Road Tubeless or TPU?

Have tried both. Would not bother with either. Nor would I use latex tubes. Just good butyl tubes and spend the money on the tyres. Vittoria Corsa’s are my go to. Yes they can eat tread fast (compared to some hosepipe tyres) but life is too short for shitty tyres.

I wouldn't consider running without tubeless.  10 years and 70000km+ across a range of bikes, wheels and tyre combos and only two punctures that didn't self seal.  The first eventually sealed with s dab of loctite by the side of the road, the second with an anchovie.  I never even removed the wheels.  Both tyres were eventually ran down to the canvas.  

@daffy….blimey….. I’ve had 9 punctures in the last month and not a single one has sealed!

But I would never ever go back to tubes for the simple reason any tubeless puncture is so easy to sort if it doesn't seal. Plug. Pump. Go. No fekking around with wheel off, stubborn tyres, accidentally popping the tube putting stubborn tyre back on. <br /><br />

way simpler being tubeless

I currently have both setups running although the TPU tubes have only been out once so far. Initially I bought RideNow TPU but they punctured within 10 miles - I was using Challenge Strada tyres however so not the most puncture resistant but I was expecting more from the TPU. It was a tiny bit of flint/glass that did the damage. I then put expensive Vittoria lightweight TPU tubes in and both of those have also punctured although I'm not sure when as they are both slow. Next I thought I would try some OKO sealant in the tubes which is where I am now, but not been out on them yet. I don't know if I'm wasting my time with sealant in an inner tube but I was experimenting with minimal faff as the Stradas have very porous sidewalls and need specific sealant (Orange, or Challenge or SealSmart are some of the recommended ones) to get them to hold air consistently in the first place, I was therefore trying to negate that...I did also buy some TPU Nano tubes which came all the way from Australia and they are noticeably thicker than either the Vittoria or the RideNow (and consequently about 8-10 grams heavier) but I am hoping their puncture resistance is greater if the sealant filled tubes fail to work. I have the puncture prone Challenge Stradas in my quest for a supper supple ride and I can vouch for the fact that they are supremely comfy... Maybe TPU in a more robust tyre would be better...🤷‍♂️I have some GP5000S's setup tubeless and I've been riding these about for a few weeks in some really shitty weather with zero issues so far. Stans sealant in these although I don't appear to have had a puncture to vouch for whether or not the tubeless is doing its job! Maybe it is so good that I don't even know Ive had a puncture but I certainly haven't had sealant pissing out everywhere and I have examined the tyres for evidence and can't see any so I am assuming no punctures. 30mm tyres at 60ish psi on 21mm internal rims.

EDIT - @daffy what sealant do you use pray tell?

Currently using latex tubes on the road bike, might try TPU in future, some paid relative peanuts for some from AliExpress instead of the Pirelli ones available from UK stores.

Road tubeless works great until it dosent

As soon as you get a hole/slash that the sealant cant fix you will end up with sealant all over your bike, your legs and your expensive riding clothes, not to mention also all over your hands as you have to fit an inner tube to get you home

Once home you then again have to deal with the mess when removing the sealant covered tube, repairing the hole in the tyre and refilling with sealant, cleaning dried sealant off the bike and trying to get it out of your clothes

After this happens 2-3 times you give up on road tubeless and you back to normal tubes, much less mess and your not paying out for replacement sealant due to yours being pissed out the tyre when it didnt seal

Not tried TPU tubes yet, had a quick look at some and they were around £20 a tube plus another £10 for a patch kit, so that's atleast £70 (2 tubes for the bike, 1 spare for the saddle bag/frame strap/tool bottle plus the TPU repair kit in case you get any more punctures on a ride

Will be sticking to butyl tubes for now

4 Ridenow tubes, with patches, was £18. Fitted to the wife's bike. Not ridden yet.

I've had over 2 years on road tubeless, not punctured yet. Or maybe I have...

