Finish Line tubeless sealant now shipping

[Neil]

I commuted on Sprinters Gatorskins through central London for a couple of years- Bontrager TLR sealant in the tubs. Every now and again I would see a little white star of latex on the tyre as it sealed another puncture.

Some areas of London (for e.g. SoHo with all its bars) have a lot of broken glass, and I rode through it twice daily, never worried about it.

[YoKev]

Another mediocre "Tubeless Compatible" experience.

I'm using 650x43 Rock N Roads...experience is the same as the OP except the bead is not defective.

48 hours in and the rear seems to be OK now, the front is a struggle.

[Spaceman Spiff]

This thread has been helpful!

I've had the worst luck with Schwalbe Pro Ones. I've been using the 700x25c version tubeless (Stan's sealant) at about 85 psi on my rear wheel (Stan's Alpha rim) for the last 2-3 years. They just seem to be so fragile, I've gone through 4 already. Typically, they'll puncture, start spraying tubeless sealant, which won't seal until I'm down to about 60 psi. In nearly every case, at home I've had to take off the tire and glue a patch over the hole before it'll hold over 60 psi again.

For comparison, I'm still using the old Schwalbe One (*not* Pro) on my front wheel (tubeless at about 70 psi) that I got 2 or 3 years ago. It probably has ~5000 miles on it.

Schwalbe still makes the One (*not* Pro) but I don't think it's tubeless ready anymore.

I'm thinking about trying Orange Seal next, as it seems to me that the sealant isn't doing its job. Many of the punctures that don't seal are ~1/8", holes small enough that the Stan's should seal them.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by Spaceman Spiff

This thread has been helpful!

I've had the worst luck with Schwalbe Pro Ones. I've been using the 700x25c version tubeless (Stan's sealant) at about 85 psi on my rear wheel (Stan's Alpha rim) for the last 2-3 years. They just seem to be so fragile, I've gone through 4 already. Typically, they'll puncture, start spraying tubeless sealant, which won't seal until I'm down to about 60 psi. In nearly every case, at home I've had to take off the tire and glue a patch over the hole before it'll hold over 60 psi again.

For comparison, I'm still using the old Schwalbe One (*not* Pro) on my front wheel (tubeless at about 70 psi) that I got 2 or 3 years ago. It probably has ~5000 miles on it.

Schwalbe still makes the One (*not* Pro) but I don't think it's tubeless ready anymore.

I'm thinking about trying Orange Seal next, as it seems to me that the sealant isn't doing its job. Many of the punctures that don't seal are ~1/8", holes small enough that the Stan's should seal them.

Orange Seal in my experience seems to plug up larger holes better than Stans, however, the Stans seems to last longer than OS.

[ColonelJLloyd]

What does Orange Seal or Orange Seal Endurance not offer that people are looking for? Before I tried tubeless for the first time I did some reading and it seemed evident to me that users had much, much less trouble with Orange Seal than other options so I started there. It's worked just like a tubeless sealant is intended to for me every time. Probably setup a dozen wheels with it now.

[ptourkin]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

What does Orange Seal or Orange Seal Endurance not offer that people are looking for? Before I tried tubeless for the first time I did some reading and it seemed evident to me that users had much, much less trouble with Orange Seal than other options so I started there. It's worked just like a tubeless sealant is intended to for me every time. Probably setup a dozen wheels with it now.

I wonder too. The Orange Seal Endurance is getting raves in the bikepacking world. The next tires I start from scratch will go that route.

I just did a long one through some gnarly desert with cactus etc.. everywhere on some Chunks that were already set up with Stan's that I refreshed with same and it was fine too.

[YoKev]

It has now been about three days. I got home, put air back in the tires, and it was just more of the same.

I deflated totally, and there was probably only about 1oz of Finish Line in each tire, the other 3oz had seeped out over the past few days.

The good news is that the cleanup was easy. A quick hose off of the rim and tire, and it was like the experiment never happened.

I remounted with Orange Seal and everything is fine.

So, the takeaway here is don't use this stuff in "Tubeless Compatible" tires unless you want to waste money. It just won't work.

