Tubeless tires | everything I wish I knew sooner!

I use the muccoff for years and no issues but i buy silca next

I didn't get on with Muc Off. Now using Peatys. I think tubeless on road tyres is far more challenging due to the increased pressures that you naturally need to use.

After thinking for years I just decided to go tubeless on my MTB, and already started feeling the pain. Both my road bikes are with tubeless ready wheels, but I use good old fashioned tire-tube combination, and if I remember I had only two punctures in last ten years that is away from home. I did have some small leaks by nails etc with a slow pressure loss, and eventually I repaired the tubes at home. I have way too many CO2 cartridges that I never use.
Just for trial I made tubeless set up on my MTB last week, cleaned up the floor three times, still not comfortable with Stans fluids on my floor; not to mention the added expense for the setting up. Let’s see how things work for this 2024, maybe, maybe I will be back with tubes in 2025. ✌🏾

I'm a roadie. I tried Muc-Off sealant and was disappointed by it's performance. I now swear by Stan's Race Sealant. Why on earth didn't you empty and clean out the old Muc-Off from your tyre before chucking in the Silca ?

I have used Orange Seal Endurance with no issues at all for my road bike, with Schwalbe pro one, GP5000 STR and Challenge Strada Pro and Challenge Criterium RS). 
Yet, a week ago I purchased a Silca tubeless sealant (to try it) but after watching your video I think I will not ever use it. Especially due to the fact that the Challenge tyres are quite difficult to install on my tight rims (not to seat them after you install, but just to install them). 
For me, the only way to setup them tubeless is to inject the sealant through the valve, but this is impossible as you stated.
Is there any other option? Thank you !

Tubeless has been an awesome game changer and when done right it’s awesome. Flats are all but non existent. Silca is the best right now. You all not running tubeless are missing out but to each their own. There is a learning curve but it’s well worth it.

So does muc off just not work? I’ve heard so many horror stories rn. Maybe they should just pull it off the shelves

The only good thing about Muc-off sealant is that it never dries out inside the tire. But, like you said, that's also the reason why it never seals holes. However, I've found out, that if you add glitter or something (I use X-sauce SpinBits), that will help clog up the hole, so you can at least get home. Now, it still doesn't seal, and will continue leaking slowly. I was just too cheap to throw out that big bottle of sealant. But now it's empty, and I'll never use it again, nor will I ever recommend it to anyone. I've also switched to Silca now👍🤞

My point being, a tubeless setup is always close to a catastrophic failure that needs rescued by an actual inner tube.
So just go tubbed in the first place, and don't forget the "flat attack" tube sealant.

Honestly I don’t know why anybody goes
through all the trouble and mess

I’ve been using Silca for 2 years now. I only had 3 punctures since then. All of them sealed effectively. I usually top up the sealant every 4 months.

in my arsenal I have Muc-off, Peaties, Stans, bontrager solutions . Muc-off works on MTB's and larger gravel bike tires , not great on road bikes. Peaties seems to work on everything but the glitter gets EVERYWHERE!! Absolute pig if you have a puncture on a hot day on a ride. If it drys I just hope you dont bite your nails as scraping the glitter is a nightmare. Bontrager is good on roads and I believe it's the same as Shwalbe/Stans only blue in colour. I have had Stans for about 15 years and it seems a decent all round solution.. I even pop 50mm into inner tubes on my families non tubules bikes as it does the trick!! As a massive Silca fan I plan on trying their stuff as I only hear good things about it.

Most proponents of using tubeless tire setups, also recommend that you should bring along for an emergency, an old fashioned but very reliable innertube.

I have that system beat to an all to no flat zone.

I install two old fashioned innertubes, one only in each of my two wheeled peddle bicycle, "no Evil-ped for me".
And then add a proper dosage of "Flat attack" brand inner tube puncture sealant. Slime is a junk product.
Easy to inflate and easily topped off as needed.

Peddle on! 🚴🏼🚴🏼🚴🏼

Vittoria sealant. If one doesn’t seal use a dynaplug, they’re brilliant

We also stopped using Muc-off Sealant. They make a ton of great products but sealant is a miss.

Well that’s very interesting & not my experience with @mucoff. Would be interesting to hear from both Mucoff & Silka?

One detail I wish I had known before my first tubeless setup: On Silca's website, there is an installation video showing a process similar to what you are doing: Seat the tire first, leave a gap where you pour in the sealant. For whichever reason, in that video, the presenter says: Leave that gap close to the valve.
Which is horrible advise because the sealant immediately clogged the valve. SO: Leave the gap away from the valve.

Stans worked great in my MTB for ten years. Started running Orange Seal in my gravel bike last year and have not had a single issue (6000 miles). Recently set up the road bike tubeless, (Orange Seal ) and it has been great so far. In over 10K miles of riding I have only had to use plugs twice (on MTB), and only had one hole that was too large for a plug.

