My new bike is tubeless and now I seem to have a puncture!

I rode Saturday, got home, put my bike away and went about my business. On Sunday I noticed the rear tyre was flat. I pumped it up and left it until this morning. I checked it again and its soft, not completely flat but it is definitely losing air. There was nothing obvious stuck in the tyre, there was no sealant leaking everywhere and no damage to the tyre wall etc.

So what should I do? I figured that I could try putting in more sealant? I could have burped the tyre slightyl off the rim doing some rad moves and its not sealed back properly hence the loss of air. Would adding more sealant help solve this? I’ll give the tyre a good check tonight but I assumed a cut in the tyre or something like that would mean sealant everywhere! Could this not be the case??

Any advice much appreciated!

Blow up hard to see if it’s still seated.
You can try the following
Spin and shake to distribute sealant
Add more sealant and shake/spin.

Easiest way to add more sealant is to remove the valve core and squirt it through the hole from one of the small stans bottles or a syringe.
Sealant needs replacing about every 6 months or at least topping up, it’s possible to burp and loose some and keep the tyre on.

Check tyre and sealant. top up sealant and do the tyre jiz shoogle dance.

Assuming there is sealant in the tyre there is usually a big clue where any air is leaking. Are you sure there is sealant in there? A messy job for the workshop that can be ‘forgotten’ when a customer is waiting.

New tyres frequently need a good rattle around followed by a top up of air and sealant. Eventually all the small holes are filled with goo and no more air will come out.

Depending on the tyre this can take a moment, or a few goes. A real UST tyre will be almost perfect immediately. A Schwalbe tubeless ready will take 3 or 4 goes.

Stick with it. It’ll come good.

So you haven’t did the old washing up liquid trick with it ? to see where its leaking >

I have not been messing round with washing up liquid yet! Thats tonight’s job.

The tyres are High roller 2s on DTswiss EX1501 rims. I have ridden the bike a fair bit and did the Macavalanche on it last week with no obvious signs of air loss.

I’ll put more sealant in and take it from there. Can someone point me in the direction of valve core remover or is there only 1 type? I am assuming there are about 100 different types as something as simple as a removing a valve must be super complicated.

If you have a multi-size spoke key you’ll probably find one of those will fit the valve core, I know mine does.

Don’t remember which one though I’m afraid.

In my experience they’re all the same size though. The bike industry hasn’t got around to setting standards for them yet 😉

Nice one, I will see what I have got in my tool box.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-valve-core-remover/ useful thing to have, keep on misplacing mine though. Some bottles of gloop have remover built into the lid.

I’ll put more sealant in and take it from there

Do the washing up liquid first to make sure you know what you’re trying to fix

Legend +1

It’s an easy and sure way to find out the source of the problem.

Yeah I’ll investigate the leak thoroughly before faffing with valves and sealant.

I assumed a cut in the tyre or something like that would mean sealant everywhere! Could this not be the case??

You’d normally see something, IME, yes.

From what you’ve described, I’d be deeply suspicious of the seal between the valve and the rim (inside the tyre).

i’d take a look and make sure you don’t have tube in there.
bike may have come with tubeless rims and tyres but that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily set up, in fact i’d go so far as to say that unless you specifically asked them, or they explicitly said ‘we’ve set it up tubeless’, it aint.

beyond that, you will require a bottle of sealant, a means of injecting sealant in through your valve ( the little bottles of sealant work well ), and a weldtite tubeless repair kit for out and about.

^ Very good point!

Del makes a good point!

Also, if it is tubeless, it’s actually fairly normal for them to deflate over time, especially when they’re new. Going down a bit overnight is a pain but not really an issue for a 4 hour ride or whatever. And riding sloshes the sealant and beds it all together and may take care of any leaks.

What Del said! The weldtite anchovie things are genius.

What Del Said.

It was set up tubeless, so put sealant in via the valve pumped it up sloshed it round for a while and now it seems all ok.

I have noticed that there appear to be what look like damp patches on the wall of the tyre. I noticed something yesterday and this morning there were more of them. What is this? If I had to describe it I’d say it looks like moisture is being forced out of the tyre wall, but I have no real idea if this is the case. Its all over the side wall and near the rim.

I have noticed that there appear to be what look like damp patches on the wall of the tyre. I noticed something yesterday and this morning there were more of them. What is this?

Sealant will “absorb” for want of a better word through the tiny porous bits of the tyre, it will eventually form a barrier air. This is one way you get a slow leak over a long time. Sometimes just getting soft enough to let a little burp of air out and also why topping up sealant is important.

8)
yeah, wet sidewalls aren’t unusual. i have a spesh ‘2bliss’ tyre on one bike that has wet sidewalls all the time.

Thats good then, thanks for all the help.

I supposed I better top the front up with sealant too since I am now so pro at tubeless tyres!

I have Maxxis tyres on my bike.
Used to be Minion Dhf front and high roller II rear. Both same compounds. The high roller, would have little wet patches all round the side wall and pressure needed checking regularly. Minion has never had that issue.
Swapped rear for an ardent recently and that’s dry too.
Seemingly no rhyme or obvious reason. Not a big problem, just check pressure.