Two Wheel Blogs

OK, so there are some downsides to Tubeless. You may have heard one or two.

Saturday, I experienced a tubeless worst case scenario. I really don't think it was all that bad either...sure it sucked, but every advantage you ever take has its price.

OK, so I am going on 11 months with almost* no flats from thorns and zero pinch flats, but Saturday, I encountered one doozy of a sharp rock that sliced my sidewall. This rock clearly won the battle between rubber and chert and my Stan's solution simply could not seal the 3/8 inch long cut.

* I say almost, because I got a flat due to my lack of maintenance of the system (you gotta add Stan's once every month or so).

I have often bragged on the Exiwolf tire by WTB. I like the large sidewall knobs that extend down the sidewall and offer a lot of protection from rock cuts, I like the large volume that a 2.35 inch wide tire offers to tame the bumps a bit. Since mine is now cut, I have to temporarily use the Mutano Raptor in the photo. That is a dime, so you can see that this 700c by 44 tire is a serious step down in terms of volume, but the tread pattern is nice.

So, here is the horror story...I round a corner where there appears to be 3 fist-sized rocks strewn about (that is a low number for rocks on a trail around here), and hear a loud pop (my tire does this very often when one of the large side knobs grips a rock edge, but can not hold on, so as the knob fails to hold a loud "pop" can be heard as the tire slips off the rock). THAT noise is no big deal, but the "thump-HISSS" I hear a split second later is a bit more concerning. I quickly dismount and roll the tire around so that the Stan's can work its magic....nothing doing. There is a bunch of white Stan's solution at the cut site but air is escaping still.

I pull out a CO2 cartridge and give the tire a shot and shake it around some more...keeping the cut at bottom dead center by leaning the bike on its side. Nuts! This cut is more than the solution can handle. Time to pullout the tubes that I carry in case this ever happens. I recall the stories I have read about this exact thing being the reason many give up on tubeless. I am thinking how this is going to be a big ole' mess, and there is going to be white crap all over the place, etc. etc.

Well the first tube wouldn't old air...I am thinking that there must have been thorns in the tire and I was stupid enough not to check before I stuck the tube in. That was a valid thought, but there were no thorns. The tube did have a big cut in it (probably from riding in my pack for a year with various tools, other tubes with sharp valve stems, and power bars). OK so now I have white stuff on my fingers from checking the inside of the tire, but one squirt from my water pack and they are clean (this stuff is a little like soap). The next tube gets checked before installation (yes, I actually carry 4 spare tubes (along with almost everything needed to build a complete bicycle), so I was prepared), the tube goes in and I am back riding in no time.

There is a bit of white stuff on the trails, my hands never looked so clean after changing a flat (no black, no sticky, no nothing really).

Conclusion: this was not so bad. If this tire was tubed, it would have suffered the same failure on this rock. So I can not fault the tubeless system for this failure, nor can I say that this repair was complicated much by having solution inside my tire...in fact the solution seems to have cleaned my hands as I worked. I do recall fixing flats in a tubed tire...all the black foulness on my hands when finished (some from the chain lube, some from the inside of the tire).

I am not sure how many flats I would have had running tubes, but this is really the first thing I have encountered that Stan's couldn't fix.

Once back at home, I removed everything and put on a new tire (in picture) and installed it tubeless (yeah, this encounter WON'T sour me on tubeless). The removed tire and tube are in fact all wet with Stan's...so I walk over to the garden hose and spray them off, and once again notice that this stuff is like soap. No scrubbing, just a rinse and this tube looks like a brand new tube.