UST tires: BUUUUUURRRP!

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What’s the deal with UST tires burbing? I have problemns with either wheel wanting to burb and it usualy ends up with me on my butt onthe side of the trail. Even the rear wheel wants to burb on a landing off a small jump like off a root or a rock, Am i doing something wrong Lee?

Chris

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Hey Chris,

Lots of riders struggle with their UST tires burping air, usually on a hard corner or a crooked landing. I’ve never had that problem.

I can think of three variables:

1. Tire pressure. More air makes your tire more resistant to burping. I weigh about 175 pounds and ride smoothly but pretty aggressively. For DH I’ve been running 25 to 30 to even 40 psi. For XC I run 35-40 psi. A bigger, stronger, faster rider would need even more pressure.

2. Tire/rim fit. The UST combos I’ve used — for downhill Maxxis High Rollers and Minions; for trail Specialized Resolutions, all on Mavic 823s — have worked fine. Perhaps other tire/rim combos don’t fit as well.

3. Riding style. If you habitually land jumps crooked, that’s a problem. If you ride very fast and very hard, can also a problem. Many top downhillers, including the Yeti-FOX Factory team, use standard tires and tubes. They corner so hard nothing else will stay on. Even with 50 psi at Vermont last year, the Yeti guys still ripped tires off the beads. Imagine cornering that hard. Lopes has the same issue. I doubt the rest of us have that problem.

So: More air. Try a different tire. Land straight.

11 replies
  1. Sean says:

    Is the tire’s air volume another factor? Front tire: I tend to run the 2.4 Specialized Enduro around 30 PSI and other Specialized 2.2 tires (Roll X, Resolution) around 35 PSI.

  5. leelikesbikes says:

    Valid question.

    Burp – verb – To temporarily break the seal of a tubeless bicycle tire, releasing air from between the tire bead and the rim seat. It sounds like a burp. Commonly experienced uder very hard cornering or when landing crooked.

  7. LeeP says:

    I have been on UST for five years now. In the beginning I burped a few times but after some instruction from tire and wheel reps at my shop I think that the common cause of burping is not seating the bead correctly during install of the tire. Here are my install steps.

    1. Buy quality parts. Cheap tires are cheap tires, no matter if they’re tubless or not. UST works, so if you are having problems with non-tubless rims and tires maybe try some real tubless stuff for a while to see if you can get everything working before you experiment.

    2. Clean the rim, valve and tire. Making the bead seat on a nasty surface is difficult.

    3. Carefully mount the tire without tire levers. Use the deep channel in the center of a tubeless rim to give you some space. If you use Stans sealant put it in before the last part of the bead is rolled over the rim wall.

    4. Wet the rim and tire mating surfaces with soapy water. Don’t skip this step! It is important to lubricate the bead to ensure full contact.

    5. Air the tire to maximum pressure. You might hear some popping sounds, that’s good, it’s the sweet sound of the bead seating securly into the rim’s bead seat. Observe the bead during inflation, make sure it’s even all the way around.

    6. Mount the wheels on your bike and enjoy a tasty beverage while you look at the fine work you’ve done. Leave them pumped up until you’re ready to ride. I ride mine pretty low, like in the 20’s, with no problems. The “correct” pressure depends on the tire, the bike, the trail and your riding style. If the tire is too low it rolls over in the corners. I actually carry a small guage in my camelback but I’m a tire nerd.

    It might take a bit longer to do it this way but it works. I have been setting up customers bikes like this with great success for at least four years now. I’ve used Maxxis High Rollers, Spec Roll-x, Hutch Scorpions and several Michelin UST tires with no burping on mine and several of my friends bikes. All were on Mavic rims.

    If you get a puncture, put a tube in it and fix it at home. You must seat the bead properly! Good luck!

    LeeP

  10. STACY KOHUT says:

    tubeless?….can you say trendy fad………..

    forget tubeless.

    pump your tires up and ride the tread, not the sidewall…………..

    37.5 psi and over 600 runs in 2007 so far, not a single flat on my maxxis tires…………..

    quality tubes, installed with love and juju, high psi, maxxis tires………….so perfect.

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