Strengths: Eliminates punctures, and even smaller pinches. One time I pinched the read tire on a curb and could see it spraying out some sealant, but I continued riding and it eventually sealed.
Weaknesses: Failed to permanently seal a 3mm rip, so I guess the 1/4 inch claim is a bit too much.
Bottom Line:
Okay, it can't handle bigger rips, but I don't think any sealant can. It's still by far the best sealant I've tried.
Similar Products Used: Dr. Sludge, Continental ContiSeal
Bike Setup: "Ghetto tubeless" with Scwalbe Nobby Nic 2.4 SnakeSkin, Mavic EN321 & DT Swiss E540 rims
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Submitted by
Stu
Date Reviewed: October 25, 2012
Strengths: Kicked my ass trying to seal a small hole in a tubeless tire. therefore i'd say pretty strong
Weaknesses: didn't work on new ust tire with a small pinch hole. Makes a mess as it ejects from any orafice with more than 40 psi inflation pressure...
Bottom Line:
Very disappointing...bought brand new Shimano tubeless wheelset w new Kenda ust nevegal tires. Unfortunately, while i was waiting for my Stan's to arrive I pinch flatted my rear tire. Not to worry. When the Stan's arrived I installed it simply enough. To my suprise and disappointment this stuff just pissed out the tiny hole in my tire. Oh, it eventually stopped as the pressure decreased and the hole turned to the bottom of the wheel. But spin the wheel, or try to ride and it was just impossible. It never stopped leaking. I too was amazed at the demonstrations that appeared on the web. But I have to admit, I think it is BS! Really disappointing. The couple of rides that I had tubeless were great. But if it means buying a new tire every time i get a puncture, forget it! Looks like I am sticking w tubes...
Bike Setup: Giant Trance X 26'er 29'ers can bite me...
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Submitted by
David Fewkes
Date Reviewed: October 14, 2012
Strengths: Works like it says it does.
Weaknesses: None that I can find.
Bottom Line:
We have 4 bikes in the family with 700X35 tires on them. I put 1 oz of Stans Notubes Tire Sealant in each of the 8 innertubes and have not had to patch a tube since. Twice we had a tire go half flat and twice found one all the way flat. I all cases we just pumped it up and down ther road we went. I cant tell you how many goat heads we have pulled and NO flat tire. Between the four bikes we log 5-600 miles a month. Stans would be a bargin at ten times the price. They have a customer for life.
I have not had a flat despite the fact I have ran over lots of cactus and goat heads. So far this had done it's job. This is a good product.
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Submitted by
Rafael
Date Reviewed: September 19, 2012
Strengths: Seals punctures as advertised. Allows you to run lower tire pressure; therefore, better traction. Decreases weight...by a lil' bit. A lot cheaper than constantly replacing tubes.
Weaknesses: Others have complained about price to keep properly maintained but I live in hot and humid Florida and have not had to add any extra sealant in 8 months.
Bottom Line:
Ran my Bontrager TR Experts for 8 months without flats or leaks. Finally, I hit a branch and had a sidewall puncture. Leaned the bike on its side for a few rotations, reinflated...and that was it!
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Submitted by
jeff ploof
Date Reviewed: July 11, 2012
Strengths: i have ben a bicycle mechanic 4 30 yrs i have used stans 4 10 yrs i just tried again after useing on mavic crossmax wheels with tubeless tires used on non tubeless tires that were stans compatable inside inside new freeride ridestrips with mavic d531s nothing i could do 2 them work held air 4 30 min good luck u will need it if u use tubeless rims and tires great if not u screwed tubeless great if not sucks also had friends that rode all life wont touch them great idea but needs work friend who owns shop 4 30 yrs says hit or miss he say works great with stans rims if not hit or miss
Weaknesses: sucks with out tubeless rims and tires good idea but i have 2 go back 2 tubes on my regular clincher rims
Bottom Line:
sucks if u rims and tires arnt true tubeless love mavic crossmax tires dont matter go true tubeless stans sucks
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Submitted by
Steven
Date Reviewed: June 22, 2012
Strengths: no more pinch flats (used to get a flat on almost every ride), I would also say the wheel and tire combination is lighter now but it's negligible, sealed holes I had in the tire that I didn't know I had.
Weaknesses: have to deal with burbing now, only happened once, sounded like broken glass (imagine landing your front wheel on a glass beer bottle) but no real weaknesses that I can think of.
