Each technology has its swings and roundabouts, its strengths and weaknesses. Having run tubeless for years I've found techniques for getting the tyre bead to mount easily, which takes care of most of the grumbles. Every few months I'll get a puncture that is bad enough that i notice it, and it does get messy. But I'll take that and the consequent ten minutes of cleaning over the weekly punctures that I used to get.
tried the silca sealant twice, both times the carbon fiber coagulated into pellets and was told by martha at silca that it couldve been an installation error lol, that was the last time i used that sealant also the sealant dried within two months
Correct that was my issue with this sealant. It dries up too quickly, can't be put in through the valve, and it can't be used with CO2 ... so what is left to like about it? 😂
I've been tubeless on my mountain bike for over 10 years and love it. For my road bike I'm happy to stick to tubes. I'm more likely to puncture on the road and I just don't need the mess.
OMG George, too funny! Thank you for doing all the R&D on road tubeless! As much as I love the idea of tubeless, (lower weight and rolling resistance, plus comfort), the frigging mess, maintenance and faffing around with all the related crap is such a joke (of course, unless you have a SAG following you, or are a racer). George, often make reference to folks that are not too into (or capable of) doing their own bike maintenance issue, tubeless is just another one of those hassle for those such folks. Running tubeless is truly a high to moderate maintenance option to road cycling. Just last Saturday I rode up to a flatted rider on the road, who was running tubeless, and he just couldn’t re-inflate. I offered him either a CO2 cartridge, or air from my Silca Tattico mini pump as he ran out of cartridges as his tubeless set-up just would not take air (perhaps he had a partially clogged valve). He was so thankful that I had a pump on me! Anyways, thank you George for confirming my belief in, and continuance of running tubes on the road (regardless of the minor performance and comfort “penalty”.) And to use a past phrase you once stated about running Gatorskins, “life too short . . . !” And in this case, life is way too short to be messing around with tubeless BS and mishaps on the road. (BTW, I run on my dry bike GP5000 with Conti Race Lite tubes, and Gatorskins on my wet bike with the same tubes). Thanks for sharing!
Yeah well that’s the point of the matter isn’t it? It wasn’t supposed to be dry sealant! It had only been in there fewer than 3 months. Sealant shouldn’t dry up and clump up like this in fewer than 3 months. That’s why I’m so disappointed at how terrible this “ultimate” sealant turned out to be.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad interesting it dried up on you so quickly. Maybe try applying the replenish after a few weeks. I suppose time to dry out can vary depending on many factors.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad They are actually recommending to top up the sealant with replenish at 7-14 days on certain tires. I have just tried it on my gravel 700x45c after thinking about it for a year. Let's see how it goes right now with tubes i have 2-3 punctures a month. Even tried latex tubes and they were worse.
@@familiencartagena2852 gravel should work. Tubeless works for dirt not so great for road...yet. But think about this now they want you to buy their product to replenish every 7-14 days on certain tires. WTF? It's a money pit think of cost of ownership long term. Latex tubes is another huge expense for very little gain -- they bleed too much pressure in 8-12 hours for an Ultra Cyclist like myself. Let alone the loss of pressure over multiple days in unsupported racing. Nope Latex is not the answer either.
Yeah been riding bikes since the 1980’s. I only tried sealant in my inner tubes but didn’t go too well either. Central California has a ton of goat heads. I run Gator Skins, but am penalized with the higher rolling resistance. However, flats on these tires are not common and the inner tubes are pretty easy to change. Thanks for reminding me why I don’t run tubeless on road bikes. Until we ride on solid tires, flats will continue to be the scourge of cycling! Great content! Than you! ❤🚴🏻♂️
Replace ur valve core every 2 or 3 months@SeeYouUpTheRoad it isnt the tubless setups fault for the valve. Its maintenance, or buy fillmore no clog valves. Also i think part of road tubless is slicks have no air pocket space to seal. Try orange seal endurance.
I have had great results with Silca Ultimate and did not experience the large clumping you showed. Agree that it dries out faster than others but for me it works well with my Conti TT tyres. Also I found that the sealant comes off way easier than others for a fast internal tire maintenance cleaning.
For road, I've moved away from tubless. Last year I picked up a puncture which wouldn't seal, decided I'd need to put a tube in, but couldn't get the valve stem out. This year, I'm using tpu tubes. 1 pinch flat from riding up a curb and too low of pressure (my fault). Easy and quick replacement on the road, and a quick repair back home. Oh, and everything stayed clean 😂. Tubes all the way!!! Have you had a hair cut George?
From time. to time the idea of going road tubeless creeps into my head. It's lighter. More supple. Flat-resistant. Etc. Then slowly I remember about all the faffing around involved in setting it up and keeping it going. Like needing a compressor to seat the tire, checking and refreshing sealant regularly, and so on. Not to mention what happens if anything goes wrong. So I've stuck to the old faithful -- butyl tubes. I've had one flat in the last three years, which took me 5 minutes to fix. You don't miss what you've never had. Cheers
You're doing the right thing for you. Lately I have had more luck with tubeless. Silca sealant is shit and a huge mess. I have been using Orange Seal at lower pressures on 28-32 tires. It seems to really work better at 65-70 psi. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad I had the exact same clumps. Incredibly hard to clean out the wheel and tire. Clogged my valve cores, AND stem, AND even a track pump. I had to replace the chuck which I broke trying to get that stuff out. Anyway…thanks for the video and for making me feel not like an idiot for going back to tubes. 😂
@@mikesuperg ha ha you’re not an idiot! This entire road tubeless debacle needs to be blamed on all the sales and marketing departments from all the RUclips channels, tubeless tire manufacturers and sealant manufacturers!
Nope, not for me. I learned riding when I was seven, now in my mid forties, still use tubes (and some old school stuff). Although all my wheels are capable of being accept tubeless, some of these techs are simply not for me. Still my road bike is a rim brake metal bike (fancy metal, not carbon, because now I can afford it) and although I have a disk bike, but I only use it here at home. I travel with my rim brake road bike. And normal tire-tube combination. Yes, I love some techs, like di2, really happy with it.
Yeah I will never try tubeless because of this mess. Vitoria latex tubes with GP5000 for the win, combo with lowest rolling resistance and no problems, just to pump it up and go, simple.
How old was the sealant? Also what kind of weather / temperature / humidity was the bike stored in? Did you ever do a sealant top off with their stage 2 product? I've been running GP5000s with silca, and I've had a few punctures where they all sealed without losing hardly any air. It does make a mess but I think that's the cost of doing business with tubeless from what I understand.
Sealant is fewer than 3 months old. I live in SoCal no humidity and always moderate temperatures. No I did not use their additional money sucking product. I won’t ever use it again. I also Will tell my customers not to buy it.
This is the trade off: small punctures trend to seal on their own so they are better than tubes, but bigger punctures are worse and addressing the problem in the field is much worse than with a tube because of the mess. Silca tends to be the best, but it doesn't do away with the downsides. And one of those downsides is you need to keep it topped off and this wasn't.
Yep had to change a Vittoria Corsa next TLR tire that had started to peel (1200 miles). Taking off the tire I noticed the large clumps (Silica Sealant). Explains why my other tire when I spin it there is a strange noise. Still undecided regarding whether I should go back to tubes (Ride Now) perhaps because I have a 2 year supply of Silica sealant and replenisher
I actually made my first RUclips video recently because of how much I disliked silca sealant. Not only does the carbon fiber clump up, any of it that is free to be used goes straight towards the bead on the original seal. It dries out super fast(instantly when I use Co2 and not my frame pump) and has a hard time sealing on 33mm road/dirt road gravel tires.
Totally agree with you George ! 50 + yrs of cycling/racing/crewing and I will never use tubeless.. if it's new & improved, it SUCKS ! steel frames, rim brakes, tubulars or clinchers...that's it.. tried & true for decades.....if it ain;t broke, don't fix it
Yeah, because tubulars are so easy to replace on the road and fix at home. Let me guess, we should all still be running 10 speeds with friction shifters because all that indexing crap is too complicated, right? LOL, another clueless old fart, just like all those useless local bike shop mechanics who should've retired ages ago.
