shoota 

Have you read this thread yet?

sean.hwy

https://bikerumor.com/review-orange-...take-the-cold/


I have not had much luck shaking the tire to hear the sealant. I remove the core valve and stick something in there like a dip stick checking for oil in car.

Conman_

Oh nice. No I haven’t. Have you..

shoota 

It was a serious question. Yes I have, all your answers are on the first page. Let us know if there are further questions after that.
Personally, I’ve learned that I want plugs more easily accessible, and I want a mini pump on board too.
Also, you don’t need (or want) to trim the bacon strips right away. You can do that at home after the ride.

tempocyclist

In my road tubeless kit I carry a small scalpel to trim the end of the strip down. This is mostly due to tyre-frame clearance issues.

On the gravel bike I reckon it's far less of an issue and wouldn't bother. Just jam the plug in, spin the tyre and ensure it seals, top up air if needed, ride on! 🙂

Koyote

My plug 'tails" always get mashed flat after a few revolutions of the wheel, though I use them almost exclusively with knobbier gravel tires; does it not work the same with with road slicks?

rosefarts

I have had Darts for a few years.

I “successfully” plugged a sidewall cut on my MTB once. It wasn’t a good repair and the tire had to get replaced but the dart plugged it enough to get me home.

More recently, I went through several of them trail side and ended up limping the bike back back. Basically, the tire was thick enough that the dart couldn’t open up inside. Traditional bacon would have been much better.

Once home, I opted for dyna plugs and have completely replaced the darts. That’s two sets so I don’t have to switch back and forth between my MTB and gravel bike repair bags.

A Dart may work on a thinner section of tire, but after that experience, I don’t trust them at all.

For the gravel bike, I carry a single tire lever, one CO2, the dynaplug, and a tube. For longer or more isolated rides, I also bring a small frame pump and hope I never need it. It sucks.

Ive considered a Tubolito or similar but they just seem so flimsy. I figure if I’m putting in a tube, I’m barely making it home anyway, and with whatever damage I have on my tire to necessitate this, might be more than such a thin tube can handle. Maybe I’m paranoid.

Ive had to put a new tube in on a gravel ride twice. This was early in my learning process. Both occasions were from the valve failing to stay sealed. I’ve moved past this by using better quality stems, pushing super hard on the back while screwing as hard as I can, and dabbing some rubber cement around the inside before mounting. When inflating, I squeeze the valve stem before unscrewing the valve, to keep it from twisting and breaking the seal. I have strong hands and no arthritis yet, so I can barehand it, but a cheap mini tool with a plier is probably a good idea.

tempocyclist

It does to an extent.

My time trial rear wheel has pretty tight clearances, plus with the smoother tyre and higher pressure you can sometimes feel the "bump" each rotation.

Koyote

That might make it very difficult to remove the valve when you eventually need to resort to a tube. You'll definitely want a little pliers in your saddlebag.

urbanknight

Very useful info. I hadn't thought about this, and my road bike has maybe 2mm clearance. I figured the road would wear it down eventually, but hadn't thought of the plug hitting the frame every revolution until then.