Tyre Yogurt is a greener tubeless sealant
This yogurt isn't an emergency riding snack, but your tyres will love it.
(BikePerfect - Lance Branquinho - 13th January 2020) Mountain bike tyre brands spend handsomely to develop the best possible tubeless solutions for mountain biking.
Despite the significant budgets, committed engineers and clever rubber structures which are developed, an expensive and advanced tubeless tyre remains only as good as the sealant inside it.
Sealant has two functions. Firstly, it must ensure a tight enough interface on the rim bead, to retain air within the casing. Its second function is dynamic, to flood any puncture induced hole or gash with a surge of sealant, thereby preventing a flat tyre.
In the main tyre sealants, tubeless tyres and most modern rims designs work well, but there are issues. Most sealants have a chemical formulation which includes ammonia and latex, making it messy to work with and hardly environmentally friendly.
A new product, developed in the French Alps by two British mountain bikers (Matthew Casson and Jon Dredge), promises to mitigate many of the issues which affect tubeless sealants.
The innovation in question is rather originally named Tyre Yogurt and unlike most rivals, it does not contain ammonia or latex.
Developed from a blend of commercial and military sealants, Tyre Yogurt is claimed to seal 6mm sized punctures.