If you inject the sealant through the valve stem, I suggest removing the valve core and using a pipe cleaner to clean inside the stem to mitigate clogs. The steps would be to inflate the tire to seat the tire bead, remove the valve core (deflating without unseating the tire bead), add sealant, use pipe cleaners to clean the valve stem, install valve core, then inflate tire. This requires valve stems with removable cores.
best thing to do is screw the valve core in locked closed then open up when valve core installed. no need to clean. honestly this will stop any selant in valve which is not a huge deal nyway becase can remove core and pick rubber off in like 2 seconds. i just blow down the valve once i put sealant on (not touch with lips just a puff of air to get bubbles clear) and put valve closed inside then open valve to inflate.
Your first few steps could work if you have a good tire/rim combo, but with more finicky combos you'll have trouble getting the tire seated without removing the valve core first. I'd recommend inflating the tire with the valve core removed first to make sure it seats, then you can let the air out slowly by holding your pump/air compressor against the valve, then adding sealant and going from there. I'm speaking from experience: my tire and rim do not work well together, and I needed to use an inner tube with the valve core removed just to get the tire seated. Then I carefully unseated just one side, removed the tube, re-inserted the valve core, then was able to get the other side seated with the valve core removed. Maybe I'd have better luck with an air compressor instead of an air reservoir, but I was even having trouble getting the bead seated with the inner tube in! I'd still be trying to get that tire on if I left the valve cores in.
Lol, it's certainly not as easy as tubes and I've had many difficult tubeless setups. An air compressor is definitely on the list to get. You really are collating the most useful and helpful videos for the average cyclist and that's awesome. CZcams is a wonderful teacher because of creators such as yourself.
dont need compressor. i have tubeless pump i only got because i using non-tubeless rim on one of my bikes and no track pump will mount. got all my tubeless on fine for 5-6 years just fine. with track pump. get a tubeless pump better than compressor can put in car/van if need to. honestly think suggesting compressor in this video is enough to put anyone off trying to set up tubeless for the first time.
Great video! Good tip if the tyre is new is to ride with a tube in for a couple of rides. Helps straighten out any kinks in the tyre from being folded up in the packaging and is then really easy to seat dry without sealant once you take the tube out. (I've seated tyres with a normal pump this way) Also, worth cleaning the valve before you put the core back in. Makes it easier to get air into the system after if you've squirted the sealant in through the valve.
better tip just unfold tyre 1-2 days before and let to relax to proper shape. no need to fit tube unless will not work so yes try tube AS LAST RESORT but please this is unnecessary.
It’s good to see someone do the whole apron tarp steps that I’ll inevitably skip. This way when I ruin my clothes I’ll be able to have a flashback of Russ warning me.
One thing,I learned to really really shake the Orange Seal up hard. If you dont the magic particles will stay in the bottom of the bottle and you will just have the liquid in the tire with no magic bits. Very important. First try I didnt shake it and when I got a flat the liquid ran out the hole and didnt seal,at all.
Thanks for making this video Russ. It helped give me the confidence to finally get around to trying it. So, I just set up some 700Cx35 GravelKing slicks (my "road" setup) last night using an Airshot Tubeless Tire Inflator 1.15L. I had tubes in the tires to start with, so I just left the bead set on the one side, pulled out the tube, inserted the tubeless valve, sprayed the loose wall with soapy water, popped it over the rim, hooked up the inflator (valve core removed), charged it, and poof, the tire seated right up. The approach I used for sealant was then to inject it with a syringe through the valve stem before putting the core back in and pumping up again to the desired pressure. Worked sooooo well. For someone living in a 2br apartment, that little Airshot inflator is a great tool for DIY tubeless!
Great video ! I use most of the items in your video. I use an injector that goes through the valve stem into the tire. A valve such as Orange Seal tubeless valve has a big enough inside diameter to allow this. Amazon has several syringe style injectors with the small filler straw, from $10.00-$20.00 . I can add/check/re-install sealant through the valve with no mess and not removing the bead from the rim. For example, I can check my sealant by removing the valve core and pushing the straw through the valve , draw out the sealant and add more if needed .this takes about 3- minutes per tire with no mess . Keep up the great video content and thanks
Don’t forget to spin the rims horizontally on both sides so the sealant gets into the bead and fully seals it. Leave overnight then check tyre pressure again. I love tubeless but they do need a bit more monitoring than tubes.
Nice video. Keep the valve at 4 o’clock instead of 6 o’clock to avoid the sealant spilling out. The air compressor is not needed in all cases I was able to get Conti GP 5000 to seat on a Mavic UST rim using my regular floor pump.
I've had that same compressor for over a decade, I found that setting the bead is easier with a air blower with the valve core removed, instead of the presta attachment. Much easier to get a LARGE volume of air quickly. Of course, you lose the air to get the core in, but some combos, especially towards larger volume or difficult tires (Conti 5000s!). Never thought of a turkey baster, just used a Stan's syringe in reverse.
did this with a 3" tyre and it was like a bomb. sealant everywhere, dissoriented and ears ringing just like in a computer game/war movie my wife wondered if I'd finally killed myself
@@granddolph damn man I had the exact same experience. It was traumatic. My hearing was tinny and weird for several days after. Sealant all over the ceiling. Now I only use the compressor when seating is especially stubborn. And I try to take the hose off the valve immediately after the bead snaps in. I hope your hearing has recovered.
When you put the sealant back in through the valve you dont put the valve at 6 oclock otherwise you get exactly what happened. Put the valve at 4 or 8 oclock and put in. The sealant will then run down away from the valve avoiding the blowback
Depending on the rim/tire combo I have just used a regular floor pump. When that doesn't work I use a CO2 cartridge to get the tire to seat. Tip, I use paint gun cartridges, much less. Those high pressure floor pumps are insanely expensive, more than an air compressor.
