Road cycling tubeless is not quite there yet.

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betty swollocks

large member
I've been riding tubeless on my road bikes for 3 years now and I love the lower pressures and greater comfort it avails and will persevere because of these,
however,
the sealant will only mend pinprick-sized holes. Any bigger than this and the sealant will only hold up to a limited pressure, say around 40 psi, or not at all.
So a spare tube is still a necessity when out riding and I prefer to take a dynaplug kit too.

What are others' real-life experiences please?
 
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steveindenmark

Legendary Member
Tubeless are a funny thing. Some love them, some loathe them.

I can only assume those who love them have not had a flat at 4am in the morning, mid winter, in the middle of nowhere. Even if you don`t get a puncture, tubeless still lose air.

I changed back to tubes. I get less flats and can change a tube in minutes, regardless of the situation.
 

Mo1959

Legendary Member
I don’t like how tight a fit they seem to be and worry a bad puncture would see me stranded as I couldn’t get the tyre off. I’ll stick with my lovely easy Rubino Pros or Schwalbe Ones and tubes I think.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
Tubeless are a funny thing. Some love them, some loathe them.

I can only assume those who love them have not had a flat at 4am in the morning, mid winter, in the middle of nowhere. Even if you don`t get a puncture, tubeless still lose air.

I changed back to tubes. I get less flats and can change a tube in minutes, regardless of the situation.

Same as me. I changed back. It was great when the going was good, but a serious messy faff when it wasn't. It's no panacea...yet.
 

Ming the Merciless

There is no mercy
Location
Inside my skull
My road bike remains tubeless but my new recumbent will be tubes. It's a love hate relationship. Great when they work but the odd ocassion when they don't seal sees me swearing and almost throwing the wheel into the nearest field.

I've decided to go for the option of run a more robust tyre in winter, change tyres over to something lighter and faster come late Spring, and reverse late Autumn etc. With tubes changing the tyres over is easy.

Carrying spare inner tubes is only something I do if on a long distance ride or tour, it's winter, and / or heading out in rain. If it's dry and warm then a far lighter and more compact patch kit works just as well and can fix more punctures.
 

steveindenmark

Legendary Member
In any case. If tubes are good enough for Fiona. They are good enough for me.
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^_^
 
I had 4 new wheels ( 2 sets ) with a tubeless set up, at the beginning of this year. 1 was a set of Mavic Cosmic Elite USTs one was a set of Mavic Ksyrium USTs. I now have 1 wheel ( the rear Cosmic Elite UST ) that’s still running as tubeless. The others all succumbed to large side wall cuts, or side wall failures, and are either tubed now ( negating the main benefits ) or in the bin. I did get 1 puncture on the body / tread area, that initiated the sealant, and it did actually get me home, but the hole was too big to risk ‘worming’ / patching, so a ( relatively) expensive tyre, went in the bin. Given their high relative cost, I won’t be going out of my way to run with road tubeless again, any time soon. The lower pressure to volume of the tubeless set ups on my Hybrids / MTB, mean they have worked very well, and will remain my choice for those bikes.
 
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Rooster1

I was right about that saddle
I have given up tubeless by 50% (front is still tubeless, rear has an innertube)
 
I made the mistake of using Finishline sealant but apart from that regular sealant has sealed all but one side wall failure and I fixed that with a tyre worm. The initial set up is pretty messy but apart from the Finishline experiment after the set up it cleaner and less hassle than a tube IME. At the moment it suits me that way.
 
There seem to be a lot of people reporting sidewall failures on tubeless road tyres. I can't ever remember having one using standard clinchers.
I had plenty with 23mm and below but never had a problem with 25mm tyres and larger. The bummer IME is a clincher needs a tyre boot and involves a limp home. Whereas the one side wall failure on tubeless (due to me riding 20psi with road tyres on gravel) just took a tyre worm and gave me 30 more road miles at speed (stupid route planning by my mate :laugh:)
 
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