Add some sealant in your tires, now!

[carbonazza]

Just a friendly reminder that we are in the summer.
And the sealant in our tires dries faster.

I had my first flat ever on a track this Wednesday.
Without any doubt because of a dry tire, although I did fill it a month or so ago.

And oddly enough, on Thursday, I got a big 5mm rusted screw planted in the same tire.
The noise of the screw hitting the chainstay is scary.

I removed the screw and put the hole down.
This time, it was full of sealant, and a fair amount of it went out, but it plugged the hole!

I then pumped the tire, with this incredible little cheap pump and finished my ride.

[Vipassana]

That's the worst, to cut a ride short because of completely preventable flat. 

Do you recommend that little pump?  I might pick one up if you like it.  I carry mostly cartridges and rarely, if ever, need them.  But a pump would be a bit more eco-friendly and reusable. 

[Jerryno]

And the sealant in our tires dries faster.

If you pump in new sealant what do you do with the old dry one? Do you have some good fast way to clean it? Without removing, the tire would just gain weight forever..

Also how fast your sealant dries and which do you use?

[carbonazza]

Yes. It works surprisingly well for its size and price.

It will not make a tubeless pop on the track.
But to inflate an emergency tube or put some more air, it works just fine.

[carbonazza]

I use Stan's sealant. And poured 80ml more than a month ago.
But we had an exceptionally hot and dry spring here in Belgium.

Rubbing it with a hard brush and soap is boring but rather quick.
These are my summer tires from last year, and it was their first cleaning.
There wasn't that much dry residue.

May be there is a solvent that would make the cleaning easier.

[RS VR6]

I've had the Stan's separate too. It became a clear orange-ish looking fluid. Once that happens, it will not seal.

[cmh]

I've had the Stan's separate too. It became a clear orange-ish looking fluid. Once that happens, it will not seal.

Wow, really? That's surprising, I've not seen that happen with Stan's. Have seen Caffelatex do that in a huge way - the latex all congealed on the inside of the tire and all that was left was a liquid similar to what you describe. Orange Seal didn't separate on me, but it usually seems to dry out and leave a heavy film on the entire inside of the tire, which at least is easy to remove. I pulled the skin out of one tire a couple weeks ago and got everything in one big sheet that looked like stockings when it was all out. Impressive that it skinned over, but at that point it doesn't do anything to prevent new flats. With swapping tires and such, we've already gone through a 32oz bottle of Stan's, and I've started ordering replacement jugs 2 at a time.

For me, Stan's just dries out and leaves Stanimals behind, but other than that, works really well. I had to LOL when carbonazza said "I had my first flat ever" - I not-so-fondly remember the days before tubeless. There was a park in central NJ where two flats in one ride was the norm, one flat was a good day, and no flats just didn't happen.

[Carbon_Dude]

Just spent a hour or two yesterday working on my tubeless front tire.

1]  DT Swiss XR1450 wheel with factory rim strip.
2]  Tire was not holding air at all after the bike had not been ridden for a few weeks.
3]  Added more sealant but when airing up the tire, the sealant just sprayed out at the base of the valve stem.
4]  Removed the tire and found the rim strip had partially peeled up from the sides of the rim.
5]  The sealant I had added was running under the rim strip and into the spoke holes.
6]  Removed the rim strip and spent considerable time making sure the rim and tire were throughly clean.  Since the tire had been flat for a while, the sealant had dried completely into one large blob adhered to the tire.
7]  Installed a layer of Stans tape.
8]  Mounted the tire.
9]  Added new Orang Sealant.
10] Aired up the tire, ready to go (when my collarbone is healed).

[cmh]

10] Aired up the tire, ready to go (when my collarbone is healed).

...and that step is the really good news. Congrats! Stop breaking yourself!

[carbonazza]

Here is an update.
I did a 90Km ride this weekend(my longest so far!).

With a difficult choice of either putting a new back tire 12h before the ride, hoping it would hold air.
Or use the current beaten one, with a tube in my bag in case of.

The old tire is still on the bike!
Here is a picture(Thunder Burt), the scar size is about 5mm.
I'm very impressed how well the tubeless-sealant combo works.

[cmh]

Or use the current beaten one, with a tube in my bag in case of.

You weren't kidding about the "beaten" one - man that thing is shagged!