Lately I’ve been running GP 5000’s with Conti Race butyl tubes - old school Neanderthal technology but no flats for weeks, plenty fast, & only have to inflate once a week. Don’t even think about my tires - just jump on the bike & ride. I figure Conti specs their tires to perform best with their own tubes.
I run GP5000s with Vittoria latex tubes and haven’t had a puncture in nearly 2 years and 8000km. I love how the latex tubes ride but you need to pump them up before every ride.
I haven't had a flat tire in years with clinchers. and i ride garbage roads. I don't understand the problem tubeless is trying to solve. for 1% better performance, it's not worth all the headache.
Just bought some of this and I’ve just been reading up on all the horror stories with it think I’ll retune the tiers as well and just use some clinchers and latex tubes.
ultimate means the last item in a series, right? "this is the last sealant you'll ever use" can also have two different meanings. they weren't lying /jk
You certainly have had your issues with tubeless. I run 35c Pirelli Centuratos with Bontrager sealant and it works well but I also run lower AIR pressure and I chose a more heavy duty tire due to my local conditions. It seems the bigger the tire and lower the pressure the better it works. Silica seems to really over-inflate how good most of their product line really is. Stan’s, orange seal and a few others all work great for MTB and larger gravel tires ran at lower pressures. Good luck with your search for the right solution.
Orange Seal. Fillmore valves. (Vittoria Air Liners optional.) Silca and Muc-Off are princesses of RUclips reviews where they have a fresh pour and use a round stabby implement. Both are pretty terrible sealants in real-world usage.
I’ve had a similar experience with SILCA and thinking about moving back to a tube setup. I emailed the SILCA team and commented on one of their video but they didn’t bother to reply and provide some help.
I think the people who think road tubeless is awesome don't ride a lot. I'm not amazing, but I hit 6.7k miles / 400k ft elevation gain last year, and I'm already at 3.4k miles / 258k ft elevation this year. I switched back to tubes! I don't have to worry about the sealant drying, it's insanely easier to change tires, insanely easier to fix a road flat. I can seat my Gatorskin Hardshells without a tire lever too!
I do over 7k miles and over 550k feet. I'm a fan of tubeless on and off road. Stan's sealant is great when you run it with some 55-60psi. This guy here is a knucklehead. Silca on the other hand, I totally agree is a snake oil company.
Another reason from mess of changing a tire or tube why I will not go road tubeless. Other uses are a maybe depending on tire and planned regular use of wheels. You need two wheelsets minimal: one setup tubeless for wide dirt tires then the regular tubed setup for easy less messy tire change for all use. For thoes on a tight budget or storage space that is not acceptable to have two wheelsets when other needs taken into account. Especially if you do not race or do a lots of events, which covers most people that have bikes.
I’m running tubeless on a set of Boyd Podiums because it’s impossible for me to get a tire on it when running tubes. Only issue I had was a bad sidewall puncture that would not seal.. even with a plug kit .. even doubled up and wouldn’t seal. Had to buy a new rear tire (happened on second ride). 800 miles later no issues. Using “Orange” sealant. I read Silca has a lot of fiber in the liquid, so I think that is the cause of the clumping. Mountain bikers love silca. For road biking I think it may be overkill and cause more issues due to the clumping. When exposed to air, it clumps up at the leak.. which may be why the valve stem clumps so easily… what a mess I really feel tubeless tires have a long way to go, even though people are insisting that it’s all great right now, it’s not it’s still a big mess I dont think mountain bikes care. Lol. Anyway.. buying a new bike soon and will run tubes in them (RideNow TPUs)
I watched your video before installing my tubeless with Silca. I had no issues with the install and did it in my basement. I made a point of checking sealant after one month. It still was liquid and there was plenty of it. However I did note that the fibres seemed to have gone somewhere so I topped up a little. I ran pipe cleaner with a very small bit of hobby lube on them through the value stems before install. I have had no clogging issues. I double wrapped the rim tape too. Yes the stuff is like glue. How long was it since you put sealant in? The whole thing looked very dry. I do think tubeless has a way to go for road, however I love the low PSI comfort. Thanks for your video.
@@BradParsons-n8s it had been about 2 months but not more than 3 months. I think someone mentioned you can’t use CO2 with Silca. Maybe that caused the sealant to dry up 🤷 Also running 30mm and 32mm tires will make it easier to pour Silca into the tire since you can’t push it through the valve.
@@BradParsons-n8s please keep in touch. I’d like to know what your long-term experience is with Silca sealant. Thanks for watching. Please consider subscribing.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad Yes I will follow up. I had ordered the sealant just before I watched your video so I thought I had better check things just in case. I also followed the advice on Silca's video for install. Yes I have heard of CO2 causing issues with sealants. In our cycling journeys we all end up being part of someone's R&D department. Thanks again.
I've ridden tubeless on my road and gravel bike for many years and yes it is messy. But I've lost count at how many punctures I've had where the sealant has worked and I've been able to ride on. Even if I have to to stop and insert a Dynaplug, 90% of the time I can get home. So I guess I just look at the long term benefits? For me it's worth it, but I use Peaty's holeshot.
Yep things have changed significantly since I posted this video. I went back to Orange Seal and also run 30's routinely and 32's on long brevets. The Dynaplug is the only tool I recommend to my customers and the only tool I use. Thanks for watching! Please consider subscribing
Only for disc , not for rim because of the heat from rims, so if u going downhill and have to break often, can exploded, happened to my friend, luckily he was safe
Thanks for sharing the video. It solidifies my suspicion that Silca fiberfoam sealant isn't my preferred choice. The red flag for me is their discouragement of adding the sealant via the valve due to the risk of clogs. My experiences with tubeless have been consistently successful, even saving me from crashes. I recommend opting for tubeless tires that are easy to mount so you can always insert a tube when its needed. Personally, I prefer the P-zero.
Hey man, I get this totally. Looks like your sealant had dried out first and you just got the dregs that wouldn't seal the cut. You definitely don't have 60ml of it on your bike and legs, and you can see it's not really enough liquid inside when you take off the tire. Silca stuff dries out quick apparently, which is why you also ended up with that ball of goop. Your wheels would have been way out of balance. Its definitely a hassle and problem to have to keep it all topped up. I can understand tubes look way easier. Good luck with your riding!
100% agree on road tubeless being so much of a pain, it outweighs any benefit. I just did my first tubeless road tire change. NEVER AGAIN! The tires are premium cost over tube tires, the sealant is messy and more expensive than tubes, and the tire itself is even harder to get on than a tube tire (if you can imagine that)! And then the sealant dries up after about 12 months and you gotta do it all over again! NOPE!
Hello - actually sealant should be checked and replenished every 3-6 months. By 12 months it’s either dried up or has broken down (Stan’s becomes watery) so it should be looked after more often than 12 months!
This made my day. Steel bikes are better , today we are on carbon aero bike , shallow alloy wheels are just as good if not better , today we are on deep carbon wheels, tubeless sucks, today we are on tubeless. I appreciate George and his videos but i will tune off the minute he lets his biass and prejudice dictate every video. I agree that not all modern innovation make sense but let's be obiectiv and fair.
FYI in 2024 I did a 200km, 300km, 400km and (2) 600km Brevets all on my Ritchey Road Logic on tubeless 32mm tires and 55-58 psi pressure using Orange Seal sealant. 😂
I use dynaplug. During all my rides. And you should change that sealant for another one. Road tubeless are Awesome . Seriously I have been using this for several years without problems so that I don't even carry an inner tube with me anymore.
Yep I wonder too! By the way, I proudly call myself a Retro-Grouch and I have so many videos on how the so-called new tech is all a bunch of marketing bullshit. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing 😊
Why are you piloting that carbon rocketship? You should be riding one of those old timey steel single speeds with a tire around your neck and a scowl on your face!@@SeeYouUpTheRoad
I've been using Stan's Tubeless Sealant on my mountain bikes for years. I ride in the Arizona desert, and I've never had a flat, and every puncture quickly seals without making a mess. It has been a game-changer for me. Perhaps it's the higher pressure that makes tubeless less reliable in road tires. I've often thought about getting a road bike, but the prospect of going back to dealing with innertubes and fixing flats on the side of the road was unthinkable for me. I was beginning to feel optimistic about tubeless road tires, but after seeing what happened to you, it seems that tubes really are the lesser of two evils.