[packetuser]

Has anyone tried the Finish Line product with tubes?

That's my main use case - I have a pair of Compass 32mm tires (non tubeless compatible) that I've been riding with Stans, and now Orange Seal. Only one of the four punctures I've had recently was sealed by the Orange Seal - the rest (all < 5mm glass or staples) just end with a spatter of sealant on the road. Tried spinning and adding air, with very little luck.

[dem]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

What does Orange Seal or Orange Seal Endurance not offer that people are looking for?

Specifically high PSI sealing of punctures and longer sealant life.

I have used Stans, Orange, Orange Endurance in 95+ PSI 700x23 tires.. and they will not seal reliably. At worst, they turn into aerosol sprayers and nearly killed me.

No issues in 60 psi 700x32 or larger - absolutely perfect in those use cases.

[dem]

Well, I'm ready to call it a bust.

This weekend I took the paper-corsas out for a 80 miler, and unfortunately encountered a lot of wet conditions.. some where under the trees I musta ran right over a freshly smashed bottle, so I got a real good test!

Caveat: Because the weeping sidewalls never closed up, I was probably low on sealant.

Regardless, I heard the tell-tale "spurt spurt spurt" noise.. pulled over.. pointed the tire down, and all my goo was spurting out onto the road. I quickly pulled out my Dynaplug and stuck a plug into the largest hole and zapped it with CO2 (a plus of the Finishline - you can't use CO2 with the Latex sealants) - after hitting it with the CO2 I noticed a half dozen areas that bubbled a bit and then seemed to stop - so it was sealing up smaller holes.

When I got home, I added 2 more ounces. Unfortunately over several days, similar to the sidewall leaks, the holes never stopped weeping. Unlike the latex sealants, when they DO work.. you pretty much can never find the hole again.

3 more rides and 45 miles.. the "tail" of the dynaplug wore off, this time with a full load of sealant. Spurt spurt spurt... big mess all over me and the bike.. it would clog and then unclog while riding. So more sealant didn't seem to matter, I stuck another plug in to get home.. but I guess the tire is toast at this point unless I take it off and patch it. The other holes, and the sidewalls, continue to leak.

Sooooooooo, in conclusion, Finish Line Sealant does not seem to be magic, and road tubeless continues to haunt me.

[Cicli]

Good thread.

I am out on tubeless and this just helps me stay that way.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by Cicli

Good thread.

I am out on tubeless and this just helps me stay that way.

Confirmation bias. This Finish Line sealant stuff seems to produce significantly more disappointing results than other options.

That said, despite a fair amount of tubeless experience, absolutely none of it is with tires narrower than 32mm or PSI higher than 70. Those criteria aren't really on my radar these days with or without tubes.

[dem]

Originally Posted by ColonelJLloyd

Confirmation bias. This Finish Line sealant stuff seems to produce significantly more disappointing results than other options.

That said, despite a fair amount of tubeless experience, absolutely none of it is with tires narrower than 32mm or PSI higher than 70. Those criteria aren't really on my radar these days with or without tubes.

Yup. Tubeless is pure magic in wider tires and lower PSI. Road "high pressure" tubeless just seems to be a bust (at least for me.)

[bigbill]

I've had good luck with 25mm Panaracer Race A Evo 3 tires set up tubeless with Stan's. When I was riding with tubes, I'd get at least one flat a week from pieces of wire from blown trailer tires. I've been flat free for about 6000 miles now. I don't know if road tubeless is the answer everywhere, when I was stationed in San Diego, I went six months without a flat before a thorn got me. I rode about 4000 miles in Sardinia without a flat. But the places that have lots of debris on the sides of the road probably benefit from tubeless. With 25mm, I run 85 rear and 80 front because I'm fat. Gravel bike with Gravel Kings, 45/40.

[sandyrs]

Just coming back to this thread since I was initially excited about this product and it seemed to function well, at least at initially sealing tires. I can pretty much echo what others and this review: http://reviews.mtbr.com/finish-line-sealant-review said. I've gotten a couple punctures and this sealant hasn't sealed a single one of them, even really small ones. Such a disappointment. Back to Orange Seal it is.