Prior gravel tire was a TL Terreno Mix. I literally could seat it on the same rim with a floor/track pump with that tire when I set those up. They wore out and I went for the Gravelking in a 35mm.
It felt oddly loose going on the rim, a tubeless ready rim with tape. It’s so loose, a ton of air leaks by the tire as you try to pop it on. The bead even looks a bit “small” compared to the Vittoria I had before. Almost more like a clincher. The tire pack and tire sidewall explicitly states tubeless.
I’d rather not put a whole roll of tape on the rim to make it tighter, as it feels like I’d have to put a LOT on the rim to make this thing work.
Anybody have issues with a gravel TL tire that’s too loose going on versus too tight? I thought TL tires should be really tight, and really need to “pop” onto the shoulder and seat. Also, it’s almost like there’s no way this thing will stay seated once on the shoulder. The bead literally looks like a clincher bead. It’s NOT a hookless, as it says it can be run clincher.
I’m using an air compressor with the valve stem removed at like 90psi and air just rushes around the rim bed/tire. Whereas that Terreno sat on the rim bed well enough I literally just pumped it on with a floor pump. I’ve tried on both a Velocity A23 tubeless rim (a popular cyclocross rim) and another. Both this thing is SUPER loose. Like it would take a pile of rim tape to build it up tighter. The Vittoria bead is like twice as bulky, the tire that seated with a simple floor pump.
Suggestions?
I may email Gravelking as the bead on this thing just looks way way too small.
My go to is just add one or two more layers of tape
Thanks.
Given these are off road and not super tight road tires, I think I may have to do this. I guess the weight is negligible compared to tossing my cross racing “tire liner” in there. I wanted this to be a little lighter setup. I do that with cross racing as inevitably in a race a low low pressure I’ll bash a log or something I try to bunny hop and the liner is a life saver on the rims.
I’ll find my tape and hope I have enough for two laps around on both wheels then try again.
I really wish this didn’t feel like such a faff sometimes with tubeless.
I can understand your frustration, I went through several tires myself. Even with 3-4 layers of tape. And the issue of losing air during a ride is real, they don’t offer a tight fit during a ride. Especially a problem when riding at fairly low pressures where the tire works a lot. First gen tires offered a tighter fit but became looser afterwards.I simply don’t use them anymore. This is an issue one reads quite frequently about. Hence, it can’t just be a batch or an unfortunate tire-rim combination. I wanted to use them on two wheelset in different widths. Sloppy fits with all of them.
I can understand your frustration, I went through several tires myself. Even with 3-4 layers of tape. And the issue of losing air during a ride is real, they don’t offer a tight fit during a ride. Especially a problem when riding at fairly low pressures where the tire works a lot. First gen tires offered a tighter fit but became looser afterwards.I simply don’t use them anymore. This is an issue one reads quite frequently about. Hence, it can’t just be a batch or an unfortunate tire-rim combination. I wanted to use them on two wheelset in different widths. Sloppy fits with all of them.
I added two layers of Stan’s to whatever came on the rim as ready for the tire from the factory. Then they popped in with the compressor and stayed in first try. So that was certainly it. Not enough tape.
I wish tubeless wasn’t such a mystery of “well, how many layers of tape will it take”. After two laps of tape it starts to feel a bit of a kludge instead of a “doing things right”.
I don’t generally ride super low pressure gravel as I don’t need to and have a mix of pavement to get there. So shouldn’t hopefully have any issues.
Test ride in a little bit just up and down the trail behind the house.
I have two sets of identical rims that comply with the latest ETRTO specification.
On one I seated 5000 TL’s with a hand pump no issue.
On the other, no matter what I did I couldn’t get the damn GK’s to seat. Just as your described
I hate to take them to my bike shop who used the extra rim tape and seat with tube first trick. Ridiculous.
Had to pay for an hour of shop time for something I should be able to do myself.
Will probably try another brand of gravel tire next time.
FWIW, some Conti’s are so f-ing tight you can’t even get them on certain rims.
