Inner Tube Sealant
Inner tube sealant (NOT tyre sealant) - The difference:
Whilst every manufacturer will sing the praises of their tubeless wheels and bike set-ups, the truth is that for road bikes ‘with high tyre pressures’ they just don’t work! For mountain bikes ‘high volume low pressure’ they are great, for road bikes ‘low volume high pressure’ the sealant does not get enough time to seal the hole before being ejected all over the bike, road and rider ha ha (I’ve witnessed dozens of such scenarios).
There is also the faff of trying to seat your tubeless tyres after filling with sealant as unless they are new and you are very lucky requires a compressor or tubeless air-can type pump, and often the skill and dexterity of a brain surgeon to install the valve core without loosing air pressure and unseating the tyre bead. Numerous people including myself on events and rides have had to fit an inner tube to a tubless tyre which deflated and this is a right mess!
The answer (maybe) - Inner tube sealant, squirted into the inner tube by simply deflating the tube, removing the valve with the simple supplied tool, squirting a couple of ounces into each tube, replacing the valve core, inflating, spinning the wheel and done! Took me 10 minutes to prep both wheels and - no mess, no fancy pump and so simple a triathlete could do it.
The verdict - It works! I installed the sealant and set off on an adventurous 100k ride through some very stunning quiet lanes complete with pot holes, thorns and even a section through a farmers field to avoid a road closure! I did notice a slight sluggishness to my accelerations but overall for most people the additional weight to the rotating mass would not be noticeable. On returning home I was aware that my front tyre was feeling slightly bouncy and there was definitely some air-loss from my usual 100psi which confirmed that I had suffered a puncture, my tyre was now 60psi, but the inner tube sealant had worked! No mess, no faff and even if it had failed I would still have just had to replace the inner tube as normal and inflate with my CO2 canister which is still only a two minute job for an experienced rider.
For many people this solution could be just what they need to give them that little bit more confidence to venture further afield without worry. It’s obviously not infallible but it certainly works in my experience.
Gravel riders and mountain bikers should still probably stick to their tubeless setups, but for roadies, this is definitely worth considering, especially in winter or on challenging routes and roads.
Another observation is for those running really tight wheel/tyre combinations then this liquid magic might just save the day when tasked with the near impossible task of changing an inner tube on a cold winters day with a seemingly impossibly tight tyre removal, or for those with weak thumbs etc.