I switch from Stans Race to WTB Sealant and i love it. Much more easy to use, its very cheap compare to Orange or Silca and it works great...

Tyre sealants were never designed for road and gravel bike tyres,because it was desgned to be used for mountain bike tyres,so we can run really low presures,as not to get pinch flats,its because of the rocky terrain,and roots,where you want the tyre to conform to the surface it's rolling over,so it wouldn't really work well especially with road bike tyres as you have three times the air pressure to mtb tyres,and yes they are a faf,and some don't work as well as others,and the hotter the climate the more frequently you need to top up.

Tubeless has been a godsend for me. The lower pressure is a noticeably more comfortable ride and I can rail corners with more confidence. The road I ride on often has little glass shards and debris littered throughout. I used to get punctures often with clinchers, and I didn't mind changing the tubes out. But it's been over 2 years since I've had to stop during a ride since switching to tubeless. ~5k miles per yr. I have had several cuts that sealed instantly and I was able to get home. Additionally, I notice my tires gather less nicks and cuts in them with the lower pressure as well. I'm using Stan's regular. I'm never going back to clinchers.

Tannus & tubes no worries what goat heads?!

Who the eff ever sold this as a great idea for technological progress? No i won't fill my rims/tires with some sloshy gunk in the hopes of getting rid of a puncture. I feel so indirectly violated by this. Just NO. IF i would glue something to my precious rims it'd MAYBE be full rubber tires. But the development of useable ones somehow is stalled - not much money to be made of stuff that doesn't constantly break down.

You can use sealant in the inner tubes too, mine is Slime and there are also protection tapes that go between the inner tube and the tyre for extra resistance.

I have been on a similar journey but went back to muc off. I've tried Silca, Joe's, Stans and muc off. Milage seems to vary depending on humidity, discipline and pressure.

My biggest tips are:
1. Once you put sealant in a tire, that sealant and tire are married until death do they part. Relatively small holes plugged with one sealant tend to never really seal after replacement of one to another, especially true if you have a plug in it.
2. Use dynaplugs. Their applicator works even when you still have 80psi inside, if you don't disturb them, they survive the life of the tire.
3. Taking the tire off has a tendency to mess up the nicely dried holes, and once disturbed never seem to really seal again. The best way to manage sealant is to mess with it as little as possible.

Silca is the best "race day sealant" as they say, it works better than anything else once fresh but after a few months it starts to ball up. Once you have balls its not much better than Stans, which is my worst experience. You have to do a full clean out and replacement. It is also the hardest sealant to maintain at home due to the base product not being added through the valve. I've even had a case of a relatively small hole that wouldn't seal without a plug after just a couple of weeks. Once you have reached that full year and need to change the sealant you're pretty much up for replacing the tires which have been plugged. It also gums up your valve... So back to muc off, which to me is 95% as good, can be topped up at any time, and seems to function more consistently between top ups.

I'm just researching this whole tubeless thing. I'm finally back on the bike after about 7 or 8 years off. Many sources that I have reviewed seem to recommend that different types/brands not be mixed together, for risk of whatever chemical interactions which may have adverse effects on the products' effectiveness, even to the point of one actually counteracting the other. Additionally folks seem to recommend removing the tire and cleaning both tire and rim, to get rid of the old sealant, as it does break down over time and become less effective, do to clumping and/or consumption of the sealing particles from previous times that the product did actually work, without the rider even being aware of it. --- Bottom line: "Don't Mix Old with New"... for various reasons. --- In your video, you are mixing the new bottle of Silca brand sealant with the preexisting Muc-Off stuff, which was already in the tire. Perhaps a similar history/pattern of mixing sealants or keeping the old sealant, beyond the recommended time/expiration period, may explain your unsatisfactory results? --- I have come to the understanding that while the tubeless system is more effective, it is significantly more of a PITA than inner tubes. It cannot be relied upon to simply install it and forget it (like with inner tubes). It requires periodic maintenance... kind of like a smokin' hot, fembot-type girlfriend with really impressive features and you can find her photo in the dictionary, next to the term "high maintenance", because she makes you pay (with a vengeance) if you neglect your duties. --- Meanwhile, the girl-next-door type of girlfriend is more out-doorsey... maybe even tom-boyish (if your lucky). She's easy to hangout with and doesn't require you to always be at her beckon and call. Lol, not that I've had experiences with tubeless, yet, but the testimonials I'm hearing are ringing somewhat familiar... 🤔😜

Every video about tubeless just reaffirms my decision to stick to inner tubes.

Put a tube in it and be done with it. Thats what we would do when we were kids we didn't take any shit off of them. 99% of the time there's a tube out there that will fit your wheel. You might have to drill the valve stem hole in the rim out a little bit then just put a coat of black rust Oleum on it and your good to go a little electrical tape or duct tape over the spoke heads inside the rim and your good. Sometimes you have to think outside the box a little bit.

