Mountain Biking - ust tubeless without sealant......

well i made the leap today....
took advantage of my ust crossmax wheelset and bought some ust nevegals.
so i'm running ust tires with ust wheels now.
the main reason i never wanted to go tubeless was because of the messy sealant and the maintenance.
you have to maintain sealant level in your tires, involving unseating the tire every 90days or so and adding more sealant.
you cut a sidewall or have a puncture too big to seal, the sealant sprays all over you and your bike.
you then have to deal with cleaning out all the messy stuff before putting your spare tube in.

so anyway, i did NOT use any stans or other sealant in my ust setup.
my thinking is if i do get a flat, i would have gotten a flat if i was running a tube, as well.
so if i do get a flat i'll just bust out a spare tube and put it in.

anyone else using this setup?
been happy with the results.....?

Not sure, but assuming you do have the sealant and get a flat too big for it to work - do you replace the tire? Can you patch tubeless?

you can patch it with superglue.

Oh. Alright.

I Have ran that setup, mavic crossmax sl's / hutch ust pythons sl/ no sealant but only till I had my first flat. The biggest advantage of tubeless is the ability to use sealant. (At lest in my world). You pick up a thorn, pull it out and spin the tire, pssttah....... Ready to ride? I am! I love it.

yeah...i figured if i was gonna do it, i should just jump in with both feet.
i added stans before my first ride.

ps-
the nevegals really hook up.
but i didn't really notice any other difference in running 35psi over 40psi

Not sure where your at or how heavy you are. I have, on some slippery rock gardens ( rocks covered with moss and algae, lowered my pressures to 14 rear and 12 front just to get traction) granted this was slow rock crawling action and not my normal xc riding, but I couldn't have ever done that with tubes. Not sure that 40 to 35 is gonna open up the world of possibilities to you.

I Have ran that setup, mavic crossmax sl's / hutch ust pythons sl/ no sealant but only till I had my first flat. The biggest advantage of tubeless is the ability to use sealant. (At lest in my world). You pick up a thorn, pull it out and spin the tire, pssttah....... Ready to ride? I am! I love it.

Hmmmm.....you can do exactly what you describe with a sealant filled tube.

Do they have sealant filled presta tubes?

Because it's a trick trying to fill it yourself.

Hmmmm.....you can do exactly what you describe with a sealant filled tube.

I never tried the tubes, one of the advantages of a tubeless setup is reduced rolling resistance because there is no friction between the tube and tire. Another advantage is a slightly more pliable tire since the extra ply created by the tube is gone. JMO

If you have to take your tire off and install a new tube every time you get a flat anyway, what's the point of running tubeless? Just for slightly better weight? I thought the whole point of the tubeless setup was the use of the sealant and awesome puncture protection...

I tried Bontrager juice sealant because my Trek EX8 came with tubeless ready wheels/tires. Then it wasn't until my LBS found a nasty thorn in one that I figured it would just have been a matter of time until it would have failed anyway. My point is that sometimes you will not even know when you would have gone flat and find out another day that you needed to replace or patch the tubless tire. I will have to say though it is very nice not to have to change a tube in the woods and get eaten my mosquitos, I was able to ride out my last time to change a tube but if you were in deep, you're toast :eek:

I tried Bontrager juice sealant because my Trek EX8 came with tubeless ready wheels/tires. Then it wasn't until my LBS found a nasty thorn in one that I figured it would just have been a matter of time until it would have failed anyway. My point is that sometimes you will not even know when you would have gone flat and find out another day that you needed to replace or patch the tubless tire. I will have to say though it is very nice not to have to change a tube in the woods and get eaten my mosquitos, I was able to ride out my last time to change a tube but if you were in deep, you're toast :eek:

Again, people, have you ever heard of sealant tubes ? They do the exact same things. You don't have to replace them and get eaten by mosquitoes.

I guess you are having pretty good luck with slime tubes? I've not seen a lot of positive feed back on the forum here for them.

http://www.specialized.com/us/en/bc/SBCEqProduct.jsp?spid=26661


i used these exclusively before tubeless + stans

I guess you are having pretty good luck with slime tubes? I've not seen a lot of positive feed back on the forum here for them.

Yeah, I am. It's like you described. Run Slime tube. Get thorn stuck in. Remove thorn. Spin wheel to redistribute sealant. Puncture sealed. Happy riding.

I make my own sealant. I work in the waterproofing industry so we have latex(high solids) and acrylics in 5gal pales just sitting around. I've never had a flat since moving to tubeless. I've pulled out small sticks and thorns but never flatted. I've even stabbed a tire 50 times with a ice pick and shot it with a pellet gun(sidewall), seals right up.

That being said, one day I will meet my match and either get a slash or pinch a hole to big to close. So this is what I carry in my SB now, a plug kit for tubeless mtn bikes that is small and about a quarter the weight of a tube. I also carry two large radial tire(for cars) patches with superglue for a boot if needed.
https://secure.slime.com/images/uploads/2007092615410751384_sml.jpgSlime tubes are for the birds. They weight like 80 pounds