure how much faster any compressor will be to using one of these.
What is the LBS doing to get you sorted, that you haven't done yourself?

Robert A

Well, here’s the wheel. Is the tire seated or unseated?

Robert A

I'm guessing they have a power-enough weapon to get the job done.

WhyFi

That's obviously unseated, but you're still not providing context to explain your problem clearly. When you say, "even after letting air out" there's the implication that the tire was seated and inflated, so are you having issues getting the tire seated or are you having trouble keeping the tires seated when deflating?

Robert A

<That's obviously unseated, but you're still not providing context to explain your problem clearly. When you say, "even after letting air out" there's the implication that the tire was seated and inflated, so are you having issues getting the tire seated or are you having trouble keeping the tires seated when deflating?>

I'm having issues getting the tire to seat so it will hold air. But you bring up another point: Is it normal for the tire to unseat when deflating to add sealant?

masi61

Robert A Didn’t you do a thread on the strange cracking of these tires? What is the story here? How many miles are a,ready on these?

Is the reason they won’t mount because of all these tire cracks making the tire not hold air?

Also, I’m not sure about the Easton rims but do they get tubeless tape or is it the type with no spoke holes? Any chance air is rushing out from the valve or a less than stellar tape job?

Hiro11

Spray the beads down with soapy water.

WhyFi

Okay. To confirm, you've....:

• made sure that the beads and rim bed are clean
• slicked up the beads and rim bed with sudsy water
• made sure that the beads were moving freely (not sticking here or there) and...
• were positioned properly in the center of the rim bed channel
• removed the valve core for the blast of air

?


I would say that it's not common, in my experience. I would also say that it's not necessarily problematic, but it can make maintenance a chore.

WhyFi

GP5000 TL have an inner liner that should be airtight; the outside appearance shouldn't have any effect on that.

Robert A

I don't think the thread about he strange cracking was mine, and this tire has had no problems holding air. Easton rims have tape, but that's not the issue. My LBS got it to seat just now, but not easily.

masi61

That’s good they got them to seat. What did they think the major impediment was?

Robert A

The LBS got it to seal, but not easily. Some of your suggestions above weren't quite pertinent since I didn't pull the tire off the rim, but I did try inflating with the valve core removed. That proved difficult because neither my Schraeder or Presta head could make a clean fit.

Robert A

Didn't say, but the guy who took the rim in questioned whether it was truly tubeless compatible. I think the shop just had a more powerful compressor.

WhyFi

If it's not seated, all of the above is still pertinent. In fact, I would say that it's usually easier to seat tires when none of the bead is set, rather than with some sections set and others not. IOW, if I can't get it to completely set, I pop the beads off and back in to the middle channel of the rim bed and try again. For me, going from 0% to 100% has always been much easier than trying to get from 60% to 100%.

gsa103

I was about to ask that. What are you using for rim tape? The rim tape should go across the full width, not just over the inner channel. Slightly thicker or double-wrapping may help.

And once you've gotten this fixed you can discover the other problem....tires that refuse to come off.

Robert A

If the tire held air without issue before deflation, how does rim tape affect the tire's ability to re-seat once compressed air is added?