While out for a ride this morning, my attention drifted from the road until a slight thunk followed by metallic ringing snapped me back to the task at hand. It was on a downhill stretch, and I was moving at near 30mph, so the softening of the tire became apparent in short order. A puncture.

I hoped it would seal, and continued on a bit, but it wasn't getting better, so I pulled over. I inspected the tire, but saw no indication of a puncture or of one being sealed. Puzzled, I found the valve stem a bit loose, so I chalked it up to coincidence (the piece of metal in the road) and pulled out the pump to air it up.

That went fine, until I unscrewed the pump hose...taking the valve core with it! Whoosh! Dead empty, but the S-One's beads stayed locked into the AC Victory30 rims, which they hadn't done before. I guess they "bedded-in" over time. Nice. I put the core back in and pumped it up again.

Having done so, the puncture in the center of the tread hissed, but no sealant came out. I rotated the wheel to make sure I wasn't trippin', but nope, wasn't sealing. So I deflated and pinched the beads loose, preparing to put in an innertube.

Looking inside the tire, there was no liquid sealant. I guess it was back in December when I setup these wheels, so around 8 months ago, too long, apparently for the porous Microskin casing. I'd never experienced such a thing running Ones, but it does make sense, I guess. Note to self: check sealant every 6 months at least.

Tube went in fine, and I rode another 20-some miles before I punctured again! Fortunately, leakdown was slow, and I was able to ride the remaining couple of miles home. Bad luck, there, though I did have a patch kit.

Anyway, I hope my experience is helpful in understanding tubeless tires and how they are different, something which I didn't fully grasp untill now

Happy riding!

I have been told that hot weather will cause your sealant to dry/evaporate/run away... whatever it does and when your tire starts deflating past it's normal resting spot, that's a good clue. I put my tubeless wheels on back in November and my front is starting to do that now, so I guess like you, I need to check the sealant. (I have Hutchinson Secteurs)

I have no idea if I can actually get those things off using my normal tire tools - never had to try!

We have had record heat for the past running 6 months...

Could it be that Schwalbe has sacrificed too much casing impermeability in its quest to make the Pro One competitively light? Based on your recent posts it seems like it to me.

Nothing unusual, just look on any MTB forum about 8-10 years ago when tubeless took off. Sealant doesn't last forever, and it doesn't seal every hole.

I wouldn't say that; it's just the need to learn a new set of protocols. Trading off on-road flat repair for periodic sealant level checks at home works for me, anyway.

It is true I've had more punctures in a half season of running Microskin cased tires-- Pro One and S-One-- than I had in three seasons using "true tubeless" cased Ones combined.

Bad luck or indicative of sacrifices to obtain lower weight? I can't call that.

If you have an Android phone, go to calendar.google.com and set a recurring appointment for this every six months. Your phone will vibrate and chime and you won't have to remember.

I have to scrape boogers and refresh sealant every 6 weeks. Mind you, six weeks for me is about 1,500 miles, so I consider that pretty good for 2oz of sealant.

Bow do you figure mileage into the refresh interval? Is it something like "5ml for every 200 miles"? Is it dependent on temperature or type of sealant? Initial volume?

Do you put 2oz per wheel? That's 3x what I used, but you're eating it up 6 weeks? What kinda nd of tires are you using?

Chaadster, sorry to hear about your crappy ride! Its funny this topic shows up today because just yesterday I swapped out my 23mm Pro One's for some 25's and found that my sealant was almost completely gone which surprised me after about 8 months of use with 30ml of sealant added to each tire when originally mounted. For me, using the original One's and Fusion 3's I'd have sealant still sloshing around after almost a year so yes I'd say that the thinner sidewalls are a contributing factor here but with the performance I'm experiencing with these new Pro One's I'll gladly take the time to top them off every so often.

For those interested in tubeless tires, I just received a set of 25mm Pro One's from Merlin Cycles that were $86.00 for the pair delivered and it took 8 days to get them. Not to bad when you consider *one* of these tires will set you back the same price here in the US. Actual weights were 258g and 259g and they are much taller on the bike than the 23's but have the same 27mm width inflated. Also noticed they changed the size of the font for the lettering, got much smaller.

The curse of the Lenzyne strikes again?

That's just the pump's way of telling you it's time to fill up. Right?

All of my maintenance is based on mileage and not time. Time is meaningless in service terms. Six months could mean 10,000 miles to one guy, could mean 600 to another. So it's coincidental for me that 1,500 miles and 6 weeks line up.

