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She'll be right! Erm, maybe not...
I noticed over the last week the front Racing Ralph TLR seems to have developed a slow leak. So I pumped it up yesterday ready for today's ride, but it had lost a little bit of air by this morning. I figured that since it was six months since they were put on, maybe it just needed more sealant.
Didn't want to stop to put it in, figured she'll be right for a few hours and I'd catch up with it when I got back.
12km later at Terrey Hills turning left onto McCarrs Creek Road, I felt that zipper sensation you get when the front shoulder knobs are about to let go and down I went like a sack of potatoes.
A bit of skin off the elbow and bloody lucky it happened there instead of a minute or so later turning off McCarrs going into Duck Holes. The front probably had about 10psi in it.
Put a tube in and kept going. 40km later, the rear starts squirming around too. Grrr. 
I hope someone in the carpark will sell me a tube so I can get home.
So here's what I learned.
* "She'll be right." You said what? With tyres? Give yourself an uppercut
* 26er tubes will fit on 29ers if you're desperate
* Tubeless Ready tyres need to have liquid sealant in them at all times. Dried up latex does not a proper UST tyre make.
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I hope you're ok mate. Spills are never fun and exposed skin is always a pain waiting for it to heal (especially when scabs are so tempting to pick!)
Thanks for the advice about tubeless sealant. As someone who is still relatively new to tubeless, I'll take that in account for future maintenance
For a quick fix when you're too lazy to pull the tyre off to get the latex spider out, just remove the valve core, add a squirt of stans and pump back up.
I've learnt many things over the years concerning this sort of thing. So, in the interests of obtaining the best results, performance, safety, longevity etc, here's some advice that nobody asked for.
1. Use tyres that are designed for tubeless use. Many regular tyres do work rather well but sealant gets soaked into the carcass and distorts it leading to reduced lifespan and it lacks the support that a tube provides. The bead isn't designed to lock into the rim edge and it'll burp and/or disengage. One day. Probably when coming in for a landing or railing an off camber turn...
2. Add sealant often. I go for the change of season approach. I add 60mm when new and then 30mm at each top up, every three months.
3. Don't be stingy. Don't ride on old tyres. They age in the sun/heat/humidity and perish. Those that ride heaps will wear out the tread but if your tyres get over two full summers old, ditch them and move on.
4. Use correct pressure. Riding about on very low pressure is going to reduce the life of the tyre, increase the likelihood of damage and burping and give poor bike handling. Stick to the manufacturers recommendations. Even Stan himself has recommended pressures based on one's body weight.
5. Choose a proper tubeless wheel/rim. Examples are complete wheels by Shimano, Mavic and Fulcrum and wheels built using one's favourite hub and a Stan's rim. I'm a big fan of the Flow EX. Nice and wide to provide good support and bag size.
6. Ride lots. This splashes the sealant around inside the tyre and keeps the bead seated. It's never a good thing to leave one's bike idle for too long.
Remember, this advice is for best results and the aim is to provide best reliability, ride quality and performance. It really sucks having to do trailside maintenance of any kind and as tyres are between the bike and the world it's smart to try to minimise disaster.
+100000 for adding sealant periodically and having tubeless specific rims.
I have been caught out a few times with a perfectly sealed tubeless setup ( holds air pressure for weeks and weeks) but with only bone dry latex keeping it all together.. only to puncture and have no liquid sealant to fill/seal the puncture.
Nothing fun about sitting trackside with a punctured flat non tubeless specific rim "modified to be tubeless" setup and then working out that I'd neglected to put rim tape under the Stans rim strip.. no tube in the world is going to save the day then.
thanks delicious for the advice I didn't ask for! you have probably saved me from an inglorious dismount - my non tubeless Ignitor on an xt rim on the front is developing an ugly bulge, could be that the sealant is deforming the tyre, cheers!
You know, I read this post the other day, and was even fiddling around with the bike yesterday, and thought "I should add some sealant...it's been a while". If I had I may have noticed the delamination and blisters and general sh*thouse-ness of my rear tyre. As it was I got distracted by...I don't know...probably a coopers or 3??? the kids??? an ad on TV???
Nek minit...with the red mist well and truly fogging the glasses, and the chase on...pfffttt-pfffft-pfffftt...
I'm blaming you, hawkeye.
Was that you were tired (pardon the pun) and needed an excuse to go home...
Did you walk.... No....
"...... Hi honey, ahhhhmmm can you come pick me up.....??"
Love it!
You know the rules. Flat tyre = new bike....
I'll check my shed now for a tyre for you...
Hey, I was fully self sufficient (well...apart from mooching no more gaps' hi flow pump) and rode home! Used up all my patches...but they were mine!
And yes flat=new bike for sure. After riding that wagon wheeled thing the other day it was a done deal.
Adding sealing fluid every 2 to 3 months, depending on temp is a good idea - except you need to clean the latex creatures out every so often - Pic 1
Use valves with removable valve core - then can add sealant without disturbing the tyre on the rim.
And if you have carbon wheels and alloy nipples you may want to check your nipples for corrosion when you do a major service or change a tyre - else they may just corrode and pull through the rim = Pic 2. Seems to be a combination of sealing fluid (Stans in this case), water and different conductivity of alloy nipples and carbon rims? Just replaced my wheels alloy nipples with brass ones.
I'll definitely be getting the carob wheelset I'm toying with the idea of built up locally with brass nipples. That's just ridiculous.