I was reading an old Jan Heine article and he mentions if you need huge blast of air to seat the tire, then the tire is too loose. He recommended more layers of rim tape.
@@alexlai2580 also check no bumps from tyre molding or old sealant. 100% will need a big blast every time to mount tyre I fit many many times with floor pump. too much tape sometimes tyre get stuck on rim impossible to remove.
I can recommend green powder coating tape as tubeless rim tape. It's inexpensive, has a little bit of stretch, and does not leave a bunch of residue when removed
Wow, great tip. I just bought a roll of 27mm x 10 meters DT Swiss tape for $20. Looked up green powder coating tape and can get 1.125 inches (about 28mm) x 72 yards for $7.50. Much more tape for much less. Next time I will try it. Thanks!
best tape is the strapping tape exactly stans but no brand think i got enough to do 6 pairs of wheels for £12 on ebay. anything better than gorilla. gorilla expensive compared to proper tubeless also easy to seat with smooth tape gorilla 'sticky' surface too rough for bead to 'pop' easily.
Years ago my dad got me a small refillable air tank that I never thought I'd have any use for... until I went tubeless this year. Way cheaper than a compressor, and you can either fill it up using a compressor at a gas station, or you can get a workout and fill it up with a floor pump. I never tried changing out the hose or head for something presta-specific, but using a regular presta/schrader adapter on the valve stem seemed to do the trick. I definitely need to get a baster.
I've done three tubeless setups (hydra rims + g-one 38s, velocity blunt and hope enduro rims with g-one speed 2.35) both went up with a cheap track pump, no air blaster, no compressor. It's definitely doable without too much fuss.
No mess at all. Just remove core and suction using the same syringe that you put the sealant in with. Then remove the tire. A little sealant remains but easy not to make a mess.
Make sure to use a valve core tool to tighten the valves after sealent. Also tighten the metal nut real tight on the rim with some pliers IF you dont want to leak air over night.
Jussssst struggled with mounting new tubeless tires for the first time. Ended up taking them to a shop to have them put the sealant in and seat the bead. Charged me $10, so not bad. But I did invest in some tooling to do it on my own too. So much more difficult than tube tires! Lol. Thanks for the tips Russ.
definitely gets easier but still will always remain a bit of a messy job and no 'quick' way to do it but still quicker than changing multible flat tyres on the trail side..
I agree with that. I hear "it's easy, a snap, so simple" etc etc all the time. I agree with you, not so easy, sometimes hard. I got lucky on the one i did. However using plastic levers, the tire was super difficult. Part of my plastic lever broke and i instantly flated with a tube, because i had bits of plastic all through the inside of the tire. I took it off, washed it thoroughly with a hose. Then i used an old metal tire lever i had, as careful as possible, and went tubeless. I used the open tire technique too. Not too messy but it was very hard. On my gravel bike my delta cruiser 32mm are hand ripping difficult and my 40mm vittorio touring tires on the same rim are super easy. I like super easy, like the tire you just put on.
I use a battery powered handheld compressor with a presta valve adapter. It seats the bead nice and fast. The rim I use is a wtb and I'll tell ya. It's a pain to get on and off,but the benefit to tubeless is so worth it.
Worth noting.... some sealants might not work well together. If you started with Stan's and switched over to Orange Seal for example.... the different formulas MIGHT keep the combined sealant from working properly. I ran into this with TruckerCo sealant. I had Stan's in the tire already. I "topped off" the next year with TruckerCo and the tire never sealed properly until I removed ALL sealant and started over with just Stan's.
You'll get way less clogging if you angle the valve stem downward to let gravity help clear the sealant. A splash of H2o before reinstalling the core doesn't hurt either. I don't recommend a 6 O-Clock position for adding air as some splashage can occur.
I don't think you mentioned sealing those supple sidewalls. I think I actually have the same RH tires on my bike. With a 48x650 tire it took me 4 oz of stan's to get RH standard sidewalls to seal. In addition to 4oz of sealant, I also found the tire swing to work really well to get sealant to coat and seal up the sidewalls. The swing is shown on the RH web site. I think all RH tires are tubeless compatible ... not tubeless ready ... gosh makes a big diff in sealing em up. Really enjoy your videos Russ!!
thanks for the tips, Russ. I have to get one of those presta valve adaptors for my air compressor hose. by the way, it’s called a pancake compressor due to the shape of tank since it’s squashed like a pancaked. cheers from a fellow Filipino cyclist!
Another handy thing, if you don't have a flat place to work, is a pair of stackable, bright colored plastic (or stainless) dog bowls. They catch spills, let you collect small parts on a high-contrast background, and provide a stable base for little bottles.
Love the turkey baster idea. The small sealant bottle is good, too. Practice with tubeless does take the scariness out of doing this sort of stuff. One thing I do after I refill the tire with sealant, is to turn the valve stem to something like a 45 degree angle up from the bottom position, take the air out once again, take the valve core out, and clean out the valve stem with a Q-tip (you have to kind of thread it inside and then thread it back out), and then replace the valve core and re-inflate. That's to keep the valve core as clean as possible so it doesn't end up stuck the next time you need to change air pressure, etc. Good advice for our current Covid problem. It could be with us for sometime. Thanks.
A big syringe with 2 oz capacity is amazing. With a lil plastic tip that fits in the presta stem. Especially if the sealant bottle has a 1/4 inch hole, you can just go directly from bottle to syringe to valve stem and with a measured amount.
