Good idea, hopefully it's just the valve...I would hate to have to dismantle the front wheel.

 

Just replace the front tube (and be thankful it's not the rear tube).

 

Damn, you are right...

 

I was under the impression that all spoked wire wheels were tubeless. I looked at my tire and it's actually tubeless. I checked the nut for the valve stem and it was loose. That's most likely where the leak was coming from.

 

the liquid stuff is temporary ONLY. Pull the tube and patch it. Then rebalance the wheel/tire assy.

 

The tire is marked tubeless, but when the mount it on a spoled wheel, they have to put a tube in it! There is a way to seal a spoked rim making it possible to use tubelss tires, but it isn't very commonly done. I'd bet you di in-fact have a tube. Taking the front wheel off and removing the tire is very simple. First though, do the liquid soap thin and test that valve stem!

 

sorry about your impression. the nut around the stem is for locating the tube and keeping it from slipping inside the tire. All laced wheels have tubes. The tire may say tubless, but can only be mounted as a tubeless on an alloy wheel. When mounted on laced wheels, it requires a tube and wheel rim liner to prevent the spoke nipples from pucturing the tube.

 

I did the liquid soap test, but found no leaks anywhere including around the rim. To be honest, I really don't know if it has a leak...I just bought the bike and the previous owner mentioned that it had a leak. It's been holding pressure so far since last Sunday. The bike had been sitting in storage for a long time...that's probably why he mentioned the leak.

 

so all this for nuttin'!!! J/K, to be sure though, you should check it, a slow leak could develop into a blow out at high speed and higher temps. Take the wheel off and submerge it in some type of liquid, alittle at a time if you dont have something big enough for the whole tire. But If the other guy said it had a leak, it wouldn't hurt to check to satisfy yourself.