An update on running tubeless tires.

A few months ago I was fed up with all the flats I was getting on the commute with the Salsa Fargo.  To be fair I didn't have tuffy tire liners in these tires, but I mean it's just a 6 mile commute each way and I was flatting on a pretty regular interval.  So instead of doing it the easy way and putting in tire liners, I decided to try switching over to a stan's no tube setup.  You can see the process here if you want.



Anyway, I thought I'd give you an update on how it's worked out since then.  To start with....I didn't do this with "new" tires.  I began with tires that had more than a few holes and gashes.  The Stan's solution sealed these up with relatively little problem (even a 1/4 gash with a bit of time).  However, on the initial ride I did get a puncture that really "bleed" a puddle of Stan's before sealing up.  I was not a happy camper and wondered if I'd wasted my time with the whole thing.

Apparently that was a one time deal.  I haven't had to do a thing (added air a few times) since then!!  So obviously I've been pretty happy with the system as a whole.  The first time I really even looked at my tires since that day was yesterday, when I had to add some real air (10 psi) before heading to work.  You'd think this would have caused me to look the tire over a bit more carefully, but hey I'm running Stan's, so I just blew it off thinking it would seal up on the ride.

On the commute in things seemed to be getting a bit squishy again......and upon arriving at work I did take the time to have a closer look.  I found 1 piece of wire, 2 massive (rose bush?) thorns, and 6 goat heads.  I confidently pulled the largest thorn out (commence serious hissing and air loss) and rotated the tire so the hole was to the bottom and waited for the Stan's sealant to do it's job.....and waited.....and waited.....  There was no white stuff present and the hissing continued.

Yep, I'd actually used up all the Stan's solution I put in over the last 3 months.  So I did what I could....jammed the thorn back in and stopped up the leak (it still amazes me this works).  It held well enough that I could ride it home that evening after just a bit of pumping!

When I got home I added more Stan's sealant and re-inflated.   They holes (all 9 of them) sealed up in a few seconds and I was good to go.



So all in all the system works great and I'd recommend it.  Just remember you do have to top off once in a while because you lose a little (or sometimes a lot) with each little puncture that you never know about!