Just ordered a new road bike with hookless rims…am I going to regret this?

[Binka]

Liv Langma Advanced Pro 1. Carbon frame and wheels. Ultegra groupset. Has 25mm tubeless tyres which wasn’t really what I wanted but thought no problem I can swap.
I have tubeless on my Liv Avail AR which I do a bit of off road stuff/tracks on. I just don’t see the benefit for a pure road bike, just the annual pain of cleaning the sealant out, adding new sealant. I’m not confident about topping sealant up if I had a puncture mid ride….only had one puncture on the avail. It didn’t seal. I walked to the bike shop with it, luckily was only 2 miles away.

anyway new bike has hookless rims. I didn’t appreciate until after I’ve paid the deposit that this means there’s a very limited list of compatible tyres…mainly Giant ones. Certainly can’t put Continental tyres on which had been the plan. Have to have it at fairly low psi, anything over 70 I think runs the risk of blowing the tyres off the rim. Bike shop says you can maybe put tubes in but the bike won’t feel as good. Has anyone had hookless rims and put tubes in and it been ok? Do you feel restricted about tyre choice?

 

[HLaB]

Buy your self a tubeless repair kit for that rare hole that won't seal. Wiggle Lifeline do one for circa £3; there's other neater ones too up to around £35 I think.

 

[Darius_Jedburgh]

And then buy yourself a new inner tube for when the tubeless repair kit fails to repair the hole that won't seal itself

 

[Binka]

I’ve got a tubeless repair kit….I think I’d be ok with putting a plug in if I had too now. I’m more worried about not having a good choice of tyres with these hookless rims, or not being able to run it above 70psi.

 

[13 rider]

In theory any tubeless tyre should fit but theory and real life my differ . I run stock giant tyres on my TCR and find them ok. One of the advantages of tubeless is being able to run lower pressure to give more comfort without losing rolling resistance ,unless your on the weighty size I wouldn't worry about 70psi . My advice is to get the shop to set them up tubeless and see how you go . I'm 11500 miles in on my TCR no roadside stops despite having at least 3 punctures that have all sealed

 

[footloose crow]

I am running Hutchinson Storm tyres on my Mavic hookless rims. Mavic tyres also ok. I have also had Panaracer GKs on them but they were hard to get on and off. The Hutchinsons were easy to get in and inflated with a track pump. If you google hookless rim compatible tyres you will find there are more than just Giant. I have also used mine with inner tubes when I couldn’t seal bigger holes with sealant. I didn’t notice a lot of difference.

You are right about lower pressures only on hookless but isn’t necessarily a big problem.
I run 28-32mm wide tyres on my bikes at about 60-65psi. It seems fine. I have run them at 50psi and that was ok too. I weigh 72kg so maybe a bigger guy would have more issues.

 

[mattobrien]

I’m running Veloflex Corsa Race on my hookless rims, i run them with tubolito tubes as it is a light weight set up and the tubes are much lighter than a tubeless set up.

 

[Craig the cyclist]

All these replies are very helpful and correct, but sadly you have that worm in your head now that it won't work out.

My prediction is that it won't work out! Change the wheels and put tubes in, it's what you are going to end up doing anyway.