Tubeless tyres what are the benefits?
Comments
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How do I manage. Plugging finger sized holes/ cuts is possible. Why is it I can avoid the grief.
Sticking a tube into a tubed tyre on a wet cold day when the wheel is covered in Black is my idea of grief.
If your tyres are unseating at the roadside then your setup is not strictly Tubeless. There are three ways to fix that problem. Go back to tubed tyres or buy wheels that are tubeless compatible. Or third carry a tube and font moan about it.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0 -
As we are doing anecdotes, I have been running tubeless on all my road bikes for the last 5 years. In that time only once has the tubeless system not worked and I had to pop in a tube and that was before I started carrying plugs (I was able to easily plug it at home and it lasted for many more KM)
Incidentally the wheels that get the most use are archetype rims (which technically aren't tubeless) and with the original* versions of the Schwalbe One tyres I was able to run the tyres until the carcass started to show without a single puncture (must have been about 8,000km)
In the last 5 years I have lost count of the amount of time I have stopped for other riders punctured tubes. So I know not everyone will have the luck i've had but if you do it right, they are better than tubes without a doubt.
*the newer Schwalbe Ones aren't as puncture resistant0 -
The old ones were terrible for me. A puncture a week almost during winter.
This is why anacodotes don't really inform.http://www.thecycleclinic.co.uk -wheel building and other stuff.0 -
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Zest28 wrote:- You have to pump them up every week or so as they do loose pressure over time.
Just on that point, I noticed on both of my tubeless bikes that they lost pressure for a week or two then seemed to seal themselves properly and I've had no real hassle since. Nothing more frustrating than coming downstairs to find the floor covered in sealant and the dog busily spreading it about though!
On an MTB I wouldn't go back, same on the gravel/winter bike. I've not bothered on the fast bike yet though but then I'm not in the market for new wheels at the moment. On an MTB you can get away with more bodged setups though, probably due to the annoyingly strong bead and lower pressures, I'm under the impression that fewer people run improvised setups on road0 -
I'm not convinced by the benefits. A mate runs tubeless on his road bike, we were bantering about the frequency I have to fix punctures. He let slip he needs to fix his "perpetual" leak.
I don't personally notice things like feel and even 500 g weight difference. If tubeless guaranteed no punctures, and you didn't need to carry a tube, pump, and repair kit, I would be tempted. But as almost all the replies on here have said, they aren't perfect for road bikes yet.
Plus I am paranoid about having a flat I can't fix. My wife doesn't drive, so I need to be able to patch it up and carry on. In 30 odd years of road riding, I think maybe once I had a clincher puncture I couldn't fix. That was down to me leaving the pump on the bike and its seals had perished. Yes, taking a wheel off and a tube out on a cold wet winter's day is a messy faff, but it means you can get going 15-20 minutes later, that's way better than a long walk to the nearest train station.0 -
OnTheRopes wrote:I turned up at the meet point for a ride today and one guy was on tubeless, he was just telling me how great they were when he noticed his tyre was low and signs of white sealant. No easy way to fix it apparently so he had to go home.
I have never ridden them but i think I will stick with clinchers.
He could've spent 10 seconds putting a tyre worm in...else put tube in as normal? I'm suprised he didn't know what to do, surely you research these things beforehand?0 -
CookeeeMonster wrote:OnTheRopes wrote:I turned up at the meet point for a ride today and one guy was on tubeless, he was just telling me how great they were when he noticed his tyre was low and signs of white sealant. No easy way to fix it apparently so he had to go home.
I have never ridden them but i think I will stick with clinchers.
He could've spent 10 seconds putting a tyre worm in...else put tube in as normal? I'm suprised he didn't know what to do, surely you research these things beforehand?
True, but then everyone else wouldn't have such a good anti-tubeless anecdote.0 -
DaveP1 wrote:I'm not convinced by the benefits.
If tubeless guaranteed no punctures, and you didn't need to carry a tube, pump, and repair kit, I would be tempted. But as almost all the replies on here have said, they aren't perfect for road bikes yet.
Plus I am paranoid about having a flat I can't fix. My wife doesn't drive, so I need to be able to patch it up and carry on.
Nail on the head.
Tubeless:
1. As Malcolm Borg (the "tubeless guru" and the man with the unique skill of fitting any tyre onto any rim) keeps telling us, ad nauseum, you have to match rim/tyre combos so that you get a "true tubeless" set up - therefore you have a far less free choice of tyres than if you went with clinchers. And you have to put some work in to finding the right combination.
2. The tyre still might be as tight as a gnat's chuff to get on and off the rim (think cold dark night miles from home, numb fingers etc). As we're often told, if the tubeless tyre is an easy fit, it will unlikely be a good rim/tyre combination.
3. You have to fill and refill with sealant.
4. You have to carry not only a tube and pump but other repair kit (worms).
5. You have to spend more cash on each tyre.
6. If you get a puncture that neither the sealant nor the worms will fix, you have to remove a (tight) tyre, take out the tubeless valve, stuff a tube into the gooey horrible mess and then get an (even tighter) tyre back on, now in a new combintaion of tyre + tube + rim that the tyre was never designed for. As many anecdotes admit, this is where the tubeless tyre owner calls for a rescue vehicle.