Trying not to anger the puncture gods but 9 years on road tubeless and only had one that wouldn’t seal…my own fault being tardy with refreshing sealant.

Have just bought a TPU tube to carry as a spare, they pack up much smaller so no fuss to carry one.

I'm happy with tubeless.

I've got some of those Ridenow TPU tubes on non-tubeless bikes (weird wheel sizes), I'm less convinced by them. They seem great for a while, but every time I've had a puncture and tried to patch one, it seems to have multiple slow leaks (to the extent that patching it would cost more than a new tube). Seems like when they fail, they fail pretty hard.

Have just bought a TPU tube to carry as a spare, they pack up much smaller so no fuss to carry one.

I'm kind of wary of carrying exotic tubes as spares. If I have to put one in, then odds are the tyre isn't going to be in great condition, and I've had poor experiences with latex tubes creeping through small holes in the carcass that butyl tubes would be okay with.

Bought some new wheels mid-2019, set them up tubeless. No idea if they've been 'tested' but I've not had a flat on a ride yet.

Obviously now I realise this'll mean my next ride will be plagued with flats.

Similar to above.

With 28mm tyres, I've gone back to butyl, after trying both tubeless (great until it isn't) and TPU (much more puncture-prone than it should be, only tried the Austrian ones; I have a Ridenow waiting to be tried out). Butyl just seems to go forever and there are zero surprises.

On my commuter, I have 30mm tyres and for whatever reason (lower pressure, 60psi?), it's been completely fine. I have Hutchinson Fusion (rear) and Vittoria (front).

Started a thread on this very topic a few months ago (Linky) ended up going for TPU.

As they're on a summer bike I've only done a couple of hundred miles on them but so far so good IMO, I've not had to deal with a flat yet though.

I reckon you still need high thread count, supple tyres to get the best from them... but once you drop the tubeless ready requirement those are available a bit cheaper in general.

I have 30mm tyres and for whatever reason (lower pressure, 60psi?)

I don't run much more than that on 25s

fancy commuter/gravel bik running tubeless 40mm Schwalbe G-One's, they are brilliant.
fancy road bike running 30mm Schwalbe Pro One TLE with some super cheap TPUs from Aliexpress (less that £2.5each), certainly different (crazy sound on the road). no issues and I think I like them.

I've got two TPU spares and a pack of glueless patches that take up the same volume as a single butyle tube. But I am still carrying a single butyle tube too, just in case.

30mm Schwalbe Pro One TLE with some super cheap TPUs from Aliexpress (less that £2.5each)

That seems like the worst of both worlds :p

I've got some TPU tubes to try but only as an experiment really as I'm very happy with the latex tubes and non-tubeless GP5000s on my good bike. Lighter and faster rolling than a tubeless set up so what's not to like 😎

I liked the ides of TPU if it works out as an easy weight saving (even over latex) but am not reassured by people's experiences up above! 😬

How many punctures do you tend to get riding on the road?. If really low amount then just use tubes.
I got zero when I was riding only on the road and used RideNow TPU tubes.

Now I ride off road (on road tyres) I have switched to tubeless but also use very tough tyres (Hutchinson Challenger TR) and all good so far.

I’m predominantly using 32mm Continental GP5000s (both punctures actually happened on Hutchinson Sector 32s) with well mixed Stans race sealant which I drain/top up in December and July(ish - the bike needs to be used for a few days after topping up or it doesn’t seem to work well). £17 of sealant and 3 hours (across 2 sessions) does a years worth of 4 road/gravel bikes.  <br /><br />

I don’t run silly high or low pressure.  32mm 75kg with gear, 45>50F and 50>55 rear.  Drop that by around 10ish for 40mm tyres.  

I liked the ides of TPU if it works out as an easy weight saving (even over latex) but am not reassured by people’s experiences up above! 😬

I think there's two key things for me with TPU:

1- quality of the tyres you put them in. Fit them to crap or worn tyres and unsurprisingly they're not going to magically improve them.

