Hi all,

Noobie tubeless question….

I’ve just received my Stans ZTR Crest wheels and used the Hope/Stans kit to setup as tubeless (**** ME it was hard work getting NobbyNic 2.1 UST tyres on the rims!!!!!!!). Inflated fine, sealant in, still inflated, job done.

Anyway, on the Stans sealant bottle, it says “will stay in liquid form for 2-7 months”. Does this mean every 2-7 months I have to refill with sealant? If yes, do I need to remove tyre and clean out old sealant? Is it nearer 2 months or 7 (or 12-24?!?!). Etc, etc, etc 🙂

Thanks in advance,
Matt.

Lots of puncture = 2 months
No punctures = 7 months 😀

Personally, every 3-4 months(if I remember) I remove the valve core and squirt in a bit of sealant.

Missus’ bike has been on he same sealant for nearly 2 years now. Mind you, she doesn’t care because it’ll be muggins here who has to fix the inevitable non-sealing puncture!

IME it lasts longer in winter than in summer.

Rode the same tyre all through the winter, no problems, Started getting non-sealing punctures in summer tyre after about 5 months. When I went to change it the sealant had separated into a thin milky residue and a weird little ball of stuff that looked like a natural sponge.

Like this?

This is growing on a patch that’s been in there at least 6 months now. The stans was still good, but it was over winter.

Yeah, it can be a bit variable (I’ve a feeling it’s partly down to the tyres, certainly seems to make the coral stuff more in kendas than in specializeds frinstance, but that’s maybe just coincidence). By and large it lasts the life of a tyre for me, or the tyre gets changed first.

When I went to change it the sealant had separated into a thin milky residue and a weird little ball of stuff that looked like a natural sponge.

Mine did it after a month:

Didn’t get any punctures, just poured the old stuff out and put some fresh in.

inflate the tyres with Nitrogen and it lasts longer.

Thanks all. Now where did I put my stash of Nitrogen? 😉

And don’t use CO2, as it makes latex tumbleweeds too!!

It seems to be very variable, but I can’t figure out what makes it turn to water and coral. I changed a tyre that had been on about 2 months recently and there was just a little watery fluid and some stan’s coral, but I’ve had viable fluid after much longer than that. I think non tubeless specific tyres perhaps let it evaporate more. If I run low pressures i find a lot of the sealant ends up dry around the bead, presumably from the tyre coming near burping.

btw you can hear the lumps of coral tumbling in the tyre as it rotates, so if you can hear that you can assume you should at least inspect/replace the fluid. I’m pretty sure the coral is all the little bits that block the holes stuck in a lump, ie the good bits.

About 5 months, sometimes more, sometimes less, a top up costs less than a tube anyway, and I’d get through a lot of tubes in 5 months! Strip out as much of the gunk as possible.

CO2 seems to cause it to ‘curdle’ relly quickly (guess as it’s acidic), no need to wory about sourcing nitrogen, the air is 80% N2 and oxygen’s neutral too. There’s reasons race cars use N2 but they’re mainly things like saftey in fires (a tyre full of nitrogen in a fire might put itself out when it pops rather than feed air to the fire) and controling moisture content (as by definition bottled N2 is dry). Seeing as bikes arent subject to either problem then it’s an expensive waste!

(**** ME it was hard work getting NobbyNic 2.1 UST tyres on the rims!!!!!!!).

Get the bead into the centre of the rim and start opposite the valve (which would prevent the bead being in the center if you started there). Using tyre levers etc makes damaging the tyre-bead or stretching it more likley and therefore less likely to form a reliable seal with the rim.

About 3 months in the summer and maybe 4-5ish in the winter.
Just check by shaking every now and then. If you can hear sloshing then carry on. If you can hear rubber balls rattling around then deflate, remove the balls, top-up and off you go again.

Thanks again all!