It's the high pressure of road tires that is the issue. Lately I have been riding 32 tires on crucial events. My pressure is down to 55-58 psi. I have a lot more confidence that it will seal at those pressures. Tubeless is awesome for MTB and Gravel!
clumping is one thing this was a ball of sealant. There are plenty of sealant choices on the market. We can all find an option that works for each of us. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing.
Sealant brands aside, I think part of the issue with road tubeless are the relatively high air pressures. I think the sealants just get overpowered by the higher pressures? I'm moving to 28s with less pressure (have always run 25/26 at close to 90 psi - yes, I'm big) to see if that's the sweet spot. I wouldn't give up on tubeless yet - for me, the vastly improved road feel was reason enough. Flats suck, good luck!
You are absolutely correct! I’ve been trying to make tubeless work since 2008. At the time 25 mm tires were considered big for road cycling now 28 mm tires are considered standard with many bikes coming stock with 30 mm and 32 mm tires Ever since I moved over to 28 mm tires and started running 70 psi the sealant has had a better opportunity to seal up the puncture. This weekend Jessica and I are doing a 200 km event. It will most likely rain on us. We will be riding 32 tires at 60 psi, I weigh about 150, she weighs about 125. The lower pressure will give us better traction on the road and might help the sealant take care of any punctures. We expect punctures because of all the rain. Thanks for watching. Please give us an update on your experience after going to bigger tires and lower pressure. Please consider subscribing.
Awesome video. I think many of us have had it and are tired of hearing tubeless zealots pushing this garbage. They need to put a sock in it until they figure out clinchers still rule.
Reserve Fillmore valves, expensive but never get clogged. I know you're sick of this but never had any of the variety of issues you've had 🤷♂️ before the fillmores regular presta valves would sometimes get clogged. But that's about it. Never used the silca sealant I use orange seal endurance.
Indeed. Orange Seal. Fillmore valves. Dynaplugs. Green powder coat masking tape (3M 8992). Vittoria Air Liner Road optional. We can lead a horse to water...
It's fair for you to be infuriated by that situation, but my personal experience with road tubeless has been remarkably successful (Conti 5000s, ENVE hooked rims and Stan's). I 100% agree that "just put a tube in it" is BS. If you have a useful amount of sealant in your tires, removing them to insert a tube is a huge mess (especially on the side of a road). Gotta carry a Dynaplug (which is smaller than a spare tube anyway). Not foolproof, but damn close.
@@rauli386 maybe its the Silca stuff that doesn’t work well. Although its not surprising to see a boomer with a rim brake bike shit on tubeless. Nothing wrong with tubes or rims brakes or disc . brakes and tubeless to each his own. But to say tubeless sucks its a bit of a stretch honestly, nothing is perfect and i sense a bit of retrogrouchness here lol.
Man you sound frustrated. I’m watching you chuckling because something similar happened to me on my third ride with tubeless. I said F no not again and been happily riding my clinchers since then.
Well, that royally sucks! With everything I'm hearing, I'll stick with tubes on my road bike, and probably my gravel bike. Tubeless on mtn bike makes sense with thorns and such.
@@bretthadley2043 yes it was weird that it clumped up. I’ve seen this clumping with Stan’s as well. Some folks have said that this Silca stuff doesn’t do well with CO2. I hadn’t used CO2 though
Wondering how many punctures tubeless sealant has fixed for all these naysayers without they even noticing. Then, once they experience that one flat that sealant couldn't seal they're all over the internet claiming it doesn't work. It'd be like claiming airplanes are dangerous and don't work because there was a plane crash in the news. It's easy to talk trash about products/technologies only when they fail.
I hear what you’re saying. However, I’m not Chicken Little. I’ve been trying to make tubeless work since 2008. Can you say you have been riding tubeless since 2008? Can you say you have been riding since 2008? Can those that claim tubeless is flawless say they’ve been riding tubeless since 2008? Rhetorical questions of course. The thing is I’ve ridden thousands upon thousands of miles on tubeless. I’ve set up brand new tires brand new sealant for real important events and had it fail. The success rate over all the years I’ve experimented with tubeless has been about 1 out 10. I’ve been in a shop environment since 2004 and see all the bad of tubeless and none of the good. But here’s the bright side, now that the bike industry has moved to disc and the consumer has moved to 28, 30 and 32 tires because their ride quality sucks on their disc brake overly stiff carbon frame now tubeless will begin to work better with 32 tires at 50 psi. It works phenomenal on gravel and MTB at lower pressures. By the way, there’s always sealant spray on your bike so to say how many punctures have sealed without someone knowing isn’t a good theory. I routinely ride 10,000 miles per year and climb 1,000,000 feet per year all outside you can follow me on Strava thanks for watching please consider subscribing You can follow me on Strava: www.strava.com/athletes/5473
Perhaps it did not seal quickly due to it having dried out. If you had replenished after 120 or so days then this is not a great advert. If you had not replenished, then it is a different story. Agree about the valve problem but there is an easy fix for that with a light oil and some pipe cleaners, do this at same time as you replenish. I agree that when t goes wrong it is pretty terrible, I have had two failures, was able to fix both but on reflection one was my fault, for poor prep, the other was a tire slices that nothing could have helped. Anyway, good video that help us with the debate.
Hello Mike thanks for watching! I guess the issue I have with this product is having to keep it from drying out. I now have to be another product from Silca to replenish. It dried out in 2 months time far too quick. Anyway, I’ve been using Orange Seal on 28, 30 and 32 tires. So far so good 😊 Please consider subscribing
I agree 100%. I put the Fiber foam in my set up and less than 24 hours it harden. I sent the photo I took of the sealant to Silca and their reply was so condescending and they blamed me for my inexperience. I have been working in bike shops and the industry in various forms for 30 years and have never experienced this much failures with one product. Josh is more of a used car salesmen than anything else. So I went back to tubes and haven’t had a single problem other then the normal issues of a flat every so often. Flats are a less headache than dealing with sealant getting every where and failing in the most inconvenient times. Silca is a joke and Josh is a con artist.
You are 100% correct! Josh is a freaking used car salesman more than an inventor or innovator. He is so full of shit it's almost criminal. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
Agreed. I only use tubeless for gravel and MTB. I also use Orange Seal, which has always worked well for me in those applications. Sorry your ride was ruined. That sucks.
C'mon man! You just have to learn all the (and I mean all) of the extra work and expense involved in "enjoying" road tubeless! Josh at Silca just dropped a video on how ya gotta remove and shake your wheels regularly to check for dried-out sealant, how ya gotta "treat" your valve stems and on...and on. After watching it I just added it all to the rest of the reasons I've never bothered with this "technology". Might be great for low-pressure, fat MTB tires, but even then..a $5 butyl inner tube is hard to beat unless you've got a team director in a car with spare bikes on the roof behind you on every ride!
Fair enough! I think it is a good system once you get your tire size up over 30mm and get the pressures down below 70psi. There is a lot of maintenance required to keep the sealant fresh and depending on the sealant it can be overbearing if you just like to ride your bike and not fuss with stuff all the time lol
Though I am running tubeless on my main road bike, I can’t say you are wrong on any of your points. And agree 100% the Silca sealant is by far the worst of the lot.
Orange seal seems to be the best of the rest it does all things not so bad. Thanks for being outspoken on a product that did not meet your expectations . We do not see it much these days.
@@jerseybarrier64I call balls and strikes on this channel. When something works I will post about it. When it doesn’t work I won’t yield to bike industry marketing BS. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
Here's the thing with tubeless. Any puncture you get that's big enough that you know about you'd be replacing the tube anyway. But I bet there's probably 20 punctures that you had no idea about that the sealant sealed. Been riding tubeless on my road bike since 2017 and I've never had a puncture large enough that I couldn't make it home.
