With my trigger and wolverines it took about 2 minutes to go tubeless. Remove tube , put in valve, add goo, put on tyre, pump up tyre with track pump. Go ride. Not gone down at all since.

I bought my big bike second hand and changed the front tyre straight away and put a tube in. A good while later i got an animal bone puncture (6mm hole) in the rear and assumed it would be tubeless too so tried pumping it up. No joy. So i thought i’d take the tyre off and put in a tube i had in my bag. The bloody tyre was welded to the rim with that gunk and i couldn’t get it off. Had to phone for a lift and when i got home i managed to remove the rear tyre and found a tube in it! It was also welded to the tyre! Not a great experience on the whole and enough to convince me to stick to good old fashioned tubes for now.

That’s like saying you wouldn’t buy ikea furniture because you bought some second hand that had been assembled with sellotape by a Lunatic!

epicyclo – Member
yossarian – Member
…Inflated and seated off a track pump first time…
Aye, but what if you don’t carry a track pump when you’re out on the trails?

The only reason you’d need a track pump is to seat them. If they’re coming off trailside it’s because you’ve put a big hole in them and need to stick a tube in with a boot. In which case any pump will do.

tubeless puts all the faff at home, in the warm at your leisure. saves fixing puntures at the trailside in the cold and wet in the middle of winter.

i remember night rides a few years back, before we went tubeless, where as a group of 5 we’d gone through 7 or so tubes, and were so late we’d be hacking along the main roads to get back at a decent time and freezing cold because we’d spent most of the ride standing around watching someone changing a tube. this just doesn’t happen any more.

Been riding tubeless on MTBs for 4 years – have only had 4 punctures in that time – 3 simply held with sealant, the 4th was a flint ‘arrowhead’ that would have done a caveman proud. I’ve pulled dozens of Hawthorn ‘nails’ out too which would have flatted regular tube. High volume tubeless tyres are awesome – lower rolling resistance and phenomenal grip. Once you get the tyre bead and rim fit right, no need for special inflation techniques.

Been riding tubeless on MTBs for 4 years – have only had 4 punctures in that time –

that’s pretty unlucky, I think I’ve been tubless for 5 or 6 years and I’ve had 1 puncture

Wrong thread lol

Tubeless on the right kit works well, easy to fit and maintain. Even non tr tyres work in some cases. As for changing for conditions I make on change with a minion replacing the ardent for winter on my trail bike, the xc bike is the same year round. It kind of helps you get over the mental what tyre for and just ride.

That’s like saying you wouldn’t buy ikea furniture because you bought some second hand that had been assembled with sellotape by a Lunatic!

Haha, but is it? It’s been my only first hand experience of tubeless but reading on here i get the impression that you are supposed to put gunk in the tyres. Did the previous owner put too much in and that’s why the tyre was unwilling to come off? Punctures are a minor pain. Being unable to remove a tyre to fix a puncture is a ride ender.

Being unable to remove a tyre to fix a puncture is a ride ender.

Does this actually happen? Removing flat tyres is easy, if not ride 2m more

lol at the tubeless guys coming on the non tubeless thread.

since I bought my current bike in 2007, I’ve had more chains snap than punctures of conti tubes. and I can count both of those on the thumbs of both hands.

That’s cost me ohhh, an extortionate €4.00

OK this is probably now a cue for several more punctures, but to date, I can safely say that for me, tubes have been cheaper, easier, faff free, and 99% of that (smaller) faff in my kitchen,… Maybe tubeless does “feel” better (or just “different”), but I haven;t spent hours seating, re-seating, doing the shake, etc. sometimes it’s not the case of moving the faff from the trail to the kitchen, but removing the faff entirely.

andytherocketeer – Member
…sometimes it’s not the case of moving the faff from the trail to the kitchen, but removing the faff entirely.

Less faff, more fun. 🙂

And I don’t care if there is a tiny amount of more rolling resistance – although I use plenty talc when I fit a new tyre, so I think that helps.

Does this actually happen? Removing flat tyres is easy, if not ride 2m more

It happened to me as i said earlier. Up until it happened i’d have agreed with you that removing flat tyres is easy. This ‘glued to the rim’ tyre wasn’t coming off at the side of the trail and took a bit of time and effort to remove back at the house (where i could wash and dry it and had access to the kind of tools you wouldn’t want to carry on a ride).

I’d already rode a few hundred metres on a very soft tyre (and stopped a few times to top it up) before deciding to try and fix it. Maybe an extra 2 metres would have done the trick 😛

Edit: Unless you meant 2 miles

Whut? You bought a second hand bike and didn’t go over the whole thing with a fine tooth comb? Sounds like you were asking for trouble.

The number of ham fisted gibbons I know who work in bike shops, I even go over new bikes carefully……..

lol at the tubeless guys coming on the non tubeless thread.

Yeah how very dare we share the positive experiences, as somebody said asking for people to agree with you will result in a very reassuring thread full of lots of one off anecdotes about how awful tubeless is.
My experience along with everyone I know doing it properly is overwhelmingly positive.

Thanks for your responses everyone.
Having read through them I’m still undecided TBH – I don’t tend to puncture very often (that’s a kiss of death statement!). Need to decide soon though as I will be changing the WTB Wolverines I have – 3rd ride on them (new bike) and first wettish ride and they are all over the place – really slippy and twitchy – gave me no confidence whatsoever. Can you get tubeless High Rollers? – used HRs for years and like them.

Yes you can, been running Maxxis EXO on all my bikes for the last 2+ years, only just gone to the TR ones the normal ones have been fine. Much prefer the new minion to the HR2

Having read through them I’m still undecided TBH – I don’t tend to puncture very often

If you run your tyres at the pressure you like and don’t puncture often (or not often enough to be a problem) then you won’t get a lot of benefit (maybe a small weight saving, maybe not)

A lot of us who see tubeless as one of the best things in the last 20 years are those who got a lot of punctures (i.e. 3 or 4 on a good month) where fixing flats becomes a chore (especially in winter)

epicyclo – I cna understand your concerns but unless you’ve been an that situation and tried it….

In my experience (probably 10 years of tubeless-ness), these figures are roughly correct

90% of the time you won’t need to re-seat a tyre on a tubeless setup. Repairing a tyre can nearly always be done from the outside using a worm and glue kit.

5% of the time you might have damaged the tyre beyond repair of a worm. Despite my concerns I had a go at repairing a kenda nevegal (either UST or tubeless-ready) when I slashed the sidewall. I unhooked one side, glued a patch on the inside and did manage to get it to inflate with a mini pump.

5% of the time you might have to put a tube in.