stratus5 Posted March 29, 2011 Share The valve on my tubeless setup was leaking. No rim strips, but a stans rim tape and a tubless valve. I fixed the leaking valve problem and then put the tire back on with new Stans sealant. Pumped the tire to 4 bar (4.5 max specified on sidewall).I was working on odds and ends, so put the wheel in the back of my double cab bakkie ... Five minutes later there is a moerse bang. I think half the neighborhood shat them selves ... I did The wife came running, and I had a new hairstyle courtesy of the Stans that was now an expensive styling gel. The bakkie's canopy contained the mess . Not sure if that was a good thing, but it was a smaller area to clean up. The tire is a foldable Continental Race king (Not UST) with about 120 km done. The bead has failed. I guess its some sort of kevlar cord, but it has snapped leaving about six inches of tire with no bead. I have never seen or heard of this type of failure before? Normally the tire does not seat correctly and then blows off if overinflated. This tire had seated perfectly. I had spun it a few times to check that the tread was running straight etc and it was perfect. My rim is still fine. When I first put the new tire on, I had Stans rubber rim strips. These were a bit thick and it made the tire hard to fit, so a fair amount of leverage with a tire lever was required to get the tire on. It ran fine though. I was worried that I might not be able to get the tire off if I had a problem off road, so changed the setup to use rim tape. The tire fitted very easily now. No tire lever required and I did about 80 km before needing to fix the leaking valve. After fixing the valve, I only needed strong finger pressure to get the tire back on the rim. I can only guess that either the tire had a fault, or I damaged it by using too much leverage when it was first fitted when new. Not sure if there is anything to be learned other than to be careful when fitting a tire that is too tight as that may cause it to fail. If the bead is kevlar, it hates being bent, so buying it all tightly folded up may also have damaged the bead? I will take the tire back to the LBS and hopefully Continental can replace it. Regardless of how tight a tire is, I dont think the bead should ever fail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brad890 Posted March 29, 2011 Share The valve on my tubeless setup was leaking. No rim strips, but a stans rim tape and a tubless valve. I fixed the leaking valve problem and then put the tire back on with new Stans sealant. Pumped the tire to 4 bar (4.5 max specified on sidewall).I was working on odds and ends, so put the wheel in the back of my double cab bakkie ... Five minutes later there is a moerse bang. I think half the neighborhood shat them selves ... I did The wife came running, and I had a new hairstyle courtesy of the Stans that was now an expensive styling gel. The bakkie's canopy contained the mess . Not sure if that was a good thing, but it was a smaller area to clean up. The tire is a foldable Continental Race king (Not UST) with about 120 km done. The bead has failed. I guess its some sort of kevlar cord, but it has snapped leaving about six inches of tire with no bead. I have never seen or heard of this type of failure before? Normally the tire does not seat correctly and then blows off if overinflated. This tire had seated perfectly. I had spun it a few times to check that the tread was running straight etc and it was perfect. My rim is still fine. When I first put the new tire on, I had Stans rubber rim strips. These were a bit thick and it made the tire hard to fit, so a fair amount of leverage with a tire lever was required to get the tire on. It ran fine though. I was worried that I might not be able to get the tire off if I had a problem off road, so changed the setup to use rim tape. The tire fitted very easily now. No tire lever required and I did about 80 km before needing to fix the leaking valve. After fixing the valve, I only needed strong finger pressure to get the tire back on the rim. I can only guess that either the tire had a fault, or I damaged it by using too much leverage when it was first fitted when new. Not sure if there is anything to be learned other than to be careful when fitting a tire that is too tight as that may cause it to fail. If the bead is kevlar, it hates being bent, so buying it all tightly folded up may also have damaged the bead? I will take the tire back to the LBS and hopefully Continental can replace it. Regardless of how tight a tire is, I dont think the bead should ever fail. LOL sorry i have to laugh, had exactly the same thing happen with me, and a rocket ron performance tire, as in your case i also pumped it up pretty hard then heard the most spectacular BANG, and instantly had my small rez rooms roof and curtains redecorated with joes as well as my hair and face (does not wash out of hair easy) lol needless to say the tire needed to be chucked. so what i've now learnt is use lots of soapy water to get it to seat easier and once its seated dont keep inflating it lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gummibear Posted March 29, 2011 Share Pumped the tire to 4 bar (4.5 max specified on sidewall). Why on earth was it pumped so hard and left like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTB_Roadie Posted March 29, 2011 Share I was working on odds and ends, so put the wheel in the back of my double cab bakkie ... Five minutes later there is a moerse bang. I think half the neighborhood shat them selves ... I did The wife came running, and I had a new hairstyle courtesy of the Stans that was now an expensive styling gel. HAHAHAHA!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratus5 Posted March 29, 2011 Share Why on earth was it pumped so hard and left like that? It always leaks a bit at first until the Stans has found all the holes etc. It usually stabilises round the 2 bar mark ... I ride with the front at 2 bar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ti guy Posted March 29, 2011 Share Funny story! You might have damaged the bead when you used the tyre lever, it has happened before. But I suggest you get Conti involved; Ray [head of Conti Bicycle in SA] is very helpful, although he is at the Epic presently. One suggestion however: next time try SLUDGE in your tyres instead of Stans or Joe's. Sludge has 2 [actually 3] products on the market: the bombproof Uniseal [yellow bottle] and the All Terrain [white bottle]. I raced the Outback MTB Xperience recently and not a single rider on Sludge punctured. The 2 Multivan Merida pro teams that were there and who are now in the top 5 positions in the Epic were so impressed with the product that they started using it there and then. After 2 of them punctured on Day 1 on the Outback, they continued to race the rest of the event without punctures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gummibear Posted March 29, 2011 Share It always leaks a bit at first until the Stans has found all the holes etc. It usually stabilises