Everything Mountain Bikers Need to Know About Tubeless Tires and Rims - a podcast by Singletracks.com

Mike Bush is the President of Stans, a brand whose founder Stan Koziatek pioneered the use of tubeless tires in mountain biking. Today the Stans brand® designs and markets its own line of popular wheels and tubeless tire accessories to keep mountain bikers rolling.

In this episode we ask:

• Why did it take so long for tubeless tire tech to become widely-adopted for mountain biking?


• How does tubeless tire sealant work?


• Has the Stans sealant formulation changed much over the years to improve performance or to make it more environmentally friendly?
  
  
  
  • What are the tradeoffs involved in designing a tire sealant?
  
  
  • Have tire companies had to adjust their formulations and manufacturing processes to improve tubeless performance, to prevent weeping for example?
  
  
  • What’s your take on mountain bike tire inserts?
  
  
  • Is there another way to address the remaining shortcomings of tires and rims that doesn’t involve inserts?
  
  
  • How have rim designs evolved over the past several seasons?
  
  
  • Do you think the 30mm rim width becoming pretty standard for most mountain bike applications?
  
  
  • Is a rim’s bead socket a weak point in terms of sealing tubeless tires? 
  
  
  
  


• What are some of the ways Stans optimizes rim design to work with tubeless tires?


• Is carbon a superior material for building mountain bike rims? Why or why not?


• What took so long for mountain bike tire plugs to become mainstream? 
  
  
  
  • What makes the Stans Dart tool unique?
  
  
  
  


• Do you have any tips or tricks for dealing with tire issues on the trail?


• Is there a better way to connect tires and wheels, assuming the whole industry agreed to work together? Are there any existing standards that are a barrier to future innovation?


• What are some of the current problems with mountain bike wheels and/or tires that Stans is focused on solving in the future?

Editor's note: This episode first aired October 1, 2020.

Learn more at notubes.com.

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