Is sealant really worth it?

[juanj]

Originally Posted by weisan

Personally I don't know whether sealant is worth it or not but here's my dirty little secret....I injected sealant only when I first installed those gravel tires, it's been almost 4 years now and I never once top up or check sealant level. I carry a spare tube with me on rides and I keep thinking one day I will flat and I would probably need to use the spare which I am totally cool with that but it hasn't happen yet.

On the bright side, if you do get a flat, there won't be any sealant to splatter on your butt.

[weisan]

Originally Posted by juanj

On the bright side, if you do get a flat, there won't be any sealant to splatter on your butt.

I was hoping you would say, "no worries, weisan pal, I will carry you home."

[juanj]

Originally Posted by weisan

I was hoping you would say, "no worries, weisan pal, I will carry you home."

I would certainly wait for you to put in a fresh tube--not that I could do it myself, given my total unwillingness/inability to perform such a task!

But seriously, it's dead easy to add sealant every once in a while:
1. release air pressure
2. remove valve core
3. use the coffee stirrer thingy to clear out dry sealant
4. add 2-4 oz. of sealant
5. reinstall valve core
6. pump up your tires

Only takes a couple of minutes and might save you a lot more if you had to change a flat.

[RoosterCogset]

Why use any air? Just fill the tire with sealant. That way it can't dry out.

[bigbill]

One other consideration. Folks talk about carrying a tube in case their tubeless tire didn't seal or work with a plug. I have 28-38mm tubes in the bag on my gravel bike, and have almost zero faith they'd get me home. The inside of my gravel tires are a minefield of stuff that would have given me a flat with a tube. The tubes are a mental placebo, in reality, they'd flat before I ever reached 20#. But maybe I'd get lucky enough to find all the thorns, wires, and glass, and remove them from the tire before installing a tube. But it only takes one missed thorn to mess it all up. I am a believer in high quality tires and frequent inspections.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by weisan

I was hoping you would say, "no worries, weisan pal, I will carry you home."

maybe he will clean off your butt, though

[lorenbike]

Sealant yes on mountain bike tires and I’ll never go back.

But I’ve had similar experiences with road and gravel tubeless, so I stick with tubes.

FWIW I did a few pretty rough gravel races in eastern OR and WA a few years back with tubes and not a single flat. When I lived in the SW, I tried tubeless gravel tires but often couldn’t get the tire plugged fast enough to prevent the bead from unseating and got sealant everywhere, which is of course fun when you inevitably have to put a tube in to get home…

[weisan]

Originally Posted by juanj

I would certainly wait for you to put in a fresh tube--not that I could do it myself, given my total unwillingness/inability to perform such a task!

But seriously, it's dead easy to add sealant every once in a while:
1. release air pressure
2. remove valve core
3. use the coffee stirrer thingy to clear out dry sealant
4. add 2-4 oz. of sealant
5. reinstall valve core
6. pump up your tires

Only takes a couple of minutes and might save you a lot more if you had to change a flat.

Originally Posted by .RJ

maybe he will clean off your butt, though

thanks pals. really I was just tongue in cheek, and amused by the fact that I was using tubeless on four bikes with fat tires and not following the operator's manual yet survived so far without so much as adding another drop of sealant since day one or forced to put a tube in....I am waiting for my luck to run out.

[bikinchris]

One more time.
I've been wrenching for over 40 years now. I have zero problem with replacing tubes and fixing flats on the side of the road.
Tubeless is a godsend for mountain bikers. They have serious problems with thorns and pinch flats. Tubeless allows them to run lower pressures and gain traction without worrying about pinch flats or thorns. It solves a problem and has low downsides. Harvesting dried sealant and adding more is the main downside.

Tubeless for road riding is much less of a godsend. The higher pressures to start with often don't allow the punctures to seal and it spews sealant everywhere. It's much harder to set up road tubeless even without the foam. It's great if the team mechanic is the one setting up and maintaining tubeless.
The upside is slightly lower rolling resistance, so racers like it. The downside for people who fix their own flats is a huge mess if it doesn't work out well setting up and more often when you get a puncture.

Gravel is more of a mixture. It might be worth it.

But if you're like most people, you don't get flats often enough to warrant tubeless.

