Bassmanbob

I recently purchased a new bike with an Enve Foundation 45 wheel set and opted to go with a tubeless set up rather than tubed. I had been encouraged to set up tubeless by the company salesperson from the make of bicycle but my LBS owner, who I also trust discouraged me to go tubeless on a road bike. I went tubeless and decided that if I encountered problems after a month or two, I'd switch to inner tubes. Well... I'm having problems.

Set up:
Wheels: Enve Foundation 45
Tires: Vittoria Corsa Tubeless Ready Control Graphene 2.0 700 X 30

Problem:
I keep getting leaks at the stem of the wheel, confirmed by applying soapy water with bubbles only at the stem. I think this tells me that either the stem is compromised, or the seal of the tape is compromised. When I first got the bike, the front wheel held air well for about the first week. After the first week, I needed to fill the tire twice a day and even in the middle of a 40 to 60-mile ride. It became completely unreliable. So I removed the tire, cleaned up the wheel with alcohol, cleaned the tire of the sealant, reapplied the tape, the stem, the tire and the sealant. The tire held well again for about a week, and then became unreliable again.

Possible Causes:
1. I usually pump my tires with the stem at the 12 o'clock position. I'm wondering if the pump is placing too much tension on the stem and bending it. If I pump the tire with the stem in the 6 o'clock position, the pump tubing wound rest on the floor, not placing tension on the stem. I don't know.
2. The stem may be compromised. This problem is occurring with the front wheel only, but I did on one ride have a problem with the rear wheel. I didn't have to fill the rear tire during the ride, but it was only about a 90-minute ride. The rear tire was fairly "soft."
3. I've compromised the stem and/or system by pumping up the tires too much. I usually pump them up to 70 psi. The recommended is about 65 psi for my weight, the Foundation 45 and the tires I have. I will now pump them up to 60-65 from now on.
4. I've compromised the stem by tightening the nut too tightly, putting too much tension on the stem.

Current Plan:
I purchased a tape and stem kit from Enve. Once I have that kit, I'll clean up the wheel set, retape the wheels as the Enve video instructs, install the new stems and tires with the sealant and try only pumping the tires in the 6 o'clock position.

What are your thoughts? Do you see me doing anything wrong?

Koyote

If you're sure the air is only leaking at the stem, then try a different stem and report back. Seems obvious.

WhyFi

I've had two kinds of problems with stems:

- the ones with the saddle-shaped gasket (meant to roughly match the contour of the rim bed) never worked worth a damn - the conical gaskets seem to work much better for me
- overtightening. I usually push the base of the stem down in to the rim bed at - oh, I don't know - maybe 10-15 pounds of pressure while lightly snugging the external gasket/nut. IOW, not a ton of pressure. In my experience, much more than that can be counterproductive.

Koyote

Might just be my valves, but they sometimes loosen up -- esp when riding on rough gravel roads.

OP: also make sure your valve cores are screwed in tightly; that issue once caused me a problem.

cxwrench

It might be the valves but if you're using the ones that came w/ the wheels that's doubtful. You might be over tightening them, but doubtful. How was the hole made in the TL tape? I ALWAYS use a hot spoke to make the hole, this way the tape never splits and causes leaks. I NEVER poke the hole w/ the valve head or anything other than a hot spoke. I have fixed numerous leaking wheels by re-taping and doing this.
And the other thing...I hate road TL. As much as it's the only way to go for mountain bikes I will never ride it on the road again. One damaged tire years ago was all it took. What a mess.

Koyote

Just curious: cxwrench and another poster suggested that overtightening the valves can be a problem… What problem does that cause? Deforming the rim?

cxwrench

Nah, you'd never deform the rim but you can pull the grommet through the rim. And if you got them that tight you'd never be able to undo them on the road if you needed to put a tube in.

surak

I always put a bit of sealant around the valve inside the rim before pushing it through the hole.

You didn't mention which sealant you used. Use Orange Seal if you aren't. Nearly every issue I've read of here, elsewhere, and in real life, have been people trying to use Stan's on road tires.

ZHVelo

Yea, I had the same, I could feel and air coming out of my front wheel's rim hole. Turns out that I had not tightened the valve enough.

Racing Dan

It is weird the sealant cant seem to solve these issues. According to marketing blurb, holes the size of a dime should plug up with no issues. Still FB and the forums are littered with ppl keeps complaining about small leaks in valves, sidewalls etc. that not only doesn't plug plug quickly, but doesn't plug ever.

