Well I never expected that (tubeless fail)

Saw a cyclist today standing  outside of the garage with a thousand yard stare…. Asked him what was wrong and he gestured at his rear tire. It was off the bead with sealant coating the back of his bike. I asked him if he wanted a spare tube to get him going again. And he told me that he had a spare tube but that the bike shop had done the locking ring up on the valve so tight he couldn’t get it off. Of course I offered to help and he was absolutely right without a pair of pliers it was not coming off

Eventually his taxi came and he went. But the moral of this story is to check your locking rings on your valves to verify. You can actually undo them by hand – or carry a pair of pliers!

Poor guy, apparently the failure had happened 40 minutes into a 3-hour ride

Push down on the valve from the inside of the rim to relieve some pressure and then undo.

But yeah those little mini pliers can be good to have.

Yes, I tried that… Without a pair of mole grips it wasn’t coming off. I have no idea how someone ended it up that tight. I wonder if the valve was leaking and someone just kept on tightening until it stopped?

Problem solver valve lock rings are a lot bigger than standard with a good grip surface, a lot easier with cold hands but also rebated underneath to enable the valve to be tightened better, also Peatys…

It’s not a tubeless fail, I’ve had this happen with a tube – lockring had corroded solid. Dropped onto the nearby canal and borrowed a pair of pliers from someone on a canal boat 🙂

Gerber multi tool with pliers.

Or squeeze the nut with the Allen keys on your other multi tool.

There’s a good number of these around:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/226198255219?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&_trkparms=ispr=1&amdata=enc:1ltnELRXQR3ilQOLgS1Yrpg14&customid=Cj0KCQjwzby1BhCQARIsAJ_0t5NfBx4BFUzYXffXkuCglEGBRSFNljE9O_cUnrmscaeyebg-cttjvL4aAi0-EALw_wcB

Makes much more sense on tubeless set ups than the round “nuts” straight from a tube.

Pair of tyre levers can become improvised pliers

Those ^ are genius. Generally accepted to be good quality/not fail?

I carry wee pliers multi tool. For the knife for tubeless worms and the pliers for these and other jobs

If you top up sealant and dribble a little down the valve it acts as thread lock.

This happened to me. I now use the type above with the little tool.

Occasionally and when topping up sealant I undo the valve nut and grease it to stop this happening.

I got a miniature pair of pipe grips in a cracker . Perfect for lockrings.

Some places think they’re tightening up bolts for trucks. Recent seatpost/saddle bolt had been done up to about 40nm. It was unbelievably tight. Needed a vice to grip the tool and turn the post/saddle, but even then i was really straining..

Had this on the MTB once, tubeless failed, couldnt remove the valve due to the lock ring being too tight and the valve having dried sealant in the threads, so i found the nearest large rock and smacked the life out of the valve snapping it just below the lock ring

Fitted a tube and carried on riding, when i got home i fitted a new tubeless valve and made sure it was super clean before fitting the lock ring not too tight

Here you are – works on tubed and tubless, no tools required! https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/inner-tubes/problem-solvers-super-pnut-for-presta-valves/

Happened to me once. I walked the couple of miles home cos it was below freezing and I wanted to keep warm rather than fighting with a valve nut.

I now carry some small pliers which has saved several peoples rides for other mechanicals

Yep had this happen before. That’s why I now carry my Gerber multi tool in the camelback.

Yep, +1 on “and I have a Gerber Dime on me” – the number if times I, or somebody I’m riding with, needs pliers is surprisingly high. Not just for nuts, either.

Pair of tyre levers can become improvised pliers

Sounds optimistic for a stuck lockring tbh – have you ever done this? What was the technique? I guess if you squeezed both ends of the levers around the valve in a sort of oval shape you might get more purchase than just your fingers.

escr’s rock sounds a better bet if you’re stranded without pliers, with the key observation being snapping it below the ring. Snaps above and you’re walking for sure.

I’ve never had this happen in the wild, but in the garage, yes. This was the reason I carry my Dime, but I really like those wavy lock nuts. Just ordered some.

I have some of the little Wolftooth link tools, with spare links and the plier end, in each bike pack for this.

We had this 60miles into the sdw. Had to smash the old valve out with a rock, snapping it within the rim void as even pliars wouldn’t budge it. After that a tube went in fine

I got a cheapo Rolson multitool thing from Sainsbury’s with small folding pliers for exactly this kind of thing. They’ve been used countless times over the years for all sorts of mechanicals that they shouldn’t have been needed for – but were…

Also worth noting that tubeless spuzz can get involved with the thread on the valve and lockring, so it’s not always the effect of being done up too tight.

One other tip is to always use a small rubber o-ring under the lockring. It will make a better seal and potentially gives a bit of ‘tighty’ twist available to break any bond that might form.

TBF the mechy probably caused that tubeless valve to fail no as can put a lot of force onto the valve where it seats on inner if rim to then cause an implosion to explosion ? of sorts.

Edit) been mentioned

Thanks to this thread checked mine tonight, and glad I did. Doubt I’d have got them off without tools/pliers, which I don’t have, bloody nut on the Hunt wheels was tiny, limiting purchase with fingers.