My commuter bike is currently tubed with 35mm winter road tyres. Works well but quite a harsh ride due to high pressures; lower pressures with the roads round here and I'd be risking lots of punctures.
Could go tubeless by swapping the rims. Been tubeless with my other bikes for years but had mixed opinions on wether its worth it on a commuter bike that needs to be low maintenance.
I've got Pirelli P-zeros on my commuter, with 34mm tyres, and they've been faultless.
I did get a puncture a few weeks ago, but only realised when I got home and couldn't work out what all the mystery white stuff on the bike was. It had clearly punctured, sealed, and I had not even noticed.
However, not all tyres are the same.
Not commuting anymore (yaay!) but I use 35mm schwalbe g one all rounds on my gravel bike set up tubeless for winter mostly road riding on really badly surfaced lanes. Pressures are about 41 psi back and 38 front but I am 68kg wet through. They don't puncture to the point that I need to stab anything into them very often, so I'd say give tubeless a go, although I do need to pump them up a bit every day if that makes a difference?
42/38mm tubeless here, usually Gravel kings or WTB something(Byway maybe?) regular commuter all year round, around 45psi, never had to stop for a puncture.
I had a massive improvement in ride quality when I switched from tubed Marathons to tubeless G Ones, and no unsealed punctures.
Tubeless for me - suburban / urban commute, would be a few punctures on tubes.
Never touch the sealant tbh. Pirelli p-zero and conti 5000 currently.
I'd go tubeless....but the day (if it ever happens) you tear a sidewall or do more significant damage you'll hate yourself for a few hours. Then you'll get over it and appreciate it generally better.
I had a tubeless road tyre get slashed by a bit of metal that tore through the tread and wasn't going to be repairable by sealant or a bacon strip. Obviously it was raining. And dark. Bike and me now looked like I've doing something unmentionable in the woods, covered in white jizz. The trusty inner tube I'd been carrying around for years for just such an occasions was brought our and it quickly materialised my tyre was the equivalent of an inverted porcupine with 18 months of thorns, flints and bit of metal stuck through the tyre that would need clearing out before an inner tube stood a chance. At that point you could be glass half full or empty and curse having to do 18 months worth of crap removal in a oner (in the dark and rain) or celebrate every puncture you missed out on as you pull the bits out one and at time.
Moral or the story is probably that tubeless is brilliant but don't let it allow you to become a lazy arse and not do any routine checks until its dark and wet and you are covered in harry monk.
I spent 17 years commuting 5 days a week (15 mile round trip) in all weathers inc storms, snow and torrential rain
Tried tubeless for around 2 years and its great when it seals instantly and you don't realise until you are at work or home
Absolute nightmare when it didn't seal due to it spraying sealant all up my back and work bag, then having to try and plug the hole in the dark, wet and cold, even worse if a plug didn't work then the only choice was to fit a tube in the dark, wet and cold, getting covered in sealant and then having to go through the whole process again when you eventually get home to set it up tubeless again
in the end i went back to tubes paired with a set of schwalbe Durano Plus 30mm tyres (their puncture protection is one level lower than the infamous Marathon Plus) never had another puncture in the next 7 years of commuting
Tubeless with a double load of sealant. That's how i've set my exes bike up. An older Kinesis CX bike. It's got some mid range 35mm Schwalbe tyres on and gets used for touring too.
She's not had a flat on that since i set it up. Now on it's 2nd or 3rd set of tyres.
My commuter bike is currently tubed with 35mm winter road tyres. Works well but quite a harsh ride due to high pressures; lower pressures with the roads round here and I'd be risking lots of punctures.
How high is high?
The roads around here are awful, but the whole point of big tyres is the low pressures and the larger contact patch, coupled with more height, means they take significantly more of an impact to pinch the tube as well. At ~96kg and 50-60psi the last time I had a pinch flat was hitting an absolute crater at full speed in the dark on a slight descent (~25mph), it wrote the whole wheel off. Smaller stuff they just shrug off even at 50psi, and I don't think I'm jedi like in my ability to pick a line through them!
