Rode last Sunday and had 7 punctures in 2 hours. Ready to go Tubeless.

Running Spesh Captain Sworks 2bliss on front (1yr old), Spesh Captain Control on rear (3yrs old). Wheels are Fulcrum Red Metal 5 (2yrs old). Tires mount easily to rim by hand, no struggle at all – is that the cause of the problem?

Installed rim tape. Then installed tires – bead not seating in rim perfectly, so put a tube in and pumped up to 35psi. Tire sitting perfectly. Deflated tube but bead moves away from rim. Insert Stans valve then seated other side of tire. Pumped with track pump – NOTHING. Tire beads move around really easiy on rim.

Tried with 3x other tires, all around 4 yrs old. No joy.

Took it to LBS and they tried with compressor but still no joy. Air not staying in there.

What’s next?

Are you using washing up liquid?

I always find the tires I can easily move on the rim are the hardest to seat. Three/four layer of insulation tape pad the rim a tad though, and tends to make it much easier. I used to do four layer of insulation tape to seal the spoke holes and pad my Flow EX rims when used with Continental Barons and currently use three layer on my Arch EX rims with On One Smorgaboards (or however you spell it).

no washing up liquid used. what do i do with it? where does it go? and when?

My tyres are so loose I’m surprised they go up so easily, I use the ghetto tubeless inflator and only once it gas failed to work and that was because I was rushing. Never used washing up liquid either

Washing up liquid with a bit of water, soak a cloth in it and wipe it around the bead of the tyre. It just provides lubrication allowing the tyre to move on the rim, and as you put the air in, it bubbles, showing you where the air is getting out. Hopefully you just see the bubbles reducing as the tyre seals.

Do your old tyres have any holes in them? Rips or tears?

I’d try some new tyres. If they work you know what the problem is. If they don’t. …..

The old tires don’t have holes or rips or tears.

I always soap up the beads of the tyre. I’ve found Maxxis & Specialized tyres air up a treat with a track pump, schwalbe take some persuading and just fitted a conti trail king with protection sidewall that was an utter sod to air up. Used a Co2 cartridge in the end and that did the job.
My rims are mavic ust’s and stans flows. Had 1 puncture in 3 years where a tyre got sliced, love tubeless!

ok, it sounds like soaping the beads is the next step.

do i pump with my track pump like a Mentalist after that? what pressure am i aiming for?

You haven’t mentioned your rims so I’m guessing they’re not tubeless ready. I’d suggest trying with a Stans rim strip which will take out some of the slack between the rim and tyre. Be warned though, Not all rims convert easily, I’ve converted some rims where I needed to use a compressor to get them up.

Removeing the valvecore is big help, before inflating the first time.

With loose beads I put stans in as normal but I put Specialized sealant all the way round the edge of both sides of the tyre where it meets the rim , because it is thick that slows down any escaping air and enables the tyre to seal with a track pump , can get a bit messy sometimes . Tractor tyre sealant works as well as Specialized .

Is the tyre ‘pinging’ onto the bead at 35psi? You need to pump it up until it seats with a bit of a bang in my experience. That can be towards the max psi rating of the tyre.

As Hamish says

If you can’t get it to inflate, put a tube in. Inflate and get it to ping and then undue one side leaving the other bead set on the rim and remove tube. Don’t bother with sealant until you get it right.

Then spray the lose side with a watery washing up liquid mix and inflate.

Good luck

I used the split bmx tube method on RM5s very successfully. Might be worth a go if tape doesn’t want to play.

I coat the well of the rim in stans solution before attempting to inflate mine. Just a liberal brush round with an old toothbrush seems to help.
Then grip the tyre across the top next to the valve to help it seal in this area whilst pumping away in a fury with the trackpump.

I leave mine at 3 bar overnight to check for leakage and to stretch the bead a little ( new tyres )

had no luck so far. grr.

rinsed rim and beads with soapy water, installed tire, but beads won’t hook under rim.

inserted tube, pumped up, beads hooked up fine, deflated, beads come away from rim.

square 1.

If theyre that loose i think your wasting time trying to inflate with just a track pump.

I’d add another layer of tape to bulk the rim out, you’re fighting a losing battle if they’re too loose, and IMO washing up liquid, compressors etc deal with the symptom, not the cause.

Just looked at Crest/Flow/Alpine rim profiles and the amount of space between bead hook and bed where tape sits is tiny compared to the Red Metal 5 I have. will try some more tape and see if that fills the gap enough to stop the tire being loose.

Flows are very tight ime and gies up easily with track pump, my mavic rims ( non ust) are very loose in comparison and not a hope in hell to inflate with track pump

what’s the benefit of the compressor – does it push the beads very rapidly out to the bead hook?

so conversely does using a track pump push the beads under the hook but much more slowly? and therefore a chance of the air not staying in?

Yeah does it all a lot quicker. Ghetto inflator works a treat

I’ve had this issue with non ust mavics, they dont hold the bead in place when not under pressure. The solution was to use rim strips and inflate with a ghetto inflator to get a large volume of air in there quickly, a track pump hasn’t got the volume in one stroke.

A compressor or 9p bottle inflator give a large volume of continuous air flow that can push the bead onto the rim all around the tyre in one go. A track pump only gives short bursts of air, and in between each pump the tyre springs back a little bit from the rim.
It is worth investing a little time in making your own inflator, but if you can find someone nearby with a compressor, I’d visit them to use it. Once you’ve seen that it is possible to to inflate the tyre it will give you more confidence. If the compressor doesn’t work, you may have to try a different tyre/rim combination as there are some combinations that just won’t work. Don’t give up though.

Sorted.

With 2 layers of Stan’s tape the Captain tire was flopping around. Added 2 layers of electrical tape and the tire was much tighter, no flopping.

Tried a trackpump but no joy. Went round to a mate’s house and used his compressor, and worked fine.

Combination of extra layers of tape to fill the gap between rim bed and bead hook, and compressor seems to have done the job.

Nicely. Thanks for all your pointers.

Brilliant. Now you know it works, you should be able to get them to seat easily with a home made inflator next time. Enjoy the extra grip of lower pressures, and almost no punctures.