Unable to inflate new tubeless-ready tires

[shinobi111]

Hi all,

 

My first time posting here - unfortunately out of frustration so hoping somebody will be able to help me!! Only recently started biking so been building up a bike for the past few months. I decided that I would try out the whole tubeless thing - thought it might be the right time since i got new rims and tires about a week ago. I've been at it a couple of days now without any success whatsoever, regardless of what I tried. Just a quick list of what I'm working with:

• Signature AmXC 29" Wheels (http://www.loadedusa...c-29''/)
  
• Schwalbe Hans Dampf 2.35 Tires (http://www.chainreac...x?ModelID=83196)
  
• Stans / American Classic Rim Tape
  
• Stans NoTubes Sealant
  
• Lezyne Dirt Floor Drive Pump
  
• Fragram 24l compressor always on full blast
  
• CO2 bombs
  

So I've tried quite a few things, but I think it might be my lack of biking knowledge that's letting me down at the moment.

 

1. Installed the rim tape on the wheels, mounted the tire 3/4 of the way on the one side, added the sealant, fully mount, turned the wheel so the valve is at the top and inflate. Result: air comes rushing out between the tire and rim, no inflation. After a while when the stans accumulates at the bottom of the wheel - stans flies everywhere.

 

2. Mount tire 3/4 of the way on one side, add sealant, fully mount, turned wheel to valve at top, brush with soapy water between tire and rim and inflate. Result: air comes out between the tire and rim - no clearly visible as large bubbles are forming all over the place, no inflation. Again, stans all over the place, this time including my face.

 

At this point I read that you should actually try and do a pre-inflation without the stans just to see if the tyre will seat properly. Apparently it should be possible to temporarily inflate the tire to a seated position without it sealing 100%. This is great news cause now I could clean the mess and stop wasting the stans!!

 

3. Mount tire, add soapy water to bead, manually and carefully try and get the tire as close to the rim using a combination of fingers and tire-levers, inflate. Result: air still making nice big bubbles but no inflation. Luckily no stans this time. Repeat mixing some of my available options....

 

 

Basically a few iterations and combinations of the above techniques is what I tried, remove the valve core, bombs ect... Could probably continue explaining a few of the other utter failures, but my fingers are still hurting from last nights attempt to pry the tire close to the rim. I've accepted the fact that this boils down to incompetence / lack of knowledge. There must be something fundamental that I'm doing wrong, a step that I'm missing or perhaps an industry "trick" for stubborn tires if this is such a case. One thing that I did notice, it seems like after fitting the tire on the rim, it's very loose (in the sense that the inner diameter of the tire is slightly larger than the outer diameter of the rim platform), and loose the other way (in the sense that the bead is sitting away from the rims walls). Not sure if this makes a difference?

 

Any help would obviously be very much appreciated.

 

Regards,

Armand.

[Wannabe]

Armand. Welcome to the wonderfull world of cycling, and to the HUB (hope you have a thick skin / does not easily take exception)

 

Look on Youtube. There is quite a few very informative videos that will show you what to (or not) to do.

Enjoy and best of luck.

[shinobi111]

Thanks for the reply and and kind words!!

 

Believe me, i've been all over the place. Youtube (continental, schwalbe, stans official channels, as well as user tutorials), random blogs and tutorials, manufacturers sites , tech sheets - the works.

 

Was kinda hoping another hubber - as I see they're called - has had a similar experience and had the issue resolved somehow. Could it be that the rims tires doesn't match, or perhaps like I mentioned and old hand that knows how to sort out a stubborn tire.

 

Thanks anyways

[Bianchi]

How we used to do it at the shop, was to take the tyre to the garage and pump it using their compressors... first we'd make sure the tyre is seated nicely, etc. The sudden massive rush of air should fill the tyre and seal it, but it's not a perfect science... sometimes it does take a few attempts, even with compressors.

[Ibicam]

My 2cents worth is that your compressor may not be sufficient to force the air in quickly enough.

You could try using a CO2 bomb or else at a garage with a presta/schreuder converter if necessary.

 

To seat some tyres initially you need a real burst of air to pop it in place. By the sounds of things, if the air is escaping between the tyre and rim, that is the case.

[Wil6]

I forgot my adap

How we used to do it at the shop, was to take the tyre to the garage and pump it using their compressors... first we'd make sure the tyre is seated nicely, etc. The sudden massive rush of air should fill the tyre and seal it, but it's not a perfect science... sometimes it does take a few attempts, even with compressors.

I forgot my adapter at home that I use on the compressor when I checked the sealant in my tires at work.Well long story short I used my CO2 bombs and it worked.No idea why your tires won't seal.Good luck

[Mountainman44]

How we used to do it at the shop, was to take the tyre to the garage and pump it using their compressors... first we'd make sure the tyre is seated nicely, etc. The sudden massive rush of air should fill the tyre and seal it, but it's not a perfect science... sometimes it does take a few attempts, even with compressors.

As Bianchi says, not an exact science, and but I always have success with a compressor as long as it has enough pressure to really kick the tyre into place. If not, you can spend hours trying to get the tyre to seat.

Good luck!

[Eldron]

Some things that helped me:

 

Don't let the wheel stand on the floor - it deforms the tyre at the bottom and allows bigger openings for the air to escape. I hang mine on a hook in the garage so the tyre is uniform all the way around.

Mostly I find the air comes out at the valve area - I normally open the air (I have a compressor) then pull and push the tyre left and right at the valve until the whooshing sound is quietest. Normally it's during that process that the tyre seals and pops into place.

