Tubeless for a Single Speed?

[londoncommuter0000]

Hi,
As topic. I want to switch to tubeless on my Genesis Flyer. Any recommendations as to rim/tyre?

Thanks.

[Brucey]

IIRC the rear clearance (depending on how the chain is adjusted) on a 'flyer' is small. If you run mudguards then I suspect that a 23mm (or perhaps 25mm tyre) is as big as you can go. This seems a bit at odds with wanting to run tubeless; the benefits (such as they are) are most apparent in 28 or 30mm tyres. Maybe you can run 28mm tyres without mudguards?

FWIW I have never felt the urge to run either fat or low pressure tyres on the road with a fixed gear; riding a fixed gear necessitate some pretty violent efforts at times and fat/low pressure tyres seem to be at odds with that.

cheers

[londoncommuter0000]

I can't remember what tyres are on there at the moment. Need to check. It's more for puncture resistance, although to be honest, the single speed currently fares a lot better than my tourer or my Giant, when it comes to punctures.

[Brucey]

I know I will be accused of being a BOF for saying this, but you should use tyres that are appropriate for the conditions. Folk who 'love tubeless' seem to be those who (for their own reasons) choose to ride all winter long on flimsy summer tyres. "Oh look, fewer punctures" they say.


Well, yes, but the structure of the flimsy tyre is still being cut to ribbons and that is much more of a worry than the temporary inconvenience of having air in the tyre or not.

I would also counsel caution when buying tubeless rims; they are usually made in such a way as all tyres are a tighter fit on them than on many (most) tubed rims. This means when you get bored of paying x3 for tyres, all the mess/inconvenience of sealant and fitting the ruddy things, you are still left with rims that make every puncture a proper PITA whether you are using tubed or tubeless.

If you just want a few less punctures and are in the mood for a relatively inexpensive experiment, you can buy tubes with sealant in already, which greatly reduces the potential for both faff and mess. Right now PX have such tubes on sale; they are not expensive. Potentially this will give you the benefit you need but with little cost and no significant downside.

cheers

[londoncommuter0000]

<SNIP>

Thanks for the advice, mate. Mucho appreciated. I googled for PX tubes and came up with this - https://www.pxgroup.com/en/node/24

Guessing that's not what you had in mind. What's the manufacturer?

[geocycle]

This seems a bit at odds with wanting to run tubeless; the benefits (such as they are) are most apparent in 28 or 30mm tyres.

Why is this? I'm not tempted just curious.

[Brucey]

most of the rims are meant for this width tyre, running lower pressures only works well with wider tyres, the Crr values work best in your favour with this width tyre, and the leakage rate rapidly becomes a PITA with narrower tyres.

On the latter point at the same leakage rate, 23mm tyres will lose pressure at about twice the rate of 30mm tyres.

Just now the 'best choice' in the sort of tyres that folk want to run tubeless is in the 28-30mm range and likewise the rims. If you want to run 25mm there is less choice and probably less benefit too.

cheers

[londoncommuter0000]

On the tyre sidewall, is written '25-622 [28 x 1.00-700 x 25c]'

[Brucey]

which suggests that the tyres ought to be 25mm wide.

However I have seen tyres with these markings which vary in actual width from 21mm to about 28mm. So if you are running short of clearance then best to check both the width of the ones you have and the actual (fitted, allowing for rim width variations which can also make the tyre wider or narrower...) of any that you intend to buy.

Probably if punctures are the issue I'd try tubes with sealant in or at least a tougher rear tyre before 'jumping ship' as it were. What tyres and rims (esp rim width) are you using at present? Do you use mudguards, or have any plans to?

cheers

[londoncommuter0000]

I don't know how wide the rims are. Definitely Alex rims. I don't use mudguards except for an '[American word that means "donkey" in British English] saver' at the back and a downtube-mounted guard at the front.

[Scunnered]

It's more for puncture resistance, although to be honest, the single speed currently fares a lot better than my tourer or my Giant, when it comes to punctures.

Tubeless tyres are no more puncture resistant that any other type of tyre and less puncture resistant than some.
It's just that small punctures (thorns, tacks) will re-seal, but larger cuts do not (need plugged).
I've run tubeless for the past year and I'm not convinced they are worth the hassle,

[londoncommuter0000]

I've run tubeless for the past year and I'm not convinced they are worth the hassle,

We're evaluating them for our tourers, before our Norway tour. If my wife isn't impressed, she's going to veto the purchase of four new rims, tyres etc. We're currently running Schwalbe Marathon Plus on them.

[amediasatex]

IIRC the rear clearance (depending on how the chain is adjusted) on a 'flyer' is small. If you run mudguards then I suspect that a 23mm (or perhaps 25mm tyre) is as big as you can go. ...

That depends on the generation of Flyer, the recent ones (2017 onwards) had their clearances incresaed in line wiht the Equilibriums and will take a true 28mm with guards* and in fact came spec'd that way as stock. The older ones are a bit more limited but 2016 still came with 25 and guards from the factory, 2015 and prior were 'naked' with 25 or 28 depending on the year.

*and often a labelled 30 or 32mm without guards depending on the actual tyre and its tread thickness

[Scunnered]

I've run tubeless for the past year and I'm not convinced they are worth the hassle,

We're evaluating them for our tourers, before our Norway tour. If my wife isn't impressed, she's going to veto the purchase of four new rims, tyres etc. We're currently running Schwalbe Marathon Plus on them.

Oh, suggest you try Marathon Supreme https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-supreme.html as they are quite beefy for a tubeless tyre.

[londoncommuter0000]

I've run tubeless for the past year and I'm not convinced they are worth the hassle,

We're evaluating them for our tourers, before our Norway tour. If my wife isn't impressed, she's going to veto the purchase of four new rims, tyres etc. We're currently running Schwalbe Marathon Plus on them.

Oh, suggest you try Marathon Supreme https://www.schwalbe.com/en/tour-reader/marathon-supreme.html as they are quite beefy for a tubeless tyre.

Nice. Earmarked for if and when SWMBO signs off on the tubeless conversion!