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Tubeless Road Tyres? Is it worth it?

I've just started looking at tubeless tyres and they seem interesting. Fewer punctures, less rolling resistance, better handling. All seems good. But then there are lots of reviews saying it's just not worth making the change due to the tyres being heavier.

I commute to work 5 days a week, 10 miles a day, just started doing sportives, ride with a club on Sundays and am doing my first triathlon in August.

Has anyone got experience with using tubeless tyres day to day? Any issues or any info at all would be great. Is there really a performance gain in the tyres?
I'd be converting my current clincher wheels using one of the kits out there.

Also, as you need to put sealant/latex in the tyre, does this move around when you're riding? I know there's not much but surely that would change the balance.

Thanks

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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11 comments

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dave atkinson | 8 years ago
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i had an interesting experience when removing some hutchinson sector 28s from a set of test wheels: i opened the valve to let the air out, and nothing happened. so i removed the valve core, and they still didn't go down  1

turns out the sealant had coagulated over the top of the valve and i had to push a spoke up through the valve to deflate them

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Ad Hynkel | 8 years ago
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I have Stans rims on my wheels and have run 1 tubeless (Hutchinson Intensive) and 1 traditional clincher (Continental Gatorskin) with inner tube over 2 years. The first year I ran without sealant in the tubeless and got 1 puncture towards the end of the year. The experience of getting the tyre back on again with an inner tube in the cold without a pair of decent gloves to get bead over the rim persuaded me to go with sealant afterwards. BTW I didn't have any punctures on the clincher.

Second year I went with sealant and didn't get a puncture at all in the tubeless tyre but did in the clincher. I am replacing the inner tube/clincher this year with a Bontrager tubeless ready tyre to see how that stacks up. I have read some reports that these tend to lose air faster so might not be best for commuter/daily use where you just want to use the things and not be worrying about checking pressure every other day. For your info the Intensives were amazing at keeping air before I remounted them. Then became similar to my experience with trad clinchers, but no worse. Maybe I slightly damaged the bead when remounting them, though I didn't use levers.

Like any new technology there are some techniques to learn e.g. 1. bastard tight beads and how to get them over the rim (without using levers if possible) and 2. how to get the beads lined up on the rim so that you can inflate with just a track pump (hint: they need to form a bit of a seal first, no wavy lines or gaps).

Is there a performance difference that is noticeable between the Intensive and a Gatorskin? I would say so, but then a Gatorskin is not exactly the most compliant of tyres, even if I love 'em for the fact that they go on and on and on. I have found the Intensive more comfortable and seems to zing along better.

My impression overall of road tubeless has been +ve and I am carrying on. I have yet to encounter a sealant-all-over-the-place type scenario that others have, that might change my mind...  17

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CanAmSteve | 8 years ago
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Not sure if you commute on a road bike or MTB. Not too many tubeless "conversions" for 700c that I have seen, but maybe I missed them. All I have seen are for lower pressure MTB tyres. (OK, so 29" is 700c...)

This is a hard one to answer. Same bike for all the stated uses? Maybe different wheels and tyres would be a good idea. I've got one bike with tubeless tyres - two different sizes on two sets of wheels - 25mm and 28mm. Both Hutchinson since Schwalbe tubeless tyres seem impossible to buy. I punctured one of the 25mm tyres the first week I used it. It sealed, but would only hold 80 psi (big sharp flint). I took the tyre off, patched it with your regular tube patch on the inside and reused it successfully.

The 25mms are on Bontrager "tubeless ready" wheels. What Trek doesn't mention is that "tubeless ready" means "tubeless convertible" - you have to buy valves and rim strips extra. Unlike Ultegra wheels which come ready for clincher or tubeless. I lose more air (running with sealant) from the tubeless tyres than from clinchers. Figure topping up every two days.

I'm not a good enough rider to say I notice any handling differences clincher/tubeless. I think for a commuter, I would rather have a spare tube in my bag for the inevitable puncture. Better the devil you know. Tubeless might have fewer punctures, and seal some of them, but in commuting you have hazards like potholes. Say you bent a rim. The tubeless will leak - a tubed tyre will get you home. And while I could install the 28mm Hutchinsons with bare hands, the 25mms were a PITA to get on, inside, warm and dry. Plus I had a compressor to seat them.

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Fringe | 8 years ago
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I tried 'em (schwable tyres and bontrager wheels) and quite frankly couldn't tell the difference between them or clinchers. They were real trouble to get on though, and I could imagine a situation when you p******** and the slime can't fill the hole and then you have to remove the tyre to get a tube in and if it was me I would probably still be there now. and that was partly why I gave up and went back to clinchers. Plus you can get decent clinchers at nearly half the price of tubeless.
GCN did a good video of the merits or not of tubeless, worth a watch if you've not seen it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Nit55MSaFJ4

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700c | 8 years ago
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I can't really why.. If the benefit is fewer punctures, just put sealant in your clincher tubes?

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fukawitribe replied to 700c | 8 years ago
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700c wrote:

I can't really why.. If the benefit is fewer punctures, just put sealant in your clincher tubes?

Could do - but it'd be heavier, still prone to pinch flats (that tend to create long splits and so are harder to seal) and so you can't drop the pressure as much. You also don't get the potentially greater security of the tyre on the rim if you do lose pressure although the chance of very rapid pressure loss is still reduced presumably (aside from catastrophic tube failure). The increase in rolling resistance you might expect probably won't be felt by any of us in real terms, but the ride quality difference might be (all depends on the tyres and tubes).

