Going tubeless?

I have just bought some Crossmax wheels and need new tubes (don’t have any presta mtb tubes). Anyway, before paying out for new tubes I was thinking about running tubeless.

Just wondering what the real world advantages/disadvantages are? I guess no more pinch flats would be great (seem to suffer a lot from those) and the weight saving of not running a tube would be nice also. Any disadvantages? Guess if you get a puncture you just pop a tube in to get you home?

Any reason NOT to go tubeless?

Cheers, Martin

If you’re a tyre-shuffler it’s not ideal, more work to swap tyres around and a bit wasteful of sealant (you can reuse it but you’ll always waste some). Also not all tyres work well with it, though tbf the ones that don’t are a minority.

Advantages – no pinch flats, no flats at all! can run at lower pressures
Disadvantages – PITA to inflate the first time, so assume trail fix is impossible; not much weight saving as the sealant must weigh close to the mass of a tube; valves don’t like trail pumps

Same as said but just putting a tube in isn’t that simple with goo all over your fingers!

Tyre swaps are a faff, but other than that I’ve not had any disadvantages yet.

Less chance of getting punctures. Changing tyres is easier with UST rims. Less chances of getting a pinch flat. Opportunity to look smug next time someone else gets a punctures.

But it is horrible when you need to out a tube in.

Ahh, I didn’t realise you had to put goo in 😯

I don’t swap tyres around. The only time they come off is when they are bald or to fix a puncture.

I just seem to be getting quite a few pinch flats on the rear lately (never used to be much of a problem). Reading the above though, I think I’ll maybe go for a larger tyre/tube combo instead. Don’t think I can be bothered with slime!

Cheers, Martin

timwillows – Member

not much weight saving as the sealant must weigh close to the mass of a tube;

Nah. Typical amount of sealant is about the same weight as an extremely light tube, but the end result isn’t really comparable.

Depends where and how you ride.
Pinch flats drove me insane, didn´t matter which tires. Since going tubeless I haven´t had any.

I had a few early issues with tires burping and losing pressure during the early days but it was just a matter of finding the right inflation pressure. I used to run them too low.

Interesting, what pressure would you say to run a 2.1″ at if going tubeless? No good doing it if I’ll need to run 60psi for example. If I can stick with 35-40psi that would be ok.

If pinch flats are your main problem, tubeless should be ideal since there’s nothing to pinch. I was hesitant at first but it wasn’t as much of a faff as I expected tbh, especially if you can get your hands on a compressor for the initial sealing (if not, go to a gas station if the track pump doesn’t cut it). The slime is slimey but not much of an issue really – I’ll admit I haven’t had to put a tube in mid-ride yet so might change my mind on that one eventually.

Main disadvantage is not being able to get the tires I like in tubeless, so have to put up with the side walls going. 2 ply gets round that but with a weight penalty.

Advantage is I rarely get flats, only really when I get lazy and the pressures get low.

35-40 psi is fine if, like me, you’re 75kgs ish (!). I haven’t found any great weight advantage but Maxxis Ignitors on UST rims have been completely puncture free. A revalation.
Tim
Pure Mountains

This sealant any good?

Would this be all I need to try it?

Might just try it in the rear to start with, and carry a spare tube. It is nearly always pinch flats I suffer from, on the rear. Rarely I get throns and such in my tyres but if I did would this sealant seal them?

What pressure do you need to get them to for sealing with a compressor?

Guess at the price I can try it and carry a tube for a spare.

Thanks, Martin

martinhurton – Member

Interesting, what pressure would you say to run a 2.1″ at if going tubeless? No good doing it if I’ll need to run 60psi for example. If I can stick with 35-40psi that would be ok.

No, no probs- people go mad with it, they think “Well I run 35psi to avoid pinchflats, now I can’t pinchflat so I’ll go to 20psi”, and their tyres go all floppy and they bash the rims all the time and the unsupported tyre can move around on the rim more and burp.

