Can someone just explain why so many people are going tubeless?
It saves the weight of a tube, fair enough but arent you just more prone to loosing pressure and punctures etc?
Come on convince me, a may even go tubeless…

Search 🙂

Doesnt really save weight. IMPROVES puncture world, dont lose pressure and tyres roll better.

Weighs less, fewer punctures, more grip, less rolling resistance. Generally better!

I change my tyres over depending on what i'm doing that day, wont that be an issue?

Yep!

ah lame, looks like im staying tubed then. one day…
cheers all

Of course!

Christ, I can never find tyres that work in any conditions satisfactorily, let alone change them daily for best use! My tyres stay on unless its seriously mahoosively boggy, then i switch to mud tyres.

I also changed between "fast" and "grip" tyres. Then last summer I got my new bike and I really liked the feel of the tyres (Nevs) but they punctured every ride, both types. So I tried ghetto tubeless and have had no punctures since, just one burp in a crash.

They are worn out now so just fitted Maxxis Adv tubeless. Happy rolling.

i had 9 punctures in my first 2 rides – 4 punctures in 1 ten hour race (having previously done a whole year without a flat riding the same pace) went tubeless and manage to get away with 420gram tires and not puncture !

Changing tires is not a hard job once you have the knack – i had to do it twice in one day for an event when after i put my dry tires on it pissed down !

more grip, less rolling resistance.

can someone explain how tubless tyres grip better and have less rolling resistance… doesn't this depend on the tread pattern ?

Kev

can someone explain how tubless tyres grip better and have less rolling resistance… doesn't this depend on the tread pattern ?

Mainly because you can run a lower pressure. Unlike on the road where higher pressure equates to lower rolling resistance, off the road lower pressure helps- the tire can deform more easily to roll over small obstacles and bumps- at higher pressures the tire can't deform and has to climb up and over stuff- it mightn't sound significant but it mattes a lot. Grip is also increased because the contact area with the ground is increased at lower pressures.
Even on tubes you'll notice the difference- ride a section at 50psi, then do it again with 30-35psi.

The tyre alone is thinner and more flexible than a tyre with a tube behind it. Therefore, the tyre can conform to the shape of the ground giving you more rubber in contact. Therefore, more grip. It's counter intuitive that it can also offer less rolling resistance if there's more grip but because the tyre conforms more, it "blends" with the surface features rather than offering hard edges to them.

I didn't do it for the weight or the reduced punctures, I just did it for the feel. I swap tyres over quite a bit so I got a little compressor. It takes no time at all to reseal a tyre that's been previously used. (However, I tend to stick to UST/LUST tyres now which seal even better on Stans rims)

Can't find it right now but someone did a study, riders going uphill offroad, repeatedly making test as fair as possible and measuring time, heart rate and perceived effort. Think they used pro riders.
They found it did make a difference for much the same reasons as given by vinnyeh.
Plus puncture resistance for me, don't understand using "proper" tubeless though, sealant for puncture resistance please!
Oh, and having Bontrager wheels, rim strips and tyres made it just as easy as tubes, really.

Just put one together this week for the first time. Am going to put all this stuff to the test at the weekend.

I change my tyres over depending on what i'm doing that day, wont that be an issue?

😕

Although I run UST, I'm wary of claims of really low pressures, I use Nobby Nics 2.1, and TBH anything less than 30psi on them, and the rear feels awful, it squirms and rolls about, makes for a very un-sure ride. I'm sure tyres are different though

nickc – I've heard this about NN – they have thinner sidewalls so are prone to squirming.

Been tubeless for 7 years. Can't understand why people still use tubes (IME & IMO). Gets boring waiting for people to fix punctures – particularly when your guide for a weeks holiday slags off tubeless (and every other bit of kit you have), then you have to wait for him to fix his hourly puncture.

Can't understand why people still use tubes (IME & IMO). Gets boring waiting for people to fix punctures

I can't agree enough with the above statement!

I use Schwalbe tyres as they seal really well, I change tyres very regularly with no dramas at all, I usually run 25-30 psi in Rocket Rons as my standard setup, and have no problems with squirmy-ness and they're thinner than Nics. Have run Mud X's at 15psi for grip before, but they do have thicker sidewalls.

put tyres on wheels
inflate
replace when the tyres are worn out.

i use a completely different bike for different conditions anyway.