I’ve never had a puncture I didn’t know about “…there’s probably 20 punctures…” myth. And of course you’ve been riding tubeless since 2017 and everything has been perfect. My guess you probably don’t ride much.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad Wow, a bit sensitive to this subject? the 20 punctures you didn't know about is 100% not a myth, when you remove the tire it's clearly visible where the sealant has gone and sealed up thorn holes. Lot's of blackberries around here. Of course I've had issues, as I stated though I've never had a puncture large enough that I couldn't at least make it home. And I ride enough that test size is large enough. I don't really care either way if people use tubeless or not I was just voicing my opinion based on experience in what I thought was a neutral way. On the group rides I have attended (I prefer solo) there has always been more issues with tubes than tubeless. I've had good success with OrangeSeal
It’s rubbish and I say this from bitter experience. Apart from the faff of putting the stuff in, I had a puncture which not only failed to seal but sprayed sealant all over the rear triangle of my bike. It took over 2 hours to clean it off. Needless to say, yep back to tubes
I don’t insist on using tubeless. I am a RUclips channel that must experiment, review and report to the viewers my findings. Whether it be tires, sealant or wheels you deserve to hear my personal experience if something is good and you should spend your hard earned money on it or it sucks and you should walk away. What value would my channel be to you if all I did was regurgitate all the bike industry marketing bullshit that’s out there? Thanks for watching
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad I'm glad you posted it...The clumping makes me think the sealant is trying to balance your wheel (like tire beads do for car tires) and it ends up clumping against itself since it has a lot of particles in it. I'm just guessing though...I have no advanced degrees in "tire sealant clumping" or anything close 🙂 I don't ride as much as you and I didn't see clumping when I used Silca. I've switched to Orange because Silca dried out quickly.
@@MrSandperson0 I purchased some Orange Seal. I haven’t used it in years but I will continue banging my head against the wall and keep attempting to make tubeless work - sigh 😔
I got the same issue with Silca sealant and Continental tires 5000 S TR - 3 punctures in 2 months.. 0 puncture protection. "top" products and only lies on products descriptions.
Unfortunately it had only been in there about 3 months at the most. There is a LONG saga with sealants and tubeless tires going back to 2008 trying to make it work. This isn’t just one instance but this Silca stuff is the messiest to work with. Thanks for watching please subscribing
@@familiencartagena2852 It's really hit and miss. I am using Orange Seal on another wheel set with Continental 5000 STR 28mm at 70 psi. The sealant has been working there with a Dynaplug inserted. But Silca sealant is so messy and apparently you can't use CO2 when you get a puncture and want to top off while out on the road/trail. That makes it a show stopper. Not too mention it can't be poured in through the valve so again a show stopper for road.
Another video of someone complaining about tubeless when they aren’t maintaining it properly…. If I had to guess, you didn’t add the replenisher until after the sealant had dried out. I found it funny that your complaining about the mess year when you too the sealant out the tire was dry! 😂 What’s the use of complaining when you don’t use the product properly.
The product sucks! And it should not have dried up in less than 2 months. And why keep throwing good money after bad by using a replenisher on top of the sealant - think about it. Silca sealant is crap it’s messy and costly. Also there was a mess all over the part that was liquid and then there was a clump of it in the tire. What’s the use of posting when you don’t have all the facts? But thanks for watching 😊
What you’re presenting are opinions, not facts. In the world of sealants I’ve tried most and Silca has by far been the best. It has been the only sealant to seal punctures even side wall punctures. Yes, tubeless requires maintenance. Silca requires a little more than competitors, but it also works well. Depending on the time of year I find I need to add replenisher every 70-90 days. It also needs an early top off after a new installation, or an extra ounce +\- on initial set up due to the fact that the tires aren’t airtight from manufacturers. What facts am I missing? If Silca is crap, what tubeless sealant do you recommend?
@@AwesomeAngryBiker sorry friend, but I have no control on how many ads RUclips puts in my videos. But the ads is how RUclipsrs make money. You should know this by now. So get over it or don’t watch RUclips. 👌 Thanks for watching please consider subscribing. I keep it real on this channel.
Each technology has its swings and roundabouts, its strengths and weaknesses.
Having run tubeless for years I've found techniques for getting the tyre bead to mount easily, which takes care of most of the grumbles. Every few months I'll get a puncture that is bad enough that i notice it, and it does get messy. But I'll take that and the consequent ten minutes of cleaning over the weekly punctures that I used to get.
Well said, no spitting dummies out the pram, just work it out.
tried the silca sealant twice, both times the carbon fiber coagulated into pellets and was told by martha at silca that it couldve been an installation error lol, that was the last time i used that sealant
also the sealant dried within two months
Correct that was my issue with this sealant. It dries up too quickly, can't be put in through the valve, and it can't be used with CO2 ... so what is left to like about it? 😂
I've been tubeless on my mountain bike for over 10 years and love it. For my road bike I'm happy to stick to tubes. I'm more likely to puncture on the road and I just don't need the mess.
Thanks for watching Thomas!
Been there George I feel your pain. Road tubeless is great until there's a problem. I've gone back to tubes on my road bikes... much happier
OMG George, too funny! Thank you for doing all the R&D on road tubeless! As much as I love the idea of tubeless, (lower weight and rolling resistance, plus comfort), the frigging mess, maintenance and faffing around with all the related crap is such a joke (of course, unless you have a SAG following you, or are a racer). George, often make reference to folks that are not too into (or capable of) doing their own bike maintenance issue, tubeless is just another one of those hassle for those such folks. Running tubeless is truly a high to moderate maintenance option to road cycling. Just last Saturday I rode up to a flatted rider on the road, who was running tubeless, and he just couldn’t re-inflate. I offered him either a CO2 cartridge, or air from my Silca Tattico mini pump as he ran out of cartridges as his tubeless set-up just would not take air (perhaps he had a partially clogged valve). He was so thankful that I had a pump on me!
Anyways, thank you George for confirming my belief in, and continuance of running tubes on the road (regardless of the minor performance and comfort “penalty”.) And to use a past phrase you once stated about running Gatorskins, “life too short . . . !” And in this case, life is way too short to be messing around with tubeless BS and mishaps on the road. (BTW, I run on my dry bike GP5000 with Conti Race Lite tubes, and Gatorskins on my wet bike with the same tubes).
Thanks for sharing!
Silca just recently sealed up a decent sized nail. I don’t run my sealant dry though. 😂
Yeah well that’s the point of the matter isn’t it? It wasn’t supposed to be dry sealant! It had only been in there fewer than 3 months. Sealant shouldn’t dry up and clump up like this in fewer than 3 months. That’s why I’m so disappointed at how terrible this “ultimate” sealant turned out to be.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad interesting it dried up on you so quickly. Maybe try applying the replenish after a few weeks. I suppose time to dry out can vary depending on many factors.
@@kj.rising indeed it can vary I’m not sure what the right timing is yet.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad They are actually recommending to top up the sealant with replenish at 7-14 days on certain tires. I have just tried it on my gravel 700x45c after thinking about it for a year. Let's see how it goes right now with tubes i have 2-3 punctures a month. Even tried latex tubes and they were worse.
@@familiencartagena2852 gravel should work. Tubeless works for dirt not so great for road...yet. But think about this now they want you to buy their product to replenish every 7-14 days on certain tires. WTF? It's a money pit think of cost of ownership long term. Latex tubes is another huge expense for very little gain -- they bleed too much pressure in 8-12 hours for an Ultra Cyclist like myself. Let alone the loss of pressure over multiple days in unsupported racing. Nope Latex is not the answer either.
Yeah been riding bikes since the 1980’s.
I only tried sealant in my inner tubes but didn’t go too well either.
Central California has a ton of goat heads.
I run Gator Skins, but am penalized with the higher rolling resistance.
However, flats on these tires are not common and the inner tubes are pretty easy to change.
Thanks for reminding me why I don’t run tubeless on road bikes.
Until we ride on solid tires, flats will continue to be the scourge of cycling! Great content! Than you! ❤🚴🏻♂️
Thank You Raul!
Replace ur valve core every 2 or 3 months@SeeYouUpTheRoad it isnt the tubless setups fault for the valve. Its maintenance, or buy fillmore no clog valves. Also i think part of road tubless is slicks have no air pocket space to seal. Try orange seal endurance.
So you want me to change a valve core every 2 to 3 months? Don't you find that absolutely stupid?
Also.. I read Silca does not recommend filling via the valve because the area will clog up.
I mentioned I use “Orange” brand. Works great so far.
