Mountain Biking - Tubeless questions

I just got a new MTB (Bianchi Grizzly) with tubeless tires. I apparently have a faulty valve (slow leak, pretty sure it is the valve if I keep the schrader adapter on it it doesn't leak) my LBS told me when I asked about flats that all I needed to do was put in a tube. When I went to do that yesterday the tire seemed to be glued to the rim (makes sense) being paranoid and the way my luck can go I opted not to remove the tire. Cab\n anyone one give me some pointers on the care and feeding of tubeless tires (I tried a search on the forum but didn't find anything

First of all what rims do you have? I think the bead of the tire might just be tightly stuck on the rim, how hard did you try pushing it out? The easiest thing would be to get a new valve, are you sure air is leaking through the tip of the valve? I had problems with air leaking around the seal inside of the rim, I fixed it by putting some grease around it and re-seating it.

the rims are Mavic Cross Roc's. This all happened in trying to do Easter with the family yesterday so I when I tried to pull the tire off I didn't try to hard I will try it tonight and put a little more leverage in it. The stem seems to be leaking out of the top and it doesn't leak when I have a schrader adapter on it so I do think it is the problem. The LBS did show me how the stem is installed so I will check the whole thing before I chose to replace it but I do need to pick up a couple to have on hand anyway. My other question is there anything special that needs to be done if I put a tube in the tire? I am taking it over to the desert this weekend don't want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere if I get a flat. Thanks for the help!

All you have to do to put in a tube is remove the stem from the rim. Make sure the tube you get has a Presta valve or it won't fit through the hole.

If these are UST which is pretty much the standard for tubless then the tires are not glued on. There is a lip where they kinda hook into the rim.

Get some Slime for those tires too then you should be good to go for small punctures. Nothing special is required for putting a tube into a tubless tire. You'll have to remove the stem of course but other than that it's the same.

Don't use slime.. that stuff sucks. Go with Stan's tubeless latex fluid... that's what I'm using. It's light and seals punctures up to 1/4 inch.

www.notubes.com is where I bought mine from.



You do know that tubeless tires LEAK air don't you? They're notorious for that. Before I started using the latex fluid I'd have to air up every time before a ride. Now that I use the fluid I think it has sealed better and I rarely have to add any air. Tubeless tires are also designed to fit tightly to the rim.. it seems to make putting a tube in it alot harder than they'd like you to believe, and it doesn't seem to seat properly when you use one.

Do NOT use a tube! Do NOT use a tube! You've got tubeless...it's lighter, faster rolling, resists pinch flats (and ANY flats with the right tire choice)...

Do NOT use slime!

Stan's is the best.

I've been running Mavic UST Tubeless on my Giant NRS-1 for three years now - it is the absolute best system PERIOD!

But - as you indicated - there are some "care and feeding" tips that should adhered to.

First is tire choice
I've gone through sets of the following (with comments).

1 - Hutchinson Pythons...by far the best (I think I went through 3 sets). Leak very little, FAST rollers, amazing grip for the type of tread. Strong sidewalls. I ride tough technical terrain and never tore a sidewall.

2 - Michelin Wildgripper UST - SUCK! Tread sucks. Sidewalls are weak. I ripped through the frong sidewall on the first ride and ended up riding them with tubes until I wore the tread out. Too skinny (1.9's)

3 - Panaracer Fire XC UST - Great tread. Weak sidewall. Ripped through the sidewall on about the 5th ride!

4 - Kenda Kharisma UST - Good tread. Good sidewalls. Nothing spectacular though.

The tire is "sealed" to the rim. The bead locking process is kind of shocking when you first start using it. Indeed, it almost feels glued to the rim. It takes a bit of finger muscling to break it free. Once you break it free, just work it around the rim.

I was coming down Porcupine rim in Moab once...veered a little off the trail and ran RIGHT over a cactus. I had a whole mess of those fine little spines poking out of the tire. I was like "dang! I guess I'll have to break out the tube". The tire did not go down - so I decided to keep riding until it went down.

I rode that same tire until I wore out the TREAD...at least another 400 miles. And I NEVER had to do anything with it...no patches, nothing.

They do leak SLOWLY...if you lose more than a few pounds a week, then you should take them off and remount them using the following process:

Tubeless tires rely on a good...no a GREAT bead seal...

1 - Take the tire off.

2 - CLEAN the rim and dry it.

3 - Using a clean rag and denatured alcohol (available at the pharmacy)...CLEAN the daylights out of the rim, focusing intently on the bead seal surface.

4 - Using the same rag...clean the daylights out of the bead on the tire itself.

** You want CLEAN metal and CLEAN rubber to mate and create that seal!

5 - Load up a water spray bottle with water and about a tablespoon of dish soap (you want a SLIGHTLY slick soapy feel to the spray).

6 - Take the nipple assembly out and clean it the same way.

7 - Put the nipple back in place, make sure that any rubber sealing rings or whatever are not dirty too. I put a bit of silicon sealant on it too.

8 - Put the tire on the rim and get both sides of the bead down in the center channel.

9 - This part works best with a compressor OR a CO2 cartridge inflator.

10 - Spray BOTH sides of the tire bead and the rim surface with the water/soap mixture.

11 - As quickly as possible, inflate the tire to 60lbs of pressure. This part is crazy...as the bead snaps into place in the rim surface - it sounds like it's exploding. BANG! BANG!. Rotate the tire as you bounce it on the ground and look for bubbles around the rim (leaks)...more bead surface may pop into place.

12 - Let the tire sit for about an hour and drop the pressure to your desired riding pressure.

Once you've done this process a few times, it becomes instinct and doesn't take much more time than mounting a regular tire. If you check your pressure once a week...keep the pressure reasonable - you'll ride through the entire tread without a single flat.

AND THAT'S WORTH EVERY MINUTE YOU PUT INTO mounting them.

I still always carried a superlight tube just in case...but NEVER needed them with the Hutchinson Pythons.

Funny that you had problems with the Michelin tire. I've found these to be the best tires I've ever run.. period. I run an XLS in the rear, and a Front S in the front of course. Hooks up practically ANYWHERE. You were probably running the Comp S... I've heard good things about that as well, but I found that to not be knobby enough for my taste. I've had awesome luck with Michelin. The Hutchinsons are nice for hardpack, but not really knobby enough for the type of terrain I ride.

Can you use a tube and a non-tubeless tire on a tubeless rim, say something like a Mavic CrossRoc UST? Just wondering how hard or easy that works for taking on and off tires and how well they work on the rim.

Certainly - it works fine.

Using a Stan's kit - you can virtually use ANY tire on ANY rim WITHOUT a tube. Tubeless tires on standard rims tend to work better because of the bead on the tire...but I've seen non-tubeless tires on standard rims work really well WITHOUT tubes.

See the site - his vids speak for themselves and they're not just hype. LOTS of XC and even DH racers are starting to use them because they are so resistant to flatting (pinch flats OR puncture flats).