Sorry if it is a stupid question but Can anybody tell what the benefits of tubeless over using slime and an inner tube are.
Cheers,
Chris
For me the best thing about tubeless is the extra grip
You just can't easily run tubes with only 20 psi in them
I never found slime tubes to be all that effective, good against penetrating flats but they still pinched. Also, they're pretty bloomin heavy.
Weight, but also they will never work as well. Imagine you get a thorn puncturing the tyre and staying in it. With just a tyre + sealant it seals no problem. If you have a tube in the equation as well then that thorn is going to be continually stabbing/tearing the tube - you're going to loose a significant amount of air over time and end up with a right old mess of slime between the tube and tyre to clear up when you try and mend the hole or change the tube.
cheers for the replies. Do you need compatible wheels and tyres etc?
Tyres- basically tubeless tyres are a guarantee it'll work, but most non-tubeless tyres also work fine, you just don't get that assurance
Wheels- not so simple. Lots of folks are happy with conversions, I never was, wouldn't do tubeless without a tubeless rim these days as it was just so much more faff. But ymmv.
Slime tube won't work dude. The tube's under tension, so when you get a hole from thorn, the hole just gets bigger, all the slime pisses out, but doesn't really seal.
ive used the slime tubes for over a year no problems, when i took them off to change tyres their was 6 thorns in them ,so they do work,only problem i found was their heavy about 340g each, i now use latex tubes alot lighter and still no probs apart from the ocassional pump up every 2 days which is no probs, cant really see the point of going tubeless, the weight is about the same as using the latex tubes and its too much faff when changing tyres also tubeless still punctures, seen a few of my friends have to walk home could they couldnt seal a leak, at the end of the day its what you feel comfortable with
steviecapt - Memberseen a few of my friends have to walk home could they couldnt seal a leak,
Your friends are divs frankly! Why do they not carry tubes? (why did you not lend them a tube?) Just plain weird.
Tubeless does puncture, but very rarely, and you can't compare it with lightweight latex tubes- my setup weighs the same as a flyweight tube yet is tough enough for uplift riding.
Northwind +1
Last tubeless failure I had was a 1" rip through the sidewall - inner tube wouldn't have done any better.
But the inner tube would have died from the three thorns that I pulled out (tubeless sealed it straightaway so I didn't even notice them when they happened).
I find I get much better grip & speed from low PSI tubeless than when I have tubes in.
And even if it doesn't seal (and isn't catastrophic) then just whack in a tube to get you home - like you'd have to if you were running tubes anyway.
For me, running tubeless is a no-brainer.
northwind Your friends are divs frankly! Why do they not carry tubes? (why did you not lend them a tube?) Just plain weird.
probably because they thought they wouldnt get a puncture using tubeless and also i dont need to carry spare tubes thats what patches are for not a problem with the latex tubes