Bicycles/Maintenance and Repair/Wheels and Tires/Fitting and Repair for Tubeless Ready Tyre on to Tubeless Ready Rim

Fitting and Repair for Tubeless Ready Tyre on to Tubeless Ready Rim

Fitting

Fit the tubeless tyre with an inner tube to the rim. Inflate with an inner tube so that both tyre beads are properly seated onto raised lip of rim. You will hear one or more "pops" as the bead locates onto the lip.

Lay the wheel on its side over a plastic bucket or pail so that the hub is inside the bucket and the rim is outside the bucket. This avoids putting the tyre onto the floor which may cause the tyre beads to become unseated. Keep the wheel on this bucket or pail during the following steps.

Deflate the tyre and carefully remove one side of the tyre and remove the inner tube. Take great care to ensure the bead on the other side of the tyre remains seated on the rim lip.

Fit the tubeless valve with an 'o' ring and tighten. Ensure the tubeless valve has a removable core for later insertion of sealant.

Replace the removed tyre side bead. It is unlikely the bead will seat onto the rim lip. This is due to the necessary tightness of the tyre bead and rim lip that is required for it to remain air-tight. If this is the case then let the loose tyre bead sit in the well of the rim.

Using a track pump rapidly inflate the tyre. The loose bead may seat onto the rim lip with some loud pops. If it does not seat then use a soapy lubricant such as Muc-Off by spraying this around the outside edge of the loose bead and allow it to run down the outside tyre wall. This acts as a lubricant to help the tyre bead over the rim lip and also offers a small amount of air-tightness to help the inflation. Using a track pump again rapidly inflate the tyre. The loose bead may seat onto the rim lip with some loud pops. If not then look around the loose bead for any areas where the tyre bead is kinked or is located well away from the rim lip. Use a plastic tyre lever to gently lift that part of the tyre bead onto the rim lip. The goal here is to minimize the gaps between the loose tyre bead and the rim lip to minimise the air loss during pumping. Using a track pump again rapidly inflate the tyre. The loose bead may seat onto the rim lip with some loud pops. If not then visit your Local Bike Shop that has a high pressure burst mode tubeless pump. These work by pressurising an air chamber and rapidly sending that high pressure air into the tyre. This will usually result in the loose bead seating onto the rim.

With the tyre inflated remove the wheel from the bucket and fit to the bicycle. Ensure the bicycle is upside down or held in a bicycle stand to ensure the tyre does not become unseated by being pressed into the floor.

Gently deflate the tyre ensuring the tyre beads remain seated. Remove the valve core. Using a narrow nozzle or narrow funnel or injector, pour the manufacturer's recommended quantity of sealant through the valve stem. Position the valve stem at 7 o-clock position to avoid sealant leaking back up the valve stem.

Replace the valve core. Spin the tyre to distribute sealant. Inflate the tyre to the recommended pressure. Remove the wheel and for both sides hold horizontally to distribute the sealant around the tyre side walls.

Replace the wheel and ride.

Note that after the first few rides the air pressure may reduce slightly as the sealant plugs any small holes.

Repair

You may be unfortunate and suffer punctures whose size is too large for the sealant to seal. While riding you will probably hear that you have a puncture as the escaping air and sealant will make a loud "hissing" sound as the wheel rotates. The sealant should seal the puncture within a few wheel revolutions. If it does not and the "hissing" sound continues, you should stop before you lose all the sealant from the tyre. If you continue riding you may find that insufficient sealant remains for method 1 (below) to provide a permanent seal.

You have three choices:

1) Use tyre plugs to attempt a repair while the tyre remains fitted and while the tyre contains its sealant:

These are sticky rubber strings that can be inserted into the hole using a special insertion tool. Apply a little patch adhesive to the "plug" and press the "plug" into the hole so that a small part of the plug is visible on the outside. Cut off that small visible fragment and inflate the tyre. The plug should reduce the hole size for the sealant to seal. If the tyre will not retain pressure and there are no more punctures then you may need to add more sealant to replace any that may have been lost during riding. If the plug does not seal the puncture then it must be patched.

2) Remove the tyre and sealant and repair using special tubeless tyre patches:

Mark the location of the hole using something permanent such as nail polish. Remove the tyre. Wash the sealant from the tyre using water and a gentle brush. Abraid the inside of the tyre where the hole is using emery paper or sand paper. Clean the area where the hole is using brake cleaner. Abraid again using emery paper or sand paper. Wipe off any dust with a clean cloth. Leave to dry. Apply the tubeless patches following the manufacture's recommended procedure. This normally involves applying patch adhesive and leaving it to thoroughly dry before applying the patch. Leave to dry according the to manufacturer's instructions. Refit the tyre following the Fitting procedure above.

3) Replace the tyre:

Your local bike shop will love you. Fit the new tyre following the Fitting procedure above.