2- Taking care when fitting/inflating, they're very thin and seem quite delicate (compared to butyl), mine have plastic valve stems. All of that means go slow and don't just heave them in with levers, I also discovered with my internet rummagings that they potentially don't like CO2, so carrying a decent pump becomes more important (unless and until someone invents pocketable air cartridges?)

Other than that they've behaved like a regular tube for me, they hold air, I think I can perceive improved rolling (I'm not really all that sensitive) and they do the job I bought them for so far...

Interesting points, get very few punctures in summer so maybe just put you tubes in? Stick to 32mm tubeless tyres in winter?

Had 1 puncture this winter in a tubes tyre but also had one hedge cutting imbued in another that was set up tubeless which sealed.....

So tyres? GP5000, Schwalbe something or other?

I've not once got a puncture with tubeless on my mountain bike or gravel bike! However, I run the Ride Now TPU tubes on my road bike as the tyres aren't tubeless but I can say I'd be in a rush to anyway. The premium isn't worth it IMO for tubeless currently over TPU tubes.

It's just a puncture question for road tubeless imho. They give you nothing meaningful in terms of ride, outside of some niche applications, but they give you a lot if you flat often. So it's a no brainer if you're at either end of this spectrum, more of a decision to make if you're in the middle.

Bear in mind the selective memory of tube users. Done 5000 miles with not one puncture - Aye right.

Interesting points, get very few punctures in summer so maybe just put you tubes in?

Pretty sure tyres don't grow better with music

It’s just a puncture question for road tubeless imho. They give you nothing meaningful in terms of ride, outside of some niche applications

I don't find that. Running lower pressures makes a difference for comfort, and lower rolling resistance is perceivable.

In all the 40 years I've ridden road bikes, I've tried latex in the best bike for racing. They don't half sound great with some fast tyres, but they don't patch well, so it's in the bin. Expensive and wasteful.  I tend to stick with decent tyres and quality tubes - usually Vittoria ultralight. Continental's usually fail at the valve.  I can't be bothered with the potential mess with tubeless. 

I don't get enough punctures to worry about tubeless, and that's across five bikes, and I commute 3-4 days a week.

The loss of speed going back to butyl tubes from tubeless on my good road bike really surprised me.

@Aidy You can run lower pressures with road tubes no issue so wtp?

You drop a MTB tubed tyre to 25 psi and you'll be pinch flatting left right and centre - hence tubeless being a revolution. You can benefit from massively improved grip with no puncture penalty. But this argument doesn't really apply to the road - tubeless isn't enabling you to run 50psi in a 28 tyre or whatever, you can do that with a tube.

You can run lower pressures with road tubes no issue so wtp?

You might be able to, but I'd get a pinch flat every time I looked at the tyre funny.

I seem to occupy this weird middle ground where I'm not even sure I benefit from tubeless on the gravel bike!

It seems that when I do puncture it's because of unseen obstacles or sharp edges so I'll hit them so hard (or when seated and still pedalling) that I have (I think three times now) pinch flatted the tyre anyway, and tubeless never seems to self seal if you pinch it near the bead. I mean, sure I would have punctured with tubes too but at least it would have been a quicker, easier fix on the trail.

I'm running inserts now but can't say I like them, seem to change the feel of the tyre in some odd way, most noticeably they spit out on corners more. When I dropped pressure they just felt squirmy on anything off carmber (e.g. edge of landrover track ruts).

I think I could just put tubes back in, save weight on inserts and faff when swapping tyres (gravel bike is also audax bike) and pump them up another 5psi 🙄 OR I could try a larger tyre but my decision to stick with rim brakes has bitten me in the ass there as I'd need a new fork at great expense to accommodate anything bigger than 40mm 😖

Anyway, thread drift, apologies...