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700c replied to fukawitribe | 8 years ago
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fukawitribe wrote:
700c wrote:

I can't really why.. If the benefit is fewer punctures, just put sealant in your clincher tubes?

Could do - but it'd be heavier, still prone to pinch flats (that tend to create long splits and so are harder to seal) and so you can't drop the pressure as much. You also don't get the potentially greater security of the tyre on the rim if you do lose pressure although the chance of very rapid pressure loss is still reduced presumably (aside from catastrophic tube failure). The increase in rolling resistance you might expect probably won't be felt by any of us in real terms, but the ride quality difference might be (all depends on the tyres and tubes).

I think arguments like low weight/ ability to run at low pressure / ride quality / pinch flats would be won by tubulars over any other type of tyre system ATM. This is relevant if, for example, you're changing wheels and tyre system to achieve some of these benefits.

That's not to say tubeless won't become better in due course, but compatible tyres ( plus the required adaptations) tend to be heavier than the best available currently for clincher or tubular.

If you're going to invest to achieve these kind of benefits then I don't think there's a convincing argument for tubeless yet.

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fukawitribe replied to 700c | 8 years ago
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700c wrote:

I think arguments like low weight/ ability to run at low pressure / ride quality / pinch flats would be won by tubulars over any other type of tyre system ATM. This is relevant if, for example, you're changing wheels and tyre system to achieve some of these benefits.

Pinch flats is marginal, possible but unlikely on tubs, but i'd go with the rest of that - although low weight is not one of the real benefits of road tubeless anyway (and would be typically dwarfed by the weight saving of the wheelset for tubs over any type of clincher). When I mentioned weight earlier it was in reply to the comment about adding sealant to a tubed set-up, and even then it's not really the issue. You could always add sealant to tubs and still be miles lighter than clinchers with a decent wheelset or just carry a can of Pitstop.

I think the thing with tubs is the perceived problem with getting the tyres on and off in the first place - and the idea of carrying spare tyres (unless you're relying on patching/sealing). Even with tape it comes across as a lot more hassle and possibly prone to errors (overblown problems admittedly, although not absolutely entirely unreasonable for some, e.g. it's quite difficult to mount a clincher squiffy). The cost of tubs doesn't help either - but then again TR tyres aren't exactly bargain basement either....

Personally, if I had the money and the time i'd go with tubs but for practical reasons (I have TR wheels anyway, and not much cash) I use tubes and tubeless.

700c wrote:

That's not to say tubeless won't become better in due course, but compatible tyres ( plus the required adaptations) tend to be heavier than the best available currently for clincher or tubular.

The weight difference is marginal, if anything, for tubed clincher - not so marginal for tubs.. but then, as mentioned, that's not really part of the whole tubeless thang anyway.

700c wrote:

If you're going to invest to achieve these kind of benefits then I don't think there's a convincing argument for tubeless yet.

It's possibly convincing if you value flat protection highly but I think you're right about the barrier when talking about starting from scratch - you'd have to really hate flats to blow a few hundred quid converting otherwise.

If you have TR wheels then it's suddenly a much brighter proposition. The one good bit of news, if you like the idea of road tubeless anyway, is that the number of TR ready rims coming out is increasing - it will interesting to see if there is any pick up in tubeless setup from the public and manufacturers when they finally become rather less niche on the road.

Hey ho, it's all good fun anyway.

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2 Wheeled Idiot | 8 years ago
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At the moment no
Maybe in a couple of years when there's some actual standards and everything's a bit more developed.

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fukawitribe replied to 2 Wheeled Idiot | 8 years ago
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2 Wheeled Idiot wrote:

At the moment no
Maybe in a couple of years when there's some actual standards and everything's a bit more developed.

The main standards are UST and Tubeless Ready - TR is the one that is becoming more common on road bikes. TR is not designed to be air-tight without sealant, but should be an improved compliance and slight weight saving.

FWIW I ran a set of Hutchinson Fusion 3 (23mm) on Bontrager Race for about 9 months when commuting and general riding. Nothing adverse noticeable on the ride, ran them at around 80/85 on the front and 85-ish on the back, very happy with them altogether. Did a few tyre inspections and could see a couple of pin-prick punctures that had sealed - I hadn't noticed them when on the bike, but I tend to check pressures and reset most rides anyway, even with tubed clinchers. That was interesting to see - and tended to give a lot of confidence when riding in shit conditions or tracks with a bunch of debris (think, inner-city rat runs). No big issues.

All in all i've had a very positive experience with them and will being going back to them (tubes on the current road bike for a random reason) - although i'd like to try some other brand; Bontrager R3 and Schwalbe One seem to garner good reviews and nothing can be as big a bastard to get on as the Fusions - they were sods (although things improved a tad after I discovered bead jacks).

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CXR94Di2 | 8 years ago
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I am getting a new set of wheels which will be using tubeless. It's more of an experiment to see if they are better. Just from experience when I used to put slime in my inner tubes, you can't tell it's there and the benefit was when I did get a puncture it didn't go down and I was able to ride a couple more days before it went too low to ride safely. That last comment alone is worth it when commuting

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