Tubeless Sealant? Huh?

Have you wondered why your mate will only run tubeless? Have you not made the jump yet? hopefully this will answer some of your questions.

To answer, let me backpedal a bit and explain to those who do not know that many road bicycles and wheelsets you might have or can upgrade to, have the option of running what’s known as tubeless tyres. As the name suggests, these tyres do not have tubes inside.

Why would you care if your tires had tubes inside? Two reasons: the most common flat tyre is a pinch flat where you run over a rut, hole or object in the road or case a jump on the trail and pinch your tube, resulting in the dreaded flat. Pinch flats are sometimes called snakebite flats because they show up as two small slices next to each other on the tube – like a snakebite.

Since there’s no tube inside a tubeless tyre, pinch flats become a non-issue. The other advantage of tubeless tires is a softer, more supple ride because you can run lower tire pressure since there’s no risk of pinch flatting.

On most bicycles and wheels, in order to run tubeless tyres, you need tubeless-compatible rims and tires and a few millilitres of sealant. Sealant is a liquid with different types of fibers inside (every manufacturer has their own secret sauce, but our tried and tested favourite is Muc Off No Puncture Tubeless Sealant) that when you puncture, almost immediately finds the hole and seals it from the inside of the tire so you can keep right on riding.

Most rims are either supplied as "tubeless ready" so may already have the rim tape installed, so all you have to do is take the tube out, fit a tubeless valve and fill with sealant and you're good to go OR they can be made tubeless ready by installing a complete tubeless kit such as the Muc Off No Puncture Hassle Tubeless kit, this includes all you need to make your current rims tubeless, including the rim tape, tubeless valves and tyre sealant.

If you've never run tubeless wheels we suggest you try it, you won't want to go back when you don't have to worry about picking up a puncture while out on the trail or having to load your backpack up with spare tubes and tyre levers!

As ever, if you're not sure what you need or just don't want to convert your bike to tubeless yourself just give us a call on 01502 718724, email us on sales@pedalz.co.uk or pop into store to get some friendly advice or to arrange for one of our bike tech's to install it for you! 

Here's a video to show you just how good the Muc Off No Puncture tubeless sealant really is!