Yeah, it's no fun fixing a flat trailside for sure. I have a 14" tire iron bolted to the same hole where the upper chain roller is attached. I carry a 7" tire spoon in the bag on the rear rack. Between these two I can change a tire/fix a flat. Not fun but doable. For air I carry one of those Topeak Master Blaster pumps that has a little fold out foot and a T-handle for the hand. It's like a small, short floor pump. You probably know this kind of pump, durielk, from our bicycle stuff.

I always practice at home with field tools to insure they work. I find it easier to just pull the wheel...front or back...even on the trail. I use the sidestand and the "cane jack" tool that's been around forever. It really does work.

 

Pulled the front tire off of the Tubliss system today. Went flat on the trail, rode it to a gas station, put 2 oz slime and air in, and got mostly home before it went down again. Oh yea, I slabbed it on the way home cause I could feel it going down on the trail again. So I was hauling the ... mail? down the road @ 65mph. I ride them on the street, but this is my trail bike.
Last year I put a plug in a hole in the rear tire and it is still holding up.
I usually ride in ROCKS! I run about 12-18 F & 10-15 rear with Michlin StarCross 5 Medium tires. The sharper the rocks, I'm on the high side. The ***** on these tires really hold up GREAT in the ROCKS!!!! I ordered a new set and getting the front on now.

Now the issue. Running lower pressure, that plastic rim lock is beating the tire carcass when I hit a rock and all the pounding is beating a way for air to get through the cords and goes flat.
That plastic rim lock is the problem.... I'm thinking of adding a 1/8" sheet of hard rubber cover over the rim lock (so it hits the casing first) to reduce the damage. It's going to sit on top and not get in the way of the bead cleats, probably sew it in with some very heavy/strong thread or something.

Anyone else have this problem and any suggestions?

 

durielk, when you say "plastic" rim lock, are you talking about the rubber part that rides inside the red liner above the gold tire rim lock?...where the small inner tube kind of squeezes around that rubber part? Mine is rubber and not plastic. That rubber part is replaceable too.

In a kind of belt-and-suspenders deal in the past, I have cut a small piece of a 700 x 23 tube to put around the inner tube at that location, but I've quit doing that as it didn't seem necessary. Upon reading more of your description I'm getting the impression you're talking about the rim lock actually cutting the tire.

I've never seen that. My last rear tire was worn nearly smooth...Kenda Trakmaster II, and its interface with the rim lock had depressions but no damage. My rim lock that contacts the tire is metal and gold colored.

 

I should have taken some pictures and may tomorrow or when I open it back up... something is wrong.
Yes, that rim lock has a black hard plastic thing that sits inside the tire above where the interliner wines its way through the rim lock. I'm not talking about the part of the rimlock that holds the tire on the rim.
Anyway, It's leaking air somehow at that rimlock. I got the innerliner @ 100 psi and everytime I pump up the 'tire' to 30, the air just constantly leaks down at that rimlock area. I poured Stans in there first, didn't help. Next that green stuff, didn't help. I think I'm going to have to take it all back apart and see what is up. I had to take it 1/2 way apart about 3 times cause the rimlock kept getting off center in the hole, very tiring for a pencil pusher!

That black plastic thing is HARD, and at low pressures and rocks, it just beats the inside of the tire (where the tread is) till it exposes the cords and the air starts going through. Not really a hole, but air doesn't need much space to get out.

 

Yeah, a pic will help because I'm missing what's going on here. The only thing touching the tire from the inside should be the inner lip of the stiff red liner and, of course, the gold rim lock. I'm not seeing how that rim lock valve stem support, the plastic part I think you're referring to, could touch the inside of the tire since it's contained within the red liner and faces into the rim valley where the spokes are.

I just looked at a couple of Nuetech Tubliss installs to refresh my memory and saw nothing resembling how that "plastic part" could touch the inner tread portion of the tire. I did notice that the rim lock is now black and mine is gold, but that shouldn't be an issue.

 

Holy, Holy, Holy…. My prayers have been answered, got up this morning and the tire was holding air, I was going to break the bead and flood with soapy water (I just used Stans initially). I checked and noted the pressure and if it is similar tomorrow morning, it’s going back on the bike, as the weather here is PERFECT for riding.

TNC, on my system the rim lock it black, yours is gold. That is the part I’m talking about.

I attached some pictures, one is damage inside the tire. You can see that the rim lock was hitting the tire, maybe that all happens when I was riding near flat, I don’t know, but every time I have taken a tubless FRONT tire off, it has had that damage at the rim lock. Maybe the rear has so much more volume it is not effected. Another picture is the ***** that are left and the patch I’m going to use over those cords. When I toke the tire off that same patch was loose in the tire, so I think it got beat off of the tire at the rim lock. I’m going to take that old tire as a emergency spare when I’m out in the back country, or until I pick up another new one….. I don’t know how long I’m going to be riding…. I’m getting old, but I like getting way out there!

 

That's interesting. I haven't seen contact at that point inside the tire. I get some small scrub marks closer to the bead where most rim locks grip the tire. Then again, even after all the years of running Tubliss, I've never gotten a flat, so I wouldn't have had any contact under the crown or road contact portion of the tire.

 

I run soft tires on the front (e.g., D803 trials) and when they get worn down the Tubliss rim lock starts to pound holes in them.

Tubliss notes and pix here http://bit.ly/2Ry7zAL

 

Thanks for that link, I went and checked that washer on my spare bladders... they were right. I'll keep that markered in case and check it the next time I get into a tire change.

 

Good info in the link there. I can see a rim lock being harsh on a super soft tire. I run DOT knobbies...Kenda Parker Desert front/Kenda Trakmaster II rear...and I've never had any inner tire carnage...just that spot you can see where the rim lock clamped the tire.

I'm more and more impressed with how reliable the Tubliss has been for me. I expected more snafus occasionally, but so far I haven't had any problems for years now.

Durielk, my last two tires have gone to Orange Seal instead of Stan's. I thing they both seal equally well, but the OS lasts longer and doesn't make those Stan's clumps.