My Turner Flux is shod with a Mavic Crossmax SL wheelset which is UST compatible. I've been riding it with tubes + Maxxis Crossmarks (which I think are awesome) so far since I've been a bit slow to pick up some UST tires -- I'm commerced out I think. Plus I also figured with all the other knobs and dials to tweak, I had enough new stuff to worry about.
But last Friday some new Maxxis Crossmax LUSTs I'd purchased arrived. I was hoping to put them on over the but I didn't quite get a chance to do.
And as fate or that little Irish Murphy bloke would have it, my early Monday morning blast around the Eagle MTB park resulted in a pinch flat just at the end of the SouthSide trail.
I didn't have a spare tube, but thought I was lucky that I had some patches. But of course that little Murphy bloke, smiling ever more cunningly at this stage, somehow conspired to make the CO2 cartridge I carry to refill a tube be empty.
Bugger, a 2km walk, mostly uphill back to the car.
Yes, it's my fault, I know. Always carry a spare tube and a full canister. And if you use the spare tube, make sure you buy another one to replace it. And check the canister occasionally.
The good thing is this means I now have a hard requirement to put on the USTs. I picked up some Stans sealant from Pete at BMCR, so hopefully I won't be suffering too many more punctures.
But I'll will carry a spare tube just in case.
Update: Job done!
I just spent an short while out in the shed fitting the UST tires to the wheels. It's pretty straightforward to do. I think the best piece of advice I received was to do the initial inflation using an air compressor, to get enough volume into the tire to push the beads into place in the rim. The beauty of the Mavic wheelset I discovered is that they provide you with a schraeder screw-on adapter, which lets you use the standard car tire type fitting to pump out the tire. Once the tire is seated, deflate it and make sure there are no points around the rim where the bead has come away. Once you are satisfied pump it back up to the desired using a floor pump. Easy!
Adding Stans was easy too -- just read the direction and make sure you follow the inversion tips to ensure the micro particles are in the sealant portion being added to the tire. Unset the bead from a small portion of the tire, tip in the sealant, reseat and you are done.
Total time was about 30 mins for the first tire, with a bit of mucking around and working out how to do it. The next tire took about 5 minutes to do.
Should be able to get out for a few trails this weekend, I'll update this note when I see how they ride.
Update: Stans 1, Blue Gums 0
Out on my early monday morning ride, cruising across the top of the Blue Gums trail -- which is quite rocky -- I heard a noise that I thought sounded like I had something stuck in my spokes. It went away before I could stop to check it out. When I did stop, I saw a white patch on my tire. Ahh, Stans to the rescue. I must have punctured on a sharp rock and Stans sealed it up almost immediately. I lost a little pressure, but it was still very rideable and got me back to the car easily. Sure beats walking. Pumped it back up at the car and there was no further leakage.
Rock on Stan!
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