I hate mountain biking!

If that ride is as good as it gets I’d rather not bother thanks. Sidewall splits in my tyre 2 miles in on what should be a peachy descent. It’s not too bad a split, but bad enough that tubeless sealant is going to do me no favours. Out comes the spare tube and I set off again, only to hear/feel that tell-tale sign of fast escaping air as I get a snake bite in my tube. Out comes the tube and the repair begins. Job done? Nope, some sealant has got behind the glueless patches and they have both come unstuck. After one more (failed) attempt to get glueless patches to stick on a washed tube I give in. The worse thing? I got a (tubeless) puncture on the same descent a few weeks back.

And I wonder why I prefer road biking 👿

I call dibs on the Bandit.

Never was too sure how this tubeless thing worked. …..but if you’re not needing your bike 😀

That my friend, is nothing.
3 years ago we went to Torridon, my tubeless tyre started losing air near Coulags so I kept pumping it up until I gave up & tried to put a tube in. Couldn’t undo the lockring on the valve (& had no pliers) so rode as far as I could until it went totally flat & I had to push DOWN the descent to Annat. In the dark. Which got darker.
We eventually had to call Torridon Mountain rescue cos we had no headtorches & couldn’t see a bloody thing.
What a balls up.

A Bandit, you say? I can do you a swap for a road bike…

At gisburn on Saturday, went over the bars on a very easy section. Then had a puncture, fine fitted a new tube, then snapped my chain, ok i’ve got a spare power link in my bag, then my crank arm fell off, fixed it but it did it again a couple of times. I walked the last bit back to the car…….

Everyone keeps telling me how I should go tubeless as it’s so easy but I keep hearing these stories so will be sticking to tubes.

Pushing down that descent is a sore one, I LOVE that descent. Sorry.

Pushing down that descent is a sore one

We’ve done it since though, thankfully without any problems or rescue!!

Get some real tires.

Stop running continentals

bad times stilltortoise, local loop or cheeky GB area??? what tyres you running bud? this is exactly why ill only use UST tyres tubeless on my flows to be honest, ive never slashed a sidewall on one, but i can imagine if they were normal tyres or tubeless ready i would have shredded every single one

plus to rub injury into insult, i was out tonight, completely stress free, no annoying noises (creaks/clicks etc), everything running superbly and quiet and smooth, and saw one rider at the end of my loop, trails were actually drier than i anticipated too, yes it was muddy, but it wasnt wet mud as such, mint going out alone midweek! all in all a great ride 😉

ps, sorry

Everyone keeps telling me how I should go tubeless as it’s so easy but I keep hearing these stories so will be sticking to tubes.

I had one puncture during the whole of last year on all my tubeless MTB wheels. That was a massive slash that would definitely have killed a tubed tyre too. I had quite a few more punctures on the road bike, which isn’t tubeless, though, and that did fewer hours of riding than the MTBs.

Tubeless tyres are like motorists. Most are actually ok, but we focus on the few exceptions that act like complete **** for no apparent reason.

Everyone keeps telling me how I should go tubeless as it’s so easy but I keep hearing these stories so will be sticking to tubes.

+1

Late one night last winter, was at the furthest point from home on a local loop, & on a bridleway a good way from a road. Feel the telltale squishness’ness & sure enough, I’ve a flat. No fear I tell myself. I have a spare tube. I know I do, I recall picking it up on the way out. And then it dawns on me…it’s a 20″ tube for my lads bike. Quite how my freezing fingers stretched a 20″ tube into a 29″ rim still amazes me. That it inflated & I actually rode it…albeit briefly amazed me more.
It was a long, long walk to the main road. 🙁

I’m sure tubeless is all very nice etc, but it just sounds such a faff.

Plus there’s that badger photo…

Tubeless tyres are like motorists. Most are actually ok, but we focus on the few exceptions that act like complete **** for no apparent reason.

+1

I changed my front tyre the other day, the tyre I took off has been repaired on the trail once with a tubeless repair kit that took five minutes to do without taking the wheel off the bike, on removal I also discovered seven large thorns in the tyre that had sealed unnoticed..
Yay tubeless!!! 😀

Plus there’s that badger photo

Dave, I had Maxxis Advantage on. Not up to the task or is it just a bit of bad luck?

Actually, I am having issues getting my suspension right. If I set the sag right I’m blowing through the travel. I do wonder if these punctures are a result of bottoming out on pointy rocks. I was coming down Cumberland Brook.

We’ve done it since though, thankfully without any problems or rescue!!

That’s good to hear. Brilliant isn’t it?

Sam, it was the closest I’ve come to calling it quits; there nearly was a Bandit for sale! 🙂

Not tire related but on a ride with a mate at Gisbutn on Sunday….

