Success!!!
I’ve finally got a tyre that is staying on and holding pressure. This is the process that finally worked:
- Stripped the whole thing down, tyre off, valve out, tape off.
- Cleaned everything with isopropyl alcohol - I got every little bit of old sealant off the tyre and wheel.
- New tape on - first time doing it, maybe not perfect, but was good enough.
- Valve in and done up finger tight. It has an O ring, any tighter and the ring popped out the side.
- Tyre on and inflated with Airshot. It was still not staying on when the pressure dropped so had to do the Airshock out - finger on hole - valve core in trick to get it back together. Took a few attempts.
- I then pumped it back up to 80 psi and left it overnight. It dropped to about 40 psi but the tyre stayed on. I repeated that a few times in the hope it would remember the inflated shape.
- Finally took the core out again and the tyre stayed seated.
- Added sealant, core back in, inflated to 80 psi and spun it round a lot.
- Within a few hours it was back down to 40 psi.
- Repeated inflating and leaving it a few times and it still dropped.
- Decided that 40 psi was enough for a gentle ride on so put it back up to 65 psi (recommended level) and went for a 30 minute ride.
- The ride must have helped get the sealant into the last few cracks as it has now been 24 hours and it is still at 65 psi.
That was an ordeal!
Now I’ve got a nice shiny red valve and new sealant in the front tyre but the back is still on year old sealant. I’ve got three weeks till my bike is picked up for my big race. I don’t think I’m going to risk trying to sort out the back but if you hear screams from the north of England, I may have got bored and risked it!