I just don't understand why people don't see this without even trying or even worse why people still go at it.
Low pressure awesome to get more punctures, tubeless which uses sealant awesome to rip you money.
And finally just don't get why tubeless uses sealant, cars don't, motorcycles don't!!!

Im a lifelong mtb rider (w tubes) never a problem, a flat? Just patch it and keep going...bought my 1st tubeless a month a go and hooly WHAT a pain in the ass this sealant system is, just got my first air leak and Im going to buy tubes again 😂😂😂😂😂 clean the liquid out just out put the tubes in, I aint dealing with that crap

Late to the party but here is my experiences with tubeless on road and gravel so far.
Road w/ muc-off: On a zipp 404 / michelin power cup combo. Tire seated perfectly, sealed many smaller holes with no issue - bigger holes sealed easily using Dynaplugs, still works after 8 months of heavy use. Had to change rear tire once due to wear, but sealant was easy to cleanup and reapply on new tire.

Gravel w/ silca: On zipp 404 / schwalbe G-one rs combo. Tire searted after a couple of attempts with booster pump. Appears to seal almost every hole regardless of size. After 3 months of use the valves clogged up completely - had to remove, clean and reapply, which was very messy and time-consuming since everything seem to have dried up. Has not been able to hold air very well ever since.

Would take Muc-off over Silca mainly due to ability to syringe it through the valve and avoid a huge mess. The glue comparison on Silca is very accurate.

Good review. I've ummed and aahhd about going tubeless, but the risk of getting it wrong seem to greatly outweigh the benefits.
I reckon I'll try some TPU tubes and see how I get on.
If they're good, great. If not, I'll go back to regular tubes. I've ridden them for decades and they do the job ok.
Cheers

Greetings from Thailand. Great video, and thanks for the inside tips. Ride safely!

Suck out as much seallent as you can before you take tire off...

Hmmm… think I’ll stay with my Tpu tube set up, nice video though

in tubeless for 3 three months now with new road back, was ask NO tubeless, but the shop... and it has been like a hell of time...just wait for the moment all sealant dry up and getting less messy before putting inner tube in...

I am using Stan's No Tubes sealants, Regular and Race for a long time. Will not go back tubes. If tubeless is pain in your arse for you, then your arms are growing from your arse )

Ya your right, a monumental pain in the ass with the messes and having to "re-up" on yet more sealant when it begins to dry up, plus the weight increases each time, ya may want to consider ~> Tannus Armour a bit more pricy but their worth the convenience and lack of drama

Pardon my ignorance, but what occurs when you attempt to inflate the tire after a couple of days? As tires tend to lose pressure over time, would the sealant seal the valve when you use a pump, considering pumps typically release a small amount of air when connecting it?

How old is your tire? Sometimes it is the tire that is the problem not the sealant. Also had some problems with stans. Change to a different sealant and it was better. Another issue you had is the stain, just wash them right away with water.

Personal XP with MucOff. It saved me once, but let me down another time although I did a refill one week before. I've also had a new tire on a old rim which never get properly installed with MucOff but perfectly with Squirt. I think tubeless is a "too many parameters" product for some, and if you're not used to play with your bike in the garage, it's obviously not a good option. Regarding, tires, rims, pressure,.., you can have different results.

I’ve been using tubeless for over a year now. It’s a life changer. I’ve been out on rides and not realise I had a puncture until I get home. Also I have always used Muc-Off sealant and it’s never let me down. Everyone has their own unique story. I’m not here to convince anyone. Just wanted to mention that there are success stories out there!

Having 5 bikes that get ridden fairly regular, some almost everyday, some not........buying 35.00 quarts of sealant way too often does get very old.......it dries up slower when used in tubes.
I use Orange seal and it works......but the bikes that dont get ridden often still need sealant every 3 months. Orange seal has worked really well no problem. Tons of people use it.

But Im a little weary of dealing with it way too much. I can see how the makers of sealant are making really good money off the stuff.

Was thinking about switching tubeless but all the extra cost doesnt really make sense to me. Recently tried Tubolito tubes and they are absolutely fantastic. Some people say they come near the tubeless feeling.

I’ve never had the slightest problem with tubeless! Knock on wood haven’t had a flat tire in years! When I ran tubes it was 10 times a year or more!

I could have told you

Great video. Are you going back to tube? I agree with you that sealant is a mess, but muc off seams working fine with me. Matter of fact, I am thinking about using tube in next summer

Thanks for the video warning, I'm thinking still about tubeless and I found a type of sringe Milkit maybe it can help the maintenance.

Tried all of the sealants......Silca is the only one that seals up sizeable cuts.....I wet my patio, install them on the wet patio, sealant washes right off......NEVER around the kitchen sink---Plugs your pipes.