So race coming up in couple weeks and I was due to for tire replacement, decided to up the ante with some fast race-day tires, specifically Vittoria Corsa Speed 2.0 TLR on my Flo 60/90 carbon race wheels. My understanding is these could work just fine with a tube but with a small RR penalty. I decided I would follow the mantra of nothing new on race day, didn’t want to mess with goop as a newbie and the like, so was planning on rolling with latex tubes. I had an absolute bear of a time getting the tires to seat properly - I would have 5 cm stretch where the bead would roll in and just wouldn’t pop in the grove. I triple checked the rim tape being centered, and tried to over-inflate a bit, no luck. Finally, on the third or so attempt of soaking the bead with soap and water I got them in and I have both all mounted fine up now. I know the rim-bead interface is lower tolerance for TLR’s by design, but that was a pain. My experience with this at home makes me a little worried about dealing with a field puncture. I doubt I can get it slotted in quickly without soap/water…
If a tube change is required, is it ok if I run with the bead not perfectly in the groove for a small stretch just to finish the race? Do you all have other tips to make this less troublesome? Was considering a bit of petroleum jelly down on the bead, but thought better of it being right next to the brake track, and you know, would rather keep the tire on the rim in the first place.
Had I known it was going to be this bothersome I would have gone with GP5000 with a regular bead.
I just run some sealant along the bead if it’s a new tire. I only get the “ping” of a seated bead with a brand new tire. Otherwise it’s just a pop.
Often the worry with tubeless is “how could I change this on the road!?” And I’m sure I’ll get shredded for saying this…but the setup penalty is offset by the fact that you should really only have to put a tube in it unless you catastrophically shred your tire.
Personally, I carry one tube when I’m out training just in case I’m 60 miles from home and something really bad happens. Otherwise I use some cheap plugs. When i’m racing I just carry a dynaplug. I figure if something so bad happens during a race that a plug wouldn’t fix it, then I’ve damage my tire beyond repair and my race is over anyway or I’m waiting for a sag wagon. If I was doing a full I would probably carry a tube.
Only once in years of riding tubeless have I ever had to put a tube in a wheel on a road. And that was actually during a gravel ride where a piece of logging rock literally sliced my tire in half.
One other piece of advice I give people for tubeless who have trouble getting tires on. Make sure you’re putting the valve part of the tire on last. I used to struggle all the time until I figured that out. Now I can slide most tires on pretty easily.
Make no mistake - and don’t let anyone tell you any different - setting up tubeless is a pain in the rear. Others will disagree, but I think the setup cost is worth the benefits.
I figured one option would be to just suck it up and run it properly tubeless, which I suppose mitigates the worry of needing to unseat/reseat the bead in a majority of cases. Still, for my situation today that is good news guess that ping is just from the first installation and maybe the second time most likely will easier. According to the reply above you, I don’t need to worry about it fully seated too (when running a tube).
Indeed. If you ride it around a bit and pop off the tire, it’ll pop into place a lot easier the second time…especially if you use CO2 to fill it back up.
As mentioned, if a small bit doesn’t snap in perfectly, don’t fret it. Just finish the race and fix it later.
Just curious…how much pressure did you put into the tire/tube before you deemed that was too much to keep trying? What would be the harm of continuing to pump until the bead fully pops in? I presume you can’t blow the tire off the rim if you haven’t even reached the pressure where the tire bead seats.
I think the highest I tried was about 120 PSI which is the manufacturer recommended limit for the flo rims. Actually split a tube open when I hit that.
You cannot split a tube unless it is trapped under the bead, and there in lies your problem that was making too hard to seat.
The fluid also acts as a lubricant so it seats easier with fluid.
Just curious…how much pressure did you put into the tire/tube before you deemed that was too much to keep trying? What would be the harm of continuing to pump until the bead fully pops in? I presume you can’t blow the tire off the rim if you haven’t even reached the pressure where the tire bead seats.
If the tire isn’t seating at the expected pressure then there would probably be a reason for it, like trapping the tube or something. So then if you just keep pumping it will blow off at some stage. It can be loud and you might be decorating something if you have sealant involved so I’d rather not do it given the choice. Really you should notice the tire deforming before you get to that point. Any sign of the tire bulging, even slightly, and I’d just let the air out, rethink and start again.
Just curious…how much pressure did you put into the tire/tube before you deemed that was too much to keep trying? What would be the harm of continuing to pump until the bead fully pops in? I presume you can’t blow the tire off the rim if you haven’t even reached the pressure where the tire bead seats.
If the tire isn’t seating at the expected pressure then there would probably be a reason for it, like trapping the tube or something. So then if you just keep pumping it will blow off at some stage. It can be loud and you might be decorating something if you have sealant involved so I’d rather not do it given the choice. Really you should notice the tire deforming before you get to that point. Any sign of the tire bulging, even slightly, and I’d just let the air out, rethink and start again.
He’s not using sealant and isn’t reporting any bulging…just that the bead won’t pop in. It’s pretty easy to see if you have a fold in the tube well before inflating. Could be his floor pump gauge is broken and he’s stopping at 50 psi. Which is why, unless something looks really wrong…I’d just keep pumping till it seats.