One tip I've seen is to be sure to spin the wheel around right away to better distribute the sealant. I've also seen it recommended that you let the wheel rest on a bucket or barrel on each side for five minutes to insure sealant gets into the bead/seat area well. Great content as always, thanks!
wont get bead on side just side wall best way is work the tyre 1 foot at a time then rotate so you splash big puddle inside tyre to fully coat the move around. yes spin and lay on bucket great for leaky sweaty side wall but not for bead. unless you put 100ml in each tyre
One of the biggest keys to tubeless success is the tape. Making sure that the tape width is appropriate to the rim width so the tape, tire bead, and rim seat all settle in nice and tight. I've had the best luck where the tape is the same width or maybe 2-4 mm wider than the internal width of the rim. Be sure and stretch the tape nice and tight. My most recent tube to tubeless conversion took well under an hour for both wheels. Practice makes perfect. :)
Sure, you could wrap things up (tyvek - not really cheap to come by in Europe, and best saved for UL bivy projects). Or you could just go to your tiled bathroom. Even a shower would do. Any sealant I used is water-soluble after all. Just wash it off. No problems with laundry whatsoever. (Heard there are even stranger folks, cooking in their kitchen, handling non-waterbased stuff like oil 😜) Apart from that, great kit list, esp. the kitchen pipette is a brilliant hack!Easier to use too, instead of expensive one-hand bleeding syringes. Lesson I learned, either way you fill in the sealant, just rotate the wheel a bit so the open tire gap or valve is in the upper half, that way you spill less while finishing up the bead or screw the valve core back in place.
I know from first hand experience that you do NOT want sealant going down your shower drain. Many are not water soluble and will adhere to hair or whatever else you have in the pipes resulting in an expensive visit from the plumber.
@@PathLessPedaledTV @Path Less Pedaled Never had problems with little spills and messes, at least not with water based latex sealants. Not unless if you down a pint in there and let ut clog up. In my experience it's not epoxy, when I'm reasonably quick, no big issue. The synthetic water based stuff from finish line doesn't dry out, but doesn't seal porous side walls like René Herses need first time. Gets slimy in the tire after a while. Hairs in your drain??? Are you a roadie after all, shaving your legs?😅 (Btw, I take a 99 ct sieve on that occasions) The one sealant I absolutely cannot recommend is Stan's race sealant. Wirh aggressively smelling ammonium (said to weaken the tires), works like a charm due to fine strands of glass fiber! One has to shake that little travel bottle several times because it clogs up the funnel tip. Recently I cleaned out the dried up residues of a pair of tires and although I wore latex gloves, the glass fibres crept up, stung and nettled for over a day.
@@PathLessPedaledTV Btw Russ, you missed my point there of tiles and papertissues instead of wiping over plastic sheets or rough concrete floor. Never had that bad luck, but I guess if a tire blew off, tiled walls are preferable to a house wall or garage, too. My kids once used an organic cream bath bar that left tenaciously tacky, oily residues in it which really worried me more and kept us more scrubbing and rinsing than 10ml of sealant at the worst, or whatever's left from the paper tissues.
So I found, by using a small bucket like a recycling bin. When you get to the point where your trying to fit the tire back on the rim after putting in the sealant. You can place the tire in the bucket for leverage to manhandle the tire over the top without spilling any sealant at the bottom👍
Nice video Russ. I will suggest one product easily found in shops and on Amazon. The KOM syringe injector with a straw that fits inside the stem and valve removal tool is great! Keeps everything together so no searching for bits. Also is much neater than pouring. Also it is marked so it makes measuring a breeze.
No need for a compressor. Many floor pumps you can get with a canister attached for compressing air. I know it’s harder to do on camera, but after you do this a few times,you get to where you may only spill a drop or two. It’s also really fun to hear the sealant sploshing around when you are riding around. If you absolutely have to depend on your tires, going tubeless is the only way to go. You can get so many punctures and not even stop riding. If you do have one that doesn’t want to seal up, get a plug kit and it’s a seconds long fix. Tubes and cables, however dependable they are, are getting replaced by newer tech. Happens.
I have multiple bikes with tires that range from 43mm to 5 inch fat tires. Once a year tire change sure you don’t need a compressor. Run a CZcams channel reviewing bikes and tires? A compressor saves me hours every week.
Okay... from your opening statement, it sounds like you are doing a how to home tubeless setup for your viewers, not a “this is how I do tubeless on my super popular supple life bike CZcams channel”. I’m not knocking the compressor.
I hate my compressor for how loud it is, but was shown a few weeks ago that the DeWalt compressor was about half as loud as mine is - and that's still loud, but about half as loud. I imagine that there have to be some compressors which are made to be quieter, but I don't know of any besides the DeWalt.
Setting the bead is easy. Putting the rim tape on and getting right is the hardest part. My trick is to put 98% of the tire on putting the sealant in then finish putting the tire on the rim then bang it home with air compressors ,
I get tubes with removable valve cores and squirt a little sealant in there. Solves the issue of mess and needing a compressor. I know people rave about how supple tubeless tires feel, but I've always wondered if that was just because they can run pressures lower and not be afraid of pinch flats, or maybe it makes a non supple tire feel supple? I run pretty low pressure using the tube/sealant method, don't have pinch flat issues, and still get all the super supple feels. Someday maybe I'll try one setup fully tubeless and be a convert, but for now, what I'm using works for me.
Tubeless tires are great until they aren't. Most people I know, including me, have switched back to tubes. The problem with tubeless is that if you have a major cut out in the middle of nowhere, which will happen sooner or later, you will have a horrible mess and will have to convert back to a tube. When this happens, most people just convert back to tube.
Thanks, Russ for this very helpful video. Quick question is how much sealant do you put in? Another ask is if you could post a video on dealing with a flat tubeless tire on the trail. Thanks again.
