In the past, I’ve been very outspoken about the advantages of tubeless tires, see “Ten Reasons To Go Tubeless“. But as the saying goes “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The picture illustrates how I fix most bicycle flat tires now. I simply let the tire sealant fix the puncture for me. It’s that easy. Admittedly, sealant alone doesn’t always repair larger punctures and sometimes I have to use a plug, see The Trick to Using Stan’s Darts on Tubeless Tires“. Nevertheless, given a choice, I will take a tubeless tire over a tube tire any day. However, there are times when you simply can’t use a tubeless tire. For example, the Bafang Monster Bike Build was a budget project, and I didn’t have tubeless ready wheels, and my 2.5 ” MAXXIS – Hookworm Tires weren’t tubeless tires.
So, I had to revert back to an old school solution to flat proof my tires. The process is relatively simple, as follows.
- Start with a good puncture resistant tire.
- Next, pop Velocity Veloplugs into each spoke hole to eliminate spoke hole flats.
- While not necessary, I also put rim tape over the plugs to ensure the plugs stay in place.
- Finish the process by adding tube sealant in the tubes to self-repair any puncture.
For a more detailed description of process, see “How I Eliminated Bicycle Flat Tires Forever!” I never thought I would revisit this topic since going tubeless, but since I’m doing this process again for the Bafang Monster bike build I thought I would share, for those who are still riding tires with tubes.
Ken Whittaker
