Tube vs tubeless

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He says not to bother on the road.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
He says not to bother on the road.
Having been there, I'd generally be inclined to nod my head sagely at auch a sentiment.

But really, this is a "which is the one true religion?" topic. Everyone's Faff-Threshold will be different, and some will find it worth it where others do not, and neither would be wrong,
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
Out of curiosity I'm trying them at the moment. See how they go.

What's interesting about this particular war is that there's not much money at stake. It's not like I've sunk £££ into a bike with disk brakes or spent £££ on a new fancy Garhoo GPS. If I had then I'd be very keen to believe in what I'd just squandered my money on, and I'd be on the forum blazing away at unbelievers, defending my profilgacy.

In this case all I've done is bought some new wheels, which I needed anyway. And if I don't like tubeless I can slip in some inner tubes, maybe dig out an old pair of Durano+ from the back of the garage and I'm back on the other side of the fence. Nothing lost.

What I've found so far is that like so many of these arguments it's a case of ... meh, what was the fuss about? I've not found them to be a hassle of any kind. I haven't had any punctures yet. But they are just tyres and feel exactly like every other kind of tyre I've used (except for studded ones). They have neither ruined nor transformed my life. Meh.

Makes me think of Magazine: Shot by Both Sides.
 
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not much money at stake. It's not like I've sunk £££ into a bike with disk brakes or spent £££ on a new fancy Garhoo GPS
Sure, way less commitment than disk brakes - but probably similar/more than a GPS:
New set of wheels plus tyres (you'd probably pay £70-a-set+ to make the switch worthwile); quite a lot of wonga.
The commitment is more about knowledge/tech than wonga IMO [oh god I'm getting sucked in .... help me! ... ]
(all 3 things can be used with zero knowledge transfer, but most riders will want to get the most out of kit, and learn the foibles/fixes/hacks)

GPS: cheapish, big learning curve
Tubeless: Cheapish, medium learning curve
Disks: big expense (cos new bike!), low learning curve


THE ABOVE IS RIGHT, WHATEVER YOU THIINK, FEEL MY KEYBOARD POWER!!!
 

Dogtrousers

Kilometre nibbler
New set of wheels plus tyres (you'd probably pay £70-a-set+ to make the switch worthwile); quite a lot of wonga.
I'd crashed and wrecked my front wheel so I needed a new one of those (it was seriously FUBAR). And during lockdown I picked up such a turbo* habit that I decided to relegate my rather worn rear wheel to permanent turbo duty.

So I was buying a new pair of wheels anyway. I don't think I paid a premium for tubelessness, and if I did it wasn't much. And if I sneak back to tubes then there's not much lost. Same wheels, same tyres. Just have tubes in them.

YOU ARE WRONG. I AM RIGHT. ADMIT IT.

* Turbo eh? Riding indoors. Is it real? I risk fighting a war on two fronts here.
 
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