Cycling UK Forum

Hiya All,


I see a Trek Road bike with "tubeless ready" Wheels

Do Tubeless tyres have a place on road bikes? Or are they a new fashion fad, like Disc Brakes?

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

If you mean road bikes, as in racing bikes, I dont know.
If you mean road bikes as in bikes ridden high mileages at a reasonably fast speed on roads, then I will point out that Steve Abraham fitted them on his bike for his attempt on the year's mileage record.

I will not be bothering myself as I dont have much of a problem with ordinary tyres.

From my understanding tubless can save a little rolling mass if done right (you lose the weight of the tube but this is offset somewhat by adding liquid sealant) but the main two advantages are :

1. You can run much lower pressures for better conformance over rough terrain with out getting pinch flats.. Probably irrelevant on a road bike.

2. Puncture resistance.. The slime in the tyre will take care of most punctures, but you still need a spare tube in the event of a large puncture or slash in the tyre, so in theory if doing long distance time trials it should vastly decrease your chances of having to stop for 15 mins to faff around sorting a puncture out.

In general usage, it's not a feature I would go out of my way for as a lot of rims can be made tubeless ready DIY using the right rim tape, so personally I wouldn't consider it a factor when buying a road bike. There's certainly an argument for it on off road bikes though.

I'll be swapping some time this winter I reckon.
What attracts me is the apparent puncture resistance and the fact that if they do they don't explode of the rims. Had 2 do that over the years and the thought is enough to make a nervous Nelly like me ease up on fast descents. Still tempted to go back to tubs for that reason.
To be honest I wouldn't carry a spare tube much of the time. I have never seen a slashed road tyre and can't remember seeing a slashed MTB tyre. Happy to take that risk except on long solo days.
Can't see me lowering the pressure enough to drop into compression puncture zones. That means pressure low enough to notice the ride difference.

RideToWorky wrote:Hiya All,


I see a Trek Road bike with "tubeless ready" Wheels

Do Tubeless tyres have a place on road bikes?

I don't know but I won't using them any time soon.
BTW you won't get snake bites when the snake hasn't got anything to bite

Or are they a new fashion fad, like Disc Brakes?

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

Disc brakes aren't a fad or fashion,they're an extremely good alternative,especially in wet 'n mucky weather where they beat the pants off rim brakes.

beardy wrote:If you mean road bikes as in bikes ridden high mileages at a reasonably fast speed on roads, then I will point out that Steve Abraham fitted them on his bike for his attempt on the year's mileage record.

Hi Beardy,

The Second, as extracted above, thanks for clarifiying!

I'm thinking less hassle, self fixing tiny punctures.


Cheers
Martin

RideToWorky wrote:Hiya All,


I see a Trek Road bike with "tubeless ready" Wheels

Do Tubeless tyres have a place on road bikes? Or are they a new fashion fad, like Disc Brakes?

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

I've had some very good results on my mountain bike with this system (using an inner tube to seal the rim and Stans sealing fluid):

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-re ... ain-bikes/

As mentioned earlier it allows you to run a lower pressure and stop pinch flats. I have been thinking about doing this to my touring bike however pinch flats are not really an issue on a road bike. That said I'm likely going to use the bike for some rough stuff, so it might be a benefit for me.

Regards,

mattsccm wrote:I'll be swapping some time this winter I reckon.
What attracts me is the apparent puncture resistance and the fact that if they do they don't explode of the rims. Had 2 do that over the years and the thought is enough to make a nervous Nelly like me ease up on fast descents. Still tempted to go back to tubs for that reason.
To be honest I wouldn't carry a spare tube much of the time. I have never seen a slashed road tyre and can't remember seeing a slashed MTB tyre. Happy to take that risk except on long solo days.
Can't see me lowering the pressure enough to drop into compression puncture zones. That means pressure low enough to notice the ride difference.

Hi Matt,

Many thanks for the info!

Erm, what does the " .....drop into compression puncture zones. That means pressure low enough to notice the ride difference....." mean?

Cheers
Martin

reohn2 wrote:
Disc brakes aren't a fad or fashion,they're an extremely good alternative,especially in wet 'n mucky weather where they beat the pants off rim brakes.

