I am seriously questioning the benefits of tubeless. help me understand where I’m getting it wrong…

Weight benefit? sure, maybe a bit, but you only really notice back to back.

Puncture benefit? Sure, I got punctures with tubes, buts its a quick fix.

Still get them with tubeless and its always mahoosive snakebites that of course are right through the tire, twice, way too big for sealant or anchovies (i have never put this many holes in tires with tubes inm they seem to take the impact). then you have to take the tire off the bead to get a tube in so there’s latex **** everywhere, oh and look, the valve absolutely refuses to unscrew so you’re swearing in the cold, dark and wet, with sealant all over your hands, trying to get this tiny wee **** nut to undo whilst the whole valve spins in the rim. arghghghghgh

Set up is either a piece of piss, or a total **** nightmare. Once it has started going wrong, its a cascade of frustrating **** disasters. My luck is standing at about 30% easy, 70% heavy pile of shite on getting them set up.

And of course, after the aforementioned puncture/holed tire/replace with tube scenario, you then of course have to go back to the bike cave at some poitn to redo the whole frustrating exercise once again.

Jesus wept, maybe I should stick to just walking the dog…

Sort of agree in many ways….

Solution for me has been to use tougher tyres, but paying extra for lighter models, e.g. most in the Schwalbe SuperGravity range (Magic Mary, Hans Dampf). You don’t need to run them quite as low as regular DH/Enduro tyres to achieve the same suppleness and traction – net result is no snake-bites within the last 2 years of thrashing.

Hmmmm, pretty poor rant tbh.

Your punctuation is there, spelling too and no random caps.

As for content, I’m unable to share but do empathise.

What pressures are your tyres? Sounds like they’re a little on the soft side?

There’s no mystery to it, if you’re snake biting your tubeless tyres then you are either not running enough pressure, running tyres that are too fragile/light for your riding, or both.

You mentioned that when you were running tubes you didn’t ruin as many tyres, well yes, cos you had the extra rubber of a tube in there, add that same rubber to your tubeless sidewall instead! Sure, you then won’t have a weight advantage but you will still have a puncture advantage.

Tubeless gets you lighter weight, more grip and puncture resistance, but not necessarily all at once, it’s a case of shifting the balance of factors to get what you want. If you’re dead lucky you get a bit of all three, but most opt for a lot of one or two factors at the expense if the other(s), it sounds like you just need to work out where your priorities are and setup for that.

There’s no mystery to it, if your snake biting your tubeless tyres there you are other not running enough pressure, running tyres that are too fragile/lught for your riding, or both.

+1, and buy an AirShot.

My experience is the complete opposite – 10,000Km of riding with just one puncture from something big like a 6″ nail that was fixed with an anchovy. 1000Km on the fat bike with one puncture that self sealed and I just needed to pump the tyre back up.

I find the best most reliable way to make it work is by using vulcanised rubber insert, like procore but larger volume.

You can pick them up for a few quid in Halfords, removes the need for sealant and in the unlikely event they fail, you can’t simply fit a new one without the need to piss about with more glue or a 5000Psi pump takes seconds, doesn’t react with Co2 either.

^ get that patented

I use CO2 to inflate tubeless in seconds every time, have done for ten years. No idea what the problem with doing this is meant to be. Except the cost of cartridges but I only use a few a year since going 29.

Less faff than tubes and the lower pressures means much better ride and grip.

What tyres and pressures are you running to pinch puncture, OP? I’ve never done that.

Snake-biting a tubeless tyre should be a very rare event – are you sure that’s what you mean? You must be riding like a stripe-arsed ape / run ridiculously low pressure / or both to be seeing that on the reg.

Been on tubeless since most of ye were in short kecks and doubt I’ve seen more than 1 or 2 compression punctures of the tyre.

In answer to your question OP – everywhere. 😉

Sounds like insufficient pressure.

IME, people that complain so much about tubeless like this generally know how to go through the motions, but don’t really understand it.

Is this you OP?

I’ve never had a snakey while using tubeless on the FS. I’ve had 2 split sidewalls but that was riding on sharp slatey stuff in the Lakes.

oh and look, the valve absolutely refuses to unscrew so you’re swearing in the cold, dark and wet,

Ahh, now I’ve had this & it resulted in a meeting with 2 of Torridon Mountain Rescue’s finest.

Otherwise, no problems. Still got tubes in the HT & road bike though.

Any scenario where you manage to snakebite a tyre would have killed a tube.