Bottom Line:
I have been riding tubeless for approximately half a dozen rides now. I did not purchase the kit as they did not make one for my bike. I used the rip strip without the rim tape and some sealant and they sealed right up, I did not used new tires, the tires were in fact quite used but I did make sure to clean them well. if you go the tubeless route like I did do yourself a favor and go online to the notubes website and watch the install videos before you start complaining that you cant seal your tires and wheels, if you follow the instructions exactly or even close you will be able to seal your tires.
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Submitted by
DezRat
Date Reviewed: June 15, 2012
Strengths: My garage floor is now clean because I had to scrub off all the spilled Stan's goo that slopped everywhere in the process.
Weaknesses: From what I can tell, the Stan's Tubeless "system" is kind of a crap shoot. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. In my case I used the Stan's rim strips and tubeless goo in a set of Nevegals mounted on DT E540 rims. Followed the instructions provided, watched the video(s), did everything correctly (over and over and over - - ) and I just couldn't stop the leaks between the rim and bead. The pinholes in the tire sidewalls stopped quickly, but no amount of time and effort could stop the slow leaks between the tire bead / rim. Consistently lost about 5psi per hour. With ever increasing amounts of loud profanities coming out of my garage, I finally gave up and put in tubes. You should also be aware that this stuff is a sticky, sloppy mess when removing a tire that has been No-Tubed.
Bottom Line:
Like I said above, it's a crap shoot if this works (or not) with your particular tire/rim combination. Their web site has some recommendations on tire and rims that work/don't work, but they can't list them all. If you want to try this stuff, take a deep breath, lay down your money, and hope for the best. Lots of people swear by this stuff, but it makes lots of people just swear.
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Submitted by
richard allen
a Cross Country Rider
Date Reviewed: May 26, 2012
Strengths: weight savings
better handling
Weaknesses: a bit pricey
Bottom Line:
Pulled out my old Lite Speed Pisgah that's been collecting some dust as I've given more time to road biking. I wasn't sure where to start the upgrade, there are so many to do. I've heard good things about going tube less so I started there. I had older rims from performance and was concerned it might not take. WOW ... what a difference! Maybe because its been 8 years on not riding but this is great. I did both tires with the kit. Without the tube the tire does have a different shape and the pressure can be lower. No flats , no leaks, better handling. Just do it.
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Submitted by
ParengBalot
a All Mountain Rider
from Roy, UT
Date Reviewed: February 27, 2012
Strengths: Easy, Reliable, Magical Powers, No More Flats
Weaknesses: Messy
Bottom Line:
Used Slim before & never again will I use anything else but Stan's NoTube Sealant. It only took me 15 minutes to convert a non-tubeless DT rims and Kenda Nevegal UST tires to tubeless. The tire sealed easily using an air compressor but floor pumps seem to work sometimes. I didn't have to use soapy water on the beads for the initial seal as well.
Stan's No Tube sealant is less weight and is better at sealing than the thicker slimes, however, you won't feel it slopping around while riding. The sealant do dry up over 6 months, especially in hot weather, butusing the injection kit makes it easy to add an ounce or 2 when needed. The biggest deal here though is that you can kiss goodbye to snakebite flats and thorn punctures, it will seal before you even know about them, even on larger slash flats.
It is messy when you need to use an emergency tube while on the trail when you do get a larger slash and cuts beyond sealing. One thing I love about tubeless is the hollow sound of your tires as you pump your pedals up the hill.
Buy it! Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.
Works For: Tubeless Tires, Tubeless Rims, Regular Rims
Submitted by
ihaveagibsonsg
a Cross Country Rider
from San Diego, CA
Date Reviewed: January 10, 2012
Strengths: Does what it advertises! No more punctures, run insanely low PSI
Weaknesses: Makes you run at lower PSI confidently, can cause you to bottom out and smack your rims pretty hard.
Bottom Line:
The only thing not included in the box is patience. It took me 3 minutes to seal one tire(Maxxis Ardent) and 4 hours for the other one to seal(WTB Exiwolf). The installation is pretty straight forward, I was skeptical about drilling out the hole on my rims to 3/8ths because the drill bit looked huge! I did it though and things went good. When it said to mount the tire and try to inflate it with out sealant, I could only get mine up to 10 PSI or less. Once I added the sealant I put on my air compressor and rocked the tire back and forth while it was inflating to get the sealant to start to seal the side walls. My tires would not seal until I did this. If you don't have an air compressor, forget it, this would be impossible. Once they're sealed you're set, I tested it with a nail like the video and bam instantly it was good to go. I'm very impressed, I'll never use tubes again. It is excessively expensive though considering the rubber lining costs about the same as a tube and the goo costs about 70 cents to make, but it will repay you with better rides, less crashes(or more due to improved confidence and ride quality), less rotational weight and more time in the saddle.