Sorry Reohn2,

Should have said "The latest bit of technology" filtering into road bike... bit long winded!


Cheers
Martin

hjd10 wrote:

RideToWorky wrote:Hiya All,


I see a Trek Road bike with "tubeless ready" Wheels

Do Tubeless tyres have a place on road bikes? Or are they a new fashion fad, like Disc Brakes?

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

I've had some very good results on my mountain bike with this system (using an inner tube to seal the rim and Stans sealing fluid):

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-re ... ain-bikes/

As mentioned earlier it allows you to run a lower pressure and stop pinch flats. I have been thinking about doing this to my touring bike however pinch flats are not really an issue on a road bike. That said I'm likely going to use the bike for some rough stuff, so it might be a benefit for me.

Regards,

I must add though, I think if I had the right wheels and tyres to do the proper conversion I'd not think twice about doing it.

RideToWorky wrote:

mattsccm wrote:I'll be swapping some time this winter I reckon.
What attracts me is the apparent puncture resistance and the fact that if they do they don't explode of the rims. Had 2 do that over the years and the thought is enough to make a nervous Nelly like me ease up on fast descents. Still tempted to go back to tubs for that reason.
To be honest I wouldn't carry a spare tube much of the time. I have never seen a slashed road tyre and can't remember seeing a slashed MTB tyre. Happy to take that risk except on long solo days.
Can't see me lowering the pressure enough to drop into compression puncture zones. That means pressure low enough to notice the ride difference.

Hi Matt,

Many thanks for the info!

Erm, what does the " .....drop into compression puncture zones. That means pressure low enough to notice the ride difference....." mean?

Cheers
Martin

I belive he means he won't be running his pressure low enough for snake bite punctures to be and issue, lots of mountain bikers ride at pressures 30psi or lower which can result in the rim hitting the ground, squashing the tyre and the rim puncturing the tube in the process.. Not so much an issue on road bikes as they tend to run significantly higher pressures.

hjd10 wrote:

hjd10 wrote:

RideToWorky wrote:Hiya All,


I see a Trek Road bike with "tubeless ready" Wheels

Do Tubeless tyres have a place on road bikes? Or are they a new fashion fad, like Disc Brakes?

Hope you can advise


Regards
Martin

I've had some very good results on my mountain bike with this system (using an inner tube to seal the rim and Stans sealing fluid):

http://www.singletracks.com/blog/mtb-re ... ain-bikes/

As mentioned earlier it allows you to run a lower pressure and stop pinch flats. I have been thinking about doing this to my touring bike however pinch flats are not really an issue on a road bike. That said I'm likely going to use the bike for some rough stuff, so it might be a benefit for me.

Regards,

I must add though, I think if I had the right wheels and tyres to do the proper conversion I'd not think twice about doing it.

Good to see it works for you!

Would 23MM tyres be too skinny to do it with?
28mm Tyres best?

Young Chap in Cycle Surgery said not appropriate for 23mm road bike tyres?

Cheers
Martin

My road bike tyres are a little wider than that, I think they are 35mm.

A; not really.

Many of the reasons why they might make sense on some other bikes don't really apply in the same way to road bikes.

The tyre manufacturers have tried to push them as having lower rolling resistance etc but even if their tests are kosher, it is hardly a compelling argument thus far.

A significant issue is that most MTB tubeless setups do leak air somewhat, and need topping up quite regularly. I would imagine that this would turn into a 'pump every time you ride' PITA with skinny road tyres because the pressure is higher and the volume far smaller.

cheers

Brucey wrote:A; not really.

Many of the reasons why they might make sense on some other bikes don't really apply in the same way to road bikes.

The tyre manufacturers have tried to push them as having lower rolling resistance etc but even if their tests are kosher, it is hardly a compelling argument thus far.

A significant issue is that most MTB tubeless setups do leak air somewhat, and need topping up quite regularly. I would imagine that this would turn into a 'pump every time you ride' PITA with skinny road tyres because the pressure is higher and the volume far smaller.

cheers

I kind of agree with some of the issues you mention. I was having at least one flat and sometimes more when riding out in the States due to the cactus thorns. The tubeless set-up eliminated this issue for me but for each ride I'd normally have to add a little air.