Nate/Rolling Darryl Tubeless Combo

After Pink sang the national anthem for the Super Bowl on Sunday, I headed downstairs to tubeless the Nate rear tire on my Pugs N/R. Hey, it worked again!

This operation was too easy. I followed the same procedure as with the front Larry in the previous post using the FattyStripper.  Had a little trouble with a wrinkle in the bling strip where it overlaps, but nothing serious. If I had it to do over again, I’d use a regular Surly or other rim strip that’s a continuous band rather than the 3 foot long or so bling strip.

I attempted to install a foam rod in the center channel as in this post at mtbr.com that is linked to in the FattyStripper FAQ, but due to the sloping shoulders of the center channel of the rims and my impatience coupled with lack of spray adhesive on hand to keep the foam from slipping around, I said to heck with it. Maybe someday I’ll be sorrywhen the tire rolls off the rim after one of those gnarly bike tricks.

Stretched the FattyStripper over the rim, and got the tire on. The Nate seems like a beefier tire than the Larry and the bead edges were sitting mostly close to the rim edge, except for in the valve area. Put in a little sealant and pumped air in from my little pancake compressor. No sealant spewing all over this time, but it didn’t quite set so I put 2 more ounces in. More air, and this time I actually heard the pop of the bead setting over the compressor noise. Woo hoo! The tire was holding air pretty good with just one spot where sealant leaked, so I  went upstairs and saw Philadelphia was leading 15-3, still first quarter. Another woo hoo!

After the game I pumped the tire up a couple times and again on Monday morning. When I checked after work it’d lost about 3psi. Then I remembered the thorn puncture I got a few years ago on the Quilomene trip. Hmmm...I found the puncture spot but no sealant leaking there. Will have to plug that spot anyway.  After I wrastled the wheel back onto the bike, I saw a mysterious drop of sealant between some tread knobs.  Will keep an eye on it and see if anywhere else needs plugging.

And that folks is my fatty tubeless conversation story. Ymmv


(I should probably mention I paid for the FattyStripper items and received no compensation for this...in fact nobody has ever sent me anything free even though I’m a renowned worldwide blogger).  smiley face.