I have to agree with OP, I first tried tubeless years ago, even became quite evangelical about them for a while but ended up back in tubes after a bout of extreme faff.
Then again recently I thought the tech would have improved so bought the bits to convert a new bike did them myself first. The rear has been rock solid for six months but the front.. good god what a pia, even had the bike shop set it up and it still goes down and wont inflate so now has a tube fitted.
Just feels like I’ve wasted a lot of time and cash.

And that valve scenario, I’ve had that too and remember a particularly frantic Keilder 100 rider going balistic because he couldnt get a valve out to fit a tube shortly before the finish.

Still get them with tubeless and its always mahoosive snakebites that of course are right through the tire, twice

To be blunt, stop pissing about with flimsy tyres and low pressures which are inappropriate for your size and riding.

Tubeless. Another solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

Any scenario where you manage to snakebite a tyre would have killed a tube.

Agree – but the OP is saying swapping a tube is less faff than putting a tube into a tubeless set up. And he’s correct – esp if you cant get the valve out!

Tubeless. Another solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

Nonsense. But I’m thinking you knew that already.
If you genuinely think that then you must never have had a puncture. Which is possible. I don’t get punctures…….since I started running tubeless. 🙂

Tubeless. Another solution to a problem that didn’t exist.

Don’t be silly.

I now run 20psi in my tyres instead of 40 and I don’t get punctures. Huge improvement. Not to mention the better rolling and increased grip. And I used to be a sceptic when I first heard of it.

Anchovies for repairing tyres rather than messing round with tubes.

Recently had a massive faff getting shortys onto WTB rims. My mistake was only using one layer of gorilla tape and not pumping it up high enough for it to pop into the rim. Once I’d done that they have been fine and I can run them at much lower pressures than the wire bead WTB vigilantes that I had on before with tubes. Feels so much better to ride in the mud, plusher and increased grip. You need a high pressure canister like the spesh air tool blast – makes it so much easier. Although I wanted to smash the rims to pieces the first few attempts…

I use the strips designed for my rims. Don’t worry about how much tape to apply. One less variable and some tyres go up with a track pump.

Tubeless are a pain in the ass if you’re using an unsuitable tyre. I’ve found this out the hard way. I’ve pinch flatted many rear tubeless tyres (can’t recall ever doing a front one). On my old bike I solved this by buying a Schwalbe Hans Dampf Super Gravity rear tyre. I wasn’t a big fan of the tyre, preferring my previous Maxxis tyres in terms of grip, but I never had any issues with flats ever again (this was before the days of the Maxxis DD casings).

On my new build I’d specced Maxxis Minion DHF EXOs front and rear. I’d hoped to get away with the EXO casing due to the larger tyre volume, and for a while I did. However, with my new bike came higher speeds and soon I was pinch flatting the rear on a fairly regular basis. I loved everything else about the tyres and really didn’t want to change, so the solution for me was the Schwalbe ProCore system. I only use it in the rear wheel, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. The combined weight of the tyre and ProCore system is around the same as the Super Gravity casing tyres, but has the following advantages:

a) I can run whatever tyre I fancy, without being limited to heavy duty tyre carcasses;
b) I can, and do, run much lower pressures than I would ever dare with tubeless/tubes;
c) I can inflate it with a mini-pump;
d) burping the tyre is pretty much impossible;
e) if the outer chamber punctures and doesn’t seal, I can still finish a run or (if need be) get home.

It’s not infallible. I have punctured the inner chamber once, but quite frankly I was asking for it and think I would have probably destroyed a wheel with any other setup.

Id say you were likely putting a similar number of holes in your tyre when snake biting with tubes…just why would you notice? Put a fresh tube in and its fixed right. Most (not all) snakebite holes i get are so small i wouldnt even be able to see them if it wasnt for the stans squirting out.

Not that that helps you much. More psi or more rubber if your shredding the gnar.

Tubeless rules

So what you’re saying is that apart from the benefits what are the benefits?
It’s not a magical no snakebite bullet but it helps. Procore still allows low pressures and faster rolling tyres with small holes sealed by the gunk.
It’s a bit more faff but then again running is less faff than either. If it means I can run grippy tyres that roll fast and are lighter (procore is still lighter than going for a dual ply carcass which is the only thing I’ve found that compares for snakebite resistance) I’m prepared to faff a bit more.

Having a ‘bike cave’. That’s where you are going wrong.

I’ve managed to snakebite specialized ‘control’ carcass tyres on the rear when riding like an oaf a couple of times, but that was more down to the choice of tyre than using it tubeless, basically…

Any scenario where you manage to snakebite a tyre would have killed a tube.

