{"id":226838,"date":"2025-10-20T06:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T06:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226838\/"},"modified":"2025-10-20T06:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-20T06:43:08","slug":"you-exploded-your-tubeless-tyre-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/226838\/","title":{"rendered":"You Exploded Your Tubeless Tyre: Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was flying. It was night \u2013 sure \u2013 but I had lights. Good ones. I had already cleared the sketchy part of the descent. The technical section was behind me, the lights of the first houses ahead. The trail was a familiar mix of dirt and ancient asphalt, the kind laid down back when my grandfather rode his tank-like Soviet bicycle and no one worried about silly things like potholes. I knew this route. I own this descent. Over 50 runs down it. Which is why, of course, someone decided that this was the perfect time to dig a trench across it. For a canal. And as it\u2019s customary around where I live, no one gives enough crap to mark a freshly dug canal on a 5th-grade mountain road. Who\u2019s gonna go there anyway, right? Well, I did\u2026 in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n

I saw it too late. I bunny-hopped,<\/a> cleared the front\u2026 but the rear slammed the far edge at 45 kph. I didn\u2019t crash. I didn\u2019t break my rim. But the tyre? It exploded like a fountain that\u2019s been building pressure for a millennium. I wouldn\u2019t exaggerate if I say that I can still find the sealant on the bark of several trees five years later. Suddenly I was alone, halfway down a mountain, in the dark, silent in places I\u2019m still not ready to share.<\/p>\n

Now, you never plan for this stuff before it happens, and I was no different. However, the quiet realisation that civilisation was still way too far to carry my bike in the middle of the night was a good enough reason to think on my feet. Still, I\u2019ll admit, not knowing what to do is not ideal, so today, let\u2019s discuss what you should do if you blow your tubeless tyre far from help.<\/p>\n

What did I do (out of desperation)?<\/p>\n

The sidewall was gone. Not just a puncture \u2013 burst. One gaping wound that the sealant valiantly tried to fill, bubbling away like hot lava. But even the best latex soup can\u2019t fix catastrophic trauma. It was simply too much.<\/p>\n

Now, if you\u2019re a responsible rider, this is the part where you\u2019d whip out a bacon strip and save the day. I, on the other hand, was on my first tubeless ride. I had no plugs. Just blind optimism and a small roll of electrical tape I\u2019d forgotten was even in my saddle bag.<\/p>\n

So I did what any panicked, underprepared cyclist would do \u2013 I wrapped the tape around the tyre carcass like I was mummifying a tiny, rubber-based pharaoh. It wasn\u2019t pretty. It wasn\u2019t straight. But it held. Somehow. And by somehow, I mean there was a lot of luck involved.<\/p>\n

With that done, I re-inflated the tyre to a bold and terrifying 0.4 bar \u2013 about 6 PSI, or just barely enough to not ride directly on the rim. The tyre was now less \u201cinflated\u201d and more \u201cvaguely circular.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that wasn\u2019t the end of it. The real issue was the second hole; smaller, but still bleeding sealant like a crime scene. Out of options, I took a creative approach: grass, dirt, sticks \u2013whatever the trail was offering. I stuffed it in. Not with skill, but with the determined energy of someone who really didn\u2019t want to walk down a mountain at night. Somehow, it worked. The bubbling stopped. The sealant held. I rode home slowly, cautiously, like I was escorting a wounded animal back to safety. Every corner was a gamble. Every bump, a new prayer. But I made it.<\/p>\n

\"so-you-havent-bought-a-bike-in-10-years-wider-tyres-and-tubeless\"\/<\/a> <\/p>\n


\n So You Haven\u2019t Bought a Bike in 10 Years \u2013 Wider Tyres and Tubeless
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

What should you do?<\/p>\n

Now, I\u2019m telling you this story like an anecdote with jokes and a bit of a grin, but trust me, when I was there on the spot, it wasn\u2019t funny. Being covered in sealant, not really knowing what you\u2019re going to do, is rarely as funny as they portray it on TV. Or in product ads. Or on those YouTube<\/a> channels where everything magically works on the first try.<\/p>\n

So here\u2019s what you should actually do when your tubeless tyre decides to give up on life mid-ride:<\/p>\n

Carry a plug kit<\/p>\n

Seriously. Bacon strips. Panic noodles. Tubeless plugs. Whatever you call them, carry them. They\u2019re small, light, and about a thousand times more useful than whatever you can find on the trail.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t trust the sealant alone<\/p>\n

Sealant is great\u2026 until it\u2019s not. It can fix small punctures, maybe even some medium ones, but when you\u2019ve got a hole the size of a coin, it\u2019s not plugging anything. That\u2019s when you need backup. See above.<\/p>\n

Always bring a tube (yes, even if you\u2019re tubeless now)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s ironic, but the ultimate fail-safe for tubeless is\u2026 a tube. Just one. Pack it, forget about it, and feel like a genius the one time you actually need it (if ever).<\/p>\n

Boot the tyre if it\u2019s torn<\/p>\n

If your tyre is split open like a banana peel, you\u2019ll need a tyre boot \u2013 or at least something flat and tough to sit between the tube and the shredded casing. You can use an actual boot patch, an old gel wrapper, a folded banknote or the last page of your dignity.<\/p>\n

Bring tape and zip ties<\/p>\n

Electrical tape saved me, and it might save you. Zip ties, duct tape, even a small slice of sidewall cut from an old tyre. All of it can become useful when things go sideways and it\u2019s time to go MacGyver mode.<\/p>\n

CO\u2082 or mini pump<\/p>\n

Pick your poison. CO\u2082 is faster, pumps are more reliable, and if you\u2019re fortunate, one of them will actually work when you\u2019re panicking and praying to your deity of choice.<\/p>\n

Practice plugging tyres before you\u2019re in a crisis<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s awkward to stab a healthy tyre with a plug at home. Do it anyway. Your future self, stranded on a trail and elbow-deep in sealant, will thank you. Of course, this should go without saying, but use an old tyre, not a brand new one.<\/p>\n

Live, learn, reinflate<\/p>\n

So yes, I rode home that night on 0.4 bar of air pressure, a tyre full of dirt, and the faint hope that gravity would continue to mostly be on my side. And I made it. Which is great. But let\u2019s not pretend it was a victory. The real victory is learning the difference between being prepared and being lucky enough to have electrical tape.<\/p>\n

Because tubeless is amazing. Right up until it isn\u2019t. And when it fails, it doesn\u2019t fail quietly. It fails like a firework made of latex and glue. So carry the plugs. Pack the tube. Bring the tape. Prepare as if something will go wrong because, at some point, it might. And when it does? Just remember: one day, this will make a great story. You know\u2026 after you stop crying.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I was flying. It was night \u2013 sure \u2013 but I had lights. Good ones. I had already…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":226839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-226838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/226839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}