Going Tubeless for 2007 Season

This year Andrea and I will be running tubeless on our race bikes. We were forced to switch for the 24 Hours in the Old Pueble because of all the cactus thorns. We went with Stan's because of all the recommendations and it is easy to obtain.

Installation

Installation was strait-forward, I paid special attentions to ensure that the rim strip was centered in the rim and not overhanging the bead hook. I did have more trouble getting the twister to initally seat on the rim, but once it did everything sealed up just fine. My father gave me a air compressor for Christmas and it came in really handy for getting the tire to seat initially.

Matt's Set-up

Front Wheel: Spinergy Xyclone PBO (Disk)
Front Tire: Contintental Explorer Pro w/Stans Rim Strip and 1.5 oz sealant
Rear Wheel: Spinergy Xyclone PBO(Disk)
Rear Tire: Contintental Twister Pro w/Stans Rim Strip and 1.5 oz sealant

Adrea's Set-up

Front Wheel: American Classic (Disk)
Front Tire: Contintental Explorer Pro w/Stans Rim Strip and 1.5 oz sealant
Rear Wheel: American Classic (Disk)
Rear Tire: Contintental Explorer Pro w/Stans Rim Strip and 1.5 oz sealant

Performance

Andrea and I are running a heavy 1.5 oz of sealant per tire. The system worked flawlessly for both Andrea and I during the entire 24 Hours in the Old Pueble, not a single tire related failure.

Tubeless Disk Wheel Set

I am still not sure if it is recommended to run the stan's sealant without their rim strips on a tubeless wheel set, but I will try it out and see if it works.

Last night I made an attempt to set up the Bontrager disk tubeless wheel set (from my fisher supercaliber) with Stan's. They suggest to seat the tire on the rim dry (without sealant) first to allow everything to seat. Then you simply break the bead, pour in the sealant, and inflate the tire. You typically need to swish the sealant back and forth for a little while to seal all the micropours and the bead. The tire I tried last night was a Continental Explorer Supersonic, which is the light weight race version of the standard Explorer Pro. During the initial seating perioud (without sealant) the sidewall had so many pours that the tire immediately went flat. I added about 2 oz of sealant and inflated the tire to about 60 psi. I was amazed at the amount of sealant weeping/spraying through the sidewalls of the tire. I spent at least an hour filling all the pours with sealant and let the tire sit while I watched the last half of CSI Miami. I could occasionally hear a new poor open up and I would grab the wheel and rotate it to allow the sealant to pool in that area and it would seal instantly. Before bed I leaned the wheel against the hallway wall and expected it to be mostly flat by morning. Amazingly, the tire was fully inflated and it didn't feel as if it lost any pressure over the night.

I tried unsuccesfully to get the a continental twister to seat on the rear wheel, so I put a tube in and inflated the tire to 60 psi so it would conform to the rim.

Update: The rear tire is still sitting waiting for me to get it set up with Stan's. Fortunate for me I think I will be switchin to the Hutchinson Pythons for a while. I have used them for a couple of laps at Stahl's Lake and they feel really good on the tacky trail conditions early in the year.