7. Best in class rolling resistance (if that's what you want) is easily available with GP4000 or GP5000* clinchers for less cost and far less hassle. * other brands are available
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.0 -
Ok well I guess you can take what you want from it. Most people who have used tubeless stick with it because it has benefits that outweigh the few (generally overstated IMO) drawbacks. Sure a few have problems, like a few have problems with electronic shifting etc but if you do it right its much better IME.
Until solid tyres, you will always need a pump and some sort of repair system.
Complaining about carrying a tube and pump is nonsense you are already doing it, and adding a couple of worms and small applicator to you toolkit is hardly going to weigh you down.
But as always believe what you want, or try it and see for yourself, I did , years ago and it has been so far best upgrade i've ever made in terms of cycling enjoyment.0 -
Bordersroadie wrote:
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.
I've never had to call for rescue assistance either, like i said only once in 5 years have I had an issue that required a tube. It was no more difficult to swap than a regular clincher, in fact years ago i remember having a clincher/wheel combo that was tighter than any tubeless combo i have come across.0 -
kafkathedog wrote:But as always believe what you want, or try it and see for yourself, I did , years ago and it has been so far best upgrade i've ever made in terms of cycling enjoyment.
To be honest, I really wanted to be convinced to go tubeless, because they do seem to offer some real benefits, especially if you ride in places where you get lots of thorn or small flint punctures, for example. I certainly don't think you're all wrong for choosing them.
My listed drawbacks are all real and not exaggerated but the truth is that, for me, the deal-breaker lies in how tubeless stacks up against tubed tyres when the sh1t hits the fan and you have a serious puncture that needs to be dealt with, quickly, while miles from home in the freezing cold, with no rescue cover or back up of any kind. In this situation, tubed tyres win easily, for me, for the reasons I stated.0 -
kafkathedog wrote:Bordersroadie wrote:
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.
I've never had to call for rescue assistance either, like i said only once in 5 years have I had an issue that required a tube. It was no more difficult to swap than a regular clincher, in fact years ago i remember having a clincher/wheel combo that was tighter than any tubeless combo i have come across.
Honestly, once in five years trying to fumble a tube into the mess of sealant on a dark night and wrestle back on a super tight tyre would be easily enough to justify not going with tubeless, for me.
It sounds like over-dramatisation by me perhaps but if you've ever been in that situation of urgently needing to fix something on a freezing cold night, you want the path of least resistance and shortest timescale. In this case, tubed clinchers. The likelihood of the sutuation is very low, of course, but the consequences of being stranded in such a predicament are far higher with tubeless than tubed, so it's a no brainer, for me personally. Especially when you add in all the other drawbacks of tubeless I listed.0 -
It really wasn't a dig deal popping a tube in, took no longer than it would have done with a clincher, yes I may have got a little sealant on my hands but its not as bad as chain/brake block gunk...
So maybe you only puncture once every 2 years or something but the point is thats once i have stopped in five years, for me even on a good year would be 2 punctures so i have effectively rid myself of a minimum of 9 puncture stops and thats enough to convince me on the benefits.
But you've made up your mind so i'll not try to convince you any further...0 -
kafkathedog wrote:It really wasn't a dig deal popping a tube in, took no longer than it would have done with a clincher, yes I may have got a little sealant on my hands but its not as bad as chain/brake block gunk...
So maybe you only puncture once every 2 years or something but the point is thats once i have stopped in five years, for me even on a good year would be 2 punctures so i have effectively rid myself of a minimum of 9 puncture stops and thats enough to convince me on the benefits.
But you've made up your mind so i'll not try to convince you any further...
Maybe it's sometimes not as bad as at other times, inserting a tube into a tubeless tyre.
Thanks for sharing your own experience, you may have even slightly persuaded me, the died-in-the-wool tube guy, haha! Seriously though it makes a nice change to have a grown-up conversation on this forum, so thank you for that as well!
All the best.0 -
Did I mention the fabulous ride quality?
Forget you've just upgraded from some heavy box section alloys with 23mm tyres running at 155 psi, the new carbon 25mm wide thingies with 28mm tyres run at 60 psi are like riding on thin air, literally!I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0 -
Yep, that’s about it.Bordersroadie wrote:DaveP1 wrote:I'm not convinced by the benefits.
If tubeless guaranteed no punctures, and you didn't need to carry a tube, pump, and repair kit, I would be tempted. But as almost all the replies on here have said, they aren't perfect for road bikes yet.
Plus I am paranoid about having a flat I can't fix. My wife doesn't drive, so I need to be able to patch it up and carry on.
Nail on the head.
Tubeless:
1. As Malcolm Borg (the "tubeless guru" and the man with the unique skill of fitting any tyre onto any rim) keeps telling us, ad nauseum, you have to match rim/tyre combos so that you get a "true tubeless" set up - therefore you have a far less free choice of tyres than if you went with clinchers. And you have to put some work in to finding the right combination.
