The Cyclists/ebikers

Cold feet lee who comes out with us on the gravel bikes is also handy on a MTB

 

28 miles to the Codford cafe for coffee and cake, very pleasant.

 

That makes my bones creak, just looking at it

 

A&E nurse....'Usual bed Gary'...

 

I know ! He's 46 yrs old . I get giddy bumping off the kerb these days .

 

Cleaned out the old sealant in my nice Ribble gravel bike in readiness for using it in better weather, wishful thinking I reckon. Tyres went on fine and blew up tubeless first time 10 mins job.
The old winter/commuter pinnacle bike has had tubes in since fitting winter tyres and I've had 3 punctures in 2 weeks. Enough of that so set that up tubeless again . What a pain , sealant leaking and tyres not sealing. Cheap shit rims ,hours in the garage messing about just checked them and they have stayed up overnight and all day so should be good for the ride to work tomorrow.

 

Tubeless has always struck me as being more of a kerfuffle than it's worth, either in the setting up of, or the ongoing maintenance. Certainly on a road bike.
On the surface it does look impressive seeing a puncture instantly self seal, but the prior investment in time, money and faffery seems to negate this.
What's your thoughts as a long term user?

 

It strikes me that most sport is going this way. Greedy feckers!

 

I think Kraftwerk missed a trick there, although it doesn't roll off the tongue as easily

 

I ve been tubeless for about 3 years on my Ribble which has decent carbon rims and I've never had a puncture or a problem with it tubeless. When I took the tyres off there were 2 tiny thorns in the tyre that had sealed that I didn't even know about . I'm a fan for using it on the gravel bike. I think good rims and tyres help. 10 mins to do both wheels , tyres popped onto the beads instantly, job done .

 

I use a compromise ...tubes with sealant..Had a few punchers and after a quick pump up sealed up and got home no problems...only issue with em is the sealant go's a bit lumpy after a few years and throws the balance out

 

Riding a Mountain bike in Lincolnshire (its not as flat as you think, about 100 feet of climbing per mile is possible on a 15 to 30 mile ride on the Wolds) most of the available off-road routes are along the margins of arable farmland which is more often than not bordered by Hawthorn and Blackthorn hedgerows so we run tubeless all the time.
Set-up is not too much of a faff, except with New tyres which which are sometimes reluctant to seat properly, so I stick a tube in overnight and inflate hard, to let them take shape, then remove the tube, inflate using a compressor without the valve core, to seat the beads, it does help to lubricate them with soapy water or the stuff tyre fitters use. Use levers to undo a short section of the bead on one side, insert sealant, re-seat the bead using a compressor, replace the valve core and inflate to required pressure. some porosity in the sidewalls may require re-inflation over a ride or two untill they are fully coated internally. Rocks to cause dented rims are a very rare sight around these parts.

 

Modest 25 mile season opener up to the Cotswold Water Park.