Trsnrtr

Over tightening the valve stem can distort whatever O-ring or gasket is being used. I had a valve that I reused a couple times on different setups and it would never seal. The O-ring
/gasket had become too worn. I swapped in a new valve and everything was good.

cxwrench

A dime size hole?!? I've never heard of any sealant purporting to seal that big of a hole, that's ridiculous.

WhyFi

Yup, exactly this - It's like overtightening a toilet supply line. It's actually less problematic on the cheaper stems with the conical gaskets that are bonded to the stem; the more expensive stems, usually lightweight machined aluminum with replaceable gaskets, are the ones that you need to pay attention to.

WhyFi

He's a well-known grouch that's trolling - ignore him.

Racing Dan

Dude! :-) ... Obviously a bit of hyperbole to highlight the discrepancy between the claims* and the real world lack of performance. No loose valve has a 1/4" hole or the tyre would flat instantly. However the sealant fail to seal even small leaks. It simply doesn't work, or the leaks would plug the leak, right away, as promised.

* "It is proven to seal large punctures up to 1/4""
* "Seals punctures up to 1/4" (6.5mm) quickly"
etc.

WhyFi

How the hell do you think that sealant would get to the valve stem?

edit: actually, never mind. A momentary lapse of reason had me forget that conversation with you is a waste of time.

Bassmanbob

I'm hoping this is what is the problem. I can't wait for the new stem and tape to arrive, so I can set up the front wheel again. If it goes well, I may do the rear wheel too.

Sardines

Wait! If the wheel came with the bike new, then it should be warrantied. Is the leak happening from the INSIDE of the valve nut, vs outside, ie from the o-ring area? You may have to dunk it in water to see the difference clearly. If it's the inside of the valve nut, it's most likely the rim tape. Enve has a relief valve design, which allows air to escape if the chamber pressure is too high, caused by leaking tape. I have the SES 4.5 and it runs awesome tubeless. There is no reason NOT to run tubeless, for road or trail. Still, if it's a crappy tape install by Enve, you shouldn't have to buy new tape and valves from them. I'd give the company which sold you the bike a stern email and demand they fix the issue.

eduskator

You should not pump your tires at 12 o'clock for sure. Sealant is very effective, but can clog easily.

If you are unsure what you are doing, bring your wheel to a reputable LBS and ask them to redo the tape + put new valves. I've had TL setup for over 3 years now and I've never had any issues. I clean my rims and replace sealant every year when I swap tires. I never removed the tape nor the valves. The only thing that I replaced were the valve cores because the seal ended up drying / cracking.

chaadster

Because of the newness of all the bits, I’m leaning towards a gummed up valve core as the source of the leak.

I’d unscrew the core, open the valve, and be sure the gasket in there is clean and that there’s no sealant accumulated on, preventing the valve closing securely.

Also, if the valve core pin is bent, as happens from poor pumping technique, that could also prevent the valve from sealing properly

Trsnrtr

I've never heard this before. Is there a recommended position?

DaveSSS 

6 o'clock works for me. If using a floor pump with a decent hose length, inflating should never put pressure on the stem. A good pump head helps too. Google Hirame pump head.

Trsnrtr

I’m asking in regards to the post about clogging and pumping at 12:00.

Racing Dan

- How do I think sealant would get into the valve (an gum it up) ? Sorry to burst your bubble, It happens. Sometimes to the point it becomes a real PITA to inflate the tyre.


- Never mind? Sure! :-) You get to have your cake and eat it too, haha!.. Or, explain how/why liquid sealant that is promised to plug holes up to 1/4", quickly, cant plug a small leak that is likely less than 0.1 mm.


Im sorry dude. It just doesn't work and the endless workarounds (you "just" have to get a different sealant, "just" get different tyres, "just" get special plugs to when the sealant fails, "just" get the "right" valves, "just re-tape the rim, "just" get the right gadget to mount the tyres, "just" do this that and the other to seat the tyre on the rim, "just" get a special pump to inflate, You must inflate you tyre at 6 o or 12 o clock or 3 o clock, blah, blah, blah!) is just further proof its a half baked cake.

phrantic09

Except for those of us it works just fine for, and haven’t had a flat in years.