tedder987

I made an impulse but of a Mavic Ksyrium elite allroad rear wheel on Amazon which arrived today. It is tubeless and this is my first experience with a tubeless tire/wheel. I moved the disc and the cassette across with no problems, and was pleasantly surprised that the included tire (Mavic Yksilon allroad tubeless) already had its tubless bead set. I inflated it and it holds air fine, but it has no sealant in it (yet) and that is the problem.

It seems like the presta core does not come out of the installed (black) valve. Mavic provided a spare valve (silver) and core removal tool. With the tool I can easily pull the core on the loose valve, but the tool will not even fit over the relevant part of the installed valve. The installed valve looks like it might not be removable.

Could it be that the installed valve does not have a removable core? If so, is there some way to get the sealant into the tire without breaking the bead? I have a compressor but I don't have a presta attachment to re-inflate it with so I only have access to a floor pump. My LBS is closed until Tuesday.

So is it possible its a presta with a non-removable core or am I just an idiot? Okay a bigger idiot than I admit to...

DrIsotope

It is indeed a non-removable core valve. Shimano likes to include those with their wheels as well. Without breaking the bead, it's gonna be tough to get sealant in there-- and if you break the bead, you might as well just change the valves.

tedder987

so, without a compressor should I bother breaking the bead and adding the sealant? Or should I ride "commando" until I can either get a presta adapter for my compressor or get the LBS to do it for me? Or should I give it a try...

DrIsotope

Do you have a blow gun for the compressor? If yes, break the beads, replace the valves, and seat the tire by using the blow gun aimed directly into the valve with the core removed. That's how I do it. A rubber tip on the blow gun isn't 100% necessary, but it helps.

tedder987

Well, I have to go check the garage, I can't recall and I haven't looked for this stuff since we moved. As a followup, my (cheap chinese) compressor lets a noticeable amount of oil into the air it compresses. Will this be a problem for the sealant?

DrIsotope

I don't know if it will hurt, but it certainly won't help. A vapor trap is in order?

ingo

Sealant is unnecessary. Since I get very few punctures (2 in the last 6 years and 15,000 km) I don't use sealant in my tubeless tires. Also, a good tire with soapy water all the way around the rim will seal using a hand pump, did it that way for a couple of years before getting a small compressor.

DrIsotope

Many tires state on the sidewall TUBELESS SEALANT REQUIRED, because they don't have an extra butyl layer to make them airtight-- presumably to save weight. And while I don't know from whence the OP hails, if I ran my tubeless tires without sealant, I would get a flat every day-- it's the #1 reason I don't run tubes. I've had over a dozen flat tires this year alone, and I run tubeless nearly all the time.

The tires that don't require sealant, which I've mounted on proper UST rims, absolutely required a compressor, and nearly hydraulic hands to get them onto the wheel. Every rim/tire combo is different (unless you have one of those brand-new-fangled Mavic combos) but having a compressor makes the job a whole lot easier.

tedder987

Well Doc, thanks for the help. In the end it seems that this was all a big wild-goose chase. I found my tire inflator attachment for the compressor, scavenged a schraeder-presta adapter and then went ahead and broke the bead to replace the valve with the other one, only to find...

Mavic ships its wheels with a tube installed.

So its back together and the improved ride I felt was alldue to high volume, low pressure tires and not because it was tubeless.

Wheel is now back on the bike and it'll get its first real use (outside a little 14 mile test ride yesterday) with a couple of commutes this week and the OCW Amtrak century next Saturday.

Thanks again (ps I think you also advised me on other threads a few months ago)