UST, utter sh*te or just bad luck?

thenorthernsoldieruk

I'm seriously considering going back to tubes after investing A LOT of money going tubeless. For the 3rd time now I've had to walk back to the car some distance because the sealant won't fix a SMALL hole in the tyre.

Watch the Stans No Tubes video's and they're sticking screw-drivers through tyres and they re-seal instantly. The reality is a small less than 2mm split caused by a sharp rock has succeeded in defeating my tryes TWICE! The third occasion was a pinch flat, yes a snakebite, the things you're not supposed to be able to get using UST.

I'm running Maxxis High Roller 2.35" tyres
Mavic Ex 823 Rims
Stans No Tubes (also tried No More Flats and Tyre Snot)

I ride hard AM and DH and although I'm not the smoothest rider I'm not taking the mickey with hard landings etc. Absolutely had enough and won't trust UST for a longer ride now.

Anyone else having these problems or got solutions???

Northwind

Are these actually UST tyres?

Also, do remember you'd still almost certainly have had a puncture each time with tubes- but how many punctures have you avoided with tubeless?

Anonymous

Erm. Got to agree with thenorthernsoldieruk here. It may well be coincidence, but I suffered a hell of a lot more ride ending punctures with tubeless than I did with tubes.
I started a lot of tubeless rides, but almost always ended up with a tube inside the tyre.

Northwind

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I started a lot of tubeless rides, but almost always ended up with a tube inside the tyre.

Seriously? I've had 2 or 3 punctures with proper tubeless (standard tyres on tubeless rims with sealant) that needed a tube in, out of god knows how many rides. Had a couple of burps when I was messing baout with BMX tubes before I decided that was a stupid idea. Let's say, at a guess, something like 1/20th as many punctures, even though in the same time I've started riding harder than I did back then, mostly on the same tyres, and with lower pressures too so you'd expect more flats

I've got no idea how you could manage that without also having constant punctures with tubes, tbh...

vanamees

3 years, 15 000 km, 40- 50 pundtures - no flats. Seakant repaired all punctures.
Only small wet spot on tire.RR UST.

stubs

I had same problems thenorthernsoldieruk bought all the kit did everything I was supposed to and regulary ended up covered in sticky white crap wrestling a bloody inner tube into a tyre so I could carry on the ride.

thenorthernsoldieruk

vanamees wrote:

3 years, 15 000 km, 40- 50 pundtures - no flats. Seakant repaired all punctures.
Only small wet spot on tire.RR UST.

What sealant are you using to get these results?

In all honesty I've done alot of miles and prbably had fewer punctures if I think about it, especially pinch flats. But the major problem is the ride ending ones. Pushing back to the car is a real bummer.

I took a video recently which I'll try and upload of the last puncure. Nowhere near the size of the screw drivers they shove through the tyre in the videos of sealant, 2mm x 0.5mm at most and the sealant just leaked straight though and the tyre went flat. I tried to pump it back up but all the air leaks straight back out.

I'm running UST rims and tyres as stated above so no need for tape etc.

Northwind

thenorthernsoldieruk wrote:

But the major problem is the ride ending ones. Pushing back to the car is a real bummer.

Oh, yeah, that's the other thing... Why are you doing that? Carry a tube!

I'm always slightly skeptical of Notubes videos, as you say a much smaller hole can defeat the sealant. Not saying they're faked, just that they're not representative. None of the punctures I've had that beat the sealant were big at all (allways slits rather than holes though if you know what I mean...) Sometimes they seal but then unseal when you ride so you still end up with a flat eventually.

nicklouse

thenorthernsoldieruk wrote:

I'm running Maxxis High Roller 2.35" tyres

they do that size in UST?

Northwind

In LUST anyway

vanamees

thenorthernsoldieruk wrote:

vanamees wrote:

3 years, 15 000 km, 40- 50 pundtures - no flats. Seakant repaired all punctures.
Only small wet spot on tire.RR UST.

What sealant are you using to get these results?

In all honesty I've done alot of miles and prbably had fewer punctures if I think about it, especially pinch flats. But the major problem is the ride ending ones. Pushing back to the car is a real bummer.

I took a video recently which I'll try and upload of the last puncure. Nowhere near the size of the screw drivers they shove through the tyre in the videos of sealant, 2mm x 0.5mm at most and the sealant just leaked straight though and the tyre went flat. I tried to pump it back up but all the air leaks straight back out.

