Ok, take it easy on me, can I have a list of positives and negatives for going tubeless. I have suitable wheels and tyres, plan to go racing again sometime but generally just long hilly rides arsing about.

Is it worth the faff?

Oops, wrong forum…

I've had a search and found some info but would be interested in some fresh opinions.
In light of the Hope group buy I'd be interested in opinions on the rims to go for. I ride XC and a bit of trail centre on my Golden willow running Fire XC pro 2.2 at the mo.
Sorry for the slight hijack.

Paul.

I though tubeless was likely more hassle than benefit but I bought a cheap stans wheel & gave it a go. Initial problem with a badly made nobby nick but since then, plain sailing

"proper" tubeless wheels & tyres seem great (I do use jizz as well)

I've done a home-made conversion on a mavic rim too, with a tubeless ready tyre. That seems to hold air just fine but I reckon the lileihood of burping is a bit higher since the shoulder of the rim is not as wide.

Downsides
pain in the arse if you change tyres a lot and use jizz
initial fitting takes maybe half an hour, spread over a few hours (fitting tyre with a tube 1st and leaving for a while, to get it to sit properly on the rim)

If you've got suitable wheels and tyres why not just try it for yourself?

FWIW I've had no trouble at all with a ghetto setup.

No punctures since I went tubeless! It was only a couple of weeks ago though so might not be statistically significant 🙂

largest benefit is the total lack of thorn-type punctures, so long as you use sealant.

it is/can be a bit of a faff. minimum of a good high flow track pump for inflation IME, compressors can be very useful, or CO2 pumps (cheaper if you get canisters from BB/paintball gun places). once you have done a few and got the knack the faff seems a lot less troublesome. changing tyres take longer.

you should still carry a tube (IMO) since damaged tyres will otherwise end a ride. that said anything that damages a tyre enough would likely have punctured a tube, so you're not worse off. you can run lower pressures and grip/feel does seem to be better even at similar pressures.

some have had issues with ghetto setups burping/rolling off rims. i've been issue free for nearly a year/ ~1500 miles.

it's all about the puncture-free goodness though for me.

Pos: Feels better; lower pressures=more grip; far less punctures; no pinch flats; sealant usually fixes punctures if you do get them

Neg: Pricy tyres; changing tyres is messy; if the sealant doesn't fix the puncture getting a tube in is messy; weedy people struggle to bead the tyres