I've used both WTB and Stan's, the perform essentially the same. Always 2oz per tire, in both the Schwalbe Ones (yuck) and in the current Maxxis Re-Fuse TR. The Schwalbes were like sponges-- the tires probably gained 3-4oz before they died, and they died fast. With the Maxxis, it's just the usual dry out from use and heat. I do live in what is basically a desert, and the bike lives in my workshop, so it will sit in 90-100° for 4-5 months of the year.

IMO, when your pump unscrews the valve core,

it's telling you to get a better pump.

It is stupid, essentially counter-productive, and a horribly frustrating thing to have to deal with. I do like the Lezyne Road Drive with Pen Gauge in every other way, though. Still, a pump is supposed to inflate, not deflate, so I should look at the options, I guess.

Nah, it still was a fun ride! In fact, I met a new ride mate out of it; while I was pulled over working on it, one of the two drivers who stopped to offer aid was driving a city recycling truck, the same guy who works my street, and whom I now know is a fellow cyclist! We plan to ride together soon, so that was cool.

But yeah, you caught the point of my post exactly: there seems to be dramatic difference between the sealant "retention" abilities of the Schwalbe One (the original; hereafter, O1) and the new Microskin cased One models (Pro One, S-One).

I did use the minimum recommended 20ml, but may bump to 30ml when I set up new tires next time. I'm guessing having a layer of polymerized sealant laid down now will have some preventative effect against air loss, so on the repair refill here, I'll probably just put 20ml back.

As far as tradeoffs go, I was very happy with One performance, and honestly do not notice a lot of difference between Pro One and O1. I'd be particularly interested in and would consider using an S-One variant based on O1's "true tubeless" construction, since this bike is my all-season runner, and doesn't have the typical seasonal downtime which is the service interval prompt for most of my other bikes, so extended sealant retention would be nice, even at the expense od a bit of added weight. Maybe.

Another tip: Always carry a spare valve. I had one core break while inflating at home with a floor pump. It didn't unscrew. Something inside simply gave out and the tire would not hold any air. Glad I was home at the time.

I think we've been here before, but I have a Lezyne floor pump as well as a mini pump. Tubeless valves on the Domane and removable core stems on the tubes on the Crockett. NEVER had a core come out after using this pump multiple times a week for going one 3+ years now.

That said, I keep meaning to order that new head because screwing it on and off is a PITA, but I just don't see how you people keep managing to pull the valve core out while airing up your tires. I won't say it's a good design, but it's not as problematic as everyone here seems to make it for themselves.

EDIT: and no, I do not use loctite on my valve cores or anything stupid like that. Simply tighten them by hand with the tiny tool and don't tighten the crap out of the pump head when putting it on the stem.

What? I guess I'm just not cool enough, but over 20 mph, my eyes tend to stay on the road.

Looking at the ride data, I was actually in excess of 30mph...so I guess I'm even more cool than I thought!

https://www.strava.com/activities/664228455

Seriously, though, it's a wide open, well surfaced, 2-lane road with only a few driveways and couple of small, low traffic streets, so I felt pretty comfy zipping along chatting with my buddy with whom I hadn't seen in awhile. There were trash bins on the street, so maybe I should have figured the risk of debris was a bit higher...I dunno.

But yeah, there's no taking away from the argument that had I been paying attention, I might have avoided the metal thing and avoided the puncture (presuming the metal was the cause).

It's the first time it has happened to me, and I've been using a Lezyne Road Drive since '12.

I suspect I may have been pulling the hose off the valve as I unscrewed it, and that caused the extra "bite" on the threads which caused the core to unscrew.

I'd agree, anyway, that the design is imperfect, but far from tragic.

So there's a new head design for the Flex Hose?

I think it's more for the floor pump, but I forget. I doubt it would fit into the nice mini-pump design.

You can buy it separately, but maybe if you whine enough, they might send you a replacement. I wouldn't hold my breath, but if they do, let me know so I can whine, too.

It's definitely not the best design, but it comes up on here frequently and people talk about it as if it were specifically designed to remove your valve core.

My buddy carries one that I've used a few times with imperfect results, & seen it happen to others.

My strategy is to carry a tiny pump, then borrow a bigger one when convenient,

so I can't ***** that much.

For tubeless drying out, the relevant parameter is time not mileage. The sealant is likely to be dried out after six months sitting in a shed, or six months of daily rides.

The only difference is sealant lost to punctures, which is hopefully minimal.

The service interval is basically the same regardless of tire size. A MTB tire requires more sealant, but still needs the same 3-6 month interval.

After removing a few cores with my Road Drive, I endeavor to put a drop of blue loctite on the cores... of course, I forget about 1/2 the time...