I check my tires nine out of 10 times before I ride. Today, I almost didn't because I had just ridden a couple days ago.

At the last minute, I decided not to be lazy and checked them, and my front tire was REAL low, almost flat. I was in such a hurry I hadn't even noticed it. Turns out I have a leak at the valve stem and it was going down fast.

My front wheel is spoked. My back wheel is a thunderstar. I'm going to go with a Thunderstar on the front with a tubeless tire. Glad I caught it.

Man, it pays to take your time and always check tire pressure before riding!

 

Good advice for sure. If it was the valve stem that was leaking though, why change wheels? Tubeless tires still have valve stems that can leak.

 

True. That's not really why I'm changing. I'd been planning to go to a non-spoke rim and tubeless tire in the front for a while now, ever since I switched out the rear to Thunderstar and tubeless Michelin. I wanted them to match and figured might as well do it now.

 

Tubeless valves don't leak where tube type valves usually do. Usually tube valves leak because of a crack or cut where the valve attaches to the tube. Many times, this is because the tire was low on air and rotated slightly during hard braking or acceleration. This can shift the tube some and stress where the valve goes in. That can't happen on a tubeless tire. The valve is mounted in the rim and is independent of the tire.