Dirt
March 22nd, 2005, 01:59 PM
Greetings inhabitants of the planet earty.
Be careful running WTB tubed tires with Stans. WTB is taking efforts to prevent people from doing that. I've purchased and mounted 7 WTB tires since January.. 3 Motoraptors, 2 mutano raptors and 2 Exiwolves. All of them have very small perforations in the sidewall that are put there by WTB.
When you fill a tire the first time, it sounds like air is leaking out of the tube. The first time I did this, I swore under my breath and went to fix the tube. There wasn't a hole in the tube. I thought that was a little weird. I re-installed it and again there was the SSSSSSSSSSsssssssssss of air leaking out. I found the spot in the sidewall. I spoke a few obsceneties and took the tube out again.. .thinking that I must have missed the hole in the tube. I marked the place where it was leaking with a sharpie, I got out a brand new tube. I used talc on it and was extremely careful not to pinch it. The tire was new, but I checked the inside of the tire just to make sure there wasn't anyting poking through.
I installed the new tube and pumped it up. Sure enough, there is air leaking out the sidewall where I'd marked. You could see little puffs of talc coming out. I swore in a manner that Bad Santa would be proud of.
I decided to just walk away and relax. Obviously there was something wrong with the tire, both tubes or the rim or all of the above. I wasn't feeling like troubleshooting it at the moment.
I came back an hour later and the tire was still fully aired up. It was a little low on pressure, but the leak that I'd heard would have drained the tire in a matter of a minute or two. I pumped it up to the right pressure and it has been great ever since.
This same stuff happened to me with the other 6 WTBs. I looked carefully at each tire where the air was leaking out and you can see 4 little perforations. The air that is leaking out is the air that is trapped between the outside of the tube and the inside of the tire. Once that is gone, the air stops leaking and your tube has a little less air pressure in it.
I've documented that with all of the WTB tires that I've installed lately. I was even able to recreate it on the trail with a Mutanoraptor that had 3 months of use.
I'm a tubie kinda guy. I don't have much use for Stans or tubeless stuff. This poses no problem to me other than the initial waste of time. I thought it might be good information for you folks.
I've had confirmation on this problem from a buddy who works at a shop that sells a lot of WTB stuff. Rumor has it that WTB will be labeling their non-tubeless tires "Not for use without a tube".
It is sad that they have to do this. It makes sense though. They've gotten a bad rap on some times because people were blowing them off the rim running them tubeless.
Sorry this is so long. I've basically got nothing better to do for the next 30 minutes.
I come in peace.
Pete
Be careful running WTB tubed tires with Stans. WTB is taking efforts to prevent people from doing that. I've purchased and mounted 7 WTB tires since January.. 3 Motoraptors, 2 mutano raptors and 2 Exiwolves. All of them have very small perforations in the sidewall that are put there by WTB.
When you fill a tire the first time, it sounds like air is leaking out of the tube. The first time I did this, I swore under my breath and went to fix the tube. There wasn't a hole in the tube. I thought that was a little weird. I re-installed it and again there was the SSSSSSSSSSsssssssssss of air leaking out. I found the spot in the sidewall. I spoke a few obsceneties and took the tube out again.. .thinking that I must have missed the hole in the tube. I marked the place where it was leaking with a sharpie, I got out a brand new tube. I used talc on it and was extremely careful not to pinch it. The tire was new, but I checked the inside of the tire just to make sure there wasn't anyting poking through.
I installed the new tube and pumped it up. Sure enough, there is air leaking out the sidewall where I'd marked. You could see little puffs of talc coming out. I swore in a manner that Bad Santa would be proud of.
I decided to just walk away and relax. Obviously there was something wrong with the tire, both tubes or the rim or all of the above. I wasn't feeling like troubleshooting it at the moment.
I came back an hour later and the tire was still fully aired up. It was a little low on pressure, but the leak that I'd heard would have drained the tire in a matter of a minute or two. I pumped it up to the right pressure and it has been great ever since.
This same stuff happened to me with the other 6 WTBs. I looked carefully at each tire where the air was leaking out and you can see 4 little perforations. The air that is leaking out is the air that is trapped between the outside of the tube and the inside of the tire. Once that is gone, the air stops leaking and your tube has a little less air pressure in it.
I've documented that with all of the WTB tires that I've installed lately. I was even able to recreate it on the trail with a Mutanoraptor that had 3 months of use.
I'm a tubie kinda guy. I don't have much use for Stans or tubeless stuff. This poses no problem to me other than the initial waste of time. I thought it might be good information for you folks.
I've had confirmation on this problem from a buddy who works at a shop that sells a lot of WTB stuff. Rumor has it that WTB will be labeling their non-tubeless tires "Not for use without a tube".
It is sad that they have to do this. It makes sense though. They've gotten a bad rap on some times because people were blowing them off the rim running them tubeless.
Sorry this is so long. I've basically got nothing better to do for the next 30 minutes.
I come in peace.
Pete