Just out of curiosity, my bike shop mechanic said you should never mix different brands of sealants especially Stan's and Orange. What's the scoop on this?
Also had no problems with mixing when filling up without cleaning out the tires. But e.g. Stan's (race) sealant contains ammonium, probably that might react in a negative way. Apart from the smell, it's said to weaken the tire fabrics. And from experience, the glass fibres are aggressively sharp and stingy to exposed skin when dried up.
👍 better even at the five (or seven ;) o'clock position, so it wouldn't contact the pool at the bottom in slimmer tires or if you put in more sealant in large volume tires.
Don’t have an air compressor? Use a presta to schrader converter and the air compressor at your local gas station. It’s often free. I’ve done it a handful of times with 100% success rate
@@PathLessPedaledTV I don't have a car and have biked there every time. If things go wrong, you can slurp up the excess with your turkey baster and reinstall your tube
Hi, I recently found your channel and have enjoyed the content so far, so thank you for making these videos! I ride gravel trails in upstate NY, mostly dry/dusty, sandy, sometimes some actual dirt. My current bike (2016 Haanjo Comp) maxes out at 40c. I'm considering new tires, either Schwalbe G-One All Round, Specialized Pathfinder Pro, WTB Riddler, or Maxxis Rambler. Which of those do you think is best?
Good video Russ. Is it ok to rinse the baster out and return to the kitchen before my wife finds out? I've been using Muc Off with Hutchison Fusion road tires. I had several punctures on one ride that sprayed the back of the seat tube with sealant but I was able to get home by adding a bit of air with a hand pump so the sealant was doing its job but it took a bit to make the seal.
I think that if you are used to tubes, and everyone is really, then that's just the system you know. Tubeless is just another system. It has a similar number of steps and pitfalls, ok probably a few more, but it is another system. The value is the better ride, the reduction in flats, and the reduced rotating weight.
How do you feel about tubeless for long distance touring/riding these days? They seem to have come a long way but seem like they would be tricky to deal with in the field
The Amazon link for the Presta Attachment provided in the notes is made of a Schrader valve; NOT a Presta valve. You would have to also purchase a Presta head. www.amazon.com/PrestaCycle-Angle-Mini-Presta-Head/dp/B076CWXQQC/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=presta+air+compressor+tool&qid=1595170064&sr=8-8
Technically yes. Mavic is currently leading the way with tubeless for road. The main problem with traditional road tires and tubeless is the small diameter tire with extremely high pressure. Most tubeless tires recommend no more than 90psi to avoid blowing the tire off the rim. It's being adopted more as road riders continue moving to larger diameter tires with lower psi.
Hey Russ, Would you ride tubeless on a long multi day road trip? Would you be worried about finding yourself in the middle of nowhere with tubeless tyres that you weren't able to reseat? Thanks
If you don’t want to buy a compressor any compressor at a gas station works well once you have removed your valve core. For 25 cents you can seat a tire or two
Russ, what settings do youi use on the compressor? I have the same exact one, but I always feel like it’s hit or miss. How do you use the “dial” knob I guess is what I mean. Thanks!
Thanks! I wait til it gets over 100 psi on the right dial befoer I try to seat the tire, and it seems to work most of the time, but I have no idea what the hell I’m doing with the big black knob. LOL.
If you inject the sealant through the valve stem, I suggest removing the valve core and using a pipe cleaner to clean inside the stem to mitigate clogs. The steps would be to inflate the tire to seat the tire bead, remove the valve core (deflating without unseating the tire bead), add sealant, use pipe cleaners to clean the valve stem, install valve core, then inflate tire.
This requires valve stems with removable cores.
best thing to do is screw the valve core in locked closed then open up when valve core installed. no need to clean. honestly this will stop any selant in valve which is not a huge deal nyway becase can remove core and pick rubber off in like 2 seconds. i just blow down the valve once i put sealant on (not touch with lips just a puff of air to get bubbles clear) and put valve closed inside then open valve to inflate.
Your first few steps could work if you have a good tire/rim combo, but with more finicky combos you'll have trouble getting the tire seated without removing the valve core first. I'd recommend inflating the tire with the valve core removed first to make sure it seats, then you can let the air out slowly by holding your pump/air compressor against the valve, then adding sealant and going from there.
I'm speaking from experience: my tire and rim do not work well together, and I needed to use an inner tube with the valve core removed just to get the tire seated. Then I carefully unseated just one side, removed the tube, re-inserted the valve core, then was able to get the other side seated with the valve core removed. Maybe I'd have better luck with an air compressor instead of an air reservoir, but I was even having trouble getting the bead seated with the inner tube in! I'd still be trying to get that tire on if I left the valve cores in.
Lol, it's certainly not as easy as tubes and I've had many difficult tubeless setups. An air compressor is definitely on the list to get. You really are collating the most useful and helpful videos for the average cyclist and that's awesome. CZcams is a wonderful teacher because of creators such as yourself.
Thanks!
dont need compressor. i have tubeless pump i only got because i using non-tubeless rim on one of my bikes and no track pump will mount. got all my tubeless on fine for 5-6 years just fine. with track pump. get a tubeless pump better than compressor can put in car/van if need to. honestly think suggesting compressor in this video is enough to put anyone off trying to set up tubeless for the first time.
Great video!
Good tip if the tyre is new is to ride with a tube in for a couple of rides. Helps straighten out any kinks in the tyre from being folded up in the packaging and is then really easy to seat dry without sealant once you take the tube out. (I've seated tyres with a normal pump this way)
Also, worth cleaning the valve before you put the core back in. Makes it easier to get air into the system after if you've squirted the sealant in through the valve.
better tip just unfold tyre 1-2 days before and let to relax to proper shape. no need to fit tube unless will not work so yes try tube AS LAST RESORT but please this is unnecessary.
