I have the Strada and love it. Recently I had the pleasure to ride some pretty hairy off-road at a peppered pace for quite a distance (Pinelands 500). There were a lot of sand woops that I hit at high speed causing the fork to bottom. In one day of 150 miles, I got 3 TOTAL flats. Fortunately, my Heidenau Scout 60's have such a stiff sidewall, it only took my compressor a little time to fill them up and get going again. The flats were from breaking the bead on the cast Alum front rim. Aside from that, this little beast was tearing up everyone. I know, I know, I know, I should have spoke wheels but I'm not paying that much money for new wheels. I already have the cast spokers so I gotta live with them. Does anyone know any tricks to help me keep that tire on the rim. Is it the nature of the tire or the cast rim, or both? Can I use silicone or hairspray on the bead and reinstall the tires? How about a squirt of "fix-a-flat" to give me a little extra grip (seal) on that rim? Any experience with this matter would help if you defeated this problem and shared.
Interesting, I have not suffered this problem despite some reasonably ambitious off road stuff on my Strada. My 'fix' suggestion on any other bike would be to put some tubes in or at least a tube in the front tyre, but due to the nature of the valve layout on the Strada wheels it is not so straightforward. On our competition off road machines, before we got bead lockers we used to use a contact adhesive such as Evo-Stick to solve the problem, but it had to be the waterproof one. That would be my route in your situation, apply a thin film of contact adhesive to rim and tyre, wait a few minutes then inflate and run them hard. Alternatively you have to consider drilling the rim to accommodate a tube, good luck.
More pressure will keep the bead against the rim and add some Ride-On to the tires would be what I would try. I see it close to my tubeless mtb wheels and Stan's Latex Sealant except Ride-On won't dry out. You may still burp some air but depending on your pressures but sealant coating the bead area that gets any air should build a seal in short time. On top of that you are better protected against thorns, staples and nails. http://www.ride-on.com/
Go to King bearing or an equivalent bearing supply store and buy some Industrial spray belt grip adhesive. It doesn't cost much. Same kind they use in a cannery, its natural, food grade so it has no harsh chemicals. Not the same as car type stuff you would get at an auto parts store. Its used on belt driven canning equipment. Its what I used for years as tire mounting compound for short track quad race flat track Hoosier tires. Its actually a rubber preservative. Spray the bead of the tire and rim. It "Sticks like shit on a baby blanket" and once set up its good to go. I used to spray the entire inside of the sets of Hoosier hand grooved slicks or Tri-Traks and the wheels and tires bead area. Then just mount them and inflate 'em as usual. While everyone was checking there tire pressures up at the starting line at the "Lodi Cycle Bowl short track" to be sure to have no more than about 4 or 5 lbs. Adding air as necessary, my pressure in my tires was probably still the same as it had been at last weeks races. These tires side walls were so thin that the air would fizz out of the entire sidewalls if sprayed with soapy water on the out side. It just bled right out of them. I would sit there and watch the other guys quads and the air would bleed right through the side walls on everybody elses tires. Not mine. I ran champion bead locks most of the time but this kept the air in the tires. I never had any of my standard lip rims leak air either. A good coat of this on the inside of the tire carcass and the bead of the tire and rim and it seals the tread to the rim also. For the high speed pounding dirt riding to avoid this kind of issue on the tubeless fronts. I used a set of Michelin "XZX" steel belted car 10" radial tires for a little old style Honda car that had been hand grooved into a set of knobies and it never lost air for years at a time. Never got a flat either. Even with a few bent rims that got straightened out with a 4 pound sledge hammer.