Yes. Last year I bought a pair of 43mm GK SS to replace an older worn out pair of 38mm GK SKs. Initially the new SS’s would not set up tubeless at all. Long story short it took at least 3 and maybe 4 layers of slightly wider tape to finally get them to seal. I’ve had zero issues with them since and really like them.
I had a similar issue recently with some Schwalbe One Pro TT road tires. I have never had an issue with these tires inflating but I got 2 new ones and one of them would just not inflate. At first I figured it was a bad tire and too loose because it sounded like the air was just gushing out of it. I tried multiple times with compressed air but it would not inflate, even tried on a different wheel.
I was about to give up on it and send it back when I thought about putting some soapy water around the rim bead, this is something I don’t normally do because the tires normally slide into place ok but I thought it was worth a try, so I did it and the tire inflated first time! I guess the tire was not too loose but for whatever reason it seemed easier for the tire to vent the air than overcome the friction of sliding into place.
Not saying this is the case for you or that your tire isn’t too loose. But if you aren’t applying soapy water to the rim bead it is for sure worth a try.
I was about to give up on it and send it back when I thought about putting some soapy water around the rim bead, this is something I don’t normally do because the tires normally slide into place ok but I thought it was worth a try, so I did it and the tire inflated first time! I guess the tire was not too loose but for whatever reason it seemed easier for the tire to vent the air than overcome the friction of sliding into place.
Not saying this is the case for you or that your tire isn’t too loose. But if you aren’t applying soapy water to the rim bead it is for sure worth a try.
I would consider this best practice. It helps the tires go on easier. It helps the air to ‘catch’ the tire and fill it. It requires less air pressure to seat the beads. Less air pressure is going to lessen the chance of a blowout. Dry tire beads sometimes tear rim tape when seating and cause large or slow leaks that can be difficult because you JUST saw good rim tape.
A spray bottle with a very soapy solution is handy. Spin the wheel, spray a few times with the sprayer, then put your tire on.
Specific to the loose beads, that is just not a tire I would use. I have seen and heard enough Compass/Rene Hearse blowoffs to know that loose beads can be troublesome. Panaracer makes those tires and you can find Gravel Kings blowoff claims fairly easily too. It’s also what happened with non tubeless specific tires being used tubeless before it was more standardized. The beads weren’t as tight.
I can understand your frustration, I went through several tires myself. Even with 3-4 layers of tape. And the issue of losing air during a ride is real, they don’t offer a tight fit during a ride. Especially a problem when riding at fairly low pressures where the tire works a lot. First gen tires offered a tighter fit but became looser afterwards.I simply don’t use them anymore. This is an issue one reads quite frequently about. Hence, it can’t just be a batch or an unfortunate tire-rim combination. I wanted to use them on two wheelset in different widths. Sloppy fits with all of them.
I added two layers of Stan’s to whatever came on the rim as ready for the tire from the factory. Then they popped in with the compressor and stayed in first try. So that was certainly it. Not enough tape.
I wish tubeless wasn’t such a mystery of “well, how many layers of tape will it take”. After two laps of tape it starts to feel a bit of a kludge instead of a “doing things right”.
I don’t generally ride super low pressure gravel as I don’t need to and have a mix of pavement to get there. So shouldn’t hopefully have any issues.
Test ride in a little bit just up and down the trail behind the house.
Thought I’d mention one other option I’ve come across for these situations. Specialized makes or made a tubeless rim strip in 23, 26 and 31mm widths. Bikeworks in HI provided this as a fix for a set of our older tubeless carbon clinchers where the rim tape was failing prematurely in the heat. These have some thickness to them which would take the place of extra tape wraps. The wheels with these installed haven’t had a rim tape sealing issue since the change.
Downside is I don’t see these listed in multiple widths in Specs site, only at online retailers.
I’ve got the same tires and have the exact same problem.
What works for me is wrapping the outside circumference of the tire with a strap of some sort and tightening it down. I used an old ratchet strap I had in the garage. It pushes the bead of the tire out towards the lip of the rim. Now I hit it with the air compressor and it seats.
These were my first time seating tubeless tires and I screwed around with them for a long time before I found that tip on the deep dark recesses of YouTube.
