I am looking at ordering a set of cyclcross wheels to replace a very heavy set that came with the bike. Looking at using them for mainly racing. Reading a few forums and people are saying go for Tubs but it sounds a real effort to glue the tubs on and then not being able to change tyres quickly. Are they worth the effort? Or would I get most of the benefit from running something tubeless? Also in terms of wheels looking at potentially the kinesis v3 set or I could order a carbon set from farsports? Any recommendations would be greatly received as I have only done one race.

Any views?

You can only realistically race on tubs….and you’ll ideally need 2 sets with different tyres.

I opted for a set of iron cross simply because I cant be arsed with the hassle of tubs and I’ve always been impressed with stans’ build quality/weight. However if you’re going down the tubeless route make sure your tyres are tried and tested on whatever rims you go for. I got a pair of black chilli contis and they took ages to seal. I would also add that some tubeless set ups have a max pressure limit of 45psi (great for cx racing on muddy fields etc but shite for gravel tracks)

No real depth of CX race experience here but I went for tubeless as 1) tubs are a pita (I have them on my tt bike and used them lots as a youth on my one road bike) 2)I am happy to use tubeless on the road so can use the cross bike with slicks in summer 3) I’m never going to win a cx race, ever, ever so tubs ain’t going to make much difference.
I went for handbuilt ailerons on shimano hubs, came out at just under £300 and currently using maxxis mudwrestler tubeless on them, very happy with them and I’m pretty sure they can run higher pressures if needed.

Really depends on what you want to use them for. Tubs for racing but not much use for general riding they are a bit of a faff but once you know how to do it it is relatively straight forward. Tubeless is the option I use for racing but there are problems with tyre burping at lower pressures and exploding off the rim at higher pressures. A lighter wheel set will make a big difference whatever tyre system you use. FWIW I think my next racing wheel set are going to be tubs.

5 years ago I’d have said tubs, but nowadays I’d say go tubeless, whilst theirs some pain in so e volume tubeless setup it’s not as great as that of tubs, or rolling a tub etc etc.
Herself is in the process of building up a RLT9 and it’s going to be a decision between something like Grail or other tubeless rim.

Tubs. for CX anything else is 2nd best. After all you don’t change a tyre in the middle of a race, you swap wheels or go home.
For riding your CX bikes off road I would go tubes as that will allow a choice of tyres.

I’d say a pair of Griffos or Limus clincher (they’re called open clinchers) and stick some tubes in them.

If you are a Pro or very good you’ll probably want Tubs, but I’d guess you are not therefore clinchers will be fine for what you need.

How much of a difference do latex tubes make in clinchers?

Challenge Griffo open tubulars are great. Ride superbly but without the faff.
Saying that, I’ve gone tubeless with wire bead Schwalbe Smart Sams on Stans Alpha 400’s. Went up a treat.

Stans ZTR rims and Kenda Kwiker tubeless at 40psi front and rear for me. Cross racing, road training rides and Peak District off road rides (avoiding Hagg Farm and the like). No burping, holes, blowing off rims. I seem to be doing OK. Not as fast on road as a road bike wheel but then it’s not a road bike wheel set up.

I have been racing cross this year on a pair of Stans Crest 29er wheels with Mich Mud 2 cross tyres, tubeless with Stans Jizz in them. They have been perfect and I have had no complaints and my results have been good as well. 😀

Tubs. for CX anything else is 2nd best. After all you don’t change a tyre in the middle of a race, you swap wheels or go home.
For riding your CX bikes off road I would go tubes as that will allow a choice of tyres.

+1

Ran tubeless on mine. Used bonty race x light 29er wheels. Light enough and easy to seal. I used hutchinson tubeless cross tyres. I was never in danger of winning so specific cross wheels wete not really on my wish list. Never had tyres burp or blow off the rims. Not sure about other brands.
I had bad experiences with tubes pinch puncturing.

Tubs for racing. Certainly when it’s muddy.

tubs for racing.. clinchers for training and race back up.