With tubes, there’s a really obvious minimum pressure which you can’t mess with as you’ll just get flats. With tubeless there’s still a minimum pressure, but it’s not as obvious. And it’s lower, so whereas with tubes you mightgo as low as you can rather than as low as you want to, with tubeless you might well find that as low as you can is actually lower than you want to.

I wonder if anybody might have ever asked this before?

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-8
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-7
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-6
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-5
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-4
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-3
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-2
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-1
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless

aracer – Member
I wonder if anybody might have ever asked this before?

What the hell are you talking about? I only get 12300 hits on “tubeless”.

https://www.google.se/search?q=site%3Asingletrackworld.com+tubeless&oq=site%3Asingletrackworld.com+tubeless&aqs=chrome.0.57j58.5785&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Martin/op

If you never swap tyres then the sealant faff is minimal certainly on a proper ust rim. If you.use different tyres every week it will be a pain. I love tubeless and swap tyres 2-4x a year. For that frequency its easy enough for me. More than once a month would be annoying even once you get the knack.

Putting a tube in is messy but not that traumatic and you shouldnt be doing it often if you run sealant.

I’ve run the same tyre both tubeless and tubed.

More grip and predictable front end with tubeless in my opinion. Weight is not the reason to do it – reliability and more grip for me.

I’d also suggest going for Bontrager XR4 tyres. Bulletproof but not too heavy.

Since you’ve got UST rims you could avoid the frankly occasional mess factor altogether by running actual UST tubeless tyres. Heavier, more expensive, and less tread choice, but better than going to a heavier tyre and tube combo, especially as you’ve just bought a new light wheelset. Most people still use sealant with UST, but the system doesn’t depend on it like tubeless conversions with standard tyres.

If you rarely change tyres though, bite the bullet and go tubeless with sealant. You won’t regret it.

I finally got round to doing mine recently with Spesh 2Bliss 2.2 Fast Traks on Mavic XC717 rims which would be similar to your setup, and I ride in dry, rocky conditions with plenty of jumps which would invite pinch flats if anything would. I’m still finding the lower pressure before I experience burping, but I’ve been good so far going down to 28psi and I weigh 85kg.

A big bonus for me is the additional comfort even at the same pressure as I was running with tubes.

Well after what seemed like a period of getting puncture after puncture I went tubeless at the begining of last year. Using standard Nobby Nics with Stans sealant and Bontragers own rim strip,I can honestly say it is the best thing I’ve done. Punctures or pinch flats are generally a thing of the past now! There has been the occasion when i’ve had a hole thats to big to seal and in that case I use weldtites tubeless repair kit(http://www.bikegoo.co.uk/product.php/244/0?gclid=COvUmJvTqLUCFY7MtAodJToA5g ). Untill you use it you wouldnt think it would work but trust me it does. Its easier to fix than putting a new tube in as you you dont have to remove the tyre. Just push the wick into the hole with a bit of goo on it.leave for a couple of minutes and off you go.
I would strongly recommend that you use the method where you remove the valve core in order to inject sealant into the tyre once its seated on the beads. It doesnt make sense to unseat it to pour the sealant in. I struggled a bit recently to get a tyre to seat (and I have a compressor) so what worked was to seat it using an inner tube first, remove the tube then with one side of the tyre already seated it popped on no problem!
Just Do it!!

It is still possible to get a ‘pinch’ flat I’ve had it happen a few times where the tyre has compressed agains the rim on rocks or hard edges and formed a hole in the sidewall of the tyre which the sealnt wouldn’t sort. Not a big deal on the whole but be aware that it can happen. a couple of guys I ride with swear by tubeless for thron puncture resistance.

I’m enjoying the transition to tubeless, I’ve got Bonty Mud-XR on 719 rims using Joe’s No-Flats rubber rim strips and Stan’s sealant.

A ghetto inflater has been essential to setting them up! The best 9p you’ll ever spend.