You might be able to, but I’d get a pinch flat every time I looked at the tyre funny

Same, literally the first time I switched back to my old 'bad weather' non-tubeless wheelset I hit a tiny bump in the road and flatted within a few minutes...wouldn't have been running particulalry low pressure

The trick with road tubeless is not to pump up to 90psi. I have tried explaining this many times to my mate and he can't get his head around it.  I weigh currently 92kg and I run 60psi in Schwalbe Pro One 28c and I have no issues with punctures or rim impacts no matter how bad the road surface, and it's extremely comfortable.  I have even gone as low as 57psi.  With tubes I used to run 100psi at 23c and I still got pinch flats.

tubeless isn’t enabling you to run 50psi in a 28 tyre or whatever, you can do that with a tube.

Yes, but flexing that much rubber with tubes would be slow. The point about tubeless is that it lets you run lower pressures, and still be fast, and possibly even smoother as your tyre is more supple.  For those reasons I'm in, not the puncture protection (although that is handy).

Yes, but flexing that much rubber with tubes would be slow.

Butyl tubes maybe 😉 Latex + a thinner non-tubeless sidewall tests faster than a tubeless sidewall, although I think that was a couple of years ago so I don't know what modern tyres are like.

I weigh currently 92kg and I run 60psi in Schwalbe Pro One 28c

Interesting! I'm 88kg and run 26mm Pirelli Cinturato at 75psi. Wonder how much lower I could go given that they're narrower than the Schwalbe...

GP5000s TR are bloody awesome tyres, grippy, light, good in the wet, fairly easy to get on and feel great.  And I got almost 11k km out of my last set., but they were showing canvas in several areas by this point...a LOT of canvas.

Wonder how much lower I could go

Maybe depends on the tyre. Schwalbe seem to like supportive sidewalls. I started something like 70psi and lowered it, the ride kept getting better and smoother, and faster on rough roads, with apparently no downsides.

+1 GP5000s TR  tyres, I put some on a couple of weeks ago for the first time and they’re brilliant so far. Installed by hand and went up tubeless with no issues at all. Seem to help my Carpal Tunnel symptoms as well so a big thumbs up from me.

Gp5000 seem popular then!

85kg 60 front 65 rear, Pro One tubeless here.

Still in the honeymoon period despite a couple of early issues.

I never got on with Pro Ones. I still have them on one bike, but it’s rarely used.  When I do they feel wooden and slippery in the wet.

Gp5000 seem popular then!

There are 2 versions GP5000 and the newer GP5000S - Not sure how much difference there is as I have only ridden the "S" version.

The S are hookless compatible which is important if you have these rims.

The tyre itself is a newer design so maybe a little better, but no one was complaining about the older gp5000s - great tyres.

Latex tubes in most of my bikes, all running GP5000s in 23-30c widths. Tried tubeless with Schwalbe G-One Speeds. Had a puncture that would not seal and I couldn't easily remove even with levers, so got rid - hence the GP5000's. I carry a TPU spare and also a Continental Race butyl (which both fold up small). The TPU is a posh one so have not used it yet, but it is tiny in the saddle bag. Not tiny when they unfold though 🙂

People that ride TPU in our club are pleased with the ride, but they are more pfaff than latex tubes for a 50g saving per wheel. I'm not going back to tubeless (which I also ran on my TT bike for two years as well), but might try the TPU in a front wheel (fewer punctures so better value).

When I do they feel wooden and slippery in the wet.

Agreed. I binned mine when I got a huge bulge in the carcass. Never again.

Conti tyres are a bit confusing with very similar codes;

GP5000 TL - very tight fit on a lot of rims

GP5000S TR - latest iteration.  Easy fit, simple inflation, great grip and work well tubless.

There's also an GP5000 AS TR which is "all season", a bit tougher and better wet grip at the expense of a few grams of weight and a couple of watts rolling resistance.

I'm running the AS version through winter as they came on my new bike in autumn, and have some S that I'll maybe give a blast again in Spring.