Time to go tubeless?

avalanche_expert

I was in Kielder forest today, riding the Lonesome Pine and Bloody Bush trails if anyone knows them. Anyway I've suffered the most horrendous punctures today, 3 inner tubes and a load of puncture repair patches due to pinch flats.

I had to push the bike over 4 miles in the end as due to so many pinch flats in one day I used all of my spare tubes and my entire puncture repair kit.

Initially I was running 30 psi I weigh 147 pounds so I'm not particularly heavy on the tyres, after the first pinch flat I pumped the tyre as hard as I could with my hand pump to try reducing the pinch risk. I know my hand pump is good to at least 50psi, so I thought I'd be ok after that, but no.

It was only the rear tyre which caused problems, it's a Shwalbe Racing Ralph with a tube. I normally only ride cross country style riding, but today's riding was much more technical and very rocky. I don't ever want to be in the situation I was today ever again!

Is tubeless guaranteed to be better? I've seen the conversion kits, but there are some very mixed reviews. Some people just can't seat/seal their tyres. I don't want to gamble with £40/£50.

What's your opinions?

Herdwick

tubeless it is then.

cooldad

A lot of the time, pinch flats are also caused by crashing into rocks. Unweight as you run over them. Saves a lot of tubes and tyres.

avalanche_expert

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19716304#p19716304]cooldad[/url] wrote:

A lot of the time, pinch flats are also caused by crashing into rocks. Unweight as you run over them. Saves a lot of tubes and tyres.

I agree that my technical technique isn't quite polished, and I think the first pinch flat was just down to hitting a sharp rock too hard. However as the ride progressed it was becoming ridiculous. The slightest thing and "Bang" really has knocked my confidence for riding such trails again. I mean 3 inner tubes and a repair kit all used and I still ended up having to push. It's no fun when you're in the middle of nowhere and pushing a bike on that terain isn't something I'm in a hurry to do again.

Until now I didn't think tubeless was a worthwhile option for me as I never usually surfer with puncture problems, I like being able to swap out tyres easily with tubes.

Going tubeless looks very messy and a bit of a faf. Plus even on local rides I'd always need to carry 2 tubes just in case, if I was running tubeless. Currently I can just carry 1 tube and a patch kit which is much more compact. I only carry more on rides such as yesterday when in the middle of nowhere.

I'm really not sure what to do for the best. For the rare times I'm on such rough terain perhaps a more rock orientated tyre and a higher pressure may be the answer for me? Then for my usual XC style of riding which is roughly 100 miles per week I can just see stick to my usual set up which works...

avalanche_expert

Ok I've been thinking about this today and I've decided to buy new wheels and go tubeless.

My wheels and hubs are GT's own and the rear hub in particular is pretty poor to be honest. I'm ordering some Mavic wheels with sealed cartridge hubs and QR adaptors so I can upgrade my fork in the future without worrying about axle size. The fork is something I want to upgrade soon anyway and these wheels mean I can go for a 15mm axle when I change the fork, yet they are still compatible with the bike as it is now.

I'll just stick with carrying one spare tube on my usual rides and I'll take 2 when venturing out in the middle of nowhere. Reading up on it I don't think I'll be needing them anyway unless I shred a tire and I've never done that.

I'm upgrading the discs/rotors too so I can run sintered pads as my current ones are resin only. These are all things I'm just learning recently, with prior knowledge I would of possibly spent more on the bike in the first place, but it's all part of the fun!

cooldad

Just change the pads. Shimano nonsense about resin only.

They may wear a bit quicker, but that's all. Mine still last years.

rockmonkeysc

Have you got particularly light or narrow tyres?

avalanche_expert

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19716749#p19716749]cooldad[/url] wrote:

Just change the pads. Shimano nonsense about resin only.

They may wear a bit quicker, but that's all. Mine still last years.

Already ordered some Deore XT ones, may as well go the whole hog eh!

avalanche_expert

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19716771#p19716771]RockmonkeySC[/url] wrote:

Have you got particularly light or narrow tyres?

Not really, I guess the Schwalbe Racing Ralph Evo I'm running on the back is a lightweight XC tyre, but nothing extreme.

cooldad

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19716812#p19716812]Avalanche Expert[/url] wrote:

[url=http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=19716749#p19716749]cooldad[/url] wrote:

Just change the pads. Shimano nonsense about resin only.

They may wear a bit quicker, but that's all. Mine still last years.

Already ordered some Deore XT ones, may as well go the whole hog eh!

It's your money. Beer would have been more use.

dusk

I've found tubeless to be fantastic, however I wouldn't run Racing Ralphs in rocky situations as they're very lightweight

bigmitch41

I run a 2.1 rocket ron tubeless on the back, going for the snakeskin protection variety & stands up to our rocky terrain very well. Tubeless can be a faff but with practice it gets easier. always carry a tube for emergency on the trail repairs and check the inside of the tyre for thorns before inflating with a tube or you will will soon running into difficulty's with another flat.

avalanche_expert

Thanks for the advice chaps, once the Racing Ralph is worn out I'll look to change it for something else. I'll go for a Snakeskin Schwalbe the next time. I've got a Rocket Ron upfront, so I'll just go for one on the rear too.

Most of my riding isn't over such gnarly stuff, it's just the occasional time like on Saturday where I'm going to need something a bit beefier. I think a Snakeskin Rocket Ron will be a good compromise to suit my regular XC type rides, yet still cope with a few rocks.

I'll always carry at least a spare tube, 2 when riding in remote areas.