Tubeless Thoughts for CX

[giverdada]

This is what happened:

'Can you see about inflating my tires? The valves are too short [for the Park floor pump to gain purchase]'

'No prob. [Because I love you and will do anything for you and I know that tire inflation is not beyond my technical abilities.]'

*fetches Lezyne mini travel pump with screw-on valve head, pumps up front tire to 50 PSI.*

*satisfied with front tire, moves to rear, puts valve at 6 o'clock position so as not to get sealant coming through the valve, grasps the plastic valve cap and begins to unscrew it.*

BLAM!

'F!'

'What???'

POP! BAM!

'F!'

'What's happening?'

*holding the plastic valve cap, looks under to see the valve core still firmly screwed to it, and complete UNSCREWED from the valve on the wheel. sealant splattered all over the floor and some on the baseboard. the tire is completely deflated. so is his spirit.*

SO, that's the story. I made a move to unscrew the plastic valve cover on the rear presta valve of my lady friend's tubeless set-up, and the whole valve core came out instead. sealant spewed a bit, but not all of it. tire deflated and came unseated from the bead. Ugh.

Wheel: King disc hub, laced by CX-Rays to Hed Belgium Rim with tubeless tape and a Schwalbe G One all-round CX tire. Formerly professionally installed tubeless set-up.

NOW, I added some more sealant through the valve. I stole a valve core from a CX tubular I had and installed it, hard, with a valve core tool, into the valve. (The old one seems to have stripped with the force of explosion and no longer screws into the valve.) I laid the wheel on the cassette side on the floor so that the tire had no pressure on it. I inflated it with a CO2 cartridge for max-speed inflation. The tire made loud popping noises about 3 times as it seated. I unscrewed the CO2 assembly, picked up the tire, and started rotating it and undulating it to get sealant all over the inside of it. It is in the truing stand now, still holding lots of air, and I rotate it a bunch every half an hour.

Is it fixed?
How do I know?
Will it lose pressure drastically now?
Did I just do my first tubeless install correctly-ish?
Will my lady still be my lady after her race with our firstborn tomorrow in the mud and rain?

[zank]

It sounds like whoever did the sealant just didn't tighten the core enough after injecting the sealant.

I would get some valve exetnders for removable valve cores so she can use her floor pump.

[Gummee]

It sounds like whoever did the sealant just didn't tighten the core enough after injecting the sealant.

I would get some valve exetnders for removable valve cores so she can use her floor pump.

I have a few pairs of wheels where the valves unscrew before the top nut does. Frustrating

M

[bigbill]

It sounds like whoever did the sealant just didn't tighten the core enough after injecting the sealant.

I would get some valve exetnders for removable valve cores so she can use her floor pump.

I did this to myself and what ended up happening was a flow of sealant to the valve core that clogged it. Now I'm extra careful to tighten it up and on my longer gravel events, I carry a tubeless "tackle kit" that has spare cores along with some plugs and the bottom is a tool for installing/removing cores.

[Cat3roadracer]

Belgium or Belgium +?

[Jad]

Sounds like you have this squared away--as an aside, are you guys racing 'cross in April?

[giverdada]

Thanks for the replies, folks.

Seems I got it squared away. Not a cross race, per se, but a long mixed-terrain course that has become a family tradition of sorts.

Paris to Ancaster, here in Ontario. Wicked race, great organization, and although its popularity has stripped away a lot of what I took for granted as pure, unadulterated awesomeness from my first year (free showers, good parking options, ridiculous amounts of mud), it remains a favourite. This year I was doing the DS/support crew thing, and it worked out well but I definitely missed doing the actual riding of it too.

My lady rode the 46k course with our 13-year-old daughter and they both had a solid good time. My lady's rear wheel, of the aforementioned tubeless debacle, held up without issue. She also noted really being pleasantly surprised by the grip offered by the Schwalbe G Ones. Very cool. I thought they were far under-treaded for such a muddy and sloppy-grassy course, but she said they were surprisingly grippy. And the sealant stuck and the tire held and there were no issues from yesterday so ALL GOOD. I'll be sure to freshen up a tackle kit for her, and also install a valve extender at the next opportunity. Rock on!