Correct it’s not just a recommendation - it’s impossible to put their sealant through the valve. Their carbon fiber bits won’t go in.
I have had great results with Silca Ultimate and did not experience the large clumping you showed. Agree that it dries out faster than others but for me it works well with my Conti TT tyres. Also I found that the sealant comes off way easier than others for a fast internal tire maintenance cleaning.
Thanks for sharing! Who knows I may give it another try 😂
For road, I've moved away from tubless. Last year I picked up a puncture which wouldn't seal, decided I'd need to put a tube in, but couldn't get the valve stem out. This year, I'm using tpu tubes. 1 pinch flat from riding up a curb and too low of pressure (my fault). Easy and quick replacement on the road, and a quick repair back home. Oh, and everything stayed clean 😂. Tubes all the way!!!
Have you had a hair cut George?
🤣🤣
From time. to time the idea of going road tubeless creeps into my head. It's lighter. More supple. Flat-resistant. Etc.
Then slowly I remember about all the faffing around involved in setting it up and keeping it going. Like needing a compressor to seat the tire, checking and refreshing sealant regularly, and so on. Not to mention what happens if anything goes wrong.
So I've stuck to the old faithful -- butyl tubes. I've had one flat in the last three years, which took me 5 minutes to fix.
You don't miss what you've never had.
Cheers
You're doing the right thing for you. Lately I have had more luck with tubeless. Silca sealant is shit and a huge mess. I have been using Orange Seal at lower pressures on 28-32 tires. It seems to really work better at 65-70 psi. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
I had a very similar experience with road tubeless in general, and Silca sealant in particular. Went back to tubes.
Yeah Silca sealant is the worst for road tubeless.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad I had the exact same clumps. Incredibly hard to clean out the wheel and tire. Clogged my valve cores, AND stem, AND even a track pump. I had to replace the chuck which I broke trying to get that stuff out. Anyway…thanks for the video and for making me feel not like an idiot for going back to tubes. 😂
@@mikesuperg ha ha you’re not an idiot! This entire road tubeless debacle needs to be blamed on all the sales and marketing departments from all the RUclips channels, tubeless tire manufacturers and sealant manufacturers!
Long live rim brakes and tubes! All the best.
Nope, not for me. I learned riding when I was seven, now in my mid forties, still use tubes (and some old school stuff). Although all my wheels are capable of being accept tubeless, some of these techs are simply not for me.
Still my road bike is a rim brake metal bike (fancy metal, not carbon, because now I can afford it) and although I have a disk bike, but I only use it here at home. I travel with my rim brake road bike. And normal tire-tube combination.
Yes, I love some techs, like di2, really happy with it.
Gave up tubeless 1-2 months into it! I'll keep my rim brakes and inner tubes!
Yep you did the right thing!
Yeah I will never try tubeless because of this mess. Vitoria latex tubes with GP5000 for the win, combo with lowest rolling resistance and no problems, just to pump it up and go, simple.
Good to see your calling it out George.
Indeed my friend! Thanks for watching Wayne
How old was the sealant? Also what kind of weather / temperature / humidity was the bike stored in? Did you ever do a sealant top off with their stage 2 product? I've been running GP5000s with silca, and I've had a few punctures where they all sealed without losing hardly any air. It does make a mess but I think that's the cost of doing business with tubeless from what I understand.
Sealant is fewer than 3 months old. I live in SoCal no humidity and always moderate temperatures. No I did not use their additional money sucking product. I won’t ever use it again. I also Will tell my customers not to buy it.
This is the trade off: small punctures trend to seal on their own so they are better than tubes, but bigger punctures are worse and addressing the problem in the field is much worse than with a tube because of the mess. Silca tends to be the best, but it doesn't do away with the downsides. And one of those downsides is you need to keep it topped off and this wasn't.
Yep had to change a Vittoria Corsa next TLR tire that had started to peel (1200 miles). Taking off the tire I noticed the large clumps (Silica Sealant). Explains why my other tire when I spin it there is a strange noise. Still undecided regarding whether I should go back to tubes (Ride Now) perhaps because I have a 2 year supply of Silica sealant and replenisher
Oh my 2 years supply of that sealant?
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad yep, tend to buy large because I live in (Antigua) the islands (can't quickly get supplies)
I actually made my first RUclips video recently because of how much I disliked silca sealant. Not only does the carbon fiber clump up, any of it that is free to be used goes straight towards the bead on the original seal. It dries out super fast(instantly when I use Co2 and not my frame pump) and has a hard time sealing on 33mm road/dirt road gravel tires.
Totally agree with you George !
50 + yrs of cycling/racing/crewing and I will never use tubeless.. if it's new & improved, it SUCKS !
steel frames, rim brakes, tubulars or clinchers...that's it.. tried & true for decades.....if it ain;t broke, don't fix it
So many things you listed did not need to be “improved” !!
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad sealant is like bubble gum.. sticks to everything like glue... especially hair ! off with the 'tail' ! lol..still got mine..lol
Yeah, because tubulars are so easy to replace on the road and fix at home. Let me guess, we should all still be running 10 speeds with friction shifters because all that indexing crap is too complicated, right? LOL, another clueless old fart, just like all those useless local bike shop mechanics who should've retired ages ago.
Lately I’ve been running GP 5000’s with Conti Race butyl tubes - old school Neanderthal technology but no flats for weeks, plenty fast, & only have to inflate once a week. Don’t even think about my tires - just jump on the bike & ride. I figure Conti specs their tires to perform best with their own tubes.
I run GP5000s with Vittoria latex tubes and haven’t had a puncture in nearly 2 years and 8000km. I love how the latex tubes ride but you need to pump them up before every ride.
Wow what a mess. I have never tried tubless. Some people swear by it. But after seeing this im not sure I want to deal with it.
I haven't had a flat tire in years with clinchers. and i ride garbage roads. I don't understand the problem tubeless is trying to solve. for 1% better performance, it's not worth all the headache.
There are no performance benefits
@@stibra101 I know... just giving the benefit of the doubt.
Correct G E
Just bought some of this and I’ve just been reading up on all the horror stories with it think I’ll retune the tiers as well and just use some clinchers and latex tubes.
I think Josh is a good salesman :-)
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad I’ve seen someone refer to it as basically glue. And I think I basically agree.
@@gaza4543 yes indeed! It feels like when we used to put Elmer’s glue on our hands in Kindergarten 😂
i sold all my bikes and gear after watching this video...screw flats..ill just walk for exercise :)
ultimate means the last item in a series, right? "this is the last sealant you'll ever use" can also have two different meanings. they weren't lying /jk
You certainly have had your issues with tubeless. I run 35c Pirelli Centuratos with Bontrager sealant and it works well but I also run lower AIR pressure and I chose a more heavy duty tire due to my local conditions. It seems the bigger the tire and lower the pressure the better it works. Silica seems to really over-inflate how good most of their product line really is. Stan’s, orange seal and a few others all work great for MTB and larger gravel tires ran at lower pressures. Good luck with your search for the right solution.
Orange Seal. Fillmore valves. (Vittoria Air Liners optional.)
Silca and Muc-Off are princesses of RUclips reviews where they have a fresh pour and use a round stabby implement. Both are pretty terrible sealants in real-world usage.
Orange seal and Fillmore is the winning combo for me as well
I’ve had a similar experience with SILCA and thinking about moving back to a tube setup. I emailed the SILCA team and commented on one of their video but they didn’t bother to reply and provide some help.
Well there you go!
I think the people who think road tubeless is awesome don't ride a lot. I'm not amazing, but I hit 6.7k miles / 400k ft elevation gain last year, and I'm already at 3.4k miles / 258k ft elevation this year. I switched back to tubes! I don't have to worry about the sealant drying, it's insanely easier to change tires, insanely easier to fix a road flat. I can seat my Gatorskin Hardshells without a tire lever too!
I do over 7k miles and over 550k feet. I'm a fan of tubeless on and off road. Stan's sealant is great when you run it with some 55-60psi. This guy here is a knucklehead. Silca on the other hand, I totally agree is a snake oil company.
