Are you saying you just got a joe blow floor pump or you got one of the joe blow canister pumps?
Because dude, joe blow is the best floor pump for the money in my mind.
And I seated them up with the park pro pump that I’ve had for 7 years and have used maybe three times because it’s such a piece of shit. I lost a part for my joe blow and I couldn’t find my roommates joe blow so I had to resort to the dusty piece of shit. Still, super super easy setup, I was very impressed.
I just borrowed a MTB from a neighbor that has tubeless tires and I have never dealt with them. I don’t think he has ridden it in a while, should I just buy some sealant and top em off?
The head on the Joe Blow Tubeless floorpump kinda sucks IMO. They even mailed me a updated replacement version with only a slight improvement (but the longer flip lever makes 20" wheel pumping more difficult). It can’t grab bare presta valves (minus cores) very well, not sure if its the universal presta/schrader design. I’d never recommend this pump to a friend and will eventually try to sell it and see if I can find something better.
Updated Joe Blow tubeless floor pump head by Andrew Squirrel, on Flickr
Considering this one to replace the Joe Blow:
Have you ridden the SKs on terrain that warrents tread? Wondering how they hook up.
Have yet to ride them. Hoping they don’t totally slip out on dirt but SF is all sand dunes anyway so chasing tread is a game of diminishing returns.
I have the joe blow with the double head and it’s pretty good. I wish the locking lever was easier to use but that’s the only issue I have. I also never pump up coreless valves, I seat the tires with core in and then remove it for sealant. That way I can slowly release the pressure on the tire after removing the pump. I reckon the bead is less likely to unseat that way.
I usually like to try and seat without the valve core impeding the air flow to get maximum woosh. To release air slowly you can also leave the chuck on on the valve and press the air release button on the head (I think there is also a second button on the hose up near the gauge that does the same thing).
Tell us again about the time you tried to inject sealant through the sidewall with a syringe 
like adrenaline straight to the heart
I was able to get my new Maxxis tires on without too much trouble with just a floor pump. The Ibis rims that I have have a nice channel in the middle. I drop the bead of the tire into that channel (around the valve) and start pumping. The bead popped right into place. I remove the valve cores to get maximum air volume in there, but I’ve also seated tires with the valve cores in.
Once I get the bead seated, I just pour sealant in through the valve stem and then put the valve core back in.
I had similar luck with the Specialized Roubaix 32s on the WTB rims on my Endpoint.
I don’t remember it being this easy when I was a shop rat, but I guess tires and rims have gotten a little bitter since then.
I was reading an article recently and it mentioned as an aside as if everyone knew it that basically the tech and tolerances have gotten much more ironed out over the years. I guess that’s to be expected and as such could be considered common sense but it was the first time it had occurred to me.
That said, I wonder if it was a natural progressive evolution through the tech or if it was a deliberate strategy from a marketing standpoint. As in they recognized that tubeless tech wasn’t going to gain wide stream acceptance unless it could be seen as more reliable and easy to do, especially by the home mechanic.
Well you are all some sort of floor pump ninjas and I am on the floor pump short bus or something. I finally broke down and bought this awhile back
I do not love it. It’s only slightly better than the not having anything. I’m about to go look for a very silent compressor. Seriously, you get a friggin sweaty frustrating workout with this thing, and the more it fails the more you work. I frequently just say fuckit and use Co2 cartridges if it doesn’t seat in a couple efforts.
Pancake compressor from Harbor Freight or whatever is local
I only wish that was the stupidest thing I did. Let me tell you about the time I tried automotive fix-a-flat to tubeless a pair of brand new SuperMotos.
I mean, it DID work. But the funk inside that canister was some next level foul. Like, dead cat in a fridge in the summer foul. It completely permeated the tires. Was not able to get the funk out no matter what. You couldn’t keep the bike indoors - it was impossible. You couldn’t even ride it down the street. In the end I had to throw the tires out entirely.
Mistakes were made. Lessons learned. This was all like 7 or 8 years ago now. If you ever need to use fix-a-flat on your car and then take it into Les Schwalb, apologize to the guys ahead of time. That shit is rank as hell.
I picked this up and has been great.
All the digital ones I read about didn’t seem to like low pressures - if you find a digital one you like, I’d be interested. My mountain bike runs between 9 and 13psi. My Wolverine on 2.1 Thunderburts I only take up to about 24 or 27. This gauge is great but it’s sorta big and bulky.
Well gravelkings are amazing but turns out I’ve run into a problem with one of my wheels. See, I’m kinda broke right now, haven’t worked in a few months because of an injury so I had to build this up on the cheap. I bought a take-off wheelset off craigslist for $100. I figured if down the road I want a second wheelset for road riding or whatever I’ll have a spare after I build up the proper set.
Anyway, they’re cheap, like pinned and sleeved cheap. The fucking seam is leaking air on the inside diameter. I can’t get it to stop. I’ll pump it up to 50psi and shake the fuck out of it for 10 minutes and then it’ll go flat, I’ve done that probably 5 times now. I checked the tape before install, it was fine. How in the hell is the sealant not plugging up whatever seam leak is happening on the bed/bead portion and allowing it to get to the inner diameter?
I really don’t want to take this fucking thing apart just to clean it and retape it. And now like I’d even be able to find the leak through the rim without it being under pressure. Fuck.
I think the sealant needs to bind and galvanize with the casing to some degree. It’s why you can’t squirt sealant into an air mattress and hope it will hold for any length of time, but you can say, do that to a bicycle tire. It needs the rubber. So if your tape job is off, you’re sorta screwed.
If someone wants to tell me I’m wrong, I’m all ears.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Also there’s no way to have sealant sit where it needs to for the goop the get where it belongs if it’s near the rim. I would think cutting a strip of tape that reaches from up one wall to the other at the seam would help. Strip would be perpendicular to the normal orientation, but can be made longer where needed.
You won’t really lose any sealant if you carefully remove tire. Just clean that area and apply then reinstall.
I could see this being the case but latex sticks to shit regardless, it’s not like it’s a vulcanizing agent. Still though, very possible.
I might try this after a couple beers and some growing impatience but after you mount up your gravelkings you’ll see why I’m so reluctant. Easily one of the most difficult tires I’ve ever mounted and that was without a tube. If I had to tube these fuckers I’d probably sell them on ebay.
I guess I should do this now while the sealant is still fresh and can be wiped away from the affected area instead of that small layer of dried latex.