@@8iamretarded8 I second this- hang it in the sun, makes it nice and supple and easier to seat/fill.
It’s good to see someone do the whole apron tarp steps that I’ll inevitably skip. This way when I ruin my clothes I’ll be able to have a flashback of Russ warning me.
I fix my bike naked, I highly recommend
Geez. That sure makes tubes look good!
Much rather have a little hassle every 6months and ride with less flats, suppler tires, and less rotational weight. You do you.
Yea that was the worst how-to video ever.
If you travel to cycle different locations beware. Thorns are everywhere. Without sealant you will be walking your bike back to your car.
One thing,I learned to really really shake the Orange Seal up hard. If you dont the magic particles will stay in the bottom of the bottle and you will just have the liquid in the tire with no magic bits. Very important. First try I didnt shake it and when I got a flat the liquid ran out the hole and didnt seal,at all.
Thanks for making this video Russ. It helped give me the confidence to finally get around to trying it.
So, I just set up some 700Cx35 GravelKing slicks (my "road" setup) last night using an Airshot Tubeless Tire Inflator 1.15L. I had tubes in the tires to start with, so I just left the bead set on the one side, pulled out the tube, inserted the tubeless valve, sprayed the loose wall with soapy water, popped it over the rim, hooked up the inflator (valve core removed), charged it, and poof, the tire seated right up. The approach I used for sealant was then to inject it with a syringe through the valve stem before putting the core back in and pumping up again to the desired pressure. Worked sooooo well. For someone living in a 2br apartment, that little Airshot inflator is a great tool for DIY tubeless!
Great video ! I use most of the items in your video.
I use an injector that goes through the valve stem into the tire. A valve such as Orange Seal tubeless valve has a big enough inside diameter to allow this. Amazon has several syringe style injectors with the small filler straw, from $10.00-$20.00 . I can add/check/re-install sealant through the valve with no mess and not removing the bead from the rim. For example, I can check my sealant by removing the valve core and pushing the straw through the valve , draw out the sealant and add more if needed .this takes about 3- minutes per tire with no mess .
Keep up the great video content and thanks
Don’t forget to spin the rims horizontally on both sides so the sealant gets into the bead and fully seals it. Leave overnight then check tyre pressure again. I love tubeless but they do need a bit more monitoring than tubes.
Nice video. Keep the valve at 4 o’clock instead of 6 o’clock to avoid the sealant spilling out. The air compressor is not needed in all cases I was able to get Conti GP 5000 to seat on a Mavic UST rim using my regular floor pump.
3:22 "That's the stuff that 'boogers up' and seals the puncture" hahahaha! Best description of tubeless sealant.
I've had that same compressor for over a decade, I found that setting the bead is easier with a air blower with the valve core removed, instead of the presta attachment. Much easier to get a LARGE volume of air quickly. Of course, you lose the air to get the core in, but some combos, especially towards larger volume or difficult tires (Conti 5000s!). Never thought of a turkey baster, just used a Stan's syringe in reverse.
I also recommend ear protection when using a compressor in case the bead explodes off the rim. I wish I wasn't speaking from experience.
did this with a 3" tyre and it was like a bomb. sealant everywhere, dissoriented and ears ringing just like in a computer game/war movie
my wife wondered if I'd finally killed myself
@@granddolph damn man I had the exact same experience. It was traumatic. My hearing was tinny and weird for several days after. Sealant all over the ceiling. Now I only use the compressor when seating is especially stubborn. And I try to take the hose off the valve immediately after the bead snaps in. I hope your hearing has recovered.
Been there and I still have sealant all over my shop wall to prove it. This is seriously an eye protection scenario.
When you put the sealant back in through the valve you dont put the valve at 6 oclock otherwise you get exactly what happened. Put the valve at 4 or 8 oclock and put in. The sealant will then run down away from the valve avoiding the blowback
I second this.
Depending on the rim/tire combo I have just used a regular floor pump. When that doesn't work I use a CO2 cartridge to get the tire to seat. Tip, I use paint gun cartridges, much less. Those high pressure floor pumps are insanely expensive, more than an air compressor.
I was reading an old Jan Heine article and he mentions if you need huge blast of air to seat the tire, then the tire is too loose. He recommended more layers of rim tape.
@@alexlai2580 also check no bumps from tyre molding or old sealant. 100% will need a big blast every time to mount tyre I fit many many times with floor pump. too much tape sometimes tyre get stuck on rim impossible to remove.
You left out soapy water for hard to seat pesky tire beads. There are also specific bead lubricants, but soapy water works fine.
Thanks Russ - You talked me out of tubeless.
I can recommend green powder coating tape as tubeless rim tape. It's inexpensive, has a little bit of stretch, and does not leave a bunch of residue when removed
Wow, great tip. I just bought a roll of 27mm x 10 meters DT Swiss tape for $20. Looked up green powder coating tape and can get 1.125 inches (about 28mm) x 72 yards for $7.50. Much more tape for much less. Next time I will try it. Thanks!
best tape is the strapping tape exactly stans but no brand think i got enough to do 6 pairs of wheels for £12 on ebay. anything better than gorilla. gorilla expensive compared to proper tubeless also easy to seat with smooth tape gorilla 'sticky' surface too rough for bead to 'pop' easily.
Years ago my dad got me a small refillable air tank that I never thought I'd have any use for... until I went tubeless this year. Way cheaper than a compressor, and you can either fill it up using a compressor at a gas station, or you can get a workout and fill it up with a floor pump. I never tried changing out the hose or head for something presta-specific, but using a regular presta/schrader adapter on the valve stem seemed to do the trick. I definitely need to get a baster.
