tubeless tires

Welcome to this week’s installment of Mountain Bike Monday. Today, Wandering Justin shares how he got schooled by a problem with his tubeless tires.
A few weeks ago, I realized that I’d worn the front tire on my mountain bike down to nothing. I dropped in at my old buddy Cal’s shop, Bicycle Haus. They’re a Specialized dealer, and carry a lot of their parts. One of the Specialized tires looked like my bag – The Captain! Named after mountain bike icon Ned Overend and aggressively treaded, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. I carted it home, and it was a breeze to install on my rim. That’s not always the case – tubeless tires and sealant can be a right bugger to install.
And it had traction galore! It did great on my first ride at Black Canyon Trail. Then I took it to Trail 100. After about eight miles of riding, that rocky monster tore a hole in The Captain’s sidewall. And the sealant couldn’t slam the door on the leak. I limped back hom by sticking a tube into the tire, which really screws up the ride quality.
To replace The Captain (which I hereby demote to The Private), I dropped into The Slippery Pig (The Captain’s failure is no fault of Bicycle Haus – and I would’ve gone there for another tire, but they mostly had Specialized. I wanted to cast a slightly wider net.). The friendly staff member there recommended the Geax Saguaro tires, which come in a [...]