So you are ripping down the trail and then the next corner you take the rear is a little squishier and seems to have a strange response. You stop, inspect the tire and boom, you realize that you have a slight rip in your sidewall. What do you do? You can tube it and then boot it, but now you are running a slime tube at best and that is not a very good place to be in the back country. Here I will give you one option to repair the sidewall of a tire that is being ran tubeless using some simple supplies and techniques. This is mainly for limping out of a back country situation where you would otherwise be wolf food. This is not meant to prolong the life of a tire in normal riding circumstances.

LEGAL STUFF: Highly experimental tire repair. Do at your own risk.

Here is what I am setting out to do in this article:

Repair a sidewall rip in tire that is being ran tubeless WITHOUT breaking the bead.

Remember, you cannot use a little tire plug because as the sidewall flexes the rip will eventually expand. I have plugged a slight sidewall ding, and was able to survive for about another hour of riding on some pretty fierce tech, with constant stop and refill procedures. In the end, that kind of sidewall repair is set up for inevitable failure. I want a more robust solution, not for limping off the trail, but for making it out of the backcountry. Let’s just say it should be a long-term fix. This can be a nugget of wisdom especially for bikepackers who frequently end up in the middle of nowhere where it can take multiple days to get to civilization, let alone a bike shop.

So who repairs tubeless sidewalls already with pretty good success? People who go wheelin’. The wheelers/rock crawler/4×4 people will sew up a sidewall just like a suture and survive off the trail with such a repair. I’ve seen people use fishing line, dental floss, thin cable (like a shifter cable), some kind of staple things, etc. The whole Idea is to hold the tear together and to prevent it from ripping further. The 4×4 people instill some confidence too, since they run really low pressures (8-12 psi) and as a result, have super flexy sidewalls. In fact, they run such low pressures, that their tires are actually bolted to the wheel. At any rate, I’m giving credit to where credit is due, to the 4×4 guys. Here we go.

Step 1: Let all the air out of your tire (most likely this has already been done for you). Whatever you do, DO NOT BREAK THE BEAD. For this exercise, we are keeping the bead in tact. I am going to address repairs that require a bead break in another article.

Step 2: Get a curved needle, I got this upholstery one from a craft store:

Step 3: Thread some T70 #69 nylon bonded upholstery thread onto a curved needle. I chose this thread, because it is super tough. I used the #6 needle in the kit above, I think it is 1.5″ diameter, #18. It is a stout enough needle to puncture sidewalls, has a big enough eye for the heavy-duty upholstery thread, and has enough curvature to make a decent stitch across the rip. Anyways, thread it and tie a knot in the end. If you are a sewing or knot expert feel free to chime in on what knot would be best here.

Step 4: Puncture the tire a bit above the rip, to start sewing the rip.

Step 5: Draw the needled through, making sure to make each pass fairly tight.

Step 6: Keep going, you are almost there!

Step 7: Once you’ve sewn up the entire rip, tie a termination knot there, I just did something like the first step to tying a shoe, but did it 2 or 3 times. Once again, sewing and knot experts chime in here. Notice that I am not a surgeon.

Step 8: Now you need to add air with your HAND PUMP (remember, you are doing this in the wild). Pump hard to get a little pressure going in the tire, then rotate the tire so that the rip is facing down and the Stan’s can do the job sealing the rip and the holes from sewing. Keep pumping until you are up to pressure and then pump a little more. I let the tire “rest” against a rock with the repair side down for a few minutes to completely seal up any holes. Once the stan’s has done its job. Run the tire at your desired pressure.

Step 9: A last/optional step I have done is put a piece of gorilla tape over the repair to protect the thread against rocks. This doesn’t hold up long, but can be an extra piece of insurance. I’ve tried wrapping it around the tread, putting it on the sidewall, etc. It seems to die away after grit and dirt and scraping against rocks starts to peel the tape off. No biggie, that is its job.

Over the last month, I’ve put over 200 miles of treacherous and mean Arizona Trail on this tire on my loaded, rigid, SS. Me + LOADED bike weighs in at around 225 and I run a nice 28-30psi in the rear. The tire is a 29×2.2 TNT Geax Saguaro (hence the sidewall rip, they are very soft).

I am still developing, learning, and refining these techniques myself, but hopefully they will be a kernel to a tried-and-true tubeless sidewall repair. I have intentions of writing up some more articles on other techniques that I have dreamed up. I am also going to do this with a tire that has been gashed much more (enough to put a few fingers through). I recommend that you practice this repair technique before you head out in the deep desert, tundra, or woods. Any feedback, suggestions, criticism or pictures of repairs or rips would be a huge help! Finally, If you like this bit of knowledge, share the article so we can get more people thinking about this and trying it out.