I am running a tubeless setup since September and the switching process has not been easy(lots of small problems) but Yesterday I had the most bizarre occurence of all while riding with a friend. Out of nowhere, my front tire went completely flat. I stopped, looked for a leak, found nothing, reinflated the tire and tried to find a leak. Nothing. I rode another 5k without any hiccups when it suddenly happened again. No leaks, reinflate, ride. Only this time, 500m further it happened again. So I popped a tube in there, finished my ride and went to my bike shop.
The tech over there kindly refitted my wheel tubeless and cleaned everything to inspect my tire and wheel. Nothing out of the ordinary, my tire wasn't punctured and my wheel is good.
What on earth might have caused this? I've been riding these wheels for at least three weeks with new tape and valves without any hiccups (unexplained air loss at the back, but that's a story for another time).
Thanks
More details on the setup:
- Bike is a Devinci Hatchet gravel bike
- Wheels should be considered brand new (around 1500km) ENVE SES 3.4AR (25mm internal width, hookless)
- Front tire is a Continental Terra Trail 40c @ 40psi.
- Rear tire is a Continental Terra speed 40c @ 40psi.
- The wheels were setup by my local bike shop after a few back and forth with the initial setup
I was riding easy pavement with an average of maybe 250w at the moment of the event. So no hard rocks, bumps, twists or turns. It was a beautiful sunny and coldish november day (maybe around 4-5celsius).
It's also worth noting that I tried this tire/wheels combo for a 650km gravel bikepacking trip with some bumpy sections without any issue of this kind.
I was riding on road, with my gravel bike. Pretty clean bike path. Tubeless setup was done by the book by the bike shop. So all tubeless parts, no hacks or shortcuts here :)
The rim is "brand new" and the technician at my bike shop confirmed my setup was not damaged and tire not punctured. 40c tires @ 40psi.