Another reason from mess of changing a tire or tube why I will not go road tubeless. Other uses are a maybe depending on tire and planned regular use of wheels. You need two wheelsets minimal: one setup tubeless for wide dirt tires then the regular tubed setup for easy less messy tire change for all use. For thoes on a tight budget or storage space that is not acceptable to have two wheelsets when other needs taken into account. Especially if you do not race or do a lots of events, which covers most people that have bikes.
Only use Stans (tubeless old school). Easier on valve cores. Last flat 2020 (now jinxed). I try to avoid road debris.
I hope you’re not jinxed now 😂
I’m running tubeless on a set of Boyd Podiums because it’s impossible for me to get a tire on it when running tubes. Only issue I had was a bad sidewall puncture that would not seal.. even with a plug kit .. even doubled up and wouldn’t seal. Had to buy a new rear tire (happened on second ride). 800 miles later no issues. Using “Orange” sealant. I read Silca has a lot of fiber in the liquid, so I think that is the cause of the clumping. Mountain bikers love silca. For road biking I think it may be overkill and cause more issues due to the clumping. When exposed to air, it clumps up at the leak.. which may be why the valve stem clumps so easily… what a mess I really feel tubeless tires have a long way to go, even though people are insisting that it’s all great right now, it’s not it’s still a big mess
I dont think mountain bikes care. Lol.
Anyway.. buying a new bike soon and will run tubes in them (RideNow TPUs)
Tubeless on the road works great, it is the present
I watched your video before installing my tubeless with Silca. I had no issues with the install and did it in my basement. I made a point of checking sealant after one month. It still was liquid and there was plenty of it. However I did note that the fibres seemed to have gone somewhere so I topped up a little. I ran pipe cleaner with a very small bit of hobby lube on them through the value stems before install. I have had no clogging issues. I double wrapped the rim tape too. Yes the stuff is like glue. How long was it since you put sealant in? The whole thing looked very dry. I do think tubeless has a way to go for road, however I love the low PSI comfort. Thanks for your video.
@@BradParsons-n8s it had been about 2 months but not more than 3 months. I think someone mentioned you can’t use CO2 with Silca. Maybe that caused the sealant to dry up 🤷
Also running 30mm and 32mm tires will make it easier to pour Silca into the tire since you can’t push it through the valve.
@@BradParsons-n8s please keep in touch. I’d like to know what your long-term experience is with Silca sealant. Thanks for watching. Please consider subscribing.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad Yes I will follow up. I had ordered the sealant just before I watched your video so I thought I had better check things just in case. I also followed the advice on Silca's video for install. Yes I have heard of CO2 causing issues with sealants. In our cycling journeys we all end up being part of someone's R&D department. Thanks again.
@@BradParsons-n8supdate ?
As luck would have it I recently switched over from Stans to Silca when I installed new tires on my road bike. ☹
Right on Bro, that’s why I still use tubes “tublito tubes”. Best lightest tubes n better puncture resistant! Conti tires 5000 too!
Thanks for watching Rudy please consider subscribing!
I've ridden tubeless on my road and gravel bike for many years and yes it is messy. But I've lost count at how many punctures I've had where the sealant has worked and I've been able to ride on. Even if I have to to stop and insert a Dynaplug, 90% of the time I can get home. So I guess I just look at the long term benefits? For me it's worth it, but I use Peaty's holeshot.
Yep things have changed significantly since I posted this video. I went back to Orange Seal and also run 30's routinely and 32's on long brevets. The Dynaplug is the only tool I recommend to my customers and the only tool I use. Thanks for watching! Please consider subscribing
Been there back to oldskool, conti 5000 again with iner tube
Yep I have plenty of tubeless wheels to wear out before I can use my clincher tires
How are TPU tubes in comparison to tubeless and butyl?
Only for disc , not for rim because of the heat from rims, so if u going downhill and have to break often, can exploded, happened to my friend, luckily he was safe
George has a video on his experience with TPU. If I recall correctly, he had a flat not long after trying TPUs.
@@steva_nolimits Was he using carbon or alloy rims?
@@nme700 I guess im sticking to butyl until i do more research then
Thanks for sharing the video. It solidifies my suspicion that Silca fiberfoam sealant isn't my preferred choice. The red flag for me is their discouragement of adding the sealant via the valve due to the risk of clogs. My experiences with tubeless have been consistently successful, even saving me from crashes. I recommend opting for tubeless tires that are easy to mount so you can always insert a tube when its needed. Personally, I prefer the P-zero.
Thanks for watching! Silca is led by Josh who is a good salesman. Please consider subscribing
tubeless for >32mm tyres and tubes for
Hey man, I get this totally. Looks like your sealant had dried out first and you just got the dregs that wouldn't seal the cut. You definitely don't have 60ml of it on your bike and legs, and you can see it's not really enough liquid inside when you take off the tire. Silca stuff dries out quick apparently, which is why you also ended up with that ball of goop. Your wheels would have been way out of balance. Its definitely a hassle and problem to have to keep it all topped up. I can understand tubes look way easier. Good luck with your riding!
If you keep topping off the sealant as it dries out - aren't your tires/wheels getting heavier every time?
100% agree on road tubeless being so much of a pain, it outweighs any benefit. I just did my first tubeless road tire change. NEVER AGAIN! The tires are premium cost over tube tires, the sealant is messy and more expensive than tubes, and the tire itself is even harder to get on than a tube tire (if you can imagine that)! And then the sealant dries up after about 12 months and you gotta do it all over again! NOPE!
Hello - actually sealant should be checked and replenished every 3-6 months. By 12 months it’s either dried up or has broken down (Stan’s becomes watery) so it should be looked after more often than 12 months!
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad "tubeless is great!!! I just have to redo it all four times a year."
New cut? Looking spiffy. GCN seem to be now sponsored by Silca so they must be ultimate of the ultimate.
This made my day. Steel bikes are better , today we are on carbon aero bike , shallow alloy wheels are just as good if not better , today we are on deep carbon wheels, tubeless sucks, today we are on tubeless. I appreciate George and his videos but i will tune off the minute he lets his biass and prejudice dictate every video. I agree that not all modern innovation make sense but let's be obiectiv and fair.
FYI in 2024 I did a 200km, 300km, 400km and (2) 600km Brevets all on my Ritchey Road Logic on tubeless 32mm tires and 55-58 psi pressure using Orange Seal sealant. 😂
I did SLIME sealant and watered it down 50/50 with distilled water! It was good!
I use dynaplug. During all my rides. And you should change that sealant for another one. Road tubeless are Awesome . Seriously I have been using this for several years without problems so that I don't even carry an inner tube with me anymore.
anecdotal evidence n ting
That sealant is new as of March 16 - 2 days before an event barely in there 3 months
Tubeless is for MTB tires and 1 bar pressure.
Ive had zero issues with road tubeless
phewww, thanks man, I'm glad we can close this discussion now that you confirmed you have had 0 issues
But it looks like 80% of your mileage is on Zwift though
that sealant will permanently stain everything. Number one reason I went back to latex.
Which brand did you decide to go back to?
Trying to figure out how I can remove the sealant (dried) from a defective tire in order to get the serial number. Seems impossible
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad latex innertube
@@openwheelracing88 oh lol! Yeah Latex tubes won’t work for me 😭
@@cornelhughes6763 is it the Silca stuff? Well of course they created a product to remove their sealant off of stuff. It’s a money grab by Silca
Tubeless on gravel with 30-40 PSI and TPU tubes on road running about 70 PSI.
Yes, tubeless works great for gravel riding! And now that I’m riding 32 tires tubeless is working really well at 63 psi
Bummer.
Sew-up might be easier than that tubeless setup.
Such a retro-grouch! I wonder why tubeless tires work so well for me and my friends?
