Should I go tubeless?

Wily-Quixote

I'm usually an early adopter but I'm now on my third 29er in 5 years and have never bothered to go tubeless.

To be honest the reasons I haven't are the following:

1. Concerned about excessive tyre squirm at low pressures (if I run my tyres at 30 psi the squirm around corners is very unnerving). Does the tubeless set-up negate tyre squirm?

2. Concerned about 'catastrophic loss of pressure' esp on cornering (ie from burping). Is this a real risk?

3. concerned about faffing around with tape, sealant compressors etc.

I have tubeless rims and currently racing ralph tyres. I got a tubeless setup kit when I bought my latest bike late last year and after reading some articles on road tubeless I am curious as to MTB tubeless.

I don't get punctures (have had one in the last decade). I rarely race and don't seem to have an issue with my current setup. Is it worth the change?

coulddobetter

Re faffing with tape etc I have done 2 sets of wheels , one needing rimstrip the other just tape . Both inflated with a track pump. Never worried re failure just carry a tube just in case. I find the tyre inlates better as not relying on a tube to shape tyre. Profile more rounded.run 30 both ends. Lower pressures do aid grip and tyre conforms to obstacles.
Having suffered a lot of thorn punctures I would recommend it.

cooldad

No.

Wily-Quixote

coulddobetter wrote:

Re faffing with tape etc I have done 2 sets of wheels , one needing rimstrip the other just tape . Both inflated with a track pump. Never worried re failure just carry a tube just in case. I find the tyre inlates better as not relying on a tube to shape tyre. Profile more rounded.run 30 both ends. Lower pressures do aid grip and tyre conforms to obstacles.
Having suffered a lot of thorn punctures I would recommend it.

Ta.

Wily-Quixote

cooldad wrote:

No.

Tried it and didn't like it? or, like me, never seen the requirement?

cooldad

Seen to many people have too many issues, and can't be bothered. I very rarely get punctures and tubes work for me.

maringirl

Done two lots in recent times - no problems at all. One pr Stans Crest 26" with Schwalbe Nobby Nics and one pair Bontrager Duster 29er rims and Bontager 23.3 tyres. Easy to do - used rubber rim strip on Bontys as the spoke holes were a bit raggy and didn't want to tear the yellow tape. Easily inflated with hand pump.Both seated and inflated easily and run very well.

rafalm

Went through good few bikes in the last few years and last year finally I decided to built my own bike. I decided to go tubeless and got a set of easton ust wheel + nobby nic tyres. DId around 500km on it so far and I really dont know whats the big fuss about. Yes you can run lower pressure but i did not notice any major changes in grip and traction because of that. It is lighter setup but its only around 200g on a set of wheels, last week got a bigger puncture and sealant did not seal it properly ended up stopping every 10 min to pump the tyre and after 3rd time i put tube in - messy thats all i say about it. On the top of that for some reason wheels keep loosing few psi of air a week. I will keep going with it for i say another 1000km and if nothing changes will go back to tubes.

poah

if you are loosing pressure then put more sealant in. nobby nics are pretty bad for it if its those ones.

njee20

I wouldn't go back to tubes.

Can't comment on tyre squirm, but I run tyres at 25psi and don't find them squirmy. Never burped a tyre. Never needed a compressor, and I change tyres a lot.

Wily-Quixote

cyd190468 wrote:

It really comes down to time. Tubeless is time consuming so the on bike benefits are easily over ridden by lack of time. If you spend alot of time working on bikes anyway, then tubeless is worthwhile but most of the guys I ride with have tried tubeless, then after burping a tyre and having to put a tube in mid ride, the tube is still in 6 months later because the only time they touch their bikes is to check tyres and lube chains 5mins before a ride.

Thanks, that's pretty well sold me on not making the change...

thanks for the feedback everyone

WindyG

Prefer tubeless, easy to do, can run pressure down to 20psi without any issues and the bike handles much better. Never burped a tyre and only had one puncture and that was a complete tyre failure that got damaged in a race.

fizik

Wily-Quixote wrote:

cyd190468 wrote:

It really comes down to time. Tubeless is time consuming so the on bike benefits are easily over ridden by lack of time. If you spend alot of time working on bikes anyway, then tubeless is worthwhile but most of the guys I ride with have tried tubeless, then after burping a tyre and having to put a tube in mid ride, the tube is still in 6 months later because the only time they touch their bikes is to check tyres and lube chains 5mins before a ride.

Thanks, that's pretty well sold me on not making the change...

thanks for the feedback everyone

Wrong decision, if you have tubeless compatible wheels that hold the tyre on properly, decent sealant and decent tyres (I have run both non UST and UST maxxis tyres successfully) then you will spend far less time faffing around with tubes and tyres. Some people may try tubeless and had bad experiences but not all will have had the best set up (ie converted wheels, cheesy tyres etc) I run 25 psi in my rear and 20 psi on the front, runs a dream, had couple small tears in tyres that have sealed up on the ride without need for repair. If you do it properly you cant really lose, rolling resistance is noticeably better too over the rough stuff. I would say going tubeless is about equal to a dropper post in the way that it improved my overall riding experience, I would never want to go back to tubes.

stubs

Tried tubeless a few years back and had all the hassles mentioned above, gave up and swore off it for ever. Till I got a 29er and thought one more try, I have found it to be a simple job with tubeless compaitible tyres and rims. I fitted a Specialized Ground Control 2bliss in about 5 minutes the other day, 60cc of jizz a bit of soapy water about 30 secs of pumping and pop.

I was getting pinch flats every ride but touch carbon fibre none since.

poah

I have mavic UST rims. one set of tyres WTB semi-slicks went on easy, the mountain king 2 protections 2.2 took a bit more effort but this is down to the stiff sidewall. used a track pump and I needed to put in a bit more sealant in the rear than the front but they are holding air now. I've lost some grammage going tubeless which is nice on wheels

Monty Dog

2 pairs of 29er wheels - Stans Crest and Velocity P35s both running tubeless - noticeable improvement in rolling resistance and big drop in weight. Only one puncture in 18 months (glass) that forced me to stop. I run 3" Surly Knards at 10psi on the P35s - awesome grip, never bottomed-out. I'd hate to go back to tubes.

D4V1D

I went getto tubeless for a trial run after suffering to many rear snake bites because I was running my HT at low pressures. I always killed the rear tube at the same place in Llandegla. I haven't suffered a rear flat since going getto tubeless. I do need to watch tyre pressure over a couple of weeks.

One thing i have noticed is that the tyre seems to move around freely-quicker.

If you don't suffer flats or punchers, i don't think you will really see any differences.

97th choice

I've had tyre burps with my hans dampf Evo's when running lower pressures.