Upgrade wheels, go tubeless?
Standing100
Posts: 10
Hi, I was in a LBS asking about a new set of wheels and they recommended the Shimano Ultegra 6800 and told me that tubeless road wheels are the future. I've struggled to find much info about them, the pros or cons about them. I have also been looking at the Zonda wheelset (within my £300 budget).
What are people's thoughts and experiences with tubeless wheels/tyres?
I ride numerous sportives and would like to complete a 100 miler this summer. I'm 77kg and would like a blend of comfort and performance on a wheelset to upgrade from my R500 that came on my bike.
What are people's thoughts and experiences with tubeless wheels/tyres?
I ride numerous sportives and would like to complete a 100 miler this summer. I'm 77kg and would like a blend of comfort and performance on a wheelset to upgrade from my R500 that came on my bike.
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The tubeless tyres market is limited, but slowly growing and prices are starting to come down
http://whosatthewheel.com/2015/02/21/cl ... -tubulars/
Trouble is that anything with a £ sign attached attracts haters.
Personally I like to check things out for myself.
Have clinchers, tubular and tubeless ........... all good, theres nothing to hate
Why not? I think they will in performance oriented tyres...
Maybe but the vast majority of cyclists arent performance orientated cyclists and i think for the average cyclist who does sportives and cycles for leisure and fitness, tubeless is too messy and complicated compared to regular tubes/tyres and you still have to carry a spare tube or two in case of punctures. I just dont see it ever superceding the current tyre/tube set up.
What current clincher tyres do you perceive as 'performance orientated?
They sell thousands of those so why would those people not potentially go tubeless?
Have not found them messy or complicated personally.
Would have thought the average sportive/leisure cyclist would be just as likely to appreciate the advantages.
Main downside seems to be that they may be harder to get a tube in if need be.
You would be carrying the tube anyway so thats a non point.
Surely its a big advantage if you are less likely to need it.
Tubeless set up for me was a bit of a pig, tyres were tough to get on but sealing them was fine, no mess. Took about an hour. Have done about 1000 miles on them now and I can't say there's a huge performance difference that I've noticed.
My club are affiliated with a manufacturer so most of us ride performance tubeless wheels. I have to admit it's fantastic not stopping for a flat, we do 80 mile Sunday rides and a shorter chain gang once a week, I seriously can't remember stopping for a flat this year.
I pump the tyres up before each ride as mine do lose air overnight, but I also do this with clinchers. Whilst rolling though I notice no air loss, 7 hour ride on Sunday and checked on my return, lost very very little pressure.
So my summary, performance wise I'm still yet to be convinced, comfort wise, tubeless win and faff wise tubeless win.
2020 Voodoo Marasa
2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
2016 Voodoo Wazoo
It fixes itself. If it doesn't you fit a small inner tube inside.
A question for you... what happens when you pinch an inner tube trying to repair a puncture on the road and it's your last inner tube?
Sure some are harder than others but with a bit of technic and a couple of levers that go on.
Nice thing about tubeless is that there is no inner tube to pinch/trap.
I am not overly in favour of tubeless, I am just in the process of trying them.
It does annoy me when people come up with BS against using/trying them though.
Even that is questionable.
Schwalbe ONE on DT RR 440 goes on without levers... it's as easy as an easy clincher... Pacenti SL 23 is a different story, but it is also for clinchers.
Too messy and too complicated? Own experiences or just what you have been reading/hearing?
Messy is such a bull censored argument as long as you can aim
My experiences so far (converted all wheelsets to tubeless last year and rode approx 13000 km tubeless): less tired after 150km+ rides, a lot of confidence in cornering/descending (due to more grip and lack of exploding inner tubes), more adventurous (gravel, etc, nowadays I ride everywhere because off comfort and puncture resistance), and no cursing along side the road when replacing inner tubes in freeing cold weather).
Looking at performance, I don't think a tubeless tyre is faster. But, you can ride with lower pressure without increase of rolling resistance. The extra comfort, keeps you more 'fresh' and that will count after a lot of distance.
Bontrager (and I'm sure others as well) sell a kit that has all you need, little click on Youtube to see how others have installed them and away you go. My wheels are also Bontrager and it comes with a nice little rim strip, simply press that into the rim, put the tyre on, pump up to check the seal, mine sealed pretty much first time (just had to tighten the valve nut). Once happy, remove the valve core (ridiculously easy) and squeeze in the slime. It really is incredibly simple to do. The most messy part of it all was putting my cassette on my new wheels - but you are likely to have to do that anyway with new wheels.