The soapy water needs to be very soapy - I mix dish washing liquid and water about 50/50 - a fewq teaspoons of each and spray on with a garden spray goodie. As it dries it becomes quite tacky. I usully spray it on an wait a few minutes before inflating - the tackier the better.

 

Some combinations just don't work - there have been some combinations that I've tried until I'm blue (and white from the sealant) in the face with no success. That said - I have about a 95% success rate... Some combinations are piss easy - American Classic rims and Ritchey Shields I use no soapy solution and inflate with a floor pump.

 

Usually the tighter the rim/tyre fit the easier it is to seat. If you can slip the tyre over the rim with minimal finger pressure you are going to *** to get it to seal.

 

Thats about it...

 

If you are in the east rand area give me a call and you're welcome to use my compressor and experience...

[shinobi111]

#Bianchi - When you say "first we'd make sure the tire is seated nicely" - what do you mean by that? I've seen that tubeless tires(which to my understanding is different to the tubeless-ready tires) has a fat rim just above the bead which people almost pull up onto the rim before inflation. This makes total sense to me cause it minimizes the chances or air escaping between the rim and tire once you inflate. I've tried this only once with my tire, but as far as I could gather the tire that i'm using does not have this "shoulder". It can either go inside the rim, or outside the rim. There is nothing "in between" if you know what I mean? Or am I missing something?

 

#Ibicam - My compressor can do about 120psi - but i'll go and try the garage compressor tonight and see if it makes a difference, not sure what those garages ones put out. CO2 bomb i've tried with no result. Think the main problem is the fact that the tire isn't close enough to the rim yes - but not sure how to fix that.

[Eldron]

The sudden massive rush of air should fill the tyre and seal it,

 

A good reminder...

 

I used to use an inflator with a trigger for seating tubeless (like an air gun attachment) but found that while the pressure was high there wasn't enough volume.

 

Now I have just a hose that I attach directly to the compressor and use the valve on the compressor to open and close the air. The flow/volume is way higher and seating to swearing ratio is MUCH better.

[Wayne Booysen]

Take the wheel to a bike shop and see how it's done!

 

You should be on your bike enjoying the ride.

[Mountainman44]

My 2cents worth is that your compressor may not be sufficient to force the air in quickly enough.

You could try using a CO2 bomb or else at a garage with a presta/schreuder converter if necessary.

 

To seat some tyres initially you need a real burst of air to pop it in place. By the sounds of things, if the air is escaping between the tyre and rim, that is the case.

He is running 29 X 2.35 tyres and CO2 bombs are not always reliably powerful enough to seat larger tyres like this due to the larger volume in the tyre. Also not sure of all bombs are created equal? I have had bombs that would just barely properly inflate a large 26er wheras others seem to do a better job....

[shinobi111]

Some things that helped me:

 

Don't let the wheel stand on the floor - it deforms the tyre at the bottom and allows bigger openings for the air to escape. I hang mine on a hook in the garage so the tyre is uniform all the way around.

Mostly I find the air comes out at the valve area - I normally open the air (I have a compressor) then pull and push the tyre left and right at the valve until the whooshing sound is quietest. Normally it's during that process that the tyre seals and pops into place.

The soapy water needs to be very soapy - I mix dish washing liquid and water about 50/50 - a fewq teaspoons of each and spray on with a garden spray goodie. As it dries it becomes quite tacky. I usully spray it on an wait a few minutes before inflating - the tackier the better.

 

Some combinations just don't work - there have been some combinations that I've tried until I'm blue (and white from the sealant) in the face with no success. That said - I have about a 95% success rate... Some combinations are piss easy - American Classic rims and Ritchey Shields I use no soapy solution and inflate with a floor pump.

 

Usually the tighter the rim/tyre fit the easier it is to seat. If you can slip the tyre over the rim with minimal finger pressure you are going to *** to get it to seal.

 

Thats about it...

 

If you are in the east rand area give me a call and you're welcome to use my compressor and experience...

 

I'll give your secret mixture a go. I'm currently using about 1-5 ratio for the soapy water. The tire is quite loose yes - i've heard that you can add more layers of tape inside the rim in order to bring the tire closer in effectively. Thanks for your tips.

[shinobi111]

A good reminder...

 

I used to use an inflator with a trigger for seating tubeless (like an air gun attachment) but found that while the pressure was high there wasn't enough volume.

 

Now I have just a hose that I attach directly to the compressor and use the valve on the compressor to open and close the air. The flow/volume is way higher and seating to swearing ratio is MUCH better.

 

Good point. Pressure high but not enough volume could make a difference. LOL on the seating to swearing ratio - can relate!!

[DJ84]

Thank goodness i have never had this problem.

XT rims, Continental Mt Kings Tubeless and a dual action hand pump and i get it done.

 

I agree with Eldron about not letting the tyre rest.

also try pinching the tyre to the rim on one side.

[shinobi111]

He is running 29 X 2.35 tyres and CO2 bombs are not always reliably powerful enough to seat larger tyres like this due to the larger volume in the tyre. Also not sure of all bombs are created equal? I have had bombs that would just barely properly inflate a large 26er wheras others seem to do a better job....

 

Yeah, got an over sized one from my brother, but basically the rush of air wasn't enough to push the tire out. Would have been nice if I considered the fact that the thing was going to get so bloody cold!! Was my first time using one of these and afterwards was stuck to my hand. Haha.