The other day I was commuting home by bike in the rain when
I got a flat right near my house.
I heard "psssht, psssht" sounds coming from the rotating front wheel, so I took a look
and small water spray was coming out of the puncture hole,
making that psssht sound when it passed under the front fork.
Since it would be a pain to re-glue the tubular tire rim cement at home,
I figured I only needed it to last one way to the lab→home,
so I decided to give sealant a desperate try.
The next day I commuted by train and brought sealant home,
but since I only have Stans sealant in the large container size,
I'll attempt the repair with TUFO sealant, which comes in a smaller container.
About the TUFO sealant—I heard from the Japanese distributor over a year ago that
they were "all out," but it's still listed on the home country website.
I'm not sure if it's been discontinued or if they just stopped handling it in Japan.
The one I have is quite old,
and part of the contents had started to congeal into a yogurt-like consistency.
The yellow container in the image is the "Standard," and there's also another one
in an orange container called "Extreme."
The yellow one is for "preventive" use—to put in the tire beforehand,
while the orange one is for "repair" use on already-flat tires.
On the home country website, the orange one says
It can be used atfer geting a flat ONLY.
emphasizing the specific use—"only" when you get a flat.
By the way, it's "geting" not "getting," which is how it appears on the original site, just so you know.
In other words, the yellow Standard isn't really suited for repairs, but...
Wow! The air leak stopped completely.
I squirted a pretty good amount (about 25ml) in with a syringe,
and TUFO sealant comes in a 50ml container that's supposed to last
1-3 uses.
If MTB tires use 50ml per application,
then 25ml for a road tubular tire is way too much.
Actually, I basically used up all the liquid that hadn't turned yogurt-like.
There was a piece of glass stuck in there,
and when I pried it out the air leak got much worse
and the tire immediately went flat,
but maybe the worse the air leak,
the better it actually works for the sealant.
The white crack in the center of the image above is the puncture.
By the way, Stans sealant goes by the product name "Tire Sealant,"
but this is basically a preventive type.
They're planning to stock it by the end of this month, but
Stans is coming out with a new product called "Race Sealant."
This is also preventive type, but the sealant particles are larger than before
and per same volume there are twice as many particles,
supposedly sealing punctures more quickly,
but they ask that you pour it in while the tire is already mounted on the rim.
In other words, don't use the valve hole injection method,
which means if you follow that it's tubeless-tire-only,
and can't be used for puncture prevention and repair on tubular tires and
WO tube tires.
Apparently it works even better against relatively large damage like pinch flats,
so it should be great for cyclocross tubeless tires.
It should be great for cyclocross tubeless tires.
↑blatant product placement
I got a flat right near my house.
I heard "psssht, psssht" sounds coming from the rotating front wheel, so I took a look
and small water spray was coming out of the puncture hole,
making that psssht sound when it passed under the front fork.
Since it would be a pain to re-glue the tubular tire rim cement at home,
I figured I only needed it to last one way to the lab→home,
so I decided to give sealant a desperate try.
The next day I commuted by train and brought sealant home,
but since I only have Stans sealant in the large container size,
I'll attempt the repair with TUFO sealant, which comes in a smaller container.
About the TUFO sealant—I heard from the Japanese distributor over a year ago that
they were "all out," but it's still listed on the home country website.
I'm not sure if it's been discontinued or if they just stopped handling it in Japan.
The one I have is quite old,
and part of the contents had started to congeal into a yogurt-like consistency.
The yellow container in the image is the "Standard," and there's also another one
in an orange container called "Extreme."
The yellow one is for "preventive" use—to put in the tire beforehand,
while the orange one is for "repair" use on already-flat tires.
On the home country website, the orange one says
It can be used atfer geting a flat ONLY.
emphasizing the specific use—"only" when you get a flat.
By the way, it's "geting" not "getting," which is how it appears on the original site, just so you know.
In other words, the yellow Standard isn't really suited for repairs, but...
Wow! The air leak stopped completely.
I squirted a pretty good amount (about 25ml) in with a syringe,
and TUFO sealant comes in a 50ml container that's supposed to last
1-3 uses.
If MTB tires use 50ml per application,
then 25ml for a road tubular tire is way too much.
Actually, I basically used up all the liquid that hadn't turned yogurt-like.
There was a piece of glass stuck in there,
and when I pried it out the air leak got much worse
and the tire immediately went flat,
but maybe the worse the air leak,
the better it actually works for the sealant.
The white crack in the center of the image above is the puncture.
By the way, Stans sealant goes by the product name "Tire Sealant,"
but this is basically a preventive type.
They're planning to stock it by the end of this month, but
Stans is coming out with a new product called "Race Sealant."
This is also preventive type, but the sealant particles are larger than before
and per same volume there are twice as many particles,
supposedly sealing punctures more quickly,
but they ask that you pour it in while the tire is already mounted on the rim.
In other words, don't use the valve hole injection method,
which means if you follow that it's tubeless-tire-only,
and can't be used for puncture prevention and repair on tubular tires and
WO tube tires.
Apparently it works even better against relatively large damage like pinch flats,
so it should be great for cyclocross tubeless tires.
It should be great for cyclocross tubeless tires.
↑blatant product placement