I've done three tubeless setups (hydra rims + g-one 38s, velocity blunt and hope enduro rims with g-one speed 2.35) both went up with a cheap track pump, no air blaster, no compressor. It's definitely doable without too much fuss.
Depends highly on the rim and tire combo. I’ve had multiple fails with a pump esp with diy tubeless conversions.
I've had so many issues with my rims and tire brand to get the tire mounted, but after that it's very reliable.
No mess at all. Just remove core and suction using the same syringe that you put the sealant in with. Then remove the tire. A little sealant remains but easy not to make a mess.
Make sure to use a valve core tool to tighten the valves after sealent. Also tighten the metal nut real tight on the rim with some pliers IF you dont want to leak air over night.
Jussssst struggled with mounting new tubeless tires for the first time. Ended up taking them to a shop to have them put the sealant in and seat the bead. Charged me $10, so not bad. But I did invest in some tooling to do it on my own too. So much more difficult than tube tires! Lol. Thanks for the tips Russ.
Tubeless never gets easier...it's just when you do it enough times, you get the hang of dealing with the quirks of the job.
definitely gets easier but still will always remain a bit of a messy job and no 'quick' way to do it but still quicker than changing multible flat tyres on the trail side..
I agree with that. I hear "it's easy, a snap, so simple" etc etc all the time. I agree with you, not so easy, sometimes hard. I got lucky on the one i did. However using plastic levers, the tire was super difficult. Part of my plastic lever broke and i instantly flated with a tube, because i had bits of plastic all through the inside of the tire. I took it off, washed it thoroughly with a hose. Then i used an old metal tire lever i had, as careful as possible, and went tubeless. I used the open tire technique too. Not too messy but it was very hard. On my gravel bike my delta cruiser 32mm are hand ripping difficult and my 40mm vittorio touring tires on the same rim are super easy. I like super easy, like the tire you just put on.
I use a battery powered handheld compressor with a presta valve adapter. It seats the bead nice and fast. The rim I use is a wtb and I'll tell ya. It's a pain to get on and off,but the benefit to tubeless is so worth it.
Which compressor?
Another advantage to Orange sealant is that it is water soluble and easier to clean off an old rim before mounting a new one.
Worth noting.... some sealants might not work well together. If you started with Stan's and switched over to Orange Seal for example.... the different formulas MIGHT keep the combined sealant from working properly. I ran into this with TruckerCo sealant. I had Stan's in the tire already. I "topped off" the next year with TruckerCo and the tire never sealed properly until I removed ALL sealant and started over with just Stan's.
You'll get way less clogging if you angle the valve stem downward to let gravity help clear the sealant. A splash of H2o before reinstalling the core doesn't hurt either. I don't recommend a 6 O-Clock position for adding air as some splashage can occur.
I don't think you mentioned sealing those supple sidewalls. I think I actually have the same RH tires on my bike. With a 48x650 tire it took me 4 oz of stan's to get RH standard sidewalls to seal. In addition to 4oz of sealant, I also found the tire swing to work really well to get sealant to coat and seal up the sidewalls. The swing is shown on the RH web site. I think all RH tires are tubeless compatible ... not tubeless ready ... gosh makes a big diff in sealing em up. Really enjoy your videos Russ!!
thanks for the tips, Russ. I have to get one of those presta valve adaptors for my air compressor hose. by the way, it’s called a pancake compressor due to the shape of tank since it’s squashed like a pancaked. cheers from a fellow Filipino cyclist!
It is super easy. Sometimes. More often than not it’s a PITA. Baster is a great idea.
Another handy thing, if you don't have a flat place to work, is a pair of stackable, bright colored plastic (or stainless) dog bowls. They catch spills, let you collect small parts on a high-contrast background, and provide a stable base for little bottles.
Love the turkey baster idea. The small sealant bottle is good, too. Practice with tubeless does take the scariness out of doing this sort of stuff. One thing I do after I refill the tire with sealant, is to turn the valve stem to something like a 45 degree angle up from the bottom position, take the air out once again, take the valve core out, and clean out the valve stem with a Q-tip (you have to kind of thread it inside and then thread it back out), and then replace the valve core and re-inflate. That's to keep the valve core as clean as possible so it doesn't end up stuck the next time you need to change air pressure, etc. Good advice for our current Covid problem. It could be with us for sometime. Thanks.
old brake syringe i use a reclaim/squirt into 120ml old reused sealant bottle. use the sealant bottle to transfer to next tyre
A big syringe with 2 oz capacity is amazing. With a lil plastic tip that fits in the presta stem. Especially if the sealant bottle has a 1/4 inch hole, you can just go directly from bottle to syringe to valve stem and with a measured amount.
One tip I've seen is to be sure to spin the wheel around right away to better distribute the sealant. I've also seen it recommended that you let the wheel rest on a bucket or barrel on each side for five minutes to insure sealant gets into the bead/seat area well. Great content as always, thanks!
wont get bead on side just side wall best way is work the tyre 1 foot at a time then rotate so you splash big puddle inside tyre to fully coat the move around. yes spin and lay on bucket great for leaky sweaty side wall but not for bead. unless you put 100ml in each tyre
What an informative video! You convinced me to stick with tubes. 😆
Pedro's tire tool , and Orange seal !