Submitted by
scoopslack
a Cross Country Rider
from Raleigh, NC, USA
Date Reviewed: December 22, 2011
Strengths: Does seal pin sized holes
Weaknesses: Never could seal micro leaks around the bead no matter how much sealant I added and all the shaking side to side Stan's recommends.
Bottom Line:
I bet tubeless is great if you have specifically designed rims and tires, but the Stan's conversion just didn't work for me at the higher pressures I run when riding the dirt roads around Raleigh - got sick of stopping to pump my tires half way through a two-hour ride. Both wheels had micro leaks pretty much all the way around at the bead. Nothing dramatic, but they'd lose about 5-10 pounds of pressure an hour when I was running 40psi or more. I tried adding more sealant and all the shaking side-to-side that Stan's recommends, but nothing seemed to help - finally just got sick of fiddling around with them. Running a standard Mavic rim and Kenda tires, so it's not like I was using some exotic rim/tire combo - just doesn't seem to be a good product for higher pressures. It was fine if I was going single track with sub 30psi, but they'd still leak down. After a day of sitting in my truck, both would be completely flat.
Bike Setup: Specialized Stumpjumper hardtail w/XTR
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Submitted by
Dimo
a Cross Country Rider
from Pittsburgh
Date Reviewed: October 31, 2011
Strengths: Holds air with multiple punctures. Lightweight.
Weaknesses: Messy to install, sealing the bead is a pain. Very slow leaks.
Bottom Line:
Don't know why some people don't like it. Front tire hasn't gone flat in the last 3 years (I know, I need a new front tire). Rear tire has about 40 cacti punctures in it (for the last year) and still holds air very well. Got a thorn in it with full pressure, pulled the thorn out and instantaneously the tire was sealed. NEVER using tubes again! I never bring a pump or a patch kit with me since I hadn't needed one on a trail in the last 2 years. Pump up the tire before the ride and off I go.
Submitted by
oli h
a Downhiller
from Home of the Red Rose
Date Reviewed: October 11, 2011
Strengths: Works, saves weight, got me back to the chalet after gashing the tyre right in the middle of the tread
Weaknesses: Can be a pain to set up hence many people are reluctant to try a tubeless conversions out.
Bottom Line:
Can be a pain at times to seal if the tyre is used and the sidewall's have gone a bit porous, had a couple of instances where a new setup has been losing air for the first couple of days but when inflated again they've always held air for the ride, the tyres have also stopped losing air a couple of rides later.
I've tried:
Schwalbe Muddy Mary's 2.4" & 2.25" Single Ply Evolutions, Wicked Wills 2.25" Single Ply Evolutions
Maxxis High Roller Dual Ply 2.5" (Non UST), Minion Dual Ply 2.5" (Non UST)
Had one puncture in three years, this was on a Single Ply Evolution Muddy Mary......at Alp D'Huez riding a rocky part of the Megavalanche qualifier, I think that's acceptable considering how many people I passed with punctured tubes! It held air for the rest of the day, occassionally the backs of my legs got sprayed with Stans when the gash re-opened but it held out and always re-sealed, had to pump the tyre back up twice but over the course of a day, I thought that was reasonable, especially since I only lost approximately 2mins of riding time!
Bike Setup: Cove G-Spot with a proper ghetto tubeless set up (Electrical tape, screw in car valve and Stans goo) Devinci Wilson on 823's
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Submitted by
btalley
a Weekend Warrior
from Mooresville
Date Reviewed: July 12, 2011
Strengths: Sealed my leak, fair price
Weaknesses: Slow to seal larger holes, but it does seal them
Bottom Line:
As a first time tubeless user I am very happy with the performance of this product. The first 3 rides were flawless, 4th ride I somehow punctured the tire in the center of the tread. Fairly large slit in the tire and of course the loud psssssssssss sound. I thought I was walking out. So lets put the sealant to the test. I slowly rotated the tire and sealant sprayed out for a long time. Once the tire got down around 10-15 psi the leak stopped. I added air and it blew out. Even tried adding air with the leak on the bottom of the tire and it blew a lot of sealant out. I kept thinking where is all of that chunky stuff that went into the tire? After pushing the bike for 5 mins with 10-15 psi I gave it one more try, added air and it held! Got to finish the ride :) Wish it worked a little faster. 5 Flamin' Chilis because it worked, the slow part was mostly my fault. Now that I have learned more about the product, I know my mistakes were adding too much air too soon. It sure beats yanking out tubes.