Mine was a bit leaky, blu-tak inside the cap seemed to fix this. I also used something to pinch the hose while building pressure (a spare QR dropout) to let me pump with both hands.

Check out tubeless repair kits, sometimes referred to as ‘anchovies’, LINKY.

I find I need to top up the air between rides more but I imagine the tyre will seal more over time. It’s no biggy and the move to tubeless Mud-XR over wire ADvantages with a cheap tube is much lighter. IIRC full UST tyres weigh more than an equivalent tubeless ready tyre, but tubeless ready tyres may be a bit more porous/leaky over time.

I’ve got about 28psi in mine, the tyres aren’t large volume so I wouldn’t want less. You wouldn’t want an unexpected rimming in the woods now would you?

Thanks for all of the advice. inclding the links (I did type “tubeless” into the search bar and didn’t get those results).

I’m gonna give it a go. I’ll proably go with the sealant and my current tyres for now because of cost, but will look at UST tyres for the future. As I say, I never change my tyres so once fitted,hopefully, that will be it.

This turned out to be a very helpful thread, thanks 😀

(I did type “tubeless” into the search bar and didn’t get those results).

Don’t sweat it – most people will appreciate having a thread to reply to, however repetitive, even if just to point out that it’s in fact repetitive. Everyone wins.

If you do go tubeless get a tubeless puncture repair kit, with the Anchovie type ones Like this you don’t have to take the tyre off the rim to repair it.
But take a spare tube out with you anyway, just in case…

My CRC basket is filling up…again 😯

UST tyres on UST rims are a world away from strips, compressors are wot not. Much more betterer. Don’t go too low on pressure, you’ll still get puncture flats if you ride in conditions with thorns flints etc. trying to get a tyre to re seal out in the field can be a faff, so you’ll still need to carry a spare tube and pump, but it should be a rarer occurrence.

A trail side non sealing puncture is a nightmare.
Anchovies are a quick fix but involves making your small hole really big. That just seems wrong. My anchovies have failed at some point. I guess you can patch at home.
Putting a tube in means searching for thorns in a tyre full of goo. Not nice.
Once the tube is in my bike doesn’t magically turn into a pile of poo.
What’s a really good tyre patch for when you get home?

What’s a really good tyre patch for when you get home?

These..

I have been looking at going tubeless this week, I might just have a go 🙂

UST tyres on UST rims are a world away from strips, compressors are wot not. Much more betterer heavier

Thanks for all of the advice. inclding the links (I did type “tubeless” into the search bar and didn’t get those results).

I realised I missed one off. Those are all the past threads, here’s a future one:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/going-tubeless-10
(in about 6 months time that link should work).

aye, true enough aracer I guess by your user name weight/or lack of is important to you, meanwhile in the real world, everything’s a compromise, and UST just makes it just easier and less faffy IME.

From my experience bonty muds are the easiest tyres to seat. No lube needed, just fit ,squash down where the valve is and hand pump.

meanwhile in the real world, everything’s a compromise, and UST just makes it just easier and less faffy IME.

It is of course, and I’m not disagreeing with you, but you only have to see how much emphasis even normal recreational riders put on wheel weight. UST is also slower rolling. I understand why people like UST, and for a lot of people it is preferable, but there are downsides. Arguably tubeless ready tyres (with a UST bead, but normal sidewalls) are the best of both worlds.

I just went tubeless on my front tyre (rear to follow tomorrow) using Stan’s and Nobby Nics tubeless ready tyres. 30 mins work, had to use the washing up liquid trick and got it inflated using a track pump and Mrs D for assistance. She has been terrified about embarking on the process for days but it was fine with only a couple of terse moments. I am leaving it overnight to see how it settles and then if it is okay we will be on to the rear tomorrow.

Dogsby

UST is also slower rolling.

mleh, no worse that tacky rubber versions of tyres, and careful choice of tread mitigates it. Arguing angels on a pin head though. 😆

no worse that tacky rubber versions of tyres

But at least you get some advantage from those 😈