Tubless & snakebites

[Bos]

So I got new tires 2 weeks ago. As you might remember there have been Brazilions of tire threads of late and most of the votes whent to Maxxis Crossmarks for relieability and Mountainkings for Grip.

 

So- I did a thorough investigation and Got myself WTB Wolverenes. It is a 2.2 - 550g -  Race/AM tire and had many rave-reviews on forums elsewere. However I could not completely rest my thoughts of relieability as they didnt make the tire in UST version but only "armour bead" and some other Protective claim but it was the most expencive one they had.(not that It seems WTB actually make a UST tire)

 

Despite Shan wilson Saying these are very hard to get to seat on the rim It literally took me less than a minute to get "up". He should get some friends He did say he has raced them many times and loved them as they were very fast.

 

So all is well. I have been riding them on table mountain as well as Tokai forest and really fell in love with them, they hook up nicely and give great feedback as to when they are letting go when they eventually do (mabe one drawback of the crossmrk) Also work much better in the mud.

 

Yesterday I was comming down the Bridle path in Tokai when I hit "something" and Got what sounded like a snakebite/pinch flat front and rear.. I jumped at it and got both holes at the bottom so the stans would seal the holes but this was in despair and I was left with 2 flats and a puddle of stans at both ends..

 

I walked back up the trail to see what I could possibly have hit, saw many sharpish rocks but no "spike" of some sorts that I was hoping to find.

 

Have anyone had this experiance? Was It a "pinch" or do you think the rock could have actually pierced the casing by sheer force ?

 

I have a 5'' bike, ride aggresive yet smooth mostly. I had never had that in the 2-3 years I ran crossmarks, not even the plain non UST folding  that I ran till the sidewalls looked like my Levi Jeans on the front) and Im sure I have ridden many way more rocky trails at twice the speed.

 

So I hope this was a "isolated" occurance as It will sadden me  if these tires are that piss poor quality. and I had waisted  R800 as I will never go back to tubes and will not submit to poor equipment.

 

PS.. I finally put tubes in both and rode down the remainder of the trail. Just before the last switchback my chain snapped  Mabe I was just having payback for the last 3000km Ive had without even a puncture.

[splat]

That is quite an eventful ride! Luckily you ride with 2 spare tubes.

I also got a pinchflat/snakebike on my new Mountain King rear tyre on my second ride. Stans wouldnt fill it, so I patched it. Bit of a P.I.T.A. but it's holding.

 

I was dissapointed with the tyre as I didnt think I hit whatever I hit that hard. But then I saw the ding in the rim...

Stans didnt fill the hole which I didnt think was that bike - but it was right at the rim and I suppose its difficult for the Stans to get there and do its job.

[turtlek]

Dude that sounds like a rotten day out on the bike!!!! and hopefully yours was just an isolated case because shan even tried to persuade me to buy them a while back and was seriously contemplating it!!

[Bos]

Oh well, I will have to start carrying "plugs" with me as Im sure they would have done the Job..was very close to cutting a piece of my top off to try push it into the hole as I only had one tube ( an elderly gentleman sponsored me the other. thanks SIR. )

 

The joke is that I rode for about a year with a tube taped to the back of my seatpost when I took it off to clean onday and discovered Its a shrader valve and My rims are'nt even drilled for shraders.. haha luckly I hadnt punctured for yonks. so I took it off and was riding with no tools and no tubes .. I had that mutch faith in stuff.

 

So when I replaced the chain recently and got the new tires I thought its bound to happen..."murphy" you numbnut.. But I had been riding with tubes and tools since replacing the goods, so He didnt get the better of me..

 

The holes in mine was right in the middle of the tire, not even close to the sidwall..

 

One for thought.. I remember reading something about people putting glitter in the sealent to make it stop bigger holes.. your thoughts? SPLAT after your incident.. I think im going to try something like that.. I wonder if stans would disolve Polystyrene balls? cause that could help..

BOS10002009-04-28 01:46:39

[Brighter-Lights]

It's happen to my twice before.