round the 2 bar mark ... I ride with the front at 2 bar. Ok,what do you inflate them with? Do you use some soapie water to help them seat properly? Edited March 29, 2011 by gummibear Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted March 29, 2011 Share Just did the same conversion, the same way, with the same tyres and with Stans on Mavic rims. I can say it wasnt to hard to get the tyres to seat(soapy water) and pumped the first time, they did go flat after three days, but that was cause I was away and couldn't top it up. When I did it again, I added a little extra Stans, bombed them and voila. I didn't bomb them all the way hard, but rather pumped them with a foot pump to about 3 bar, and they have been that way for over a week or so, very little if any air loss. No explosions. I can only assume it was the tyre levers that have done something to the bead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratus5 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Ok,what do you inflate them with? Do you use some soapie water to help them seat properly? With the rubber rim strips on the DT swiss 430 rims, the fit is really tight and they are easy to pump up. Normal floor pump can do the trick, but the tire seldom seats nicely even with soapy water... always a wobble in the tread. With the rim tape the tire is really loose. I take the floor pump rubber hose off ... I have a scuba tank that I press the floor pump rubber hose extension against. Lots of air escapes, but then you really dont want to put 200 bar in your tire With the valve partially opened and pressing as hard as I can, I can get the tire to about three bar, but in the initial stages there is plenty enough air to seat the tire. Tire seats immediately and sits true. Once the tire has seated I then use the floor pump. I also have a small compressor that does the trick. Compressor pressure set to 2 bar. I have run tubeless for a while. Had the same problem with the Maxxis crossmarks being too tight with the rubber rim strip. Changed them over to rim tape without any issues. They seem a much stiffer tire compared to the road king at the same pressure. The road king seems to roll easier, but that could just be in my head as the ride is more comfortable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratus5 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Funny story! You might have damaged the bead when you used the tyre lever, it has happened before. But I suggest you get Conti involved; Ray [head of Conti Bicycle in SA] is very helpful, although he is at the Epic presently. One suggestion however: next time try SLUDGE in your tyres instead of Stans or Joe's. Sludge has 2 [actually 3] products on the market: the bombproof Uniseal [yellow bottle] and the All Terrain [white bottle]. I raced the Outback MTB Xperience recently and not a single rider on Sludge punctured. The 2 Multivan Merida pro teams that were there and who are now in the top 5 positions in the Epic were so impressed with the product that they started using it there and then. After 2 of them punctured on Day 1 on the Outback, they continued to race the rest of the event without punctures. Thanks ... I think the LBS has sludge, but its green? Will check it out today at lunch. I have a sludge filled tubes on my commuter, which is an old Gary Fisher MTB. The green goo really seems to plug holes quickly. Sometimes a little too quickly .. like the valves. When a tire wears out, small sidewall tear or bubbles on my race MTB it gets donated to the commuter, which is why it has tubes ... and tire liners. No puncture problems, but it is damn heavy and the tyres dont roll well over bumpy ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilipV Posted March 30, 2011 Share I had a spectacular rim failure when seating tubeless once. Bakkie and my cousin coated in stans. I hope conti sorts you out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted March 30, 2011 Share I had a spectacular rim failure when seating tubeless once. Bakkie and my cousin coated in stans. I hope conti sorts you out. Why is this a Conti problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJR Posted March 30, 2011 Share Was taking a break on top of Tokai single track once, just sitting and admiring the great view, when suddenly there was a moerse bang. The last time I heard that noise someone was shooting at me and it was no fun. So I hit the deck ASAP while the other guy looks around bewildered. Turned out his tubeless conversion blew a hole the size of a 20c piece in the sidewall. Still fell a bit silly about my reaction, but thats instinct for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stratus5 Posted March 30, 2011 Share Just did the same conversion, the same way, with the same tyres and with Stans on Mavic rims. I can say it wasnt to hard to get the tyres to seat(soapy water) and pumped the first time, they did go flat after three days, but that was cause I was away and couldn't top it up. When I did it again, I added a little extra Stans, bombed them and voila. I didn't bomb them all the way hard, but rather pumped them with a foot pump to about 3 bar, and they have been that way for over a week or so, very little if any air loss. No explosions. I can only assume it was the tyre levers that have done something to the bead. I have two Race kings and its only the one that has failed, the other is perfect. I have also not heard or read of anybody else having the bead fail/snap on a MTB tyre, so it might be pretty unusual. I will try and get the tire to the local Conti rep. Not because I expect a refund, but I would like them to check it out just in case its something that could endanger other cyclists. If excessive leverage is needed to get the tire on a rim, and this can cause the bead to fail, then perhaps a general warning from Continental is in order. Edited March 30, 2011 by stratus5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirtrider Posted March 30, 2011 Share Why is this a Conti problem? Read his mail again . The tyre is rated for more than what he inflated it to . Just maybe it had a faulty bead or something . It is always good practice to show this to the supplier , they also learn from **** like this and may even updates their instalation instructions or whatever . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerus Posted March 30, 2011 Share I have two Race kings and its only the one that has failed, the other is perfect. I have also not heard or read of anybody else having the bead fail/snap on a MTB tyre, so it might be pretty unusual. I will try and get the tire to the local Conti rep. Not because I expect a refund, but I would like them to check it out just in case its something that could endanger other cyclists. If excessive leverage is needed to get the tire on a rim, and this can cause the bead to fail, then perhaps a general warning from Continental is in order. Furry Muff Its now giving me some doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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