AJA 23: Tubeless Sealant Deep-Dive

Hey guys love the show, I have binge listened to every episode since discovering the show about 2 months ago. Needless to say I have fallen way down the rabbit hole of marginal gains, and its awesome!

I am a triathlete mainly but have always had a passion for cycling. Since listening to the show I have purchase an aero helmet, the super secret chain wax, and synergetic. I’ve stripped and clean my drivetrain on my tri-bike, and done some aero testing.

I have chunged my way from .3735 down to.294, which is fantastic! Completely have you guys to thank for that, it amounts to saving minutes of my bike splits for even the shorter distances. The next step is a new set of tires with a lower rolling resistance.

My question is, is there an ideal tire width for a rider? For some context, the roads are ride on are usually decently wore with some cracks. I live in Michigan so there are some rolling hills. I weight about 181lbs and my Cervelo P3 TT bike is about 17 lbs.

I am currently on the 23mm that came with the bike when I purchased it.

Love the show thanks for all the information and products, its making me better!

I am a roadie who has become tri-curious, and after a season of triathlon using my road bike with clip-on aerobars, I am considering getting a TT bike with a disc wheel. I love my 28mm tubeless tires, but cannot find a disc wheel that follows the rule of 105 when 28’s are installed. Given there is no trailing rim edge, does the rule of 105 even apply to disc wheels? Or does the width at the hub mean that 105 is more than satisfied

Did I hear correctly on this podcast that it is NOT recommended to use CO2 cartridges for latex tube inflation? I just switched to latex tubes a few years ago – don’t have tubeless-ready wheels for my road bike yet – and carry latex tube spares and cartridges.

Should one carry butyl for their spares and/or switch to a portable pump for roadside tire changes?

Btw, the innovation in CF in tubeless sealant sounds compelling. I was not keen on adding more hassle with the current situation of road tubeless sealants, but this sealant with the replenisher sounds like something I could live with.

Thank you,
Tom
St Louis

Paris-Roubaix had a notably high amount of tubeless tires and punctures this year! What is going on? Was it burps on the cobbles, a lack of sealant or something else?

Arguably Paris-Roubaix is the toughest test of man & machine on the Pro circuit especially when wet. I’m interrupting watching a replay of the ‘21 men’s race with 2.7kms to go now, before later today the ‘22 2nd la’femme edition and tomorrow the men.

When the question was asked in the podcast about who or when the new Silca’s sealant may have first been used the answer was ‘I can’t say’.

Josh, when you get back home (or onto your laptop in Europe) can you pretty please tell us now if you will ever be able to tell us who used Silca’s new sealant? I’m not the only one waiting for such critical news of an apparent breakthrough in this such relevant technology, especially for this anniversary of a tubeless tire win at Roubaix. We understand about contracts …but!

Could any of the future tech you will inevitably be working on be contracted with teams/testers so that in a shorter time-frame you can relay such important and details new tech to us mere mortals? Or maybe tires & sealants themselves after inflation pressures have now become just as competitive in the Pro peloton as once-upon-a-time on the F1 grid. Moscon did perhaps lose because of a puncture last year; were Ineos using tubes?

Perhaps you wish for a second but more annoying catch phrase after “that depends!” has become your first (which we wish we weren’t be-grudgingly forced to agree with, of course ‘it’ always depends). “I can’t say!”, we’d rather hear this said Josh, “I can’t say …yet!” At least give us some hope! :)

I’m cheering for Cobrelli, w’duya think are his chances with 2.7 to go now?