Hi all,

I have a tubeless tyre leak through a single spoke nipple I would guess the valve is not seated if it was a few spokes but odd as it’s one

Any ideas/ suggestions or shall I start again with new tape and tyre install. I would rather not as they were a nightmare (gravel king sk and wtb i23) with a tubeless inflator

Thank in advance

I'd be surprised if it didn't simply seal itself within a mile or two.

Personally I would re tape it [ as its wrong] and re install as I assume this is so poor its not up/beading


if a slow puncture [ hours not minutes] and it stays up [ish] I assume riding will fix it

Sometimes you get a bit of leak after set up. As Stu says it usually goes soon enough.
I just switched my Fargo to a set of WTB Nano 2.1 in preparation for riding KAW and the front is leaking out of a single spoke hole. I’m relying that it’ll fully seal after commuting to work over the next couple of days.

Lazarus wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 9:25 pm Personally I would re tape it [ as its wrong] and re install as I assume this is so poor its not up/beading


if a slow puncture [ hours not minutes] and it stays up [ish] I assume riding will fix it

This is my preferred option aswell...

During the retaping try and get a good thick layer on (are the super wide rims... I believe some people use foam padding to take up 'real estate') of tape on and ensure you work into the side walls - effectively creating a bead lock of tyre sidewall overlapping properly with the tape on the rim sidewall. Make sure the tape is built up thick enough that when you pop the tyre in there it creates a tight enough interface.

Make good use of the foam/fairy to cause some slipperiness when inflating. Sorry if I'm stating any of which is already obvious

Start again. Tape might have moved a bit on seating the tyre

My taping routine involves fitting an inner tube, and leaving it inflated to at least 60psi for 48 hours. Might be worth adding this to your set up if you don't already?

Personally, if they are panaracer gravel king tyres, i would start with throwing them in the bin.

I spent ages re taping, trying different valves, having those tyres randomly blowing off rims and amost buying new bloody wheels.
By ages, i mean months. Tyres never still inflated in the morning, somtimes the front, sometimes the back.

3 weeks of the same wheels, same valves and tape with specialized tyres and barely a shift in psi

Older wtb rims dont help, but gravel kings can eff off

I'd add, I've been on tubeless for many years, these are the worst since ghetto tubeless pre mavic ust

Front wheel on my gravel bike started doing exactly this recently. A slow leak via the s poke nipple which was gradually getting worse.

Tape was definitely the culprit in my case. I could see where sealant has crept under it when I removed it.

They were the only wheels I’d done with ‘proper’ tape not gorilla tape, so won’t be using that anymore!

FLV wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:37 pm Personally, if they are panaracer gravel king tyres, i would start with throwing them in the bin.

To counter that, I haven’t had any trouble setting up Gravel King SK tyres. Using WTB i25 rims and Gorilla tape. They went up fine and I only have to top them up every 2 weeks or so.

For the OP - I’d try a few rides if it is a slow leak, should seal up.

Hi all

Thanks for the responses

I toped up the sealant
Gave the spoke a good wiggle
Went for a couple mile ride this morning

We will see how it goes

If not I will strip it and start again

When people see sealant escaping from around the valve, naturally you think that it is the valve causing the issue. But as rims are mostly hollow, the air can be escaping into the rim's void anywhere on the wheel and it then looks to escape at the valve. So best thing is to re-tape, make sure you do it when tape and rim are room temperature, not in a cold garage also.

ChrisF wrote: ↑Wed Jun 23, 2021 9:18 am

FLV wrote: ↑Tue Jun 22, 2021 11:37 pm Personally, if they are panaracer gravel king tyres, i would start with throwing them in the bin.

To counter that, I haven’t had any trouble setting up Gravel King SK tyres. Using WTB i25 rims and Gorilla tape. They went up fine and I only have to top them up every 2 weeks or so.

For the OP - I’d try a few rides if it is a slow leak, should seal up.

My Gravel Kings went up with a track pump and stayed up fine as well. I did have to use a compressor to get them to inflate when I swapped them onto another pair of wheels but I'm guessing that this was due to them having stretched a bit after almost a year on the original wheels. They've been fine on the new wheels since initial inflation and I'd happily buy another pair. P.S. This was SK 43s on Hunt wheels.

Sealant leaks from valve/spoke holes are invariably a tape issue. Best to take the tyre off and retape.

Leaks from the rim-bead interface are usually due to the tyre not being fully seated, going for a ride or two sorts these out. Occasionally there might be some dirt or a moulding blemish that causes this.

I've had identical tyre & wheel combinations that in one case stay up for days without sealant and the other tyre won't stay inflated for an hour. The only difference is me and how I've messed up the latter.

I've had rim/bead leaks on tyres that I've reused caused by dried on sealant on the bead. A scrub with some Scotchbrite sorted the issue.

If it's coming out a spoke hole, there is a problem with the tape somewhere. Can happen when you first inflate the tyre, when you pop the tyre off or just randomly because the gods hate you.

This used to annoy me so much I have now bought wheels with no spoke holes