Tubeless Tire Sealant

Orange Seal vs Stans: What is the best tubeless sealant?

We get this question a lot. In our experience, Stans NoTubes and Orange Seal are the two best tubeless tire sealants out there. Read on to see what we like about each brand.

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Stan's NoTubes Sealant

Stan's NoTubes Sealant is our most popular sealant. It has been around a long time and works really well.

One serving of Stan's lasts 2-7 months depending on type of tires and climate conditions . With Bend's dry climate, it is recommended to check and top off sealant every 3-4 months.

Stan's is Eco friendly and good for use in standard, tubeless, and tubular tires.

NoTubes claims that it can repair punctures up to 1/4" size. We find that that is on the high side, but it still works really well.

Special anti-freeze agents allow Stan's to be used in temperatures as low as -30°F.

Comes in Stan's Quart 32oz jug (good for up to 8-16 tire fills) and 2oz injectors.

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Orange Seal Sealant

We really like the OrangeSeal sealant. We have found that in those rare instances when NoTubes just won't seal up a tire and keeps leaking through the sidewalls, OrangeSeal tends to finish off the job.

Orange Seal has three different products for different uses: Regular, Endurance, and Subzero sealants. The following specs come from OrangeSeal (we're not making this up)

Regular Sealant: One serving lasts 30-45 days (we check ours every 2-3 months), has the best sealing capabilities of all three products, can seal up to a 1/4" size puncture, and is good for temperatures down to 11°F.

Endurance Sealant: One serving lasts 60-120 days, can seal punctures up to 1/8" (2nd best in sealing abilities), and is good for temperatures of 0°-11°.

Subzero Sealant: One serving lasts 60-180 days, can seal punctures up to 1/8" (3rd best in sealing abilities), and is good for temperatures -20°-0°.

- Standard Orange Seal sealant comes in 16oz, 8oz, or 4oz bottles

- Subzero Orange Seal sealant comes in 8oz bottles

Click here to see OrangeSeal's Product Info Sheet

How much sealant per tire?

For a standard mountain bike tire, we recommend 2-3 ounces of sealant. You may want to use 3-4 ounces in larger mountain bike tires or for the initial setup in tires that you find difficult to seal. We use about 4-5 ounces in FAT tires. For road and cyclocross tires we also recommend 2 ounces.

How long does tubeless sealant last?

Sealant doesn't stay in your tires forever. You will lose some through holes, as the sealant is trying to seal it, and some will evaporate and just dry up. Your tires will still hold air, but if you get a flat, there won't be any sealant to fill the holes. We recommend checking your tires at the beginning of the riding season, and every few months during the riding season. Refer back to the top of the page for specifics on Orange Seal and Stan's.

What is the sealant shelf-life?

If you keep the bottle tightly sealed and out of direct sunlight and in a cool place, the shelf-life is somewhat indefinite. We'd still only recommend buying only 1-2 bottles at a time.

Converting to Tubeless

When converting your tires to tubeless, it is best to use a rim that is specifically designed to be run tubeless, and a tire that is 'Tubeless Ready'. You can run UST (true Tubeless tires), but they are usually a lot heavier and not necessary.

You can set up tubeless tires on your own, but it can be messy and frustrating if you don't have the right tools for the job. We wouldn't want to do it on our own bikes without an air compressor.

We're happy to convert your system for you. You'll probably need rim tape, valves, sealant, and labor. We can only guarantee that it will work if it is a tubeless rim with a tubeless ready tire. We will try to make non-tubeless ready tires work on tubeless rims, it usually works, but can't guarantee that it will work (sorry, we would still have to charge you for the labor and sealant).

We've stopped trying to convert non-tubeless rims. It isn't impossible to make them work, but it is often a can of worms that takes multiple attempts, which means a whole lot of time (@$60/hr), extra layers of tape, and a lot of sealant, and we just don't feel comfortable charging a customer for something that might never even work.