Tubeless Tyre Sealant Money Saver!

[@BrianRPaterson]

Excellent. Great info. I'll give OKO a go!

[@mokotramp]

@@BrianRPaterson Let us know how you get on! ✌️

[@BrianRPaterson]

​@@mokotramp Will do. It can't be any worse than my recent experience with Stans sealant and 1.5-inch Gravel King tyres. After running butyl tubes on new tyres for 3-4 months, I tried setting them up tubeless. I was aghast to find 4 pretty small holes in one tyre and 2 or 3 in the other. None of them sealed themselves. I tried lowering the pressure and rotating the wheel to allowing the sealant to pool around the hole. No joy! I also tried plugs -- 2 worked the rest still leaked. Sad to say, the entire thing was far from magical! I've pulled the tyres and patched them ON THE INSIDE, for a permanent fix. Goodness knows how I managed to pick up so many punctures in so short a time. Or what would have happened if I'd been running tubeless with the Stans sealant, which a lot of folks say works for them. The upside is that I was running butyl tubes, which didn't seem to notice the damage. I'll try OKO and see if it makes any difference. I just ride the road -- no rough or flinty gravel -- so I'm still stunned at how hard a life my tyres seem to be living. Cheers

[@lazlo2511]

Appreciate the advice… now money can be spent on actually entering events. You Legend mate.✔️

[@mokotramp]

@@lazlo2511 Cheers matey, glad to be able to save you a few quid! 😉

[@phil_d]

Silca was crap, IMO. Way too thin and dries incredibly quickly; it might be OK for Dylan's race day, but in everyday use it let me down more than once. OKO make milKit I believe. I use the Off Road OKO at work, however the tractor tyres only run c.30psi. So does OKO work for 70psi road tyres? I have a Slate and took it to Scotland a couple of weeks ago with G-One Allround. Got a small hole through one of the nobbles, and for a day the milKit held it. The next day on the road it let go so I had to stick in a Dynaplug which didn't altogether seal. What I like about milKit (and OKO) is that it's synthetic latex and therefore doesn't dry out and leave the inside of the tyre covered in latex. So, with a gravel size tyre you can pop off the bead, wipe the inside and slap on a patch. However, I am currently running 42mm Gravelking Slicks with tubes. On the canal tow path today the tyres/tubes held up perfectly. There's always the hope sealant works for you, but when it doesn't out on a ride, it's generally a messy affair, whatever you do to fix a hole. Tubeless bike tyres lack any real forethought and design. If you look at car tyres, you don't run sealant - yes I know it's a completely different type of tyre. A Tubeless rim strip from Mavic or Bontrager allows a perfectly airtight seal without sealant for days on end. I wonder if you could deal with a hole from the outside instead of using sealant? Something like Loctite 480 might work if you had a thin enough blunt needle to inject into the hole. Stans tyre dart seems a good idea, but it looks as though very little gets inside the but you really need a mushroom shape to pin inside...... Sorry, I've waffled!!

[@mokotramp]

@@phil_d Silca has worked well for me, but you're right in what you say about drying out! Joe's and Stan's also work ok, but they're all messy, OKO on the other hand isn't messy! With regard to the psi rating of OKO, they quoted 145psi. The highest pressure I run on a 25mm road tyre is 65psi. I think most tyre sealants struggle for road bike tyres, I'm not really a fan if I'm honest. My last bike packing trip through Wales, I was running Teravail Rutland durable 47s. I picked up a split from some slate, about 7mm long. I was using Vittoria with fairy dust in, I had to stop in order for it to seal. I lost all the pressure, but thankfully not the sealant, probably due to only running 24psi. Again, tyre pressures are crucial for effective sealing, too little and it can struggle, the same for high pressures! I'm going away again in September to ride the Sarn Helen. This time a beefier tyre, Hutchinson Tundra Hardskin 45s. Too many people over rely on sealant, tougher tyres are also needed off road. It's a sacrifice in comfort, but the alternative is far worse! 😁

[@phil_d]

@mokotramp I am intrigued, to be honest. I've just started out on my gravel journey and the bike came with Cannondale/Panaracer slicks tucked away in a bag. Sure, grip in the wet will be rubbish, but I have no cuts or slashes from the tow path and a couple of weeks of commuting; I wonder whether that's down to the width, larger contact patch and less pressure. I was expecting at least one puncture this morning I will dispense some OKO at work and see how it feels between my fingers; always a good test!

[@mokotramp]

​​@@phil_dI think you're spot on about the lack of punctures and running lower pressures! If you look at the dynamics, running lower pressures allows for better deformation of the tyre over objects, and less chance of penetration! As a back up when riding, I always carry a spare tube, some sealant, a dart kit and a tyre boot. When bike packing, I'll carry a spare tyre too! I think the key is using tyres that are tough enough, without sacrificing comfort, grip and speed, that's a big ask!

[@phil_d]

As a post script Making holes in a static tyre doesn't represent the constant dynamic loads as the hole get squashed into the road every revolution. I'd be interested to see how it fairs out on a ride. Cheers!

[@mokotramp]

@@phil_d It will work the same as most other tyre sealants. What's important here is getting the viscosity correct, in order for it to flow around the tyre well, but also not diluting it to the point where it's ineffective! In my experience with many sealants, they ALL struggle with largish holes unless you stop and bring the tyre to 6 o'clock to allow for adequate plugging. So here the 'dynamic loads' are completely irrelevant! But I get where you're coming from! ✌️ I'm riding with this sealant both on and off road, so far no issues.

[@martinshreder]

Great tip.

[@mokotramp]

@@martinshreder Cheers, hope it helps you save some wonga! 👍

[@markifi]

25 kilo of their "puncture free" bike specific product costs 227 euros. about 1 euro per application. cheaper than using tubes

[@mokotramp]

@@markifi It's an extremely cheap alternative than using 'bike' specific sealants! Again, another big industry con! I read on a cycling forum, a cyclists saying it didn't work on his road bike tyre at 90psi? I know from personal experience that narrower, higher pressure tyres can sometimes be a bitch to seal, but this stuff has been tested up to 145psi! You gotta get the mix ratio correct!

[@markifi]

@@mokotramp i'm new to sealants. the shop says syncros worked much better for them compared to joe's yellow stuff that's labelled "for workshop use". anyway it's an anecdote. cyclingabout has a comprehensive test, orange sealant comes out on top, but lots of other ones are also good. i still didn't source the OKO stuff, but will do. high pressure tubeless still scares me, as the tolerances companies manufacture to still don't seem to be quite strict enough. i still use 6 bars in the road bike, that pressure would be slightly above what European Tyre and Rim Technical Organisation (ETRTO) specifies for road tubeless. these were 3 different things

[@dayoldtortillas9345]

Took too long and was way too slow to make a point. Movin' on.

[@mokotramp]

@@dayoldtortillas9345 Excellent, that great to hear! 😁