Tubeless Tyres - well impressed!

[freeflow]

Seen too many disappointed cycling buddies to want to go there myself.
M

[Grarea]

What was the disappointment?

We suffer at least one flat per ride between the two of us off road.
especially if you include slows.

I guess it is thorn season.

I didn't used to get them when I used to ride off road. I suspect it has a lot to do with your terrain.
Possibly how many bikes go through clearing the path. (very few in or case)

[Dave W]

Admittedly my tyres are new and large volume but they went on dead easy, I never use levers on any tyres anyway. I carry a tube and co2. Can’t think what else I would need out of the ordinary. I have patches should a tube fail. Most tubeless riders I’ve spoken to say the tyres roll better and are more comfy due to lower pressures. The biggest drawback is initial cost and needing to get that first bead seal when you put them on. How good they are on say 25mm tyres I don’t know but I guess the racers don’t use tubeless yet whereas mountain biking it would appear the norm.

[Brucey]

it is usually taking the tyres off that is the major PITA. Some folk have ditched their 'tubeless ready' wheelsets (and I am unlikely to be buying any) because they made getting tyres (of any sort) on and off needlessly difficult.

cheers

[pwa]

I fitted a pair of sealant filled tubes to a bike belonging to a family member a few years ago and they had a puncture that turned the thing into a catherine wheel with the alleged sealant spurting out until the tyre was flat. Not a tubeless tyre, but it would make me dubious about relying on sealant and pump to get me home in the event of a puncture. I'd be wanting a patch or tube as well.

[reohn2]

I fitted a pair of sealant filled tubes to a bike belonging to a family member a few years ago and they had a puncture that turned the thing into a catherine wheel with the alleged sealant spurting out until the tyre was flat. Not a tubeless tyre, but it would make me dubious about relying on sealant and pump to get me home in the event of a puncture. I'd be wanting a patch or tube as well.

I think it depends on the puncture,a small one such as a thorn or small flint and it'll seal but a big glass slash maybe not.A couple of weeks ago I got one of my rare punctures just as it was going dark and was struggling getting a small thorn out of the tyre,I reckon it wouldve sealed up with sealant in the tube.I'm also reminded of a other time a few years ago in a very cold wind when I really struggled keeping warm mending a thorn puncture on an exposed dirt road perhaps sealant would've helped out there as well.Food for thought

[jerg]

I went tubeless on my Genesis Longitude. I realised that the tyres supplied with the bike were on so tight I'd never get them off If I needed to replace an inner tube whilst out on the trail. I had to take them to my LBS to be done as I couldn't shift them. It nearly defeated them as well.

When I come to replace them, I'll find some which are easy to change myself. The combination currently is WTB 2.8 trailer blazers on WTB i35 rims.

[AndyA]

I went tubeless on my Genesis Longitude. I realised that the tyres supplied with the bike were on so tight I'd never get them off If I needed to replace an inner tube whilst out on the trail. I had to take them to my LBS to be done as I couldn't shift them. It nearly defeated them as well.

When I come to replace them, I'll find some which are easy to change myself. The combination currently is WTB 2.8 trailer blazers on WTB i35 rims.

Yup, that's a combo that you have to stand on to unseat the bead! Schwalbe Nobby Nics 3.0 fit those rims a lot more readily.

I wouldn't go back to tubes for mountain bikes. No more pinch flats!
However, I don't think I'll ever use tubeless tyres on my touring/road bike - glass/flint punctures are likely to require fitting a tube anyway and this is a total nightmare to do with tight tubeless tyres, you've got to remove the valve and deal with the sealant too. Eugh. Sometimes if a puncture does seal, it'll only seal to a certain pressure, often a dangerously soggy 40psi or something.

[Marcus Aurelius]

Tubeless are absolutely necessary for XC mountain biking IMO. You can run super low pressures without pinch flats, which transforms grip and traction no end. There is no sensible argument to use them in road bikes, for my money.

[flat tyre]

I used tubeless on my road bikes for about 18 months. The technology worked ok in that puncture related stops decreased significantly, but the tyres don't last very long on wet and muddy Hampshire lanes (less than 1500 miles). There's also a lot of faffing about required at home to make repairs to tyres, top up sealant etc. I've now gone over to more robust tubed tyres.

[mattsccm]

I wouldn't use anything else given the budget! My Schwalbe S ones are starting their 3rd winter although for about 6 months this summer they were swapped to use up some other tyres. So easy to fit, one plastic lever and a track pump to seat. Taken them off about 4 times to swap ends or what ever. Same as normal tyres. Several known punctures always sealed instantly. No idea how many unknown. I carry a skinny tube just in case.
I have been a club rider, averaging 6-7000 miles a year in the last decade on all surfaces including MTB and have never ripped a tyre in I,all say 40 years as I don't remember before that.
My rough stuff bike uses some unknown brand rims that have no pretence at being tubeless but cope happily at 50 psi with tubeless knobblies.
Sealed tubes are usually awful and ride like hose pipe.
Basically its like most things. Do it properly and it will usually work.

[ChrisF]

it is usually taking the tyres off that is the major PITA. Some folk have ditched their 'tubeless ready' wheelsets (and I am unlikely to be buying any) because they made getting tyres (of any sort) on and off needlessly difficult.

cheers

You had me worried there, Brucey.
I 've just got a new bike for Christmas; although the spec didn't menton tubeless it arrived with wheels marked as tubeless ready (https://www.fulcrumwheels.com/en/wheels ... acing-6-DB). I then looked up the tyres online and they https://road.cc/content/review/225474-clement-xplor-mso-tyres are also useable as tubeless, although the bike was supplied with tubes.
I hadn't read these posts before I rode the bike, and having read your comment I was worried that I wouldn't be able to easily mend a puncture on the road. So, before going out tomorrow I just tried removing the front tyre. One lever, section of tyre off in 20 seconds; tube pulled out and replaced, tyre back on with no levers, total less than 2 minutes. No problem.