Yep I wonder too! By the way, I proudly call myself a Retro-Grouch and I have so many videos on how the so-called new tech is all a bunch of marketing bullshit. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing 😊
And Silca sealant is the messiest of the bunch
I use stans and patiently wait while the tubed riders repair their flats along the roadside. I don't judge. @@SeeYouUpTheRoad
Why are you piloting that carbon rocketship? You should be riding one of those old timey steel single speeds with a tire around your neck and a scowl on your face!@@SeeYouUpTheRoad
I subscribed to your channel you old geezer! jk, I'm an even older geezer 🙃@@SeeYouUpTheRoad
I've been using Stan's Tubeless Sealant on my mountain bikes for years. I ride in the Arizona desert, and I've never had a flat, and every puncture quickly seals without making a mess. It has been a game-changer for me. Perhaps it's the higher pressure that makes tubeless less reliable in road tires. I've often thought about getting a road bike, but the prospect of going back to dealing with innertubes and fixing flats on the side of the road was unthinkable for me. I was beginning to feel optimistic about tubeless road tires, but after seeing what happened to you, it seems that tubes really are the lesser of two evils.
It's the high pressure of road tires that is the issue. Lately I have been riding 32 tires on crucial events. My pressure is down to 55-58 psi. I have a lot more confidence that it will seal at those pressures. Tubeless is awesome for MTB and Gravel!
😮😮😮just ordered some, haven’t used it yet tho
Good luck! It’s good for what it was designed to do.
The clumps of fibers are the sealant clogging a hole. I love the Silca sealant.
clumping is one thing this was a ball of sealant. There are plenty of sealant choices on the market. We can all find an option that works for each of us. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing.
Sealant brands aside, I think part of the issue with road tubeless are the relatively high air pressures. I think the sealants just get overpowered by the higher pressures? I'm moving to 28s with less pressure (have always run 25/26 at close to 90 psi - yes, I'm big) to see if that's the sweet spot. I wouldn't give up on tubeless yet - for me, the vastly improved road feel was reason enough. Flats suck, good luck!
You are absolutely correct!
I’ve been trying to make tubeless work since 2008. At the time 25 mm tires were considered big for road cycling now 28 mm tires are considered standard with many bikes coming stock with 30 mm and 32 mm tires Ever since I moved over to 28 mm tires and started running 70 psi the sealant has had a better opportunity to seal up the puncture. This weekend Jessica and I are doing a 200 km event. It will most likely rain on us. We will be riding 32 tires at 60 psi, I weigh about 150, she weighs about 125. The lower pressure will give us better traction on the road and might help the sealant take care of any punctures. We expect punctures because of all the rain.
Thanks for watching. Please give us an update on your experience after going to bigger tires and lower pressure. Please consider subscribing.
I do enjoy some outcome of the tubeless trend, such as spokehole-less rims, so that I can install my inner tubes without rim tapes 😊
Ha ha nicely done!
What PSI do you run? If those are 32s I think they are supposed to be at about 65psi.
But if you hate it so much why do you keep using tubeless tires?
Because otherwise he wouldn't have anything to rant about for his followers!
Awesome video. I think many of us have had it and are tired of hearing tubeless zealots pushing this garbage. They need to put a sock in it until they figure out clinchers still rule.
We’re on 14 years of this tubeless marketing BS about how it’s going to solve everything and it’s still shit!
OK, pedantic person here: tubeless tires technically *are* clinchers. But I understand what you meant.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad It appears to be only you and your followers who have constant problems with tubeless. LOL!
Looks like you allowed the sealant to dry in the tyre. Silca recommends adding sealant replenisher every 90 days to keep the liquid fresh
This was MUCH less than 90 days. Furthermore, why do I need to buy another product from them to keep it liquified? Don’t you see the money pit?
Reserve Fillmore valves, expensive but never get clogged. I know you're sick of this but never had any of the variety of issues you've had 🤷♂️ before the fillmores regular presta valves would sometimes get clogged. But that's about it. Never used the silca sealant I use orange seal endurance.
Indeed. Orange Seal. Fillmore valves. Dynaplugs. Green powder coat masking tape (3M 8992). Vittoria Air Liner Road optional. We can lead a horse to water...
Tubeless road is a solution to a non-problem.
reminds me of when Di2 came out lol
Du-ude. How did things ever get so far?
Ha ha - I’m here to show people that I try and try to make it work and it sucks 😂
It's fair for you to be infuriated by that situation, but my personal experience with road tubeless has been remarkably successful (Conti 5000s, ENVE hooked rims and Stan's). I 100% agree that "just put a tube in it" is BS. If you have a useful amount of sealant in your tires, removing them to insert a tube is a huge mess (especially on the side of a road). Gotta carry a Dynaplug (which is smaller than a spare tube anyway). Not foolproof, but damn close.
I dunno man, I run tubeless everything and have never had a mess or clumps like that.
I run tubeless and it just works great without an issue
@@rauli386 maybe its the Silca stuff that doesn’t work well. Although its not surprising to see a boomer with a rim brake bike shit on tubeless. Nothing wrong with tubes or rims brakes or disc . brakes and tubeless to each his own. But to say tubeless sucks its a bit of a stretch honestly, nothing is perfect and i sense a bit of retrogrouchness here lol.
Right?
Man you sound frustrated. I’m watching you chuckling because something similar happened to me on my third ride with tubeless. I said F no not again and been happily riding my clinchers since then.
Since 2008 (early adopter) I’ve been testing and evaluating tires, rims and sealant and it still doesn’t work 😢
Well, that royally sucks! With everything I'm hearing, I'll stick with tubes on my road bike, and probably my gravel bike. Tubeless on mtn bike makes sense with thorns and such.
Yes MTB tubeless is awesome!
Did you use the replenisher ???
No! I’m not spending any more money on Siica sealant products. This stuff is terrible!
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad just curious if this is why it clumped up. 🤷
@@bretthadley2043 yes it was weird that it clumped up. I’ve seen this clumping with Stan’s as well. Some folks have said that this Silca stuff doesn’t do well with CO2. I hadn’t used CO2 though
Wondering how many punctures tubeless sealant has fixed for all these naysayers without they even noticing. Then, once they experience that one flat that sealant couldn't seal they're all over the internet claiming it doesn't work. It'd be like claiming airplanes are dangerous and don't work because there was a plane crash in the news. It's easy to talk trash about products/technologies only when they fail.
I hear what you’re saying. However, I’m not Chicken Little. I’ve been trying to make tubeless work since 2008. Can you say you have been riding tubeless since 2008? Can you say you have been riding since 2008? Can those that claim tubeless is flawless say they’ve been riding tubeless since 2008? Rhetorical questions of course.
The thing is I’ve ridden thousands upon thousands of miles on tubeless. I’ve set up brand new tires brand new sealant for real important events and had it fail. The success rate over all the years I’ve experimented with tubeless has been about 1 out 10. I’ve been in a shop environment since 2004 and see all the bad of tubeless and none of the good.
But here’s the bright side, now that the bike industry has moved to disc and the consumer has moved to 28, 30 and 32 tires because their ride quality sucks on their disc brake overly stiff carbon frame now tubeless will begin to work better with 32 tires at 50 psi. It works phenomenal on gravel and MTB at lower pressures.
By the way, there’s always sealant spray on your bike so to say how many punctures have sealed without someone knowing isn’t a good theory.
I routinely ride 10,000 miles per year and climb 1,000,000 feet per year all outside you can follow me on Strava
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Road tubeless is SHIT! Give me tubes any day of the week. My new Madone came with tubeless and I converted before my first ride. Farking SCRAP!
Thank you for your honesty! 😂
Are you mixing sealant?
Also silica have a top up solution.
Your sealant is all dry
No not mixing sealant. And that’s the point of how stupid riding tubeless is - you have to worry about your sealant drying and keeping it topped up
i use tubeless and i dont have a problem.
Thanks for letting us know about Silca. Any thoughts on Orange Seal instead?
Orange Seal is what I’ve been using lately.
The topic that keeps on giving
Isn’t that true?
Perhaps it did not seal quickly due to it having dried out. If you had replenished after 120 or so days then this is not a great advert. If you had not replenished, then it is a different story. Agree about the valve problem but there is an easy fix for that with a light oil and some pipe cleaners, do this at same time as you replenish.
I agree that when t goes wrong it is pretty terrible, I have had two failures, was able to fix both but on reflection one was my fault, for poor prep, the other was a tire slices that nothing could have helped.
Anyway, good video that help us with the debate.
Hello Mike thanks for watching! I guess the issue I have with this product is having to keep it from drying out. I now have to be another product from Silca to replenish. It dried out in 2 months time far too quick.
