Hi, does anybody have experience with the "2bliss" tyres from Specialized, or the 2012 Continental Protection tyres, which are also "Tubeless-Ready"? I'm interested to know your experience, if you found it worth the hassle, and if there's any weight to be saved versus the normal tube/tyre , or UST setup...?? Any help would be much appreciated as my local shop is telling me that they'd need to put in soo much sealant, that it's hardly worth the effort..I feel they're a bit behind the times... 
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Any experience with Tubeless setups ?
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Posted 3 months ago #
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The no tubes website has a wealth of information on what options are available.
I'm not sure if you have tubeless rims but with standard rims and either ghetto of no tubes rim strips standard conti tyres (wire bead) went up a treat and have been working well. I put in 2 measures of sealant to be sure and that is still going to be less than a full tubeless tyre.
just riding along also offers advice on combinations that work.
Posted 3 months ago # -
My take on this is that it's not worth it for weight savings. You can have a light tubeless set-up but if you exceed mince factor 1 then you'll rip them. The benifit for me is the lack of punctures.I run Maxxis single or double ply tyres with 819 / 823 rims and it works great. The singleply on the rear will rip eventually but it lasts OK for general riding. Ideally it's a singleply on the front and doubleply on the back. I'm experimenting at the moment with the Maxxis reinforced sidewalls on the back but time will tell if it works. The reason I don't normally use the UST tyres is due to lack of choice and cost. Sometimes I use them but only if I can find them in the tread/width/compound I want.
Posted 3 months ago # -
The 2bliss tyres go up very nicely. Not tried tubelessing Continentals but read a few dubious anecdotes.
Posted 3 months ago # -
As long as they're tubeless ready it should need much sealant to seal the sidewalls etc. I'd say you probably won't have a weight saving vs lightweight tyres and tubes but it's more robust and allows you to run lower pressures with less risk.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I've used 2Bliss, and you do need to use sealant - but then I'd use it with all UST tyres anyway. They have very thin sidewalls, you can literally see the sealant bubbling through along the threads, but despite that I never had any real problems with them. If you live in an area with flinty rocks you'd probably want to use something tougher, round here it's sand+sandstone+granite so not that big a deal.
Oh, and I'm an XC mincer which probably helps
Posted 3 months ago # -
I put some S works The Captains on my 29er last summer and was less than impressed.
Put plenty of sealant in but when inflated the sealant was having to fix holes where letters and numbers were stamped on the sidewall as well as the bead/rim practically all the way round.
Hence first very small puncture and there wasn't enough sealant left to repair it, so tubed it.
I put more sealant in the other tyre and to be fair it lasted a few months and repaired about 3 punctures by the look of it when it eventually got a small split that wouldn't seal and I tubed it.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I tubed my Specialized 2bliss S-Works Purgatory too, think it was down to the 120 tpi paper thin casing of S-Works tyres, not had any bother with the normal 60 tpi 2bliss Control Purgatory though with just 2 scoops of Stan's and tape on my Rovals
Posted 3 months ago # -
I currently run some 2bliss eskars. They are nice tyres, but a bit heavy. always run 1cup of milk in tubless ready and 2 in non-tubeless.
IMO tubeless tyres are not worth the weight disadvantage. I normally run non-tubless and seal them up, its a bit of a faff but I have seal up every crap tyre I had no problem, just leave them overnight to seal.
Never had a puncture, but do burp. Quick pump and away you go again.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I've got a 2bliss Storm on the back of the F/S at the moment, with Stans fluid, sitting on Stans Flow rims.
It went up fine and sealed well but seems a bit flimsy. I experienced a clean-cut half inch incision straight through the centre of the tread on Snowdon a few weeks ago , which shouldn't have happened. It sealed but lost a lot of fluid in the process and needed patching internally before carrying on.Maxxis USTs are tougher IMHO but are getting silly expensive.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Thanks to all so far, it's great help ! strange to hear about the varying success of the Spesh 2Bliss though, eh? by the way, as I'm new to this Forum lark, what exactly is Mince Factor 1? is there a scale of riding aggressivity that I'm missing?? cheers again to all so far, I'm gonna contact my shop to stop being so tame.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Sorry Dowhhille, just me stuck in the office and being stupid. I find that if you go fast at all the lightweight tyres don't work. In that category I put larsen tt lust's and a few singleply xc maxxis tyres I've used.
Posted 3 months ago # -
I find that if you go fast at all the lightweight tyres don't work. In that category I put larsen tt lust's and a few singleply xc maxxis tyres I've used.
Fast uphill they work fine
Posted 3 months ago # -
Ahhh you see you've got me there mogrim. Fast uphill is something that happens to other people
Posted 3 months ago # -
You had me laughing so much at the Mince Factor...! I'm going to add it to my vocabulary if you don't mind...heh heh! Actually it's a really good point, that some riders don't go as aggressively as others , and could get away with using lighter kit..