One of the biggest keys to tubeless success is the tape. Making sure that the tape width is appropriate to the rim width so the tape, tire bead, and rim seat all settle in nice and tight. I've had the best luck where the tape is the same width or maybe 2-4 mm wider than the internal width of the rim. Be sure and stretch the tape nice and tight. My most recent tube to tubeless conversion took well under an hour for both wheels. Practice makes perfect. :)
Sure, you could wrap things up (tyvek - not really cheap to come by in Europe, and best saved for UL bivy projects). Or you could just go to your tiled bathroom. Even a shower would do. Any sealant I used is water-soluble after all. Just wash it off. No problems with laundry whatsoever. (Heard there are even stranger folks, cooking in their kitchen, handling non-waterbased stuff like oil 😜)
Apart from that, great kit list, esp. the kitchen pipette is a brilliant hack!Easier to use too, instead of expensive one-hand bleeding syringes. Lesson I learned, either way you fill in the sealant, just rotate the wheel a bit so the open tire gap or valve is in the upper half, that way you spill less while finishing up the bead or screw the valve core back in place.
I know from first hand experience that you do NOT want sealant going down your shower drain. Many are not water soluble and will adhere to hair or whatever else you have in the pipes resulting in an expensive visit from the plumber.
@@PathLessPedaledTV @Path Less Pedaled Never had problems with little spills and messes, at least not with water based latex sealants. Not unless if you down a pint in there and let ut clog up. In my experience it's not epoxy, when I'm reasonably quick, no big issue. The synthetic water based stuff from finish line doesn't dry out, but doesn't seal porous side walls like René Herses need first time. Gets slimy in the tire after a while.
Hairs in your drain??? Are you a roadie after all, shaving your legs?😅 (Btw, I take a 99 ct sieve on that occasions)
The one sealant I absolutely cannot recommend is Stan's race sealant. Wirh aggressively smelling ammonium (said to weaken the tires), works like a charm due to fine strands of glass fiber! One has to shake that little travel bottle several times because it clogs up the funnel tip. Recently I cleaned out the dried up residues of a pair of tires and although I wore latex gloves, the glass fibres crept up, stung and nettled for over a day.
@@PathLessPedaledTV Btw Russ, you missed my point there of tiles and papertissues instead of wiping over plastic sheets or rough concrete floor. Never had that bad luck, but I guess if a tire blew off, tiled walls are preferable to a house wall or garage, too. My kids once used an organic cream bath bar that left tenaciously tacky, oily residues in it which really worried me more and kept us more scrubbing and rinsing than 10ml of sealant at the worst, or whatever's left from the paper tissues.
Giant brand rim tape works very well
So I found, by using a small bucket like a recycling bin. When you get to the point where your trying to fit the tire back on the rim after putting in the sealant. You can place the tire in the bucket for leverage to manhandle the tire over the top without spilling any sealant at the bottom👍
Fortress Air Compressor from Harbor Freight is Quiet well worth the money. The 2 gallon one is just about right for all your inflation needs.
Another great video man thanks for producing great content like this for us new gravel riders love your channel
Nice video Russ. I will suggest one product easily found in shops and on Amazon. The KOM syringe injector with a straw that fits inside the stem and valve removal tool is great! Keeps everything together so no searching for bits. Also is much neater than pouring. Also it is marked so it makes measuring a breeze.
I ended up with a blackburn pump that has a little thing on it you unthread and it's a built-in presta core remover. Highly recommended. :)
I'm sticking with tubes.
Me too.
Terrific video, very well presented and informative. Makes me ❤️ my tubes even more. 😁
Love this video. You do things just as messy as I do :-)
It's super easy!! 😁
No need for a compressor. Many floor pumps you can get with a canister attached for compressing air. I know it’s harder to do on camera, but after you do this a few times,you get to where you may only spill a drop or two. It’s also really fun to hear the sealant sploshing around when you are riding around. If you absolutely have to depend on your tires, going tubeless is the only way to go. You can get so many punctures and not even stop riding. If you do have one that doesn’t want to seal up, get a plug kit and it’s a seconds long fix. Tubes and cables, however dependable they are, are getting replaced by newer tech. Happens.
I have multiple bikes with tires that range from 43mm to 5 inch fat tires. Once a year tire change sure you don’t need a compressor. Run a CZcams channel reviewing bikes and tires? A compressor saves me hours every week.
Okay... from your opening statement, it sounds like you are doing a how to home tubeless setup for your viewers, not a “this is how I do tubeless on my super popular supple life bike CZcams channel”. I’m not knocking the compressor.
I have that same compressor at home. It's the loudest thing I've ever owned
Turkey Baster - Brilliant!
Russ, have you looked into Milkit’s valve system? Seems super quick, easy and much cleaner!
I hate my compressor for how loud it is, but was shown a few weeks ago that the DeWalt compressor was about half as loud as mine is - and that's still loud, but about half as loud. I imagine that there have to be some compressors which are made to be quieter, but I don't know of any besides the DeWalt.
Setting the bead is easy. Putting the rim tape on and getting right is the hardest part. My trick is to put 98% of the tire on putting the sealant in then finish putting the tire on the rim then bang it home with air compressors ,
Thanks Russ:)!
I get tubes with removable valve cores and squirt a little sealant in there. Solves the issue of mess and needing a compressor. I know people rave about how supple tubeless tires feel, but I've always wondered if that was just because they can run pressures lower and not be afraid of pinch flats, or maybe it makes a non supple tire feel supple? I run pretty low pressure using the tube/sealant method, don't have pinch flat issues, and still get all the super supple feels.
Someday maybe I'll try one setup fully tubeless and be a convert, but for now, what I'm using works for me.
You're combining the worst of both worlds hahs
Tubeless tires are great until they aren't. Most people I know, including me, have switched back to tubes. The problem with tubeless is that if you have a major cut out in the middle of nowhere, which will happen sooner or later, you will have a horrible mess and will have to convert back to a tube. When this happens, most people just convert back to tube.
Thanks, Russ for this very helpful video.
Quick question is how much sealant do you put in?
