Tubeless spoke hole leak

How badly is it leaking? Just a bit and the sealant may well do its job.

Before worrying about a spoke hole having pierced the tape, I'd be more suspect of the valve sealing (which 100% DOES go through the tape) - air leaking out there will end up in the rim cavity and can come out anywhere. First try tightening the valve lockring some more, then maybe a dob of silicone sealant around the rubber end of the valve stem inside the tyre.

If it doesn’t hold air after a few goes and a whole load of shaking it’s invariably quickest to retape it. Use a syringe or scoop the sealant out with an aerosol can lid and reuse it.

Inflate the tyre, find the offending spoke hole, position the wheel so sealant can pool there, mix up some Fairy Liquid and water then cover the leak in soapy bubbles. I had a similar issue on a old set of wheels where sealant was leaking through the join in the rim, and that did the trick. Also had sealant seeping through the sidewalls of my latest gravel bike tyres and soapy bubbles helped that too.

When this happened to me it was because the air was getting under the rim tape at the overlap and gradually working it's way round to the valve hole then getting into the spoke holes 😭

Required a complete re-taping with a half-wheel's worth of tape overlap.

This^

Air from a spoke hole is not indicative of where the air us getting out of the rim bad/take interface.

Unless you have a visible hole in the tape you are on the shortcut to insanity trying to "patch" repair it.

I had a leak which turned out to be a tear/hole at a spoke.  I cleaned the wheel thoroughly but left the tape in place.  I taped over the top with electrical tape, twice round the whole wheel and it's done the job. 

That's what i do.

Rim tape for strength, lecky tape to cover my cackhanded application.

As above... Leaking out at a spoke hole does not indicate where the leak is... just that you have a leak into the rim cavity at some point. Check your valve is seated properly. If that doesn't fix, then strip it all back, clean rim thoroughly, tape with proper rim tape (Schwalbe ftw) and refill with Stan's (Muc off is rubbish).

It's not worth trying to cut corners with tubeless. Do it right and life is sweet; cut corners and you might as well run innertubes.

I broke a spoke this summer whilst away on holiday. I swung by the bike shop on the way back to the campsite and bought a spoke and a nipple. 

I removed the disc first, then the tyre, with the sealant still in it. I hung the sealant laden tyre, whilst I cut a spoke-hole sized hole in the rim tape, then shook the old nipple out the rim. I replaced the spoke, cleaned the offending section of rim tape, and put on 6 inch strip of fresh rimtape, centred on the hole. 

Tyre on (WTB Vigilante 2.6), reseated with floorpump (impressed self), topped up with sealant via valve. Had a beer.

It went soft overnight, but reinflated, went for a ride, and no longer any issues.

Backup plan was full re-tape.

It either seals, or you retape the rim.

If you're going anywhere performance critical (uplift days, bikepacking trips, multi day rides etc) then might as well retape now with a well stocked workshop and access to your LBS, rather than end up doing it in suboptimal circumstances IMO.

Cheers all.

If the valve isn’t tight enough, surely it would leak on the valve?

Also the holes are quite recessed in the rim as you can see in this pic, so the case tape probably hasn’t been pierced by spoke home. One thing I did notice and forget about was where the rim was welded, there’s remnants of penetration on the inside where the hooked part of the rim is. If it was leaking because of that, I guess it would leave there and not find somewhere else?

Anyone know what these holes are for?

Also thinking about bit, I used the sharp end is a pair of scissors and that’s probably elongated the whole and as previously pointed out, has travelled along the rim to find a weak spot to leak from. 

I think those holes are something to do with the welding, I think the rim is pinned first with a lump of metal on the inside, and then welded? Might be making that up, I remember on my old Mavics something would come loose under those wee holes and slide back and forth (only noticeable in stand) and I think it was the lump of metal used to pin the rim together.

Edit: DT tape was very sensitive to how you made the valve hole, I think if you accidentally put too much tension on the tape, it would split very easily when you punched the hole for the valve, ask me how I know 😖 

If all else fails the bontrager tubeless insert strip seems to fix every wheel I have had this issue with

Posted by: kernowgaz

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If the valve isn’t tight enough, surely it would leak on the valve?

Nah, if the valve isn't tight enough then air leaks from the tyre into the rim cavity and pressurise that. But then it'll escape by whatever the best route is, which might be the valve or might be a spoke hole. It's probably the valve more often than not but it can be anywhere.

13thfloor is right about the holes, they're basically part of the assembly process, some manufacturers weld them up too but it shouldn't matter, the tape makes it airtight anyway.

Is that a little crack right on the outside edge of the rim through the hook? To the left of the product code sticker. 

Posted by: klunky

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If all else fails the bontrager tubeless insert strip seems to fix every wheel I have had this issue with

Are those OK in non-Bontrager wheels? The most trouble free tubeless setup I own is the MTB with Bontrager strips and Bontrager rims...

I was having no end of issues with the wheels on my commuter/gravel bike. They were leaking through a spoke hole I replaced the tape many many times using different types of tape. I think it was actually due to the valves not sealing properly, I ended up replacing the lot with the Joes no flats rim strips and it’s been fine since, wish I’d done it sooner, so much less faff than tape.