Bicycle Mechanics - Road Tubeless - tire will not inflate

I'm new to road tubeless, but I just got a set of DT Swiss RR1450's and Specialized Turbo tubeless tires. I've seen how-to videos for road tubeless installation, but despite my use of sealant, soapy water, and air compressors, I can't get 1 psi in. It's just been a very frustrating bubble machine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

where is the air rushing out? are you using a compressor that has an air tank?

Bubbles indicate that air is leaking around the entire bead of the tire. My compressor is running 100psi with a good-sized tank. I think the bead may be sitting too far down in the rim for the tire to expand.

makesure you seat it, pump air. Sort of like a clincher but needs better seal. you do not need special tools like compressor, straps. also some hutchinson have microsopic holes and can't be used.

Are the rims sealed at the spoke holes?

Put a tube in it, inflate to 120lbs, and let it sit for a week. Check and make sure it holds pressure. That will seat and form the new tire; after a week, you should be able to mount and inflate it.

The wheelset is tubeless ready, no spoke holes. I'll try leaving them inflated for a week. Thanks for all the suggestions

Or start by seating it with a tube, then unseat just one bead, remove the tube, soap it up and see if it'll seat now that just one bead needs seating.

does your bike shop know? or maybe videos?

I'm actually the chief mechanic at my LBS, but we don't have a market for tubeless, road or mtb. And videos haven't helped me. They never seem to experience or address my problem.

do bubbles mean leaking not from tire? Can you inflate some air & it leaks, like a flat tube? If so work on
re-seating& re-inflating several times. recently I bent rim so I couldn't re-seat it.

One other suggestion: if possible, remove the valve core from the valve for seating. This allows higher airflow rates. Once it's seated, reinstall the valve core and inflate.

Here's the simplest solution: Take an inner tube, put it inside the tire, inflate the tube, then go ride, and leave the tube in for good.

Sorry, but tubeless is just not worth the hassle.

Sorry, but tubeless is just not worth the hassle.

By that logic, sew-ups aren't worth the hassle either.

From what I've gathered, tubeless are halfway to sew-ups' advantages, minus a lot more than half the hassle.

By that logic, sew-ups aren't worth the hassle either.

From what I've gathered, tubeless are halfway to sew-ups' advantages, minus a lot more than half the hassle.

Had a customer come in yesterday, very frustrated because had third flat this week on her "sew-ups". Said "this is expensive at $65 a pop". I applauded her pun, then showed her where the glass that she was picking up was working through and deflating her tires. Perhaps using clinchers for training will give her pocket book a break? Oh, and she didn't have near enough glue on the wheels/tires so was courting disaster. We did suggest saving these for the competitive rides only.

Let's face it, the advantages of sew-ups and tubless are nice, but for every-day riding it's hard to dispute the niceness of clinchers and tubes...

Sorry, but tubeless is just not worth the hassle.

Written by someone who's obviously never used Road Tubeless, and/or just doesn't understand it.

Is the tire seated properly around the valve stem? When I installed my first tire, the tire was on top of the foam on the inside of the valve stem, so it wasn't making a good seal. It did spray sealant all over my garage, though. Once I figured that out, it worked much better.

I have been using tubeless tires recently (1000 klm). The combination that I have been using is WH-7900-C24 (Shimano Dura-Ace wheel set) with Hutchinson fusion 3 tubeless tires.
In my opinion it was a successful move from clinchers; smoother ride and so far no flats. The only disadvantage I see is that there is a slight loss of pressure, about 5 psi per day, no big deal, and some hassle with installing them.
However, I was able to inflate the tire with a regular floor pump. I used soap bubbles to determine the leaking areas. Then I made sure the bead of the tire was seated properly on the inner surface of the rim were the leaks were observed; by trial and error. This took about two tries. After that I deflated the tire and added Stan's sealant and re-inflated the tire, treating any leaks similiarily as above. Don't use a CO2 inflator with the sealant because the CO2 turns the sealant into a gummy substance.
Overall, I didn't have that much trouble installing the tubeless tires on the rim, but my experience is only for the above specific combination of rims/tires.
In my opinion if you are going to buy new rims/wheels go tubeless. I do a lot of brevets, and repairing flats at night, in the cold, and sometimes with rain is totally miserable. Not that you can't get flats with tubeless, but it reduces the chances considerably.

YannisG

By that logic, sew-ups aren't worth the hassle either.


Correct.