gom
Über Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
Indeed. And I’ve learned something. Always good.I guess that’s just perspective though, different strokes for different folks and all that
Tubeless Tyres.
- Thread starter Wyn21
- Start date
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Actually I know quite a lot, running tubeless tyres on 4 of my bikes, 2 road and 2 mountain bikes (although I must admit the mountain bikes don't get quite the amount of use as in previous years). I started with tubeless back in about 2010, so fairly late. On road bikes again I was quite late to the party, it would have been 2014 when I converted one bike and only late last year when I did another. However, I would estimate about 30K of experience over 8 years and all weathers, which I think should be enough to comment.
In all this time I have yet to have a catastrophic failure. I have had numerous self sealing punctures often without knowing about it, only one puncture required an anchovy / plug and a top up of air, back on the road after about 2 minutes I would guess.
In this time I have lost count of the punctures I had on a regular tube setup. I had one sidewall tear, but that could have also happened on tubeless, so I won't read anything into that.
I would agree that tubeless on a road bike is a slightly harder proposition to setup and deal with a sidewall tear with than tubed tyres, but certainly not 'a liability' and for me and many hundreds of thousands if not millions of cyclists the pros far outweigh the cons.
I don't jump on thread rubbishing your Tannus claims as I have not had extensive mileage on any and would not feel qualified to comment after just a few minutes messing around on a borrowed bike. What are your tubeless claims based on? After all, many hundreds of thousands of us and the industry itself do not seem to think they are 'a liability' at all.
Siclo
Veteran
The one advantage of tubeless that you can't get from latex is the ability to run low pressures because the risk of snakebite still exists, a big part of tubeless is running lower pressures to increase the shock absorption and reduce rolling resistance, hence the MTB popularity.
I've been running tubeless on my do-it-all bike for over 2 years now, that's over 10,000km in all weathers, year round. I've got road tyres that look like inverted hedgehogs, only had to fit a worm a couple of times, although I do have one that I had to patch internally when I got home after a big glass cut, it would have been a boot job even with a tube. I like the fact that I can drop the pressures and go hammering off down bridleways etc. The only person I know in real life who's had serious troubles (although there's plenty on the tinternet who seem to struggle) with them is a chap who has a belief that tyres don't function with less than 120psi in them.
al-fresco
Growing older but not up...
- Location
- Shropshire
A couple of years back I fitted a pair of Specialized Trigger Pro 2Bliss tyres to my 'gravel' bike. So far they'd done about 3,000 miles, mostly on the road but a few hundred miles on towpaths. About once a year I check the sealant and remove any thorns I find in the casing (there's usually about half a dozen). I've never been stopped by (or even known about) any of the punctures (and yes, I'm using Stans Sealant, because that's what came with the wheels). Even though they're 700c 38mm they roll pretty well on the road. The only problem I've had is that, as they get older and softer they're more difficult to seat after removal. The first time they went on easily with a track pump, the second time I had to use a small, electric compressor, the last time I borrowed my neighbours car compressor.
When they eventually wear out I'll probably replace them with Schwalbe G One tyres because they're available in a 700c 30mm.
When they eventually wear out I'll probably replace them with Schwalbe G One tyres because they're available in a 700c 30mm.
Racing roadkill
Guru
Don’t forget, a lot of people who run into difficulties with them, don’t come on Internet forums to cry about it.
Racing roadkill
Guru
A supported rider. He might as well have gone for tubulars. And at those extreme distances, the gains / advantages of tubeless would be very welcome.
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Racing roadkill
Guru
“3000 miles over a couple of years”. With that sort of low mileage density, You’d have to be incredibly unlucky to get a significant puncture ( one that needed a roadside fix). But even then you seem to admit to having found the issue with getting them to reseat properly, without a big air shot. 38 mm tyres are practically off roaders, so they won’t be subject to the high pressures of a much thinner tyre ( which a lot of tubeless tyres will be, and where issues become more problematic).
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Siclo
Veteran
Shirley that works the other way too? Lots have no issues but don't come on the internet to extol their virtues.
Horses for courses innit. Some folk think full hydraulic brakes are the best thing since sliced bread, personally I despise them, this is because I'm useless with hydraulics, I could blow pistons apart on a Mini in the blink of an eyelid, and the carnage I caused when I work for JCB you don't want to know about.
Yes he had an LBS do his maintenance but he was on his own out on the road. In that respect it's no different to taking your MTB to the LBS every time the hydraulic fluid needs changing or you need a hose shortening, which is what I do.
Ooh what happened there...oh you edited your post
Siclo
Veteran
But trying to fix tubulars at the roadside is a first class PITA, he would have had to have carried another glued tub about.
Racing roadkill
Guru
The ones that have the issues don’t speak up so readily, probably because they think ( wrongly) that they would be a minority, and therefore it’s an unpopular opinion, and internetzz are mostly about attention whoreing, which posting an unpopular opinion wouldn’t be.
I added to it, I didn’t change anything I originally posted.
Racing roadkill
Guru
I’d have said that was worthwhile, given the efforts he’s putting in.
smutchin
Cat 6 Racer
- Location
- The Red Enclave
Why not? I've used Schwalbe Doc Blue (which AIUI is rebadged Stan's) without problems. Admittedly, I've not been using tubeless very long so perhaps it's just the case that I've yet to find out why not...
Racing roadkill
Guru
What I’d like to see, is the opinions of people who run what I consider to be road width (up to 25mm, possibly 28mm at a push) and road pressures ( circa 85 psi for a ‘road tubeless’) tyre, and decent distances ( circa 10-12000 miles a year ), and see what their experiences of tubeless tyres are. I consider anything over 28 mm, to be off road tyres ( Hybrid at best ) and I’d expect them to be run at far lower pressures, where I would agree the advantages are far in excess of the disadvantages. One of the bikes I had little problem with tubeless tyres on is a Hybrid, with 37mm 700c tyres, run at 30-40 psi ( I’d normally run at 50-60 psi, with tubes). I can see where that sort of set up is much better with tubeless.
Racing roadkill
Guru
I didn’t realise he was completely unsupported, I thought he had a chase car with him.
Nope, 100% riding unsupported.
He had a bike shop tuning up his bikes but that was it.
Makes his efforts even more amazing.