…x3. While I have experienced frustration mounting tubeless tires (the first time I tried must have taken me an hour!), the soapy-water-in-a-spray-bottle trick has worked wonders for me. I’ve mounted Road (GP5000TL, Michelin Power), gravel (WTB resolutes), mtb (Rocket Ron) tires all set up nice and easy with a floor pump (or small compressor pump) and soapy water sprayed around the bead.
…No experience with GK TL tires though; they sound like a PITA:(
I was about to give up on it and send it back when I thought about putting some soapy water around the rim bead, this is something I don’t normally do because the tires normally slide into place ok but I thought it was worth a try, so I did it and the tire inflated first time! I guess the tire was not too loose but for whatever reason it seemed easier for the tire to vent the air than overcome the friction of sliding into place.
Not saying this is the case for you or that your tire isn’t too loose. But if you aren’t applying soapy water to the rim bead it is for sure worth a try.
I would consider this best practice. It helps the tires go on easier. It helps the air to ‘catch’ the tire and fill it. It requires less air pressure to seat the beads. Less air pressure is going to lessen the chance of a blowout. Dry tire beads sometimes tear rim tape when seating and cause large or slow leaks that can be difficult because you JUST saw good rim tape.
A spray bottle with a very soapy solution is handy. Spin the wheel, spray a few times with the sprayer, then put your tire on.
Specific to the loose beads, that is just not a tire I would use. I have seen and heard enough Compass/Rene Hearse blowoffs to know that loose beads can be troublesome. Panaracer makes those tires and you can find Gravel Kings blowoff claims fairly easily too. It’s also what happened with non tubeless specific tires being used tubeless before it was more standardized. The beads weren’t as tight.
Prior gravel tire was a TL Terreno Mix. I literally could seat it on the same rim with a floor/track pump with that tire when I set those up. They wore out and I went for the Gravelking in a 35mm.
It felt oddly loose going on the rim, a tubeless ready rim with tape. It’s so loose, a ton of air leaks by the tire as you try to pop it on. The bead even looks a bit “small” compared to the Vittoria I had before. Almost more like a clincher. The tire pack and tire sidewall explicitly states tubeless.
I’d rather not put a whole roll of tape on the rim to make it tighter, as it feels like I’d have to put a LOT on the rim to make this thing work.
Anybody have issues with a gravel TL tire that’s too loose going on versus too tight? I thought TL tires should be really tight, and really need to “pop” onto the shoulder and seat. Also, it’s almost like there’s no way this thing will stay seated once on the shoulder. The bead literally looks like a clincher bead. It’s NOT a hookless, as it says it can be run clincher.
I’m using an air compressor with the valve stem removed at like 90psi and air just rushes around the rim bed/tire. Whereas that Terreno sat on the rim bed well enough I literally just pumped it on with a floor pump. I’ve tried on both a Velocity A23 tubeless rim (a popular cyclocross rim) and another. Both this thing is SUPER loose. Like it would take a pile of rim tape to build it up tighter. The Vittoria bead is like twice as bulky, the tire that seated with a simple floor pump.
Suggestions?
I may email Gravelking as the bead on this thing just looks way way too small.
The one thing I found that always works is taking out the valve core and using an open hose connected to the compressor. That way you get max airflow quickly into the tire. This has never failed me even with very loose beaded MTB tires. Just went through it mounting some Schwalbe g-one tires.
My go to is just add one or two more layers of tape
mounting a new Speed G 2.0 on my TT disc yesterday, had to do just that. Tape is inexpensive (if you buy on Amazon) and almost weightless. Simple solution with no real downside.
I must be lucky. First set of tubeless tires I ever tried were GK SK’s which I was able to get seated with a cheap track-pump. 2nd set were RH, one of which seated with the same cheap track pump, the other of which was a little reluctant with the pump, but seated right up with a CO2 shot.
I’ve just had a similar issue with a Gravel King SS on a rim. I finally got it to air up by putting the bead underneath the tubeless valve. This kept enough air in on the initial inrush from the compressor to push the bead into place. It held air very well after that. I sliced the tread area on my second ride and it would not seal, so I had to take it off to patch it. I had to do the same thing to remount it.