Tubeless understanding

larkim

Just curious really. I'm trying out my first tubeless conversion sometime this week with gorilla tape and stans fluid. Don't know if it will work or not, but I'm going to have a go.

Anyway, I stumbled upon some discussions in relation to "tubeless ready" tyres or UST tyres with posters talking about not using sealant at all. So how does that work then? I thought one of the main advantages of tubeless was that if you punctured the sealant filled the hole and you didn't lose air.

Surely if you've not got sealant then thorns or sharp stones could still puncture you? I appreciate that pinch flats would be eliminated, but I reckon for our bikes there is a 50:50 split between pinches and sharp object punctures. I get that you lose some weight by not using sealant, so I can see the advantage, but at the expense of punctures which are then more of a faff to sort out it seems a little counterintuitive.

I'm only going with the conversion so that I can have a play about with the concept to upskill myself, so on that same basis I thought I'd try to learn more about tubeless in all of its formats!

lostboysaint

You will need sealant.

larkim

I know I will. But UST / Tubeless ready are designed to be used without apparently, so I was trying to understand the rationale behind that. Anyone?

e.g. http://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/artic ... ips-36897/

jimothy78

larkim wrote:

Anyway, I stumbled upon some discussions in relation to "tubeless ready" tyres or UST tyres with posters talking about not using sealant at all. So how does that work then? ...

The thicker sidewall, tighter seal around the bead and airtight layer inside create a sealant-free tyre, just like on your car.

Surely if you've not got sealant then thorns or sharp stones could still puncture you?

I've never seen a "sharp stone" actually puncture a tyre - rip the sidewall, yes, but then no amount of sealant is going to protect against that.

I appreciate that pinch flats would be eliminated, but I reckon for our bikes there is a 50:50 split between pinches and sharp object punctures.

Depends where/how you ride, I guess, but I reckon that with tubes I get 10 pinch flats for every thorn puncture.

You're right, of course, that a tubeless system with sealant is always going to be more effective than one without, which is why very few people bother with pure UST nowadays, but at the time it was introduced, the comparison was with tubes, not stans

rockmonkeysc

Tubeless ready and UST aren't the same thing.
UST are designed to work on UST specific rims. Sealant isn't necessary but can be used.

larkim

Thanks, all makes sense.

(Definitely more thorns around here!)