I'm running UST rims and tyres as stated above so no need for tape etc.

Stans tire sealant.. " While shaking and pouring sealant , the bottle must be inverted to achive maximum sealing ...." We have no much thorns and sharp
rocks on trails here.

cooldad

I suppose tubes are simple so no one really posts with problems, but the amount of tubeless hassles posted puts me right off.
One puncture in about two years (a snakebite on a square edged rock).
I carry a spare tube and a puncture kit. Never had to use the kit on a trail.
Maybe I'm just lucky.

bike-a-swan

Good grief, I think I've had a puncture more than every other ride for about the last month! It's one of the things that's pushing me to think about tubeless. If you can manage one in two years that's astounding- a mate and I managed 8 in a day between us in Wales, and another mate holds the record as far as I'm aware for the most holes in a tube in a single hit at 5 (that's a double snakebite combined with a mystery fifth we never did quite work out).

You must be very lucky!

Anonymous

Northwind wrote:

yeehaamcgee wrote:

I started a lot of tubeless rides, but almost always ended up with a tube inside the tyre.

Seriously?

Yeah. Seriously.
Most of the punctures I suffer from, almost all of them in fact, are because of crushed slates gashing the tyres.
I've often got back after a ride with gashes in the tyres, but not through to the tube. Unfortunately, the damage to the tyre, is not something tubeless sealant works with at all.

Northwind

Ah, only time I've ridden on slate was in Wales, Penmachno I think... Never got a puncture there mind despite riding like a knob up and down one of the slate spoil heaps Doesn't that totally lacerate your tyres anyway and make them come apart if it's that bad?

Anonymous

Sort of, yeah. But generally they hold together well enough for a couple of months of riding before they're totally shagged.
The trouble with the slate quarries is that you're kind of surfing down a slate mini-avalanche the whole time.

Northwind

I should ride somewhere else then if I was you, perhaps on some of that "dirt" or "non deadly razor sharp rock" stuff

Anonymous

Dirt is boring. Razor sharp rocks is where it's at. High consequence riding!
Seriously though, the riding is ace.

delta5

You could carry a tubeless tyre outside repair kit with worms or spaghetti (or whatever they're called) for fixing holes too big for sealant. No need to remove the tyre.
For bigger cuts or if you don't mind removing the tyre, ordinary tube patches can be used on the inside for closing up cuts.
Carry a CO2 cartridge or two for re-inflating.

thenorthernsoldieruk

nicklouse wrote:

thenorthernsoldieruk wrote:

I'm running Maxxis High Roller 2.35" tyres

they do that size in UST?

Yeah they do High Rollers in UST. As stated below your comment they call it LUST. I've got 2.35" and I've now seen Minion 2.5" in UST as well. You may have to shop around for them though.

Be warned mind, if you get a small hole it won't seal!!! Hence the thread. Think I'm gonna have to try a UST repair kit as I'm not binning a near new set of £40 tyres!

cavegiant

As a last resort just sticking a regular puncture repair kit on the inside of the tyre will fix all but the worst tears.

The best fluid I have found is joes, more expensive than stans, but worth the extra.

UST changed me from a puncture or two a ride, to annually. Once you have worked it out it is great.

I have pinched before with it too, you need to hit your rims pretty dam hard to do it though.

delta5

If the cuts and pinch-flat holes are in the side-wall there's less chance of the sealant working because it gets spread out around the tread area by centrifugal force, leaving the side-walls with only a very thin layer of sealant while you're rolling. If you get a hole there, by the time the sealant flows across the damage the tyre will be almost flat, and without a sharp pressure gradient to trigger the 'sealing' action it will just flow nicely through the hole.

Doubling (or more) the quantity of sealant in each tyre helps, particularly with big-volume tyres.

(Rumour has it that the demo tyre on Stan's website actually had a pint of sealant in . . :? )

Also, btw, the sealant apparently deteriorates with age so it needs replacing or topping up once or twice a year.

diy

I get punctures every other ride on avg, then I go 3-4 months without a puncture and then they get regular again.

I have massively reduced my punctures by being very thorough in checking the tyre for thorns/flints after. It quit common even though i only have one hole, to find other object protruding which I picked up at the same time.