Tubeless Tyres?

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ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
@Sea of vapours swears by them.

And Cycling Weekly were pretty impressed too!

Unless you get a tyre cut too big for the sealant to cope, then don't worry about punctures.
 

Andrew_P

In between here and there
I did 8000 miles on various tubeless tyres and I am back to normal clinchers. I found unless you went for heavy, wide tyres they were fairly unreliable and cut up easily. The Cost was higher for the tyres. Having said that I only had two punctures that I had to do actual roadside repairs too, one was getting a tube in to it and one I patched but both were royal pains at the roadside. I had plenty that were slow punctures but not enough to stop a ride. The poiont about the tyres was other than the 28mm tyres all the other became very unreliable at about 1000-1200 miles due to small punctures and cutting up. There is a huge thread on BR and you will see similar reports.

My only caveat is that the vast majority of these miles was on a Fulcrum Zero and 23mm tyres as they were the widest I could get on my bike. This is quite a tough combo for Tubeless dur to the width restriction a thin wheel and bloody hard getting the tyres on and off, also my riding was mostly commuting so it was costly and a royal pain when it didn't work out or getting up in the morning to a flat that wouldn't self seal, compared to just pulling out a tube and replacing it.
 
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Anybody using Tubeless tyres? Are they durable enough? do you have to replace the tyre after a puncture ?
The only advantage is that they are ( typically) lighter, and roll better than clinchers with tubes. They will puncture just as readily, and are a massive pain in the backside to sort out roadside, when they do. Even if you get them home, it’s still a messy nuisance of a job to sort out. The sealant really doesn’t work with any sort of significant puncture, or a side wall puncture. Unless you really need the advantage of the lower than tyre and tube, inertia, and have support with you. Personally I wouldn’t bother. If you had support with you, a spare wheel and tub would be preferable, in fact, a pre glued tub / tubular wheel, would be preferable IMO. I’ve got a ‘dry’ replacement tub, home before, just take it easy in the corners / on the brakes.
 
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Chris Swift

Chris Swift

Senior Member
Location
Coventry
Ok cool thanks my new bike i ordered yesterday comes with tubeless tyres.... thats why i asked
Can i just use them like that then change to putting a tube in as and when?
 
One thing to bear in mind with tubeless is to keep the pressure down;the most I've run tubeless at is 95 psi and that was too much really,usually on 25c's I'll run them at 80-85.

Currently have two bikes on tubeless;XLS cross bike has Schwalbe X-One 35's at 50-60 psi depending on surfaces and the Robinson commuter on Schwalbe One 28'ss at 80 psi.Have also previously run Schwalbe Pro-Ones,IRC Roadlights,Hutchinson Sectors and Schwalbe S-Ones(now called G-One Speed).

Another factor is sealant;Stan's didn't seem to work well at higher pressures,have found Orange and Effetto are much better.

Also these make getting tyres on and off easier although a lot will depend on the rim/tyre combo;

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collections/tubeless-bits-and-bobs/products/irc-tubeless-tyre-levers.
 
Over 20,000 km on tubeless (all Hutchinson Sector 28s) with no damage requiring any attention at the roadside whatsoever and only one puncture which I even noticed at that time. That was a glass cut about 5mm long or so which took a minute or so to seal, but did, with minimal loss of pressure (765psi down to 65psi). I later internally patched that and the tyre lasted another 3,000km before i replaced it. So far, tyres have lasted 10-12,000 km front and 7-8,000 rear so I'm not complaining about any aspect.

This is on Yorkshire Dales roads, which are buttery smooth and swept clean daily .... ;-) Or maybe not but, To be fair, there's very little in the way of bits of glass and flints, but the roads are quite rough for the most part so whilst it might be a pretty good environment for avoiding 'sharps' type punctures, it's heavy for wear and not good for pinch flats (with tubes).

Yes, you can put a tube in. I did that once, just to make sure that I could if necessary. I don't imagine I would ever return to using tubes though.
 
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My disc wheel for the tt bike is tubeless, its a bit messy to fit but I can't say I've had a problem with it. I think I've only done 1,400 miles on it but I do know a few folk who race on them and one was the British Master's champ a few years ago. My other experience of tubeless is my elder brother who went tubeless after a front blow out on a clincher :B) and it seems to be ok for him.
 

Smokin Joe

Legendary Member
My disc wheel for the tt bike is tubeless, its a bit messy to fit but I can't say I've had a problem with it. I think I've only done 1,400 miles on it but I do know a few folk who race on them and one was the British Master's champ a few years ago. My other experience of tubeless is my elder brother who went tubeless after a front blow out on a clincher :B) and it seems to be ok for him.
I think you might be confusing tubeless with tubular?
 
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