Anyway, I’ve been using Orange Seal on 28, 30 and 32 tires. So far so good 😊
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I agree 100%. I put the Fiber foam in my set up and less than 24 hours it harden. I sent the photo I took of the sealant to Silca and their reply was so condescending and they blamed me for my inexperience. I have been working in bike shops and the industry in various forms for 30 years and have never experienced this much failures with one product. Josh is more of a used car salesmen than anything else. So I went back to tubes and haven’t had a single problem other then the normal issues of a flat every so often. Flats are a less headache than dealing with sealant getting every where and failing in the most inconvenient times. Silca is a joke and Josh is a con artist.
You are 100% correct! Josh is a freaking used car salesman more than an inventor or innovator. He is so full of shit it's almost criminal. Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
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REV Retrogrouch rants :-)
Agreed. I only use tubeless for gravel and MTB. I also use Orange Seal, which has always worked well for me in those applications. Sorry your ride was ruined. That sucks.
Thanks for watching. Things have improved now that I am running no less than 28's and running Orange Seal, Please consider subscribing
C'mon man! You just have to learn all the (and I mean all) of the extra work and expense involved in "enjoying" road tubeless! Josh at Silca just dropped a video on how ya gotta remove and shake your wheels regularly to check for dried-out sealant, how ya gotta "treat" your valve stems and on...and on.
After watching it I just added it all to the rest of the reasons I've never bothered with this "technology". Might be great for low-pressure, fat MTB tires, but even then..a $5 butyl inner tube is hard to beat unless you've got a team director in a car with spare bikes on the roof behind you on every ride!
thanks for watching
Yep!! I ain't going tubeless, even though my new Token wheels are tubeless ready, they are staying with the tube + GP5000.
Fair enough! I think it is a good system once you get your tire size up over 30mm and get the pressures down below 70psi. There is a lot of maintenance required to keep the sealant fresh and depending on the sealant it can be overbearing if you just like to ride your bike and not fuss with stuff all the time lol
Thanks for having the guts to say it... ROAD TUBELESS SUCKS 👍
You’re Welcome! Thanks for watching!
Though I am running tubeless on my main road bike, I can’t say you are wrong on any of your points. And agree 100% the Silca sealant is by far the worst of the lot.
It’s a mixed bag. Lately I have been experimenting with Orange Seal again. It seems to be working. I had a nail puncture seal on a 28 tire at 70 psi.
Orange seal seems to be the best of the rest it does all things not so bad. Thanks for being outspoken on a product that did not meet your expectations . We do not see it much these days.
@@jerseybarrier64I call balls and strikes on this channel. When something works I will post about it. When it doesn’t work I won’t yield to bike industry marketing BS.
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@@SeeYouUpTheRoad Done!
@@jerseybarrier64 Thank You for your subscription!
Tubeless sucks, agreed(!), but that Bianchi is awesome.
Yes and yes!
Here's the thing with tubeless. Any puncture you get that's big enough that you know about you'd be replacing the tube anyway. But I bet there's probably 20 punctures that you had no idea about that the sealant sealed. Been riding tubeless on my road bike since 2017 and I've never had a puncture large enough that I couldn't make it home.
I’ve never had a puncture I didn’t know about “…there’s probably 20 punctures…” myth. And of course you’ve been riding tubeless since 2017 and everything has been perfect. My guess you probably don’t ride much.
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad Wow, a bit sensitive to this subject? the 20 punctures you didn't know about is 100% not a myth, when you remove the tire it's clearly visible where the sealant has gone and sealed up thorn holes. Lot's of blackberries around here. Of course I've had issues, as I stated though I've never had a puncture large enough that I couldn't at least make it home. And I ride enough that test size is large enough. I don't really care either way if people use tubeless or not I was just voicing my opinion based on experience in what I thought was a neutral way. On the group rides I have attended (I prefer solo) there has always been more issues with tubes than tubeless. I've had good success with OrangeSeal
It’s rubbish and I say this from bitter experience. Apart from the faff of putting the stuff in, I had a puncture which not only failed to seal but sprayed sealant all over the rear triangle of my bike. It took over 2 hours to clean it off. Needless to say, yep back to tubes
Indeed it is! Thanks for watching please consider subscribing
So why do you insist on using tubeless?
I don’t insist on using tubeless. I am a RUclips channel that must experiment, review and report to the viewers my findings. Whether it be tires, sealant or wheels you deserve to hear my personal experience if something is good and you should spend your hard earned money on it or it sucks and you should walk away.
What value would my channel be to you if all I did was regurgitate all the bike industry marketing bullshit that’s out there?
Thanks for watching
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad fair enough.
Orange Seal?
Yeah maybe I’ll have to try it. I haven’t used orange seal in years after one of my customers complained that the sealant stained his Assos clothing 😳
whoa....not even a "we'll see you up the road" 😬
Yeah I was a bit grumpy 😠 I almost didn’t post this video but Jess recommended that I should post it. 😂
@@SeeYouUpTheRoad I'm glad you posted it...The clumping makes me think the sealant is trying to balance your wheel (like tire beads do for car tires) and it ends up clumping against itself since it has a lot of particles in it. I'm just guessing though...I have no advanced degrees in "tire sealant clumping" or anything close 🙂
I don't ride as much as you and I didn't see clumping when I used Silca. I've switched to Orange because Silca dried out quickly.
@@MrSandperson0 I purchased some Orange Seal. I haven’t used it in years but I will continue banging my head against the wall and keep attempting to make tubeless work - sigh 😔
I got the same issue with Silca sealant and Continental tires 5000 S TR - 3 punctures in 2 months.. 0 puncture protection. "top" products and only lies on products descriptions.
It drives me crazy that all we hear is how great tubeless is but it just hasn’t lived up to the hype
I've been riding road tubeless for 10000K and I would never go back!!!! Ever!!
That’s not even half a year of riding. But thanks for watching please consider subscribing
I don't believe angry rants exactly as much as I don't believe advertisements.
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I would have replenished the sealant, looks dried inside
Unfortunately it had only been in there about 3 months at the most. There is a LONG saga with sealants and tubeless tires going back to 2008 trying to make it work. This isn’t just one instance but this Silca stuff is the messiest to work with.
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What a mess no thank you.
In my experience, the cyclists who rave about road tubless are (a) newbs and/or (b) they don't work on their own bikes.
OMG! So true 😂 😂
That's not my experience. I know several that are fine with tubeless on their road bike. I personally use tubes, and old heavy butyl tubes
@@familiencartagena2852 It's really hit and miss. I am using Orange Seal on another wheel set with Continental 5000 STR 28mm at 70 psi. The sealant has been working there with a Dynaplug inserted. But Silca sealant is so messy and apparently you can't use CO2 when you get a puncture and want to top off while out on the road/trail. That makes it a show stopper. Not too mention it can't be poured in through the valve so again a show stopper for road.
Another video of someone complaining about tubeless when they aren’t maintaining it properly…. If I had to guess, you didn’t add the replenisher until after the sealant had dried out.
I found it funny that your complaining about the mess year when you too the sealant out the tire was dry! 😂
What’s the use of complaining when you don’t use the product properly.
The product sucks! And it should not have dried up in less than 2 months. And why keep throwing good money after bad by using a replenisher on top of the sealant - think about it. Silca sealant is crap it’s messy and costly. Also there was a mess all over the part that was liquid and then there was a clump of it in the tire. What’s the use of posting when you don’t have all the facts?
But thanks for watching 😊
What you’re presenting are opinions, not facts. In the world of sealants I’ve tried most and Silca has by far been the best. It has been the only sealant to seal punctures even side wall punctures.
Yes, tubeless requires maintenance. Silca requires a little more than competitors, but it also works well. Depending on the time of year I find I need to add replenisher every 70-90 days. It also needs an early top off after a new installation, or an extra ounce +\- on initial set up due to the fact that the tires aren’t airtight from manufacturers.
What facts am I missing?
If Silca is crap, what tubeless sealant do you recommend?
so much nope.
Ha ha correct!
ruined with ads, greedy
@@AwesomeAngryBiker sorry friend, but I have no control on how many ads RUclips puts in my videos. But the ads is how RUclipsrs make money. You should know this by now. So get over it or don’t watch RUclips. 👌
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