As the title states. After faffing about with tubeless tires a bit last week I’ve decided to stick with clinchers and latex tubes for this season.
None. Works great.
I used the bontrager stuff for a few years and was happy with it. Some of the small bottles it came in dried out last year and so I bought a big 32oz thing of orange seal. Seems fine. Haven’t put it to the test though.
Orange Seal and have loved it. Dries out a bit faster living in low humidity Colorado, but I’m fine replacing my tubes twice or thrice a year.
I do have a bunch of valve cores on hand to easily swap out in case the sealant clogs up the core. Then, I’ll just clean the clogged one and keep it as another spare.
Sure, it’s a bit more maintenance, but the piece of mind is worth it to me. Plus, the sealant does help to slow the natural air leak of latex.
As the title states. After faffing about with tubeless tires a bit last week I’ve decided to stick with clinchers and latex tubes for this season.
IME, sealant in latex is really only effective at creating additional “snake-bite” flat protection from hard edge impacts…for punctures, it’s not really been that effective for me (I was using Orange Seal)…and in one instance, the “lubricating” effect of the sealant seemed to actually make the puncture worse.
Running sealant also seems to degrade the tubes quicker…I only got one season out of a set up Challenge tubes I had sealant installed in.
For those reasons, I don’t bother with sealant in latex tube setups…
If you decide to use sealant, I would think something latex- based would work the best.
If you decide to use sealant, I would think something latex- based would work the best.
Downside to using latex based sealant in latex tubes is the tendency for the sealant to glue the inner walls of the tube together if you let it lose air completely for an extended time period. Have seen this happen quite frequently with cyclocross tubulars which tend to sit in a closet for months at a time. Less of a problem with road/tri setups, but still something to be aware of.
None. Works great.
+1
2 full seasons of racing, still in the same set of tubes.
(Use a different wheelset for training)
While I haven’t used it, Finish Line has just come out with a sealant that “does not dry up” which may make it great for applications in tubes and tubular tires.
I’ll probably grab some for the next CX season (CX in CO can be thorny).
If you were using latex sealant how often would you swap tubes? Any thoughts on using something like this: http://www.finishlineusa.com/products/tubeless-tire-sealant/sealant
If you were using latex sealant how often would you swap tubes? Any thoughts on using something like this: http://www.finishlineusa.com/...tire-sealant/sealant
Maybe every year?
Dunno about the Finish Line stuff…I want to see how it’s “viscous” behavior affects Crr before judging.
no sealant for me too… I change them out once a year just because.
While I haven’t used it, Finish Line has just come out with a sealant that “does not dry up” which may make it great for applications in tubes and tubular tires.
I’ll probably grab some for the next CX season (CX in CO can be thorny).
Have you or anybody else had success with the Finish Line sealant in latex or butyl road tubes? I got talked into buying some of the Finish Line stuff and I’m seeing mixed reviews. And I can’t find any reviews of people running it on 23 mm tires at 100+ psi.
As the title states. After faffing about with tubeless tires a bit last week I’ve decided to stick with clinchers and latex tubes for this season.
I ran sealant in latex tubes for about two years. Decided it’s not worth it.
As TomA indicates, it doesn’t seal anywhere near as well as sealant seals tubeless tires. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s just been my and others’ experience.
And because it doesn’t do all that great a job at sealing, all the negatives start to pile up. E.g. clogging valves stems if you forget to store your bike valves-up, mess if you do flat, throwing out latex tubes more often.
As the title states. After faffing about with tubeless tires a bit last week I’ve decided to stick with clinchers and latex tubes for this season.
I ran sealant in latex tubes for about two years. Decided it’s not worth it.
As TomA indicates, it doesn’t seal anywhere near as well as sealant seals tubeless tires. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s just been my and others’ experience.
And because it doesn’t do all that great a job at sealing, all the negatives start to pile up. E.g. clogging valves stems if you forget to store your bike valves-up, mess if you do flat, throwing out latex tubes more often.
Same…for training. I’ve been using Orange Seal. I’m probably 50/50 on whether it seals something or not. But, it certainly has all the downsides mentioned for daily riding. So, I’m going sans sealant in 2019 for training.
But, I’ll probably still use it for racing. Might as well use it and hope for the best. If it works, I don’t have to stop. If it doesn’t…its really no worse than if I’d left it out.
No sealant.
I’ll run new latex tubes for important races and old latex tubes are dedicated to training until puncture.
I’ve used Stans in latex tube tubulars and each time I have punctured it has sealed without stopping losing some pressure but still able to get me to the finish so I’ve always stuck with it.
As the title states. After faffing about with tubeless tires a bit last week I’ve decided to stick with clinchers and latex tubes for this season.
I ran sealant in latex tubes for about two years. Decided it’s not worth it.
As TomA indicates, it doesn’t seal anywhere near as well as sealant seals tubeless tires. I don’t know why, exactly. It’s just been my and others’ experience.
And because it doesn’t do all that great a job at sealing, all the negatives start to pile up. E.g. clogging valves stems if you forget to store your bike valves-up, mess if you do flat, throwing out latex tubes more often.
Reason is probably similar as to why pit stop doesn’t always work for a tire/tube combination whether it’s clincher or tubular. You potentially have two holes (one in the tire and one in the tube) compared to just one hole (in the tire) for tubeless.
I use vittoria latex tubes & Bontrager TLR sealant. I inly use them for my A races & have had at least one instance where the sealant prevented a complete flat from a puncture & allowed me to finish an Ironman bike leg at speed.
1 Like
awenborn wrote:
None. Works great.
Davejustdave wrote:
+1
2 full seasons of racing, still in the same set of tubes.
(Use a different wheelset for training)
——————————————————-
+2
3 seasons on the same latex tubes and tires (racing only, about 700 miles). No sealant. Season 4 coming up.
I use and like the TruckerCo Cream tire sealant… it’s a latex based sealant with rubber chunks in it. I use it mostly for my tubeless setups… road and mountain bike. https://www.truckerco.com/tire-sealant-retail
I’ve put it in my TT latex tubes but have not experienced a flat or puncture AFAIK. People do raise some valid arguments… one plus is that the latex tubes do seem to loose less air pressure with sealant in them… the bad is that you do have to keep up with the tubes/valves otherwise they can get gunked up and or tubes can glue themselves to each other if you deflate and/or let them get too flat.
I know my TT bike goes flat this time of year because it isn’t ridden and the tubes would be garbage if they had sealant in them.