We all have our funny stories about various tubeless conversions and probably even some war stories about tubeless gone wrong gone wrong.....Stans on the windows, the ceiling, the floor ?
The tyre in questionhas been on my Peace 9r since 2007, first on the front, and later, when the rear Bontrager delaminated in spectacular fashion, on the back. I have no idea how many thousand kilometres it has on it, but plenty anyway.
It developed a slow leak the other day, so I took the liberty of a deep cavity inspection.......a not very pretty sight. A mix of dried Stans and some other blue stuff (also dry) and who knows what else. Prognosis not positive :(
Most people would have put the tyre out for recycling, but not me. No ways, there must be a good few clicks left on that airplane-like tyre tyre. My current favourite sealant is CaffeLatex, so I slopped in a good dose of that. (I've been having a very good run with Caffelatex recently, particularly with a recent "homeless choobless conversion on the Extrabike). So why not up the ante?)
Fit and forget. Until it happens. A fair-sized sidewall hole far from home...made it back, but only just.
Ever hopeful, I pumped it up and did the usual shake and rattle number. It eventually sealed, but not after first depositing this (below) on my workshop table. And some more elsewhere, but let's stay focussed.
Tubeless DNA
Lots of very old white Stans plus some arbitrary blue goo plus some off-white Caffelatex = light frothy green. Looked a bit like something out of a gangrenous wound.
It sealed, and is still sealed, but I think it's time for a tubeless renovation, pull 'er up into the dry dock, scrape it all off and start again. With a new tyre.
OK, so I'm biased, but it seems like Caffelatex IS the business. Well, for me it is anyway.
