Quick fix tips

Plug a puncture in a tubeless tyre

Locate the puncture. You can do this with the wheel on or o the bike. Spin it round while listening and feeling for escaping air. If it’s a big hole or tear, it should be easy to find. Smaller punctures may be easier to locate if you hold your cheek next to the tyre. Orientate the wheel so that the hole is at the lowest point of the tyre. This will cause the sealant inside the tyre to pool there and give it the best chance to plug the hole. Wait a few seconds for the sealant to bind to the rubber, then try to inflate the tyre. If sealant squirts out of the hole, it’s too big to be plugged by sealant alone. This is where a tubeless repair kit comes in. Rotate the wheel through 180 degrees, so that the hole is at the top of the tyre. This will stop you wasting any more sealant. Take out your repair kit and install a strip of the plugging material on the insertion tool. The kit pictured has a forked insertion tool, which should be positioned in the middle of the strip. Di erent thicknesses of strip may be provided to plug di erent size holes.

Push the tool, along with the strip, into the hole until just 5mm of each end of the strip is left outside of the tyre. Place a finger firmly on each end of the strip and hold them tight against the tyre so that it remains in place. Then, carefully, pull the tool straight out of the tyre. Rotate the wheel until the hole is at the lowest point of the tyre. Wait until the sealant has fully plugged the hole, then pump the tyre back up to your preferred pressure. There’s no need to trim the ends of the strip – just leave them as they are.