Tubeless for road / light off road - anyone bothered?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

carlosfandangus

Über Member
I am about 1000 miles into tubeless on my gravel bike running 38mm at 40lbs, (on the road too) only one issue so far, a 10mm gash that had sealed, I foolishly filled up with CO2 and blew the seal, lesson learned, don't overfill if you have a big cut, just enough, I carry a small pump now.
 

BigMeatball

Senior Member
 

BigMeatball

Senior Member
Haven't had a puncture yet so I haven't felt the need to go tubeless but I expect to immediately change my mind the first time I get a puncture away from home with no spare tubes with me.
 

the_mikey

Legendary Member
You don’t handle the sealant you just pour it in or inject through valve. You top up roughly once every three months in summer less in winter. If you follow recommendations then seating is rarely an issue. The wider the tyre the easier it is. You fix rare punctures without removing wheel from bike.

This is far less hassle than fixing tubes, nipping tubes when you put them, less hassle than patching, finding you missed a thorn in the tyre etc.

It does sound attractive, but I reckon I'll need a new bike to take the wider tyres, 23c is as wide as my current frame allows!
 

Venod

Eh up
Location
Yorkshire
Tubeless is worth it for the lower pressures and comfort on and off road, I can't comment on higher pressure road tyres as I don't run any, I run my 32mm road slicks at max 60psi and Schwalbe 38mm G Ones at max 50psi not much slower than 25mm tyre but a lot more comfortable, I also have some 36mm Gravel Kings 40psi off road, the MTB is running Bontrager 2.2 at 30psi, all tubeless all no problems, the G Ones are my favourite road/off road.
 
Last edited:
Tubeless was a godsend to me when I was on chemo and to a large degree still is no messing about with tubes and tyre levers with fingers that went numb fairly fast and a body wasn't far behind getting cold and numbing up. The catheter for the chemo would leave me with sore bruised wrists and the ability to run low pressures helped there. Now the chemo is finished only the cold numb fingers remain so the lack of mess and the ability to run lower pressures still helps to a degree but now I'm also seeing the big improvement in rolling :okay:
 

13 rider

Guru
Location
leicester
Last Feb 2019 I bought a new giant TCR , All giant carbon bikes come tubeless ready so I thought why not . Lbs did until set up . So far 5500 miles no roads side punctures 1 ride with a slowly deflating wheel pumped up once in 100 miles . The other week I deliberately broke to seal to check the sealant (normally use a syringe though the value) just to see if I could reseat it , managed it with just a normal track pump and some quick pumping . The bike came with giant wheels and giant tyres which were designed together to be tubeless . I think the key to a successful tubeless set up us finding a good rim / tyre combo . So I'm a convert
 

chriswoody

Legendary Member
Location
Northern Germany
@wafter I hope you don't mind me posting this up here, but I thought I'd post a few photo's of my back wheel being converted so folk could see what was involved.

My bike was sold as tubeless ready, but for the last 3 years has run with tubes in. So in order to convert it I needed to buy a few things. I decided to buy a tubeless conversion kit and after a few recommendations on here I settled for the Caffee Latex kit, which also included a syringe, a key requirement as far as I was concerned. I bought the kit for 44 Euros, so not too bad, the photo below is just after I converted the front wheel, so one valve is missing from the photo.

512328

My back wheel, despite being tubeless ready, doesn't have the correct tape in it, however, the kit comes with this included. So the first job is to give it a good clean and then wipe it thoroughly with alcohol.

512327


Once done I then wrapped it carefully with the new tape using the old tape as a base. I'm not sure if that's right, but it worked for me!

512326


With the taping finished, I installed the valve and then the tire over the rim. With the tire sat in the middle of the rim it was an easy job to seat it completely without tire levers. I then used I cloth dipped into soapy water to thoroughly wet the tire and rim and aid mounting. Then the fun part! time to inflate the tank to 160psi and flip the switch. With a massive crack the tire inflates and seats into the bead. There's a line on the tire that allows you to check if the tire is correctly seated all around, with that checked, it's time to move on to the sealant.

512325


Then I deflated it again, with the tire correctly mounted it's not popping back of the bead in a hurry. So I unscrewed the valve core to make sure the tire was completely deflated before adding the sealant. Then I popped the valve core back in, primed the syringe with 60ml of sealant and screwed the adapter to the valve. Then I injected the sealant in, removed the adapter and pumped the tire back up. Then it's a simple matter of shaking the tire and letting it spin in your hands for a bit to get the sealant all around the inside of the tire.
512324

This is the dry method of mounting tubeless, the wet method involves pouring the sealant directly into the tire before mounting it. Aside from the small mess of cleaning the syringe, I found this method was really clean and simple.

Overall I paid 44 Euros for the kit and 40 Euros for the compressor tank. I'll also need to top up the sealant every three months, so there is no way I'm saving money over a tubed system. However, in theory I should save myself the hassle of punctures long term and more importantly I should be able to run lower pressures off road, whilst reducing the risk of snake bite punctures to zero.
 

carlosfandangus

Über Member
I did similar (nice photo explanation BTW) however I removed the rim tape first and then used 2 layers of Gorilla tape, I only needed an air tank (home made from a coke bottle) when I fitted non tubeless tyres, it will work for some, however not recommended.
My second set of wheels were Hunt 4 season, and came ready taped, both Michelin Power Gravel and Vittoria Trail Tech have both easily seated just using a track pump, no need for a "bottle" I have been impressed with the Vittorias, I now have 5 in stock, they are currently £10 each at planet X instead of most retailers selling for £39.99.
Wheel and tyre combination is key to getting them seated with a track pump alone.
 

CXRAndy

Guru
Location
Lincs
I've done my homework and am aware of the benefits on paper, however I'm not sure if they warrant the additional mess and hassle

There is no additional hassle if you use the correct tools to install. I had the benefit of having an air compressor- it makes inflation a doddle. The rest are just methodical techniques to ensure good seal of rim/valve and bead of tyre.

The ride is super smooth with vastly improved puncture resistant. If you do puncture it will seal closed(if you have put enough sealant inside)
 
Where some of you have mentioned compressors are you talking about the ones that are used to inflate car tyres or something else entirely?
Almost certainly referring to a cylinder which can be pumped up to a high pressure before releasing it all at once into the tyre via a quick-opening, 90 degree valve. There's one in @chriswoody 's fourth photo above. Pumps are also available with secondary cylinders which do the same thing. In 44,000 km of tubeless cycling I've never actually had to use one - a track pump alone has been fine - but they're definitely handy as backup and do pop the tyre on reliably.
 
Top Bottom