TUBELESS TYRE MEGATHREAD - All questions asked and answered in here!!

[wheel2wheel]

Has anyone tried running nitrogen in their tyres? Apparently it helps stabilise your tyre pressure through varying temps, and is lighter than air (for the weight weenies).

Hey mate, we have some at my work if you want some for your tyres, nitrogen is more dense than oxygen so it will hold pressure longer, but with the very small amount needed for bike tyres i doubt if you would notice any difference.
cheers Dave

 

[-iRideBikes-]

I heard that if you fart into your tubes, you can then smell when you have a puncture.

How do you get it all in there? Some sort of special attachment for your pump I'm assuming?

 

[rone]

I inflate my tyres under the doona on a Saturday morning.

 

[dunndog]

Hey mate, we have some at my work if you want some for your tyres, nitrogen is more dense than oxygen so it will hold pressure longer, but with the very small amount needed for bike tyres i doubt if you would notice any difference.
cheers Dave

Hey Dave, how ya been? Yeah we have it at work too, my boss is a car head and was telling me about it today, and it made me wonder if it's used in the bike world.. Wasn't after any myself though, and not much useful help in this thread as it turns out! Thanks for the offer anyways man, this thread is over peeps.

 

[tasty.dirt74]

When living it up working as a tyre fitter with a particular tyre chain, we used to inflate tyres with nitrogen(at a extra charge, of course!). Nitrogen can be dangerous, and we were told never to spray it on skin, as it could enter the blood stream and cause death ! Wether this is true or not, I could never find anyone willing to test the theory!

Also, we had to place red(I think) valve caps on wheels that had nitrogen in them so in case the car was involved in accident the rescue personnel would be aware that the tyres were filled with nitrogen....

For the small volume of air used in bike tyres,and the low variance in tyre preesures experienced by MTB tyres, I dont think its worth the hassle...

 

[blacksp20]

Spanky, you are a pig after my own heart. Someone needs to acknowledge your superb wit. Obviously your humour goes over the heads of some.

What Spanky was trying to tell you all is the air you breathe, which is the same air that goes into your tyres, is actually 78% nitrogen. It's true, google it.

Have a read of this http://www.racq.com.au/motoring/cars/car_advice/car_fact_sheets/nitrogen_for_tyres
Most of the information should be the same for bicycles as for cars and maybe more so due to lower tyre temps of bikes compared to cars.

 

[niftydog]

It's actually got FA to do with the Nitrogen and more to do with the moisture content of air. Nitrogen is just a relatively handy, cheap and safe source of a 'dry' gas. Pump up your tires on a low humidity day!

Besides, tyre temperature issues? On a push bike? oooooookay.

BONUS QUESTION:
Does the oxygen in air leak out faster than the nitrogen? So over time the concentration of nitrogen inside you tyres goes up?!

 

[Christian]

BONUS QUESTION:
Does the oxygen in air leak out faster than the nitrogen? So over time the concentration of nitrogen inside you tyres goes up?!

This would depend on where the hole ends up and how long the tyre has had to settle before the hole appears. As Nitrogen has a density of 1.251 g/l and oxygen 1.429g/l the oxygen will end up at the bottom, given enough time and no motion, so the hole would have to be at the bottom.

But I'm sure when a hole appears you'd get some mixing due to the sudden pressure change.

 

[StanTheMan]

Normal road cars with nitrogen in thier tyres, are a sub culture within the car scene refered to as hard parkers.

for those who are unfamiliar with this term.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hard parking


its your money & your bike.....do with it whatever you like.

 

[Bjorn]

If you are going to put Nitrogen in any part of your bike, put it in the air chambers of your suspension. The Nitrogen expands less from the heat generated by the cycles of (suspension) movement and provides more consistent spring rates. It is of course completely unnecessary on a bicycle, but standard practice on motorcycles where the larger weights involved mean there is more observable change as the heat builds up.

 

[retroenduro]

fark! use helium! its lighter than air and will make your bike lighter. Get big enough tyre volumes and you can float uphill

(stands back to watch all the XC weight weenies run to the helium tank lol)

 

[gman]

Tubeless lifespan

How long does the latex solution remain good for inside the tyre?

Once it's dried up, do you just add some more, or do you need to clean the dried latex out from the tyre first?

 

[niftydog]

You could try searching on this topic as there are as many opinions about this as there are users.

I'm going with at most 6 months, though you should probably be topping it up after 3. Ideally you remove the old stuff or else you end up dragging extra rotating weight around for no reason.

 

[T-Rex]

How long does the latex solution remain good for inside the tyre?

Once it's dried up, do you just add some more, or do you need to clean the dried latex out from the tyre first?

It dries out a lot faster in summer than in winter. If you can't hear it sloshing around inside the tyre it's time to add some more. The easiest way to top it up is to remove the valve core and inject a scoopful through the valve with a syringe. Don't bother pulling the tyre off to remove the dried out lumps, it weighs bugger all.

 

[plum163]

I just keep adding more tubeless goup when the tubeless goup dries out. I don't bother cleaning out the old stuff as I can't be bother sealing the tyre again. It is just easier to add more. My tubeless goup generally lasts around 6 months in winter and 3-4 months in summer before it dries out.

 

[gman]

http://www.linseal.com/home.html

The tubeless solution dries out far too quickly for me, I may as well just fix the flats at that rate.

But I wonder how well this stuff works as an alternative, it seals up to 10mm holes, eliminates the need for a tube, has no fibres or latex, and remains active for the life of the tyre: http://www.linseal.com/home.html

Here are anothers, but thess ones use fibres to fill the holes: www.slime.com.au & http://www.amerseal.com/products.shtml

Has any one tried these?

 

[dain2772]

The tubeless solution dries out far too quickly for me, I may as well just fix the flats at that rate.

*snip

Ah yes, but the advantage is that you can do the top-up in the comfort of your home, where the flat fixing usually occurs mid-ride which is not much fun.

I have only been tubeless for about 6 months and have topped up once. I think I would clear the dried stuff after 12 or so months, not every time. I figure after a few top-ups there would be some added weight.

Has anyone weighed the goup they have pulled out?

 

[redbruce]

Latest (Nov/ Dec/ Jan 2010/11) edition of Mountain Biking Australia has a comparison of eight tubeless sealants.

 

[Pullstarter]

Cheapie Tubeless?

Hey Guys,
Looking for some cheapie tubeless 26" disc rims for a commuter build up. Any suggestions?

Cheers
Simon

 

[smen]

Depends how you define cheap?

I had success with some mavic xm317 rims, which are a well priced rim.