Hi all,

Going tubeless and looking for inspiration on different tyre setups.

I ride mainly in the Peaks and happy to ride anything but I’m not aggressive and like to put in a lot of miles on a ride..up and down..

Since I’m going to be running lowers pressure I can have slimmer tyres than usual I guess.

So what works for you?

Price is not a problem cos if it works I’ll just leave them on all year round and ride accordingly..

Cheers for any replies…

High rollers here, and judging by most of the tracks left in rural Cambridgeshire I’m not the only one locally

Same tyres as I’d have used with tubes, just run at much lower pressure – 20-25 rather than 40.

FWIW, they don’t feel massively different at those pressures but they felt awful tubeless at non-tubeless pressure (first tubeless ride).

Mind you I don’t agree with your logic on lower pressure = slimmer tyres as typically that’d be a potential recipe for bent rims but maybe that’s not quite what you meant?

Hi nemesis,

Cheers fot post.

My logic was that I’ve always run minimum 2.35 on the front and I was thinking I could go to 2.2 up front – and with a lower pressure roll faster but not get any punctures (that I might get if I had tubes in).

If my logic is wrong here by all means say so..

Bontrager XR4 2.3 up front (@25psi) and XR2 2.3 out back (@25psi). Working nicely for me in the South Lakes.

Narrower tyres aren’t faster per se and any number of mud tyre users could tell you. For the Peak, I’d be looking at something decently large to cope with the rocks, but fast rolling at the back. The classic Maxxis combo round here would be something like a 2.3 Minion DHF up front and an Ardent 2.20 at the back. A 2.25 Ardent Race is quicker and works really well round here. And 2.35 Ikons are faster and bigger still.

What tyres do you run currently and are you happy with them? Most of the rolling resistance is down to the rear tyre btw, so a lot of people run something relatively grippy on the front, but a faster tyre out back. Sliding the rear is fine, sliding the front generally hurts…

+1 No point in going narrower that I can see.

I run a thicker sidewall on the rear, to handle the bigger hits. Either a full UST, or sometimes a LUST (Maxxis) or Protection (Conti). I wreck std tyres on the rear. On the front they’re okay though.

I use Chunky Monkey front, Smorgasbord rear most of the time – about 18psi front and 20psi rear.

I’ve settled on X-King protections on the HT in the peaks, normally 2.2 both ends but i’ve got a 2.4 to put on the front to try now it’s a bit drier, and a race king 2.2 for the back. Race king looks like it’s got a bit more volume so could be a nice match with the 2.4 x-king.

I do try and get 20k or so on the road when I ride just to spin for fitness so I don’t like massive tyres – I’m probably similar on a ride to you OP normally end up between 40-60k with a mix of road, off road and the occasional push up!

My only gripes with the X-Kings is that the front can be a bit washy in the wet and that I cant get more than 6 months out of the rear before they’re totalled. Tend to run about 25psi front 30 back.

People telling you their tyre pressures for tubeless is a misleading unless they include their weight, type of riding etc.

A rule of thumb IIRC is your riding weight in lbs divide by 7 and add 2 or the rear tyre and less 2 for th e front tyre pressure as expressed in psi.

As for HT tubeless tyre choice, I prefer a biggish volume tyre up front and slimmer, quicker rolling rear tyre. Local conditions and other riders will give you the best pointers there.

I run 2.2 trail kings which come up wide at around 20-25. I am light (10 stone) and it isn’t especially gnar here. I’ve dinged the rear rim but never had a tyre actually go down on a ride ( ironically I have on my full sus)

I definitely found it was faster rolling and smoother running those pressures tubeless. With tubes I still ran them pretty low but had a lot of pinch flats

I don’t have a fs so going tubeless with a big rear tyre (spec ground control 2.3) was a revelation in both grip and comfort for me. Mostly ride dark peak.

It depends on the rims you’re using. If you’re using narrow width rims (eg Mavic 717 or 719) then it’s pointless sticking a huge tyre up front, it’ll simply squirm a lot at low pressures and most likely will be an absolute pig to seat on the rim.

It is true that narrower tyres aren’t slower per se, the rubber compound and tread pattern have far more influence on rolling speed but it makes sense not to go too silly if you’re using narrow rims.

I’ve been tubeless in various configurations for five years, by far the biggest issue for me has been sidewall tearing. I live in a flinty part of England and have totalled at least six brand new, thirty quid plus tyres on flint before I learned my lesson and opted for tougher sidewalls (Specialized Grid carcass). UST specific tyres may be more expensive, heavier and harder to tease onto a rim, but the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

I’ve got 2.35 minions on mine 25(ish) on the front a squidge more on the back, ride in Calderdale, 75kg in ride gear.

I’d highly recommend against Specialized Ground Control S-Works 2.1. First ride, rolled it off the rim, second ride put a hole in the sidewall that won’t seal. Made of fairy wings apparently.

Bontrager XR4 2.3 up front @ 25psi, XR3 2.2 out back @ 27psi. 85Kg in biking kit. Not had any problems so far in The Lakes, Dales or the Peak.

Chunky monkey, smorgasbord combo for me. Pretty happy with them. Hold air quite well. As in, pumped em up start of the year and they are still rideable. Nice and grippy as well.

Specialised S-Works Ground Control 29×2.1 @ 25 psi on crest rims front and rear. I’m not an aggresive rider if you couldn’t guess. 18 months without issue.

Specialized Ground Control 2-Bliss 650b 2.1s on my hardtail and on the rigid SS (26ers), on Crests and 719s respectively. I’m 11 stone and run them at about 28psi. No problems.

I’m quite an aggressive rider, but lacking in some finesse, which might explain my issues with the Ground Control. I do only weigh about 60kg though so not much weight behind me.

I don’t think anyone said this, but if you’re riding mostly in the Peak, something with reinforced sidewalls like the Maxxis EXO, Schwalbe Snakeskin or similar makes sense. Thin-walled tyres tend to be squirmy run tubeless, but also have a tendency to wear through at the side thanks to the pleasingly abrasive nature of Peak gritstone, at least at the Dark Peak end of things.

Depends how much you hate fixing punctures really, yeah, you still get the odd puncture with tubeless, you’ll just need to get familiar with the ‘worm kit‘.

In the Peak the best combos I’ve found* for summer are something chunky up front so XR4, Hans Dampf, Shorty (probably in reverse order of preference there but it’s not dry yet!)
Out the back is something like a Rock razor (snakeskin) or Mavic Roam.

Our little group do tend to smash down the rocky stuff, the first puncture on a ride in bloody ages was after my mate swapped his super gravity rock razor for a snakeskin one 😀

*from a collection of tyres i’ve been given/had laying about

Really appreciate all the responses.. Been some great ideas of tyres to look at and techy stuff to get around..

I think I was going off track – my take now is that essentially I apply same logic to tubeless as i do now to my current tubes setup (beefier up front and slimmer out back) but, crucially, remember that lower pressures will affect my sidewalls and I need to ensure the walls are tough enough to cope with this squash…

Oh and ‘scaled’,cheers for worm kit link. Never new that existed!!