Tubeless

[CXRAndy]

I commute 14 miles daily on my Trek, figured on a puncture fortnightly on tubed tyres, went from that to none in 14 months on tubeless. When I did get a split too big for the sealant to be effective, I discovered that the tyre had 3 previous punctures where it had worked without me realising.
Tubeless is brilliant imho

That is more or less what most people experience. Loads of pin prick puncture s which self seal

 

[Pale Rider]

Same here, little spots of sealant appear on the tread indicating something punctured it.

Other than that, you wouldn't know.

 

[confusedcyclist]

Better resistance can be achieved by avoiding tyres with pitiful puncture protection also. Comparing some tubeless tyres with cheap stock tyres is apples and oranges. I don't think I ever got a puncture with my marathon plus road tyres, using bog standard tubes, and I certainly never had to worry about topping up with sealant.

Of course, I'm not arguing the case that they ride better, or have less rolling resistance etc, just that puncture resistance can be achieved even with tube setups, one does not need to immediately give up on tubes.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Nice ride, excellent rolling resistance , and excellent puncture protection is what tubeless gives you. Tyre and tube can’t deliver all of those at once.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Pros have a neutral or team car a few seconds away with mechanic and spare wheels. Their wheels probably get checked over after every days racing as well. Their choices should have no bearing on what the rest of us do. If I had a car following with spare wheels and mechanic I’d make different choices for the bike.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Tubeless is easy to setup. Saying that inner tubes can be a problem for some folk

To be fair some struggle to boil water

 

[Ming the Merciless]

To be fair some struggle to boil water

I always use a kettle before fitting tyres and / or tubes. A good cup of tea whilst you work in the cold is great.

 

[Thedane]

I have generally found tubeless tires easy to get on with. I was once unlucky with a un-reparable puncture simply because a piece of metal sliced through the tyre, which would have retired any type of tyre. I have had several small punctures that have sealed and have been able to carry on even without having to inflate more air. One of the biggest bonuses for me is the ability of riding with lower pressure, specially in the winter as I find this gives better grip and comfort.
I hav only once had to use my worm repair kit and didn't find that more of difficult in changing a normal inner tube.

 

[Ridgeway]

Also switched to TL on my road bike about a year ago, never looked back. Had 2 sets of rims on TL and now have a 3rd set of rims arriving in a couple of weeks, they'll also be TL.

It took me a bit to learn how to set them up and there's certainly more to it vs a classic clincher and tube combo but once they're set then i only see advantages.

Just putting together my new TL puncture repair kit and it won't include an inner tube !

Next on my list is a Stans Dart

 

[Fairlight PSB]

Using mavics UST tyres on Ksyriums . Fantastic on the road , running 75psi -smooth hard wearing and no punctures yet . Easy to fit to rims too . I still carry a spare tube but haven’t used it yet

 

[Racing roadkill]

A wall slice will scrap any tyre. I carry an inner tube for those rare times where a tyre gets such a bad hole even plugging wont work. These are extremely rare to non existent events

No they’re not, every tubeless (road tyre ) I’ve had the displeasure of using has gone down with a sidewall slice, the ‘best’ performance I’ve had was a complete failure inside 5 miles. The side walls are inherently relatively weak on tubeless road tyres, to try and soften the relative harshness of the ride if they were as sturdy as regular clinchers. Good luck with a getting a partial deflation on an actual steep descent, with a sharp turn at the bottom. A standard clincher and tube will normally deflate completely, before it becomes a problem, a squishy partly deflated tubeless road tyre, which you haven’t noticed is a proper liability, in these circumstances. You clearly haven’t experienced it, it’s not fun. Tubeless road tyres are a totally crap idea, they belong on MTBs, Road tubeless are a snake oil salesman’s wet dream, but in the real world, a very poor idea.

 

[Racing roadkill]

Using mavics UST tyres on Ksyriums . Fantastic on the road , running 75psi -smooth hard wearing and no punctures yet . Easy to fit to rims too . I still carry a spare tube but haven’t used it yet

Ride more, especially in the wet and dark, on unlit back roads. Come back and tell us how you get on. That combo are easier than most tubeless tyres and rims to work with IME, I’ll give you that.

 

[Racing roadkill]

"If you get a side wall slice, worms won’t help, and fitting a tube is your only sensible option, which negates the whole point."

Not necessarily, side walls can be repaired with worms and used at low pressure, as a get you home measure. You can ride at 30 psi if needed.

The handling at 30 psi, on a 700c x 23 or 25 mm road tyre, is borderline Darwin. Side wall cuts tend to turn into tears, and then you’ve got a useless tyre, and probably a knackered rim too.

 

[Pedropete]

The handling at 30 psi, on a 700c x 23 or 25 mm road tyre, is borderline Darwin. Side wall cuts tend to turn into tears, and then you’ve got a useless tyre, and probably a knackered rim too.

We get it, you don't like tubeless. Plenty of people do though, and have had relatively problem-free experiences, myself included. Basic maintenance, topping up sealant and doing your homework on what tyre/rim combos work and which sealants are worth bothering with overcomes the vast majority of potential issues. Spares carried amount to little more than those needed for running tubes. Fair enough, you've not had a great experience and that's a helpful counterpoint to anyone considering trying it out, but constantly shouting down anyone offering a differing opinion isn't constructive or helpful.

 

[figbat]

I have a foot in both camps. On my MTB I switched from tubes to tubeless about 3 years ago - result: not a single tyre-related incident on the trail since then (compared to a worse case of 4 punctures in one ride). When I replaced the tyres last time I pulled several thorns out of each tyre - each one would have been a puncture to repair, plus the countless ones that didn't stick around. I got a new MTB this week which arrived with tyres already mounted - I quickly worked out this has come already set up for tubeless (loosen the valve collar and push into the wheel - if it is a tube it will push in and deflect back - if it is tubeless it will either not move or will move and immediately start hissing air and possibly sealant at you).

My road and gravel bikes are all tubed. The gravel bike because I simply haven't got around to going tubeless yet. The road bikes because I am yet to be convinced of the benefit, given that I don't suffer anything like the number of punctures on the road as I do on the trail. In fact bar one particular ride, over roads coated with rain-washed gravel, I have not had a puncture on the road. I run Schwalbe Durano Raceguard tyres.

One benefit I did notice on the MTB was a noticeable impact on the mass of each wheel, both in climbing and overall speed.