Tubeless or marathon plus

[jimbo1972]

Hey all,
I have never had a tubeless tire "self seal".  Even with the smallest puncture.  I had a small puncture the other day and got covered with sealant.  I kept riding  hoping it would seal and it never did.  I had to put a "bacon strip" in to get it to stop.  This is the 2nd tubeless bike I have had with no luck.  Is this normal?  I am considering going to Schwalbe marathon tires.  Any recommendations? Good or bad idea?  Stick with tubeless?  Thanks

[bakerjw]

The only problems that I ever had with tubeless was a 1" sidewall gash and some non tubeless rims occasionally burping.
Other than that, they've always sealed. I also add glitter to my sealant and use orange seal.

I ride along a local mountain quite often. A guy I work with was with me one day and got a couple of thorn flats. I told him that he had to be running tubeless before I'd take him there again.

[chrisx]

How long has the sealant been in the tire?
It dries out after a while.
You need to add more sealant every 3 or 6 months.

I ride in the desert a lot, some of the thorns are big enough to use for nails.  Orange seal works well.

You made a mistake somewhere, the tubeless learning curve is high, and worth the trouble to learn.
 
A marathon plus tire is what 2 pounds heavier than a tubeless tire, 4 extra pounds you dont need on your bike.

Take the time to look inside your tire and remove the old dried out sealant and then reseal the tire and add new sealant.

[taprider]

After 1300 miles in Arizona with no problems, when I took my tires off to replace them due to tread wear, the insides looked like a porcupine from all the broken off cactus thorns.
So how do you know that tubeless has not been working for you.  You may have already ridden many miles and had the sealant successfully self seal for you

[bikeny]

Like mentioned, when tubeless is working, you generally don't even notice! What kind of terrain are you riding? Trails, gravel, roads? I've also switched from Stan's to Orange seal and am happy I did. I'll never go back to a crappy, stiff, heavy, reinforced tire like a Marathon.

When adding sealant to tires, you need to make sure too really shake it ALOT to distribute the little particles that clot. Then right before you put it in, shake some more! You can also add some glitter as mention to help it seal. You know it's working when you pull your tire off and there are lots of little clumps showing where it sealed a hole.

[jimbo1972]

Thanks for the input guys.  Here are a couple replies and my solution:

How long has the sealant been in the tire?

The sealant is new. 

Like mentioned, when tubeless is working, you generally don't even notice! What kind of terrain are you riding? Trails, gravel, roads?

I haven't had the opportunity to ride in the desert, so no thorns / cactus.  I mainly ride rail / trails in the midwest consisting of crushed limestone which tends to never puncture like a thorn, but to slash and tear like glass.  This summer I am traveling over 1000 miles on this type of surface.  Last year I had tubeless and with the added weight of me and my gear on the back tire ( the culprit of all the flats) I really don't want to deal with all the problems again.  I went into a local bike shop and he switched out my expensive tubeless tires for 25 dollar schwalbe Road Cruisers.  Still riding them a year with no flats.  In the original post I mentioned that I had a puncture that didn't seal.  That was with no gear.  It gash was from a rock or a piece of glass.    I think I have found the solution though.  I found marathon supreme tubeless tires.  Benefits of tubeless with the puncture / slash resistance.  Get them installed today.  I shall see how they work. 

[jimbo1972]

Quick edit:  The tires are Schwalbe Marathon Almotion.  29 in tubeless.  2.15 inches I believe. 

[Lentamentalisk]

Nobody ever said that tubeless would eliminate flats. Like mentioned above, when it is working, you'll never even know. It seals up all the tiny stuff on its own. The bigger stuff, like you experienced, needs a plug. But that's all. You can save yourself a lot of hassle by just throwing a bacon strip in as soon as you notice sealant coming out. My favorite (expensive, but totally worth it) is the Dynaplug. It comes preloaded with plugs that you just stab into the leak. No fuss, no muss.

The real win for tubeless, as far as I'm concerned, is being able to run much thinner, more supple, faster rolling tires at much lower pressures. No pinch flats, not too many flats from glass, and the softest ride money can buy.