When did you last check how much tire sealant you have left in your mountain bike’s tubeless tires? Six months ago? Longer?
See, the mountain bike tubeless tire system is great, but because the sealant solution works by sealing punctures from inside your tire, you don’t actually know most of the time what’s happening in there.
Which means, you don’t know how much tire sealant is being used up over time and how much you have left in there right now.
In addition, temperature, tubeless sealant quality, tire quality, how much sealant is absorbed by the tire, and any slow leaks in your valves, wheelsets or tubeless conversion kit can also affect how much sealant has been used up or dried up inside your tire.
So, perform the check before your next race. The few minutes spent could mean you’ll ride the whole race, instead of walk to the finish with a flat tire because you didn’t know you had low or no sealant.
The Check
Perform this tubeless check before your next race to ensure you’re racing with the right amount of tubeless tire sealant:
Simply pop a section of your tubeless tires off their beads and check how much sealant is left swimming in the bottom of the tire. If there’s not enough, top it up. Stan’s NoTubes Tire Sealant recommended quantities. Failure to do so could have you walking to the finish. But,
Before You Go Checking
Ensure you have spare tire sealant ready to use, so that if the level is low, you’ll be able to top it up. Finding low sealant without spare on hand could make it difficult to pump the tire back up to ride to the shop and get some!
And remember to perform the check every three to six months, or whenever you see…
Signs that Your Sealant Level might be Getting Low
- having to pump up your tubeless tires a few psi before each ride
- sealant leaking at the bead (between the tire and the rim) or from other sections of the tire
- excessive sealant solution spray on your bike, or a flat tire!
Stan’s NoTubes Tire Sealant recommended quantities:
- small tires of 1.0 to 1.8 inch width – use 2/3 scoop per tire
- 1.9 to 2.0 sized tire – use 1 to 1 1/2 scoops (2 oz or 60 grams) per tire
- larger tires and downhill tires – use 2 scoops per tire
1 scoop equals 63 cubic centimetres