Once down Bergplaas towards Doodsklip... that was from riding stupid hard over bad rocks and a 1.9 tyre... (hardtail) 

 

In January in Bruintjieshoogte race - Kenda Karma 2.0 DTC 450g, Anthem. Lasted the whole of a sick rocky downhill at speed... then as I approached the photographer at the bottom of the downhill on what appears to be no bad terrain, one loud BANG! and 2 holes... one in the middle of thread, one in the sidewall right next to the rim edge... had to put a tube in... Still surprized...but something pinched it right there where it appears to be smooth in the photo...

 

 

[Bos]

 DOODSKLIP   !!!

 

sh*t MAN!! I hate Issues.. thats why I ride what I ride.. nothing on there is supposed to break.. no carbon. just solid stuff..

 

Now I want to ask you BL You think this would have happened Had you been using crossmark LUST 's? 

 

You see I had become use to my bike being almost indestructable.. thus Im now riding lines that mortals would not attempt on anything but 6-8''  bikes..Rockgardens If Its lower than my front wheel I klap it.. thats the only rule I dont want to slow down!!! I suddenly feel one year old lying in a cott and want more milk !!! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!

 

 

[Brighter-Lights]

 

One for thought.. I remember reading something about people putting glitter in the sealent to make it stop bigger holes.. your thoughts?

 

I've done the glitter thing before... doesn't work... the glitter gets spread inside the tyre and ends up sticking to the rubber all over the place instead of being concentrated in the sealant... 

 

+ soon everything in your garage will have glitter on it, no matter how careful you are when replacing a tyre...  glitter sucks big time...  

 

Just go to your co-op an buy a haysack needle... grind the 'eye' in half so you have a little fork... cut the needle end off and slip over the plastic cover of a miniature file... Cut an old tube into 3mm to 5mm strips of 40mm long... plug your holes with that by putting the strip through your little fork... stretch the tube to thin it (like aiming a kettie) plug the hole and pull out... the tube will shrink back and sit very tightly...

 

Or if you want to be fancy... buy rope type plugs at Midas, cut them in half, rip them apart and make your own size plugs...

 

I've plugged an Air Light Python (the thin sidewall type) in the sidewall with a piece of tube and it's still lasting... go figure... !

Brighter-Lights2009-04-28 02:45:20

[Bos]

 

One for thought.. I remember reading something about people putting glitter in the sealent to make it stop bigger holes.. your thoughts?

 

I've done the glitter thing before... doesn't work... the glitter gets spread inside the tyre and ends up sticking to the rubber all over the place instead of being concentrated in the sealant... 

 

+ soon everything in your garage will have glitter on it' date=' no matter how careful you are when replacing a tyre...  glitter sucks big time...  

 

Just go to your co-op an buy a haysack needle... grind the 'eye' in half so you have a little fork... cut the needle end off and slip over the plastic cover of a miniature file... Cut an old tube into 3mm to 5mm strips of 40mm long... plug your holes with that by putting the strip through your little fork... stretch the tube to thin it (like aiming a kettie) plug the hole and pull out... the tube will shrink back and sit very tightly...

 

Or if you want to be fancy... buy rope type plugs at Midas, cut them in half, rip them apart and make your own size plugs...

 

I've plugged an Air Light Python (the thin sidewall type) in the sidewall with a piece of tube and it's still lasting... go figure... !

[/quote']

 

Thank you brother.. Much appreciated.. I dig getting behind the reasoning of things and then Doing my own thing - like I think you do, I hate following blindly..I get what you meen .. glitter sux.. haha Especially when your wife find some on you when you get home from the bar..

 

I will try the Tube thing and when I go to midas next time I might get some plugs from them and then tear them apart.

 

I like the Plug fork.. haha nice one

[IdeJongh]

Ironic post, Im riding xmarks with tubes but this is what happened -

 

Been riding with hardtail bike for ~800km with no puncture until last week, where I bashed over some sharp rocks getting a cut in the side wall.  I figured it was bound to happen, so didnt stress much.

 

Got my new full sus bike on Friday and went riding, saturday went well, sunday went well, then on Monday did 40km with some rocky areas on the way back.  Bam, down goes back tire. Looked like a pinch mark.  In with the spare and rode on. 5kms later, bam, down goes back again.  Same mark.  WTF?

 

Something different with these rims?  My new 'enthusiastic' riding style?