For someone like me who has fixed tens of thousands of flats for bikes of every description and doesn't need tire tools unless it's tubeless, I have absolutely zero interest in tubeless. I get enough of it at the shops I've worked at.

[giordana93]

to each his own, but the idea that one needs a team mechanic to set up road tubeless is hooey. 4-5 years ago, there were some nightmare combos but for the most part things are much better these days and if you have a modicum of mechanical ability, tubeless is easy, and in my book, totally worth it. I only flatted once or twice a year on tubes and it's down to zero on tubeless. Frame got sprayed a couple times; it wiped off, quickly if spotted soon enough. Most of our group are on tubeless and I can't recall anyone getting really hosed ever.

I appreciate tubeless on those damp days when it's almost guaranteed someone is going to pick up a tiny rock shard and flat (and possibly miss it when they put the tube in). Again, zero flats last 5 years, except the time I took out the old Giordana--before it too got tubeless wheel set--in conditions like that and flatted a tube.

For the record, I have been wrenching for over 40 years, though only the last 10 professionally, at a shop with a younger owner/rider with decades of experience. We both ride tubeless on the road. Slightly wider rims with 28s around 70 psi combine fantastic ride quality, resistance to flatting, and speed (marginal gains, right?). They float over chunky pavement where the need to jack up tire pressure to prevent a pinch flat would have me bouncing all over the road. I pump them up to 70-75 then let them drop to about 50, and they ride great.

[Louis]

I'm late to this thread and haven't read every single one of the posts, but at the risk of being accused of being a Luddite, I'll say this:

1) If you want to use tubeless tires have at it - that's totally up to you.

2) If you don't know how to properly change a bike tube out on the road (front or back wheel) you really shouldn't be riding (with a group or alone). I don't use tubeless tires so I know little about sealant, but if I did I'd still carry both a spare tube and tire boots, no matter where I was riding.

[juanj]

Originally Posted by Louis

. . . . If you don't know how to properly change a bike tube out on the road (front or back wheel) you really shouldn't be riding (with a group or alone). . . .

Well, um, obviously!

[Louis]

Originally Posted by juanj

Well, um, obviously!

Not necessarily - this is what prompted my comment (the OP's op)

Originally Posted by MikeD

I'm thinking to go back to tubes as I don't think I get that many flats and I know how to fix a flat and I figure just deal with it when it happens. I'm thinking that there's a lot of people, for whatever reason (lack of skill, hand strength, tight tires, etc.), that try to avoid fixing flats at all costs.

[juanj]

Originally Posted by Louis

Not necessarily - this is what prompted my comment (the OP's op)

I said "obviously" because this is a bike forum and I think your statement would get 100% agreement. I don't know what the OP was getting at when he said, "I'm thinking that there's a lot of people, for whatever reason (lack of skill, hand strength, tight tires, etc.), that try to avoid fixing flats at all costs." I don't know who these "lot of people" are, but I don't think they are on this forum.

[Louis]

Originally Posted by juanj

I said "obviously" because this is a bike forum and I think your statement would get 100% agreement. I don't know what the OP was getting at when he said, "I'm thinking that there's a lot of people, for whatever reason (lack of skill, hand strength, tight tires, etc.), that try to avoid fixing flats at all costs." I don't know who these "lot of people" are, but I don't think they are on this forum.

It's actually a topic that also comes up on car forums. I bought a new car last fall and it did not come with a spare tire, just an inflator with "air only" and "air plus sealant" modes. Early one morning (around 2 AM) I was leaving work and hit a deep pothole. Because the car has low profile tires I bottomed out the rim and immediately started to lose air at a high rate. I tried the sealant, but all it did is pour out of the large cuts. I was SOL, and didn't get home until about 2 hours later. (tow truck driver gave me a ride home from the dealership where we dropped off the car) Then the next day I still had to get a ride to the dealership so I could get the loaner car from them. Rented a car from Enterprise ("We come to pick you up!") for about 30 minutes to do that.

All that to say that more and more drivers these days don't know know to change tires, and even if they do, it might not help. Some folks on the car forums say "help is only a cell phone call away." Perhaps, but at 2 AM not a lot of people are awake to answer their cell phone. I would much prefer to have a car with a spare, and will be getting one (and a jack, and everything else I'll need).