Another ask is if you could post a video on dealing with a flat tubeless tire on the trail.
Thanks again.
8:55 shake the bottle Russ!
Just out of curiosity, my bike shop mechanic said you should never mix different brands of sealants especially Stan's and Orange. What's the scoop on this?
Haven’t had problems yet :)
Also had no problems with mixing when filling up without cleaning out the tires. But e.g. Stan's (race) sealant contains ammonium, probably that might react in a negative way. Apart from the smell, it's said to weaken the tire fabrics. And from experience, the glass fibres are aggressively sharp and stingy to exposed skin when dried up.
I’ll stick with a good, old fashioned tube, thanks.
To minimise valve clog always have the valve on the bottom so any liquid runs away from the valve seal and not into it
👍 better even at the five (or seven ;) o'clock position, so it wouldn't contact the pool at the bottom in slimmer tires or if you put in more sealant in large volume tires.
Don’t have an air compressor? Use a presta to schrader converter and the air compressor at your local gas station. It’s often free. I’ve done it a handful of times with 100% success rate
Great option if you have a car. Not so great if you have to bike there and things go wrong.
@@PathLessPedaledTV I don't have a car and have biked there every time. If things go wrong, you can slurp up the excess with your turkey baster and reinstall your tube
Would rather make a mess at home :)
Hi, I recently found your channel and have enjoyed the content so far, so thank you for making these videos! I ride gravel trails in upstate NY, mostly dry/dusty, sandy, sometimes some actual dirt. My current bike (2016 Haanjo Comp) maxes out at 40c. I'm considering new tires, either Schwalbe G-One All Round, Specialized Pathfinder Pro, WTB Riddler, or Maxxis Rambler. Which of those do you think is best?
How often should tubeless sealant be changed? Or, when is it apparent that sealant needs to be changed? Thanks!
Not apparent. Usually dries up in a few months depending on climate. Would put in some every 2 months alreast.
Hi Whats the diameter of the hose from the air compressor 1/4 or 3/8 ?
Good video Russ. Is it ok to rinse the baster out and return to the kitchen before my wife finds out? I've been using Muc Off with Hutchison Fusion road tires. I had several punctures on one ride that sprayed the back of the seat tube with sealant but I was able to get home by adding a bit of air with a hand pump so the sealant was doing its job but it took a bit to make the seal.
Would buy a turkey baster. You don't want to ingest latex.
I don't know if I want to go tubless...at least for now, so messy etc
messy changing tube on muddy trail in december in uk..
I think that if you are used to tubes, and everyone is really, then that's just the system you know. Tubeless is just another system. It has a similar number of steps and pitfalls, ok probably a few more, but it is another system. The value is the better ride, the reduction in flats, and the reduced rotating weight.
How do you feel about tubeless for long distance touring/riding these days? They seem to have come a long way but seem like they would be tricky to deal with in the field
No probs. But bring a tube.
The Amazon link for the Presta Attachment provided in the notes is made of a Schrader valve; NOT a Presta valve. You would have to also purchase a Presta head. www.amazon.com/PrestaCycle-Angle-Mini-Presta-Head/dp/B076CWXQQC/ref=sr_1_8?dchild=1&keywords=presta+air+compressor+tool&qid=1595170064&sr=8-8
Pedros lever has the amazon link for presta core removal tool
Your Astromech is sooo cute... ❤️ ❤️
Good stuff. Working on tubeless tires in the home can be considered a relationship crime in many jurisdictions.
Love it russ
Can I use slime?
how to get tyre pressure right when using air pressure?
Separate gauge.
The stans containers have a little red cap now! Very reusable, it's what I use.
You can go tubeless on a road bike?
Technically yes. Mavic is currently leading the way with tubeless for road. The main problem with traditional road tires and tubeless is the small diameter tire with extremely high pressure. Most tubeless tires recommend no more than 90psi to avoid blowing the tire off the rim. It's being adopted more as road riders continue moving to larger diameter tires with lower psi.
Hey Russ,
Would you ride tubeless on a long multi day road trip? Would you be worried about finding yourself in the middle of nowhere with tubeless tyres that you weren't able to reseat? Thanks
Yes would trust it on a multiday trip. Unless things go catastrophic there is no need to unseat the tire. I'd also carry a spare tube just in case.
If you don’t want to buy a compressor any compressor at a gas station works well once you have removed your valve core. For 25 cents you can seat a tire or two
Great option if you have a car. Bad option if you don’t drive and things don’t go as planned. Which is quite often.
Path Less Pedaled
Very true!
Russ, what settings do youi use on the compressor? I have the same exact one, but I always feel like it’s hit or miss. How do you use the “dial” knob I guess is what I mean. Thanks!
Ha. Haven’t messed with it. Just however it shipped.
Thanks! I wait til it gets over 100 psi on the right dial befoer I try to seat the tire, and it seems to work most of the time, but I have no idea what the hell I’m doing with the big black knob. LOL.
What a huge pain is the butt. Not sure why you would go tubeless. What is the advantage?
Stans and Orange are not compatible with one another, will work but not ideal.
I, too, have developed a fear of barbers 'n' hairdressers. For the first time in my life I envy my bald chums.
Still, mustn't blub.
Bike riding is supposed to be fun. This video would make me run from my bike if I had to deal with it. Not for me. But sadists are everywhere.
This looks like another gimmick to sell more stuff (e.g., air compressor). This is easier than changing an inner tube???
2:00 'You should always have zip ties' and duct tape too! #ACN
Do
it
outside.
Nice if you have an outside. Sucks if you live in the city.
@@PathLessPedaledTV I'd do it out on my sidewalk before I'd do it in the house. So many horror stories of sealant going everywhere...
It’s flat. Like a pancake.