Stans No Tubes Problem

[steve_b]

Anyone using a Stans kit? ??? Have problems? ???

My front tire is perfect. No leaks. The back is a different story. The first week it was losing air real slow. (maybe 5 lbs / 3 days). I was going to go for a quick 1 hour ride after work yesterday, and the floor pump broke and the tire went completely flat. Once you are flat you are SOL pumping it back up unless you hae a compressor. (I don't yet.) Today I went to the LBS and they used the compressor to fill it. I re-mounted it, and checked on it an hour later, and it was allready soft. Pumped it back to 40lbs with the mini-pimp, and an hour later, soft again. I put the tire in water and it's leaking through the top around the valve area. Would applying the sealant directly to the area around the valve stem work? Could it be defective? Anyone have any other solutions? ???

Thanks in advance.

[SloMoJo]

C.P. uses Stans.

He may have insight for you.

[Zog]

There are a lot of happy users of Stan's @ MTBR.com forums. Check there for trouble shooting.

[C.P.]

Steve,

I can't tell by your description exactly where the leak is appearing. That said, I can offer this advice.

-lightly abrade the inside edges of the rim (sandpaper) before installing that rim strip adhesive tape, it has to have real good clean adhesion to the rim, once the sealant floats around inside the setup, the sealant can get under the rubber rimstrip and cause havoc with that rim tape if it is poorly installed. Don't cut a large hole for the valve stem, just a pencil tip sized hole, then push the valve stem through.

-Use new tires when doing first installation. (slomo and splat witnessed my learning about this last week as I tried to use an old favorite set of tires with Stans - they had some pin-holes that made initial seating difficult) Tires with fat wire beads seem to be the ticket for me, for example I have had better experience with non folding, non kevlar bead tires when using Stans, with DH tires being the best for easy floor pump filling seating of tire and filling results - IE No compressor required. After the sealant has set up - the system will handle 30-35 psi AND regular 4-5 foot drops with no problems- bottom line, the Stans will work, you just have to be patient till that initial layer of sealant has formed-It's so effective for me that I'll NEVER go back to tubes.

In fact, when I was running IRC Backcountry tires, (a folding wire bead tire) I HAD to use a compressor to seat the tire on the rim like you describe - the folds just wouldn't seat with a floorpump, where as I now run DH tires, and they seat after 5-6 floor pump strokes - nice and easy, and can even be seated with my frame pump!

I've been running Stans for over a year, and have found that in order to get this system working well, here's the best advice I can give- after you have gotten that pesky leak fixed (try putting a little extra sealant in that rear tire and pump it up hard and spend time rotating it -off bike- till leak seals) this is what you do-run the tires a little harder then you normally run them for 3-4 weeks of riding them - this allows the tires to be less likely to unseat from the rim and what happens is the sealant will slowly be drying in real thin layers throughout the whole inside of the setup. After that layer has formed, that's when the Stans delivers as advertised - you can now lower your tire pressure to a setting you normally run - and even lower -and experience no flats for the rest of the season-as well as added benefit of no pinch flatting should you run them a little lower then normal...In fact the more you ride, the more it layers up in there - hence the recommendation from Stans to add a little sealant (like a tablespoon) yearly to keep the system performing as spec'd. When i tried to check on them this winter, it took a long frustrating 20 minute to just get one tire bead un seated from the rim - the sealant had literally attached the tire bead to the rim...AND I experienced no flats since I've gotten them dial'd in...

Last week a friend running stans ran over a large spike with rear tire, it was making this awful "cling cling" noise as it went around hitting frame...well, he stopped (duh) and he pulled it out of his tire, (made sure to have the spike in 6 oclock position so sealant would be there to seal hole)- sure enough, just like it says, it sealed.
Mind you, we went riding after that for 4 hours Friday, and were doin drops and other fun stuff - no probs...

Any other questions - PM me.

C.P.

[steve_b]

C.P. Thanks for the advice.

I didn't even think to sand down the valve area. I'm pretty sure it will solve the problem. Makes perfect sense that the solution would get under the rim strip. I spent considerable time rotating the tire to get the sealant everywhere inside of the rim. Oddly enough, I pumped the tire up to about 40 lbs for yesterdays ride resigned to the fact I would have to use the mini-pump every 1/2 hour to keep riding, but every time I checked it, it was fine. ???

[Mt.A TODD]

So I have a new set of BONTRAGER tubeless race lite wheels that came with the Liquid. The new bike came with 2.3 IRC Trailbears. It's a nice tire, but I'm too anally retentive to run a set of normal tires on a tubeless wheelset. I ordered a set of 2.3 UST Continental Vertical's. When I first saw the Bontrager tubeless system I was skeptical. It is a special "airtight" rim strip and a wicked cheesy valve stem. After I gave myself a hernia mounting the tire, I made a determination that there is no way in hell I would every go though this procedure on the trail and as I'm thinking about this, air is pissing out of the stem and spoke holes. Back on goes the Trailbears and tubes! Do I now have to buy a set of Mavics to quench my desire for tubeless gratification???

STAN'S STAN'S,STAN's...... YEAH STAN'S!!!!!! I talk to Stan and bought his juice! Also ordered his removable presta stems, so I can add extra Notubes formula without breaking the bead.

Notubes came in the mail today. I install UST Conties again, added less fluid than recommend. After the bead was seated, I could hear a little air still escaping, but after a short while in conjunction with spinning the wheel stopped leaking. Topped off tire pressure at 60psi, I'll check it again tomorrow morning, deflate and add the recommended amount of fluid. No more punctures and pinch flats.....WOW!

check out the video- it is amazing!

www.notubes.com

I can't believe I never heard of this stuff earlier!

[Mt.A TODD]

[quote author=hardtail_steve link=board=10;threadid=1722;start=0#12010 date=1051400062]
Anyone using a Stans kit? Once you are flat you are SOL pumping it back up unless you hae a compressor.
[/quote]

CO2

I have thougt about using Stan's for a while now but... Any feedback on what kind of mess to deal with after the system has been used for a season or so? Meaning am i going to have to spend a couple of hours scraping and cleaning the inside of the rims and bead area to get all that crap out before installing new tires?

[C.P.]

Yep, Stans rules...once you get it dialed in, flats will be a fading memory...it's just that simple.
C.P.

[Mt.A TODD]

Oldman, It really wasn't that messy. I mounted the tire, inflated to seat the bead the best I could, deflated tire, used a tire lever to make an small opening, used the spout top to squirt in the Notubes mixture which just collected in the bottom of wheelset. Pumped up tire with some little drips but no big mess. It's not gooey and sticky like Slime, wipes of easily with paper towel. Stuff looks and acts like milk. As far as a mess later on trying to add a tube on the trail- I really don't see this system ever getting a flat unless the tire suffers a large sidewall Gash. Changing to new tires a year from now?? I don't know, buts it's got to be worth the hassle living the life of no more flat tires!

BTW: I lost absolute no air overnight after the first mounting. Tonight TEST RIDE!