First a snapped chain, fixed with power links
Then broke a rear mech hanger – luckily he had a spare – but we notice most of the spokes on his rear wheel are incredibly loose and we don’t have a spoke key.
Bit further on – broken mech hanger and broken rear mech – presumably the wheel was flexing so much it went into it.

He had to just take the mech off and get back to the car park with no chain. To add insult to injury he cocked up and ended up doing an unnecessary extra loop after getting back to the car park, which was mostly uphill. 🙂

stilltortoise – Member
Dave, I had Maxxis Advantage on. Not up to the task or is it just a bit of bad luck?

Actually, I am having issues getting my suspension right. If I set the sag right I’m blowing through the travel. I do wonder if these punctures are a result of bottoming out on pointy rocks. I was coming down Cumberland Brook.

hmmm are they UST though? ive run advantages front and rear a while back around those routes, and ive come down there at some speed, numerous scratches/scrapes on my rims so the tyres must have taken a pounding….in fact i must say i probably kept my advantages the longest out of all my UST tyres, nice and fast rolling with good grip, the only thing they were lacking is in UST form i think they only go up to 2.1, so they were a bit narrow for my liking, but they are a great all round tyre, ive got a mate thats run maxxis normal tyres tubeless before and his slashed when we were out either on the carcass, or sidewall i forget which but ive never had any serious issues with UST tyres, yes they probably weigh 200 grams more, but they stop things like that happening and totally destroying a ride, ive got loads of scrapes and marks on my current flow rims and rubber queen ust tyres on the sidewalls, but not once have they let me down in over a year of descents like that

weight wise for racers i can see why people go for normal tyres/tubeless ready tyres (and cost of course), but for people like me who like to have a thrash on rocky descents and solely riding the peak, you want the toughest tyres available imo

drop us an email if you wanna chat more about them, ive been running basically every brand of tyre UST for the last 4 years 😆

Things like this are why I’m keeping my hardtail build as simple as possible – singlespeed with no mech style tensioner, coil forks, tubes and cable brakes. I can’t be arsed with the faff that comes with a lot of mtb stuff. Would probably run rigid forks if it wasnt so uncomfortable!

Actually, I am having issues getting my suspension right. If I set the sag right I’m blowing through the travel.

Is the shock, by any chance an RP23? If so, assuming you haven’t already it’d be worth trying the modification described in this:
http://forums.mtbr.com/turner/dw-5-spot-rp23-mod-503070.html

It works well on a lot of frames.

UST Schwalbe ron’s on the ‘race’ wheels and fat alberts on heavier wheels no problems with either (other than seating the rons when brand new and not stretched)
Had a few issues with Maxxis lighter tyres not being quite tough enouigh for South Wales and me riding like a spanner 😉

i punctured 7 miles in to the club ten last night. 36-something thats a new record for me. I did manually return to the air to the tube thou.

Guess what? Last Sunday I went straight out from my front door on my road bike, did 20 glorious miles on empty country roads, stopped in a pub garden and necked two pints of fresh cool Golden Pippin, did another 20 (slightly wobbly) miles back home and had a shower. No breakdowns, no punctures, no hassle, no wear and tear.

Everyone has to have a crap ride now and again. On the 2nd ride out on my new bike I decided to go to Gisburn, this is about a 1hr 45 minute drive for me and I hate driving far to places to ride (cheapskate and fuel is expensive). Went over a rock climbing just before homebaked (I think, the bit after the uphill switchbacks that’s been recently armoured), my chain was too short as I snapped a link on the maiden ride, cue suspension compression then a snapped rear derailleur and hanger. I walked back to the car whilst my riding buddy finished the ride 🙁

globalti – Member
Guess what? Last Sunday I went straight out from my front door on my road bike, did 20 glorious miles on empty country roads, stopped in a pub garden and necked two pints of fresh cool Golden Pippin, did another 20 (slightly wobbly) miles back home and had a shower. No breakdowns, no punctures, no hassle, no wear and tear.

Wasn’t fun though was it…. maybe good for fitness but so is skipping and star jumps.

Wasn’t fun though was it

I have no doubt it was a lot of fun. I know you’re not a fan of road bikes Weeksy, but not all roadies are about pain and suffering. Some of us are lucky enough to have some amazing traffic-free country lanes to ride on. Door to door I was out for well over 3 hours last night and covered only 7 miles on my incident-loaded mountain bike ride. I could have toured half* the Peak District in that time on my road bike. I ride to get rid of my grumpiness, but last night I came back more grumpy than when I left. Not good.

*possible exaggeration, but it makes a point 🙂