How To Easily Repair A Tubeless Tyre Puncture With A Plug

How easy it is to fix a tubeless puncture with a repair kit when the sealant won't seal the hole?

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[brianmccloskey]

Excellent and informative video. I ride between 1200 to 1500 miles a month and most of it on a gravel bike that I run tubeless. I'll never go back to riding with tubes. I also do some lengthy adventure tours every year in remote places with rough road conditions. Tubeless has saved me countless times, especially when riding in areas plagued by nasty thorns. While the riders using clinchers seem to suffer incessant flats, the tubeless riders in our group generally escape unscathed. And when we do suffer a puncture, especially with thorns, fine shards, staples, etc. the repair solution is fast and simple. Tubeless compatible rims have improved immensely with the explosion in gravel bikes over the last five years. The biggest challenge imho, is simply getting comfortable with the process.

[marccox]

Yes bar end plugs don’t require hunting in saddle bag for these, but you still need to get that multi tool to release the bar end tool

[jamessankey]

Nice instruction David, thanks. One important note you skipped over; you should ream the puncture with the rough shaft before inserting the plug that roughens the edges of the puncture and helps with the bond. Also, in a situation where a gash occurs, I've had success with inserting multiple bacon strips. Not ideal, but it can get you home.

[lovecycling]

So things to point out to people, put the tool through the tyre at a angle pointing away from the Rim and tape, I've seen people push it through and Peirce the Tubeless tape, causing the sealant to then disappear into the rim! I've also seen on a set of Hunt carbon wheels the tool get pushed and when it popped through it cracked the carbon rim underneath!
Also before you use the worm the tool has a knurled section, use that to clean the hole up like a file, then insert the worm. You can use vulcanising glue on the worm to aid it's sealing ability, also when home if it's a large tyre killer hole, remove the tyre and use a Rema Tip top 3mm scooter/small motorcycle patch on the inside, this is permanent fix and can save tyres with hole that your little finger can almost poke through!

[grahamnielsen]

Used this type of product on my 4x4 for the last 20ys and they work!

[aaronedgeart]

Great work, I've only used (and always loved) the DYNAPLUG versions.

[JibbaJabber]

Hey Dave. Speaking of plugs, that was a brilliant one;)

[ebigarella]

The twisting motion can't be emphasized enough. It creates a lump that helps keeping the worm in place and not coming out with the tyre pressure.

[mohoyer]

Where I live, 90% of my punctures are caused by glass shards on the road. These produce longish cuts, as opposed to circular holes. Unfortunately, in my experience, all tubeless repair techniques are useless in such cases and I need to get a new tire. Maybe this experience is very specific to living in a major city in Germany, where alcohol in glass bottles is sold freely on every corner, but I've never seen a Youtube video that reflects that reality.

[dalis]

Looks really simple. I got a new road bike and it came with tubeless setup. I must say if the configuration was up to me I would go for traditional setup. But I'll give it a chance. As for the punctures, I really can't remember if I ever had a puncture with a big cut or hole (I'm a road bike rider). Always a small hole, sometimes also slow punctures, sometimes punctures so small that it was hard to locate them on the road. So I quess the sealant will do its work most of the time. As for the ride quality it is really comfortable compared to my old setup. And going from 25-28 size to the current 32 I thought like this is too big. No, it it's fine. On today's ride I rode on cobblestones and it felt like 50% more comfy compared to my previous bike.

[drapetomaniack]

Three things:

1) put finger over hole as fast as possible to try prevent as much air escaping as possible to make easier to put in plug
2) take care not to push in plug tool too far or can puncture tubeless tape.. if you do that you are completely screwed!
3) if some air still escaping turn wheel so hole at bottom and shake to see if hole small enough now to sealant to seal

[JayLato]

Wolftooth Encase is a full in Bar solution. Includes chain breaker.

[STiPowered]

Anyone tried these Muc off plugs on a road tyre and pumped it back to 70-80 PSI ? My experience was the high pressure and thin road tyre will act like a squeezing blade as soon as you pump the pressure back up (CO2 or hand pump) where the puncture hole will squeeze in and cut these plugs off and start leaking again tried it multiple times. In contrast to MTB tyres these plugs would work as low pressure and thick tyres would not be able to turn the puncture into a squeezing blade.

[mancello]

I would also add more sealant to the tire after plugging the tire since much of the sealant could have been forced out at the time of the puncture.

[-Steve-]

Great video as always.
Only just gone tubeless on my new gravel bike.
Bought dynaplug pro tool as the bike shop/mechanics all recommended it. Seems very straightforward, it’s nice and small, but am hoping I never need to use it.

One thing they also recommended was put finger over hole and rotate so hole at bottom. Apparently the sealant will pool up down there with gravity and with your finger that may be enough to seal it.

The other thing they said is you’ll not know about most punctures because the sealant will just fix them for you.

Let’s see how that goes in practice if it happens!

It’s something I really want to love but if I’m honest I’m a bit worried about all the mess especially if wanting to change tyres, and that it’s recommended you still carry an inner tube which kind of defeats the point a bit and that will be a very messy day getting a tube in there with all the sealant.

Fingers crossed it just works!

I guess the other thing is gravel tyres are maybe 30-40 psi so easier to seal.

[stevevarga]

Note that on some occasions the plug can come out when you pull the tool out. Perhaps the twisting stops that from occurring I don’t know. Some tools have a special washer like device on the fork shaft that slides down on to the tire that keeps the tool from pulling out the plug. It’s a small but important detail to watch for when purchasing this kind of tool. I had a tough time on a few occasions when the plug kept come back again.

[stevesnailfish]

A very good instruction video dude.
I've had to use these worms/ bacon strips on 5 different bikes in the past couple of years (3 MTB's, a CX and gravel bikes) and they work well. I just tend to trim the worm ends down a tad after getting home as cannot comment about road bikes as I still run tubes with my old

[lechprotean]

sacrificing TWO bar ends for a tiny tool is a bit much of a sacrifice on a minimalist road bike setup, especially if you have the DI charge port in there already. I find the dynaplug racer or micro a better tool to have in your back pocket, so you can fix the puncture before you lose all the pressure and sealant...

[bhatch]

Thanks for the video David. I'm curious about the twist of the tool in the tire - I've read that you should twist it, but I'm not sure what this accomplishes. Are you trying to break the tire worm inside the tire to release it from the tool? Or could you just pull the tool straight back out without twisting it, since (most? all?) of these tools are y-shaped, so the worm should be able to just slip off the end?

[michaelsingh]

I havent switched over as yet, but im interested! I assumed that you would remove the tyre, repair it with a internal patch kit and put it back.