I am a total clutz when it comes to anything mechanical and I found it completely mess free and uncomplicated. It took a bit of strength to get the tyres seated, and an hour of my time. Now that being said, I ride a lot, in all conditions and so far have had not had to do a road side stop, so the 1 hour sitting at home in my front room to fit them was well worth it in my opinion.
Next time I'll probably try and Schwalbe one's and see what that tyre / rim combination is like.
No and even Continental doesn't... I wouldn't rate any of them as being a very innovative company though... the GP 4000 have been their top end clincher for over 10 years and all their range is made of slight variations of the same thing.
Only time will tell how they compare to my existing Excellight/Record hoops. These RR440 rims have a lot going for them, looking forward to picking them up tomorrow!
Road tubeless tyres are still quite rare, Schwalbe Ones are the current go to tyre, on these rims its 23c.
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The only issue I have with road tubeless (both my MTBs are tubeless) is that being a sizeable bloke (98kg) the pressures I need in tyres (85 and 90 in my 25mm Michelin Pro4 End) may well just blast the sealant clean out of the tyre should it puncture. Once I've got my head around that particular problem I will be converting, especially as my rims are good to go!
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris
That's the pressure everybody use, I don't see the problem
Road - Wilier Izoard Centaur/Cube Agree C62 Disc
Allround - Cotic Solaris
Thanks for peoples comments and thoughts!!
Why do you love inner tubes so much? I find them awful and prehistoric things...
Where did I say say I love inner tubes? I asked genuine questions. Do I take it from your reply that you don't know the answers?
Most of the racers will probably prefer tubs, I personally don't. But thats because I'm absolutely useless with installing them, I find tubeless much easier. Personal preference. Not sure I would use a normal clincher rim without a tube. You could take the tube out pump it up and see if it seals, I wouldn't think it would but you never know. Again personal preference but I prefer to trust key products to do a job they were designed to do. Clincher rims were designed for the use of an inner tube, tubeless rims have been designed for use without. I've also used sealant in my clinchers, for my cross bike I had some Bontrager puncture resistant tubes - all I can say was they lasted about 4 or 5 rides before going in the bin, horrible things. Heavy and dead feeling.
For me I love the fact that tubeless are comfortable (like tubs) and also provide the puncture protection (using sealant like tubs) - but when the dreaded puncture does strike all I have to do is stick a tube in there.
Its all about personal preference. Tubs offer more tyres (prob fair to say most of them are "faster" tyres), more wheel choices and are equally as comfortable as tubeless. However in my opinion (and I have used them) tubs are let down by the faff factor. I'm much more comfortable sticking in a tube rather than hoping my workmanship of gluing on a tub lets me complete my ride. If I had a team car and a mechanic following me around I'd opt for tubs, but I don't, so a close second is tubeless.
I'm also aware people can change tubs faster than I can change a clincher, but thats why its great to have these choices that suit all of us different individuals.
As an aside I would also add that my clinchers are probably my fastest wheels, but thats all relative.
If you can get the same result without the inner tube, why do you want it there?
Also, you can't remove the sealant from the inner tube... OK, they are cheap and cheerful creatures, but will you remember to bin them every 3/6 months?
Finally, there are other advantages to tubeless... have a look at the article I wrote some time ago on my blog
It seems to me that if tubeless are more comfortable (without being significantly slower) then all the people who obsessed with 25mm clinchers should be banging the door down to go tubeless, but its probably more likely that they are the ones who will bad mouth the concept 8)
I hadn't realized that the sealant only lasted that long. At £60 a pair I'd hope that my Schwalbe Ones might last more than 3/6 months, especially the front. Changing the sealant before changing the tyre(s) sounds like an unwanted and messy chore!
You can top it up... but if it has formed large gunks, it would be best to clear them. The main issue is that you don't want to gunk up the valve.
If you ride a lot, I doubt your tyre will last more than 6 months anyway
Not at all. I dismount only a 25cm part of the tubeless tyre (one side) every 3 months to check the sealant (as you don't realize you have a punctures most of the time, sealant will diminish without knowing) and add some extra (matter of aiming). So far no problems with valves.
I'm doing more mileage with Schwalbe tubeless tyres than with conventional clinchers in the past: I don't worry anymore about flats (so why replace old tyres