Posted 3 months ago # -
I've got S-Works 2bliss Ground Controls on my 29'er Crests, they went up first time with 2 scoops of stans and have stayed up ever since, a quick check every week and I never have to put more than 5psi in.
I've got Control 2bliss Purgatory & Captain on my 26" 355's and tehy too went up dead easy and stay up.
No flimsy side walls or leaking of fluid to report here in 3 months of use
Posted 3 months ago # -
We've tried lots and although the Flows are the sex, new, cool etc., I would always recommend my old Mavic 819s on Hopes all day long. Amazing, trouble-free and worth it to run 25psi with nothing to pinch!
I only use Tubeless (UST) tyres as they have been hassle-free. Tubeless-ready usually means they're not ready for anything but tubes.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Make sure you use a valve with a removable core. Otherwise things could get messy.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Weight savings don't go away just because you're using a heavy tyre! Tubeless with a dualply is still lighter than tubes with a dualply. Course you may care less about saving 100 grams when you've got a 1200 gram tyre fitted.
I've found Spesh 2bliss to be excellent. They cover the whole range- the racy 2bliss ones are light and a wee bit delicate but it goes right up to the big hitting tyres.
Posted 3 months ago # -
2Bliss were horrid to getva first seal on. On first inflate I would say semi-permeable but after that no probs.
Walls sem a little thin but I'm using on my winter xc bike on the south downs. Schwalbe evos are nearly as thin. I run one on the front of the 456 and thats survived rougher but non gnar treatment fine.Posted 3 months ago # -
Like I say though, not all 2bliss are the same- each version has a level of toughness appropriate to the job. My Sauserwind felt like a sausage skin, whereas my Clutch is a big tough thing.
Posted 3 months ago # -
Yet to puncture an Eskar Control 2Bliss in over 2 years of use and two pairs of tyres. Punctured an Eskar SWorks 2Bliss on it's first ride, ripped the sidewall, they're much thinner.
Posted 2 months ago # -
I use the stans tubeless rims (flows) yellow tape and an tyres that I like usually maxxis high rollers have also used variuos WTB and Bontrager tyres none of which are UST just plain old folding beed. The UST or maxxis lust tyres go up a bit easier but are a lot heavier. Most recently have been getting the tyres to seat on the rims with proper auto tyre fitting soap then letting the air our and adding the sealant through the valve hole. As someone else pointed out use valves with removable cores as they flow air in to fit the tyres much faster. The Spesh valves do not have removable cores, stans and Mavic do. I agree with what Doug said about the draw backs being damaged side walls few of the tyres I have had problems with are "normal" puntures they usually have a 10mm gash in the side, the type that a big balloon of tube comes out before exploding!
I almost always use a comressor to fit my tyres some will go up no problem with a track pump but with the wider rims its a battle!Posted 2 months ago # -
I have been running Specialized SWorks 2Bliss tyres for a couple of years now starting with the Captains and then the Storm. They took a while to get "right", that is they were forever going down. I orginally had some Bontrager juice in the tyres put in by the shop when I bought the bike. This just did not seal the tyre walls which are porous and need to be sealed (it didn't seal punctures either). I moved on to Stans and that did the job, seals the walls well and also any punctures. I also tried some RRP PunctureGuard which was meant to seal massive holes in downhill tyres but could not seal the walls or a hole from a thorn.
I used to ride with tubes in Armadillo tyres which were quite puncture resistant but I've still had three punctures in one ride. Since I have had tubeless in two years I have not had to fix a puncture during a ride, that has been a massive plus for me. I have found various thorns in the tyres at the end of a ride but this has never caused any loss of air during the ride (usually 2-4 hours).
The other benefit from tubeless for me is that you seem to glide over bumpy ground as they ease out small bumps much better than tyres with tubes.
The SWorks tyres have very thin walls which means that you have to get the tyre pressure just right, you obviously don't want them too hard but you need enough air otherwise they will slide round a corner because the walls give way if you don't have enough air.
I have just had three days in the Lakes on plenty of rock and also ride in the Peaks and have had no problems with tearing of the side walls.
The final point is that they have been a bitch for me to get air back into if you break the seal to refill the Stans (no removable valve core). I have ended up buying a compressor to deal with this and now have that sorted.
I would not go back to tubes.
H
Posted 1 month ago # -
Interesting read as I've just asked the same question on another post. Glad to hear there's a mixed response to the 2Bliss Sworks. Around here on the South Downs I only have to worry about the odd bit of flint but I'm a pretty light rider anyway. Doing a fair bit of riding in the Wales this year starting with the Dyfi which has got me worried. I last used a Speedking Supersonic [tubed] and it was good apart from the wearing out! DInd't have any problems with tearing although was pretty nervous on every decent. The permeablilty of the 2Bliss sidewalls sounds a lot like the Panaracer Fire XC pro I'm currently running on one set of wheels and it leaked loads of fluid out through the walls but then sealed. It's been fine at higher pressure so avoiding the rolls and burps but hadn't struck me to put in additional stans to replace that which sealed the walls. Should have been obvious really.
Posted 1 month ago #
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