And yes the ultimate fix (if it’s beyond sealant or anchovies) in such situations is to fit a tube, but that’s OK, on the occasions (once every couple of years) I do need to use a tube it simply reminds me how bone shackingly awful riding with tubes is and reinforces my belief that tubeless is the better solution for MTB tyres 😉

I’ve not had a puncture in a year now since going tubeless, but then again, i don’t try and run <20psi, i still run 30-35 which i’m happy with and works well.

As above, if you’re snakebiting tyres, then you can’t be running a sensible PSI ?

Harsh, but have to agree. Snake biting tyres means the tyre sidewall was crushed. The only answers there are not enough air or not a strong enough tyre, possibly both.

As above, the three benefits of grip/traction/rolling/ground conformance, weight and puncture resistance are not something you get all togein full measure. You need to balance them by sensible choice of setup and materials in accordance with your riding style and where you go.

I’ve been mountain biking for around 25yrs now, but only converted to tubeless around 18 months ago and I’d say the difference is phenomenal. I’m a hefty lad (around 110 kg), and with tubes in I need to run pretty high pressures to avoid pinch flats. With the tubeless system, I can drop the pressure down to around 25 psi and the improved traction over rocks and roots is simply grin inducing.

Haven’t had a single puncture (touch wood, touch wood), in that time either. Stick with it!

C.

p.s. Mind you, I always carry a spare tube….just in case!

It isn’t rocket science. If you get a snakebite, add a few psi. Keep doing that until they stop happening, unless that takes the pressure much past 30psi. If that happens, buy a heavier casing tyre, drop about 5psi and repeat. If you get much past 30psi again, then add one of the new foam pinchflat/rim protection systems and repeat.

But if you have to go that far to prevent pinchflats in tubeless then you must have been running 50psi odd to prevent them with tubes!

arghghghghgh

That’s quite a guttural scream you have there; lots of Gs – almost like a laugh from this guy…

Perhaps you have some sealant sloshing around in your throat.

Come on, has the OP said what tyres he’s using? Gotta be the problem.

Foam.

Backer.

Rod.

Next?

When it goes according to plan, tubeless is bloody wonderful. When it doesn’t, it’s a colossal PITA.

I once bought a pair of very expensive Black Chilli compound tubeless ready Contis and a stray flint took out the sidewalls on both tyres on their very first ride. A very long and cold walk home was punctuated with much swearing, lesson learned I made sure that I knew the difference between “Tubeless Ready” and “Reinforced Sidewalls”.

These days, I bite the bullet and go for something like Specialized’s Grid carcass. Valves are a perennial pain too, if not seated carefully, sealant pisses into the rim and leaks through the spoke holes. I tend to carry a pair of small pliers with me whenever I install a new valve as it WILL start leaking as soon as I’m more than five miles from home.

If you’re suffering from repeated snakebite type punctures on your tubeless tyres, then it’s worth forking out for reinforced sidewalls on your next pair of tyres.

Loving tubeless normally, but last night on the ride home the rear felt a bit squirrelly for the last couple of miles. This morning I woke to find it had gone complete;y flat. I attacked it with a track pump and noticed the sidewalls of the Slaughter leaking fluid and air. Off to the cupboard to get Stan’s and the syringr and the next ten minutes saw me do everything wrong.
The patio looked like a cross between a Badger meme and a farm yard after a new girl from PIC had her first day on the job.
Hosed everything down and the bike is now fine again. But it reckon the weight of the Stan’s far exceeds the weight saving of the thinner casing. I’m going for the heavier on next time.
But apart from glitches like today tubeless has been effortless and easy for my for about 18,000 miles over the last 4 years on a variety of bikes.

Get some tough/high grip WTB tyres – you ain’t never snakebiting those sidewalls! (Might double the weight of your bike though)

Procore is the answer

On the extremely rare occasion that I have had to put a tube into a tubeless tyre out in the field I found that using the chain pin remover from my Lezyne mini-tool set was pretty good at jamming around the valve washer when it was stuck. It gets you enough purchase to get the damn thing undone.

I may, have been slightly pissed off with life last night when I posted, so thank you all for the reasoned responses.

P-jay especially gave me an LOL 😀

Higher pressure might just be the answer. what a fanny. not wanting to splurge even more cash chasing the **** tubeless unicorn.

Oh, and eddiebaby, a special place in hell is reserved for the Stans syringe thingy. With race sealant, it of course almost instantly blocks, and then explodes. As you experienced. there’s a BSN shaped spaff shadow on the wall of the bike cellar from that happening the other day.