[Bos]

Ironic post' date=' Im riding xmarks with tubes but this is what happened -

 

Been riding with hardtail bike for ~800km with no puncture until last week, where I bashed over some sharp rocks getting a cut in the side wall.  I figured it was bound to happen, so didnt stress much.

 

Got my new full sus bike on Friday and went riding, saturday went well, sunday went well, then on Monday did 40km with some rocky areas on the way back.  Bam, down goes back tire. Looked like a pinch mark.  In with the spare and rode on. 5kms later, bam, down goes back again.  Same mark.  WTF?

 

Something different with these rims?  My new 'enthusiastic' riding style?

[/quote']

 

Cant be.. I promise unless I happened to get the best one from the best batch with "angels inside" haha.  I treated that tire like a piece of sh*t, often gunning down the trail and accidentally riding over a headsised rock lying on its side, sharp edges exposed and hitting it so hard that my rim even "clangs".. I hope you just had bad luck never to be repeated.

 

 

Firstly, were you riding the LUST version? Cause though I have had good luck with my last "non tubless" one I have also Had a sidewall cut on a cheapie one long ago.

 

No two, If It is a UST.. TAKE OUT THE TUBES!!

 

Thanks For making me feel better. Hopefully we are just having a bad spell.

[EtienneB]

 

Now I want to ask you BL You think this would have happened Had you been using crossmark LUST 's? 

  

 

BOS, I haven't been riding that long and hence don't consider myself an expert.  I am riding Monorail LUST in the front and Crossmark LUST in the back on Mavic 317XM rims.  I don't know if I am doing something wrong, all I know is that I often hit rocks hard enough that some of the sealant blows out between the rim and the tyre on both sides (it has happened that I had to pump the front wheel because it lost quite a bit of pressure), but I have never had any tears or holes like you guys are explaining.  I have had a hole from a large sharp object that had to be plugged, but that's it.

[Iwan Kemp]

Must be isolated. I had a set of them and never once pinched-flat or snake bite...even when running way too low.

You are correct in saying they are great tires. Not sure who voted on the matter, but Mountain kings aren't great tires.

[splat]

EtienneB - Everyone is an expert on The Hub!

[EtienneB]

EtienneB - Everyone is an expert on The Hub!

 

Cool, now I'll start acting like one.  Bring on the questions!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*The author of this post will not be liable for any damage, injury or loss of life suffered to anyone due to advice given.

[Weight Weenie]

Now a question in this regard, I ride bonty tubeless ready tyres in stans rims with the tubeless conversion, so what spares should I carry?

 

Currently I have a tube with a tyre boot and then fill it using the canisters with foam in, so the tube doesnt go flat from thorns as well.  This should then work if tearing/cutting the sidewall ?

 

For larger holes the stans doesnt seal, plugs would be best?

[IdeJongh]

Ironic post' date=' Im riding xmarks with tubes but this is what happened -

 

Been riding with hardtail bike for ~800km with no puncture until last week, where I bashed over some sharp rocks getting a cut in the side wall.  I figured it was bound to happen, so didnt stress much.

 

Got my new full sus bike on Friday and went riding, saturday went well, sunday went well, then on Monday did 40km with some rocky areas on the way back.  Bam, down goes back tire. Looked like a pinch mark.  In with the spare and rode on. 5kms later, bam, down goes back again.  Same mark.  WTF?

 

Something different with these rims?  My new 'enthusiastic' riding style?

[/quote']

 

Cant be.. I promise unless I happened to get the best one from the best batch with "angels inside" haha.  I treated that tire like a piece of sh*t, often gunning down the trail and accidentally riding over a headsised rock lying on its side, sharp edges exposed and hitting it so hard that my rim even "clangs".. I hope you just had bad luck never to be repeated.

 

 

Firstly, were you riding the LUST version? Cause though I have had good luck with my last "non tubless" one I have also Had a sidewall cut on a cheapie one long ago.

 

No two, If It is a UST.. TAKE OUT THE TUBES!!

 

Thanks For making me feel better. Hopefully we are just having a bad spell.

 

Using Crossmark 2.1 Kevlar.  Far as I know not UST.  Dude gave me a tip with my previous bike, coat tubes in baby powder or something similar, reducing the chance of pinches dramatically, I did so with the set on my old bike, but not with these...hmmm...