So it turns out Wiggly worm tire plugs are not permanent

I fixed the hole in my gravel bike tire with a wiggly worm the other day and although I’ve ridden 600 km on it, I thought it was as good as permanent. Today whilst doing a monster climb the plug eventually gave way and I had to stop for 5 minutes to replace it. Unfortunately, I got covered in sealant and still had 90 km to ride.

I know I said in a previous thread that I would just leave one in permanently but now I think I’m going to be in the habit, especially on high pressure gravel and road bike tires of putting a proper vulcanized patch on as soon as I get home.

What do other people do? Do you just leave them in permanently or do you put a proper patch on the back of the tire when you get home?

MTB I leave them in, they’re pretty much permanent imo.

Gravel I fix properly with a mushroom plug at a later date.

I use Dynaplug for trail side repairs and always replace with a mushroom plug once back home

Mushrooms but I only use tubeless on gravel and road so pressures are higher. I found even the latex plug shoots out if you pump em up enough so eBay Shiitakes to the rescue…

I no longer run tubeless on the road due to exactly what happened to you, getting myself, expensive clothes and the bike covered in sealant, still having to finish the ride in a sticky mess and then having to repair it properly once home and cleaning everything up (sealant is a bitch to get out of Lycra)

Once i got home i used to remove the anchovy i fitted to plug the leak and then id fit a mushroom plug as a permanent repair

I put mushrooms in after any plug, in mtb tyres dynaplugs and worms are pretty much permanent ime but mushrooms are proper permanent, stronger than the original tyre was, and it’s easy to do.

That said, all that happens if they fail is you get the same puncture back, with a wee side order of old dried sealant and worm gunk. Which is annoying but if you fixed it with a worm once it ought to fix again.

I was unaware that mushroom plugs were a thing, thanks for sharing

Any recommendations for what type and supplier of preference you would recommend?

Lezyne seem to do them. Do they all have wire cores?

Any recommendations for what type and supplier of preference you would recommend?

I bought a selection box of various sizes from ebay. Cheap, but seem to work fine.

Bonus was my dad used one of the bigger ones to do a motorbike tyre.

I just bought a pack of cheap ones from Ebay quite some time ago. Gave a few to mates and still have quite a few left.

I’ve always just left the worms in place on the MTB except if there’s a tear (in that case an internal patch feels like a better idea). Never had a problem with this approach but perhaps gravel bikes are different (thinner carcass, higher pressure).

Do they all have wire cores?

the metal part is just for pushing it through the tyre. You then pull it out and chuck it in the bin

I plan to swap them for mushrooms but don’t always get around to it.

Day 1 in Verbier last summer I got a snake bike from the gondola steps, it survived the week out there so I’ve left it in and it seems permanent 😁

If I’m not in a rush trail side and confident I can reinflate, I’ll pop the bead and put a second bacon strip through the loop in the plug.

I’d not leave one permanently

“Schralping” corners can pull a bacon strip out

Ah, the cult of tubeless.

So much work and mess. I learned the hard way over thousands of miles of off road bikepacking that it’s so much easier and simpler to just use tubes. Unless you’re a marginal gains racer or riding through a cactus garden, what’s the point?

Also: you do cut them down, right? Dynaplug kits come with a sharp blade, as do some others. Sharp like a razor. Once plugged cut down to tread height. Again, this is more relevant the smaller the knobs; don’t want things getting pulled out by the trail.

Most of the time I’ll replace the worms with mushrooms 🍄