Tubeless - what to do with the tires in the "off" season

[Mr.Gib]

So I run tubeless (and discs ) on my fender bike in the winter. However where I live, between April and October the roads are dry and the bike may only get used a few times. It sits hanging up in my bike room. I am concerned if it sits unused for months I will have dried sealant collected in one part of the tire.

What is the right move?

Take the tires off, clean everything and install a conventional tire/tube so that on the odd wet day I have a functioning bike?
or
Will I be OK if I spin the tires once per week? Or is there some other protocol that I have not considered?

TKS

[dvq]

I spin them around once a week, or I just let them dry out, and peel off the sealant/refresh when the season is on again.

[bm0p700f]

use it occasionally during the dry months.

[TobinHatesYou]

If you store your wheels/tires in a cool/dark room, Orange Seal will stay mostly liquid for months on end.

[Mr.Gib]

If you store your wheels/tires in a cool/dark room, Orange Seal will stay mostly liquid for months on end.

That's good to know - and I use the Endurance formula.

use it occasionally during the dry months.

This is the logical thing, but everytime I go to grab a bike when the weather is nice, I just can't bring myself to go with fenders when there are other very nice fast options.

[tomee]

there is a new tubeless sealant from Finish Line which they claim lasts the life of the tyre.

[1415chris]

With the good chance of compromising sealing properties?
There is not much you can do to prevent sealant from drying out.
It will dry out.
I wouldn't be worried about it, especially as you mentioned, bike is used occasionally during dry season.
When wet season comes, you will have to add fresh sealant, cleaning remainings of the old one before.

[TobinHatesYou]

there is a new tubeless sealant from Finish Line which they claim lasts the life of the tyre.

My hunch is that sealant is more geared toward MTB and maybe gravel rather than pure road. Slime STR also claims that it stays liquid longer, but it's a sticky mess and VERY thick. It clogs its own bottle tip and is more likely to clog valves. Stick to Orange Seal IMO.

[bm0p700f]

Why are people worried. Sealant clogs valves so when they happens use a sapim laser spoke to clear it out. That's what I use. Then inject more sealant if it's needed. You could use a pin to prick the tyre to see if any is still there. Then inflate. What's the drama.

[L3X]

So I run tubeless (and discs ) on my fender bike in the winter. However where I live, between April and October the roads are dry and the bike may only get used a few times. It sits hanging up in my bike room. I am concerned if it sits unused for months I will have dried sealant collected in one part of the tire.

Even if you're using your bike, the majority of the time it sits still in one place anyway - at least 20h/day right? Don't do anything about it, when you start riding it again just top it off with some new sealant. If you use the same brand of sealant there's no need to clean anything, and even if you do use a new brand I wouldn't be too worried about mixing them either.

[TobinHatesYou]

30mL of sealant that gets completely dried up probably only weighs 3-4g anyway.

[AJS914]

How often do you guys add fresh sealant?

My MTB rear tire went flat over the winter. I'm trying to decide whether to try and clean it out or just refill and pump it up.

[TobinHatesYou]

How often do you guys add fresh sealant?

My MTB rear tire went flat over the winter. I'm trying to decide whether to try and clean it out or just refill and pump it up.

Just top it off and ride. If you really want to clean off old sealant, it depends on the brand you used. Orange Seal peels off in one continuous sheet whereas Stan's gets caked on and is pretty impossible to clean off any way other than with an abrasive scrubbing action.

[dim]

How often do you guys add fresh sealant?

My MTB rear tire went flat over the winter. I'm trying to decide whether to try and clean it out or just refill and pump it up.

I've read on forums that you should top up every 2 months with 30ml per tyre (2 tablespoons)

[Lewn777]

In my experience all the sealant will probably all dry up. The best thing to do is to inject more sealant into the tire via the valve with the core removed. However this sometimes doesn't work if the tire bead falls out of seat of the rim sidewall. Sometimes it will just not reseal and you'll end up wasting loads of sealant and stressing out. The only way to fix this if it won't reseal is to re-tape the wheel, an expensive annoyance. Also as the sealant will keep drying out you'll need to keep refilling over months, a waste of money.

In my opinion if you're going to leave a tubeless bike for very occasional use in a dry climate is:
-Partially remove tire and remove valve.
-Suck out and save as much sealant as possible and save it in a sealed container.
-Put in a tube.
-Next season try reinstalling the tire and valve without sealant. If it takes pressure and when pressure is released the tire bead stays seated in the rim sidewall then add sealant down the valve steam and reinflate. However if you can't get the tire to pressurize, remove one layer of tape and add a new one and then the tire should pressurize.

Always use at least two layers of tape on road tubeless IMO.