Personally my commuter and my nice bike are both back on tubes, a random mix of TPU and butyl ones. I liked tubeless, and would run it again, but it wasn't worth throwing out perfectly good tubed tyres for. Tubeless seals 90% of the time, which is great, but swapping tubes takes ~4minutes and my current WTB Expanse 32's only get them very infrequently so I'm inclined towards being able to fix it trumping reliability.
Swapped from marathons to Pirelli Cinturato Velos set up tubeless. Mix of rural and urban roads. They've been brilliant - bit pricey but recommended.
I find tubeless a real pain on a commuter bike purely for the fact that I have to top up the pressures so frequently. Tubes with a bit of sealant in is the best of both worlds imo, if you need lower pressure.
I used tubes on my commute bike. In last 6 years not had a puncture during the actual ride, had a few that have gone down during the day though. Currently on a 32mm Roubaix on the rear and a 30mm gator skin on the front, gator skins are still awful to ride but the tyres were unused on a second hand bike I bought...hateful things but very puncture proof. As above the issue with tubeless is that at some point you will get a flat, put a tube in and find the tyre has 240 000 sharp things stuck in it already and then it all goes to shit.
Not a very regular commuter but I was every day, year-round pre COVID. Used tubes, very very few punctures and they were because of worn tyres or something that would have destroyed a tubeless tyre. Used a gatorskin rear and 4seasons on the front
I used to do ~15 miles each way on country lanes and preferred tubes. That was with maybe 35mm ‘sturdy’ tyres.
The main thing was a puncture repair being a known quantity- one thorn to find, a spare tube to chuck in and an easy tyre to get on and off. Be fixed and on the road again in ten minutes or less rather than a coin toss between ‘tubeless fixed it’ and ‘half hour nightmare of sealant not working and old thorns puncturing the tube when i need to get home for something’.
These days if I was commuting again I think I’d consider a thicker insert and an undersized tube. Insert can catch the thorns but if one does make it through to the tube it’s only that one you need to find.
My commute is only short, so ride quality isn’t that high on the list. Marathon Plus and tubes work for me
I've been toying with this idea too. My commute is pretty shorty so as per P20 about, super heavy duty Marathons and tubes has been working pretty well.
But.
I'd quite like to use the bike more for actual fun rides - a mix of farm, easy singletrack and bits of road. The Marathons are a slog for this (and have no tread). I used to have G-Ones which were ace, but took them off because the commute can sometimes be a bit glassy.
Tempted to pop them back on tubeless and see how we go...
I think switching from Marathons to even wooden cart wheels would be a noticeable difference.
I suppose as you use both solutions, it's up to you. I'm commuting on an old MTB and have slow, but puncture proof tyres - they do the job, but they also go off road well. When I was commuting on a road bike, the only thing I found that would stand up to the glass on a shared path, was Durano Plus. Tried all sorts of tyres, Conti 4 Seasons, Michelins etc. Tubeless may have helped, but wouldn't have stopped the cuts and slashes, which is probably too much for tubeless to deal with.
Very much depends on the route - the use of a shared path (I changed route after getting knocked off) did mean my previous tyre choices wasn't the best solution.
My route is not usually *too* bad for glass, but it can vary. Might give it a go, if it's a pain I can always switch back.
The main thing was a puncture repair being a known quantity
This is why it’s tubes for me on the commuter bike.
I’m canal towpath most of the way, fixed wheel, Schwalbe Land Cruiser 35 width has been my favourite for years - durable, cheap, easy on/off and feel fine on a range of surfaces.
... I use 35mm schwalbe g one all rounds on my gravel bike set up tubeless for winter mostly road riding on really badly surfaced lanes
Same here, but for commuting, been running them for about 10 years, no going back. Tried some different tyres recently (Hutchinsons) they were crap in comparison, scary lack of grip - might be ok on dry, summer roads.
I've found the tanwall G-Ones hardly ever need pumping up. Must be coincidence, but on my 2nd set now, since Ribble were selling them cheap, but they don't seem to leak at all, the all black ones were getting 5+ psi added every few days.
Will run tubeless til I die 😉
Tubeless so I don’t have to run soul destroying tires like gator skins. Inserts so if I do get something that won’t seal (normally because I haven’t topped up the sealant in a couple of years) I can limp home without worrying about putting a tube in.