I don’t find tubs a massive faff. yes there’s a bit of time to glue but but once you’ve done that you can forget about them. I ran grifo tubulars for 2 years.I’m now running a clement pdx ( as i want to disc) which has a more aggressive tread. Followed crossjunkies advice and it’s pretty straightforward to do (plus very satisfying)

Tubs are awesome for racing, especially in tougher conditions but if you’re going to use one pair of wheels I’d try a get a quality pair of clinchers and use cotton open tubs will latex tubs and you get a good chunk of tub like performance with the clincher convenience

Tubs will be next, going to Skip tubeless. Only had one puncture in six seasons on tyres. Use Muds at 25psi with heavy inners.
Your 40 on tubeless, isn’t that harsh?

Mainly racing? Tubs tubs tubs!
No hassle once you’re used to it, and you put them on in August when it’s dry and sunny anyway 🙂
No comparison to clinchers or tubeless on a fast day, in a completely different league when it’s muddy – I ran 14psi in my tubs today…

Tubeless

Few years racing cx on them without much trouble(one burping incident and torn sidewall) in 3 years is good in my book 🙂

^ ‘riding round during a race’ or actually ‘racing’?

^ yes proper racing at the sharp end no namby pamby stuff ^ 😉

Fair play 😆
I can’t recall seeing anyone on tubeless anywhere near the front of a race. I quite happily use them for training but wouldn’t even consider racing on tubeless when I have tubs available. I find the difference to be massive.

@LS. 14 psi????? Doesn’t that make the tyres squirm around all over the place?

Yes, but once you get used to it and the occasional tyre ‘flop’ into faster corners you have vastly more grip than anything else that’s possible.
After a while you can distinguish between what’s squirm and what’s the beginning of a slide.

Do a few bikes for CX racing at my work.

They all use tubs for racing, 18-20psi if its muddy.
they also have at least one spare set of wheels and a spare bike

I’d also query the whole ‘train on clinchers’ thing. If you’re training in terms of bike skills etc, I think you need to train on the wheels you’re going to race on. Might as well train on a MTB or something otherwise 🙂

LS, done over a dozen cross races this year, been in the top ten nearly every time, a few podiums and only not been in the top ten twice due to mechanicals (not tyre related :P) I run tubeless. 8)

Ok good stuff – Nice to see that it’s working for people. For balance, yesterday’s NDCXL was a complete mudbath and the entire top ten and beyond ran tubs. I couldn’t imagine running tubeless in those conditions. You won’t find a non-tub rider in the top 30 of a Trophy.

Well I’ve put my Limus on today, not for racing just for Hacking in the Mud.. 8)

Correct, did the Inters (mega mudbath) and my tyres did not work at all, people who get no where near me rode past me on the flat. Tubs are better in really muddy conditions but skill also makes up for a lot of the tyre shortfalls in every other condition.

I only have one bike as well, so when it gets that bad/muddy, I sack it off and go out MTB’ing instead.

@LS I think the courses must be quite different we race on. I am based over in Germany and the courses tend to be mini mountainbike course with rocky or rooty singletrack sections. I can’t imagine running such a low pressure in the tyres without completely trashing the rims. They can’t be that dissimilar to the rest of Germany either seeing as the German championships this season are being held on one of the local courses.

Yesterday’s race was largely smooth grassland with some roots, very rarely any rocks. The majority of UK cx courses are like that nowadays thanks to ‘modernisation’ of the old-school setups, and the increase in participation has led to using more public venues such as parks etc. which can cope with 400 vehicles. It makes for fast racing in the dry but swamps in the wet (no complaints from me tbh, I like mud 🙂 )
The inter-areas mentioned above being a perfect case, slow sticky mud where you need drive and cornering grip, and not much else.

NDCXL Markeaton’s mud was a bit sticky yesterday! Top 20 in the league and I have 2 patches on the front inner tube and 3 on the back 🙂