Aargh - they are re-inventing the wheel A G A I N

[rwm1962]

Nonsense. All my modern bikes run tubeless and there's virtually no maintenance. Bit of extra fluid every now and then, if I remember, that's it. Any puncture that would total a tubeless tyre would total a tubed one and there's nothing stopping you carrying a tube to use if necessary. I used to but stopped as I've never needed one. To change a tubeless set up back to tubed requires nothing more than removing the valve!

Fixing punctures is a pita, extra rolling mass is a pita. Tubeless is a no brainer imo.

My lad would agree with you 100%. Carries a tube as backup. I don't know anyone in his circle running tubes. Everyone I saw fitting a tube when marshalling Enduro's was running tubeless. He ran tubes when he first started but they didn't last long - too many pinch flats so he quickly adopted tubeless like his more experienced friends. I run tubeless on the one bike with the right rims & tyres just to see how it fared although my riding is very, very tame compared to my big air son. It was fine until recently with one tyre going down regularly. The sealant was 12 months old I realised. I was going to stick a tube in but stuck in some more sealant instead & gave it a spin & it's held pressure fine for last few weeks.

2 ounces or 57g of sealant compared to 65g latex tubes? I’m quite happy giving up 16g to not have to deal with all that disgusting mess.

It's reducing but I still weigh over 210lb. I run muc-off tube sealant in my inner tubes. Sod the extra grams! Most of my miles are commuting & I hate punctures on way to work. Not had one since running the sealant & the inner tube stuff doesn't go off.

 

[clubby]

2 ounces or 57g of sealant compared to 65g latex tubes? I’m quite happy giving up 16g to not have to deal with all that disgusting mess.

Maybe, but your 65g latex tubes are going to flat at the merest sight of a thorn. I’ve pulled Excalibur out of a tubeless tyre before and it’s sealed straight away and have no idea how long it was in there before I noticed.

 

[grantoury]

 

[mk one]

I ran tubeless on my DH bikes for quite a few years, and never had a flat, having said that, with decent DH tyres on my tubed bikes i never had a flat either.

Running tyres with stronger sidewalls on my XC bikes i avoided pinch flats and for many years never had a puncture. Recently i fitted lighter tyres and over the course of last year i had around 10 punctures from thorns. Personally i would carry a spare tube for long XC rides no matter what system i was running so just tend to stick with what i have at moment for convenience.

To add, my friend has ran tubes with those anti puncture strips since the 90's and not had one puncture.

 

[Woz]

Still not tried, but have been put off, even though the majority of my kit is tubeless ready:
- had the displeasure of removing the disgusting mess from second hand frames, wheels and tyres.
- when I did look into it, there were issues about it working in sub-zero temperatures - where repairing a puncture is a real PITA.
(That was many years ago, but I guess formulas have improved since, or at least I hope so)
- common sense says you still need to carry a spare tube any way. On occasions I've carried a tin of car tyre sealant around.
- I probably tinker too much and swap all sorts around to be really comfortable with the system.

I can see that the system is the bees knees for MTB racing; the race is practically lost if a puncture needs repairing.

At some point I will take the jump for a couple of set's of wheels.

PS: It's not always the tyre that punctures, I've had two Mavic Crossmax SL rims develop cracks near the valve hole.

 

[hamster]

A lot depends on where you live - round me it's flints that cause punctures (on or off-road) and tubeless works less well when it's a long cut rather than a thorn. My pals on tubeless invariably end up faffing about stitching in anchovies and trying to reinflate from full flat. It doesn't seem much less faff or any quicker than swapping a tube. So I don't bother.

If I lived where I used to (Surrey Hills) then tubeless makes more sense as it was always thorns. The most benign area for punctures I have lived in was SW Scotland, where I only used to get pinch flats...tubeless win again.

 

[pw_pw_la]

Nonsense! Lol.

Anyway, I think it's a case of something being useful in a competitive or race environmentt and filtering down into everyday riding.

So, yeah, like anything in cycling then!

Anyway I guess this is my point:

Guy’s problem was no different than if he had a tubed set up and didn’t take a spare and a pump. Tubeless stops the majority of punctures and if it doesn’t, all you need to do is pop in a tube to get you home. If you’re not prepared and don’t have one that’s not the fault of the set up. With tyre plug tools, most times it just a case of plug, pump and go

- common sense says you still need to carry a spare tube any way.

I don't see much difference, if I need to take a tube and pump, then just running a tube in the first place. Like others have said, if you switch out tires/wheels even semi-regularly, it seems like maintenance on the trail vs maintenance at home at best/worst evens itself out.

Anecdotal evidence clearly supports taking either route. As is often the case! Personal preferences, often regardless of science, guide us all.

The bike industry, on the other hand, wants you to believe you're living in the past and holding everyone else up unless you hop on the latest advancement and trend immediately.

I still think it's a gimmick! But only because I recently installed a tubeless compatible tire, and it took forever and all of my strength just to get it seated on the rim! Maybe it was a weird batch, or maybe I'm just gonna blame it on the fact it was "tubeless compatible" according to the packaging and I hadn't noticed that before or ever experienced such a battle to get a tire on!

 

[Woz]

I'll tweak what I said about "common sense ...... dah dah".

If Daddy will pick you up at the trail centre with a phone call on the 2 Km downhill and you got in a bit of a tiff, it's a non issue.

If you want to do 250 Km or so into wilderness solo, you would be a moron not to prepare sufficiently with everything on your side.

You can't listen to the industry and the marketing BS to make a proper informed decision in cycling.

 

[legrandefromage]

Oh dear, another 'I'm right, you are all wrong!' thread

I dont run tubeless, my friend and neighbour does

I get punctures, he gets punctures

Mine go 'pssssssssssss', his go 'SQUIIIRRRRRTTTTTTTT!!!!!'

He gets covered in stuff, pumps his tire up and off he goes, I patch the tube and off we go

I run about 50 psi, he runs a lot less

I have a collection of inexpensive tubes with holes I need to patch, he has a collection of expensive tyres he needs to sort out

He always seems to have far more punctures on our rides

The time spent fixing a tube and the time spent waiting for sealant to, er, seal is about the same on our rides - that includes faffing, joke making, finger pointing and checking that odd fox shit or not smell time

Personally, I see no benefits to tubeless to my riding at the moment

 

[pw_pw_la]

Exactly!

I'm not saying anyone is wrong or right.

I'm saying horses for course and opinions are like assholes, or whatever!