2. The tyre still might be as tight as a gnat's chuff to get on and off the rim (think cold dark night miles from home, numb fingers etc). As we're often told, if the tubeless tyre is an easy fit, it will unlikely be a good rim/tyre combination.
3. You have to fill and refill with sealant.
4. You have to carry not only a tube and pump but other repair kit (worms).
5. You have to spend more cash on each tyre.
6. If you get a puncture that neither the sealant nor the worms will fix, you have to remove a (tight) tyre, take out the tubeless valve, stuff a tube into the gooey horrible mess and then get an (even tighter) tyre back on, now in a new combintaion of tyre + tube + rim that the tyre was never designed for. As many anecdotes admit, this is where the tubeless tyre owner calls for a rescue vehicle.
7. Best in class rolling resistance (if that's what you want) is easily available with GP4000 or GP5000* clinchers for less cost and far less hassle. * other brands are available
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.0 -
Tyresome wrote:
Yep, that’s about it.Bordersroadie wrote:DaveP1 wrote:I'm not convinced by the benefits.
If tubeless guaranteed no punctures, and you didn't need to carry a tube, pump, and repair kit, I would be tempted. But as almost all the replies on here have said, they aren't perfect for road bikes yet.
Plus I am paranoid about having a flat I can't fix. My wife doesn't drive, so I need to be able to patch it up and carry on.
Nail on the head.
Tubeless:
1. As Malcolm Borg (the "tubeless guru" and the man with the unique skill of fitting any tyre onto any rim) keeps telling us, ad nauseum, you have to match rim/tyre combos so that you get a "true tubeless" set up - therefore you have a far less free choice of tyres than if you went with clinchers. And you have to put some work in to finding the right combination.
2. The tyre still might be as tight as a gnat's chuff to get on and off the rim (think cold dark night miles from home, numb fingers etc). As we're often told, if the tubeless tyre is an easy fit, it will unlikely be a good rim/tyre combination.
3. You have to fill and refill with sealant.
4. You have to carry not only a tube and pump but other repair kit (worms).
5. You have to spend more cash on each tyre.
6. If you get a puncture that neither the sealant nor the worms will fix, you have to remove a (tight) tyre, take out the tubeless valve, stuff a tube into the gooey horrible mess and then get an (even tighter) tyre back on, now in a new combintaion of tyre + tube + rim that the tyre was never designed for. As many anecdotes admit, this is where the tubeless tyre owner calls for a rescue vehicle.
7. Best in class rolling resistance (if that's what you want) is easily available with GP4000 or GP5000* clinchers for less cost and far less hassle. * other brands are available
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.
Says the self confessed multiple personality poster with no experience to talk of re tubeless. :roll:I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.0 -
philthy3 wrote:Tyresome wrote:
Yep, that’s about it.Bordersroadie wrote:DaveP1 wrote:I'm not convinced by the benefits.
If tubeless guaranteed no punctures, and you didn't need to carry a tube, pump, and repair kit, I would be tempted. But as almost all the replies on here have said, they aren't perfect for road bikes yet.
Plus I am paranoid about having a flat I can't fix. My wife doesn't drive, so I need to be able to patch it up and carry on.
Nail on the head.
Tubeless:
1. As Malcolm Borg (the "tubeless guru" and the man with the unique skill of fitting any tyre onto any rim) keeps telling us, ad nauseum, you have to match rim/tyre combos so that you get a "true tubeless" set up - therefore you have a far less free choice of tyres than if you went with clinchers. And you have to put some work in to finding the right combination.
2. The tyre still might be as tight as a gnat's chuff to get on and off the rim (think cold dark night miles from home, numb fingers etc). As we're often told, if the tubeless tyre is an easy fit, it will unlikely be a good rim/tyre combination.
3. You have to fill and refill with sealant.
4. You have to carry not only a tube and pump but other repair kit (worms).
5. You have to spend more cash on each tyre.
6. If you get a puncture that neither the sealant nor the worms will fix, you have to remove a (tight) tyre, take out the tubeless valve, stuff a tube into the gooey horrible mess and then get an (even tighter) tyre back on, now in a new combintaion of tyre + tube + rim that the tyre was never designed for. As many anecdotes admit, this is where the tubeless tyre owner calls for a rescue vehicle.
7. Best in class rolling resistance (if that's what you want) is easily available with GP4000 or GP5000* clinchers for less cost and far less hassle. * other brands are available
With clinchers and tubes I get very few punctures anyway and, if I experience even the worst type of puncture, I have 100% confidence that I will fix it quickly, with little hassle or mess and be on my way again without the need to call for assistance.
They are not the step-change that some say they are.
Says the self confessed multiple personality poster with no experience to talk of re tubeless. :roll:
I’ve had enough experience of them over the months that I used them to form an opinion on them. If I ride with something for 3 months, it’s more miles / time than a lot of people I know will ride in the best part of a year.0 -
blah blah miles miles experience experience....0
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I’ve never been tempted to try tubeless but now bottom muncher says they are rubbish. I’m now thinking they might be the future.
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Webboo wrote:I’ve never been tempted to try tubeless but now bottom muncher says they are rubbish. I’m now thinking they might be the future. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles0
