I am in full on dither mode at the moment. I want to get a new pair of road wheels that will be better than my Fulcrum Racing Quattros (clincher).

Wiggle are doing a bit of a sale on road wheels and I have been looking at options in the £500 area. My eye has been drawn to the Fulcrum Racing 3 2-Way and the Stans own wheels, both of which give you the option of running tubed and tubeless.

Tubeless made a massive difference (at least it felt like it) on my 29er. Could I reasonably expect a similar benefit onn road wheels or are the two not strictly comparable?

I went for 23mm Ultremo ZX Tubeless which replaced 25mm normal Ultremo ZX. It’s subjective of course, but I feel there was no change in comfort so I suppose the lower pressure (running them at 85 PSI) makes up for the decrease in volume. Really couldn’t tell you what difference they’ve made grip-wise as I never found the limit of my grip with the previous tyres and I haven’t with these either!

I’m using Mavic Kysrium Elite rims, which aren’t specifically tubeless compatible – but they don’t have any spoke holes in the rim so I was able to get the tyres inflated with no trouble at all (didn’t even need yellow tape). Had no problems so far.

I thought it was a major no-no to run road tubeless on non-tubeless rims without a rim strip? I maybe wrong.

I have got some Ultegra wheels to try tubeless but not set it up yet. I’m a big fan of mountain bike tubeless so looking forward to getting it going.

Running Fulcrum Racing 1 tubeless with Hutchinson Fusion tyres. Running about 80 psi. Transformed the ride on my Cinelli. A lot stiffer than the Easton EA50SL wheels they replaced, lighter and a lot more comfortable. Not had any punctures yet either.

I thought it was a major no-no to run road tubeless on non-tubeless rims without a rim strip? I maybe wrong.

I just used Stans valves and the sealant from the Schwalbe kit, no strip or tape. AFAIK there are a lot of people running this setup. Done a fair few miles and no problems so far!

@traildog – you only need the rim strip if the rim has spoke holes. Per @zilog “they don’t have any spoke holes in the rim” – that’s fine. I would add that you definitely want to use tubeless-specific tires for road use. I’m a huge fan of road (and off-road) tubeless.

Really couldn’t tell you what difference they’ve made grip-wise

and

I’m a huge fan of road (and off-road) tubeless

Not trolling, I have Ultegra tubeless compatible wheels so genuinely intigued, but what is the benefit of tubeless on road? Off road from what I understand (I am ambivalent as Ive seen plenty of failures having to be fixed by resorting to the ‘old’ technology) it is supposedly extra grip from running lower pressures without risk of pinchflatting, and thorn type punctures sealing. So unless you plan to ride road tyres at 50psi or suffer regular piercing punctures, whats the benefit?

I’m road tubeless-curious because our roads are covered in flinty gravel and I get loads of punctures

Roads are also pretty rough, and a bit softer tyre would be nice (also going to try 28mm with my next tyres – if Hutchy hurry up with releasing them in the UK)

They may well have extra grip – physics would suggest so – but I’m not one to “push the envelope” on a road bike! You’ll have to talk to someone who descends a lot faster than me to answer that one!

The main reason I went tubeless is that personally I find they ruin the rhythm of the ride much more than when on the MTB. I didn’t get a huge amount of punctures before but whenever I did they were mostly down to poor road surfaces. While I try to avoid roads like that wherever possible, when I have to ride them it’s nice to be able to do so without worrying about punctures.

tubeless here. Currently running 25mm Bonty R3s which are very good except they wear too fast. Got some Ultremos (23mm) to go on next. Schwalbe say they will be doing a 25mm Ultremo later in 2014, which could be just the ticket.

Now we just need a Conti GP4Season tubeless in 28mm for the commuter….

Do those running tubeless find you have to top up tyre pressures like every day?

No. Maybe top up every 2/3 days or so. Better than a latex tube, put it that way.

The main reason I went tubeless is that personally I find they ruin the rhythm of the ride much more than when on the MTB

Ive had one puncture since I got back into road riding 2 years ago (and commuting 35 miles a day round trip since June) so I guess Oxfordshire’s roads are benign and tubeless isnt for me!

I’m road tubeless-curious because our roads are covered in flinty gravel and I get loads of punctures

sounds like the Dorney triathlon last weekend. Apparently the trade tents sold out of tubes, mate of ours who entered had 5 punctures and another mate picked a similar number of flints out of his tyre but managed not to puncture. If tubeless stopped that I can see the point.

last time I looked at road tubeless all that seemed to be about tyre wise was Hutchinson fusions, sounds like there’s more choice now…

I’d also be interested in puncture protection / tolerance and any improvements in comfort, far more more than extra grip or weight loss.

Just how well do the current lot of tubeless road tyres resist cutting? my local roads are a bastard for debris, especially in the winter, does latex do as good a job of sealing up a cut in a 23mm wide tyre at ~90-100 psi as it does in a 2.3″ MTB tyre at ~25-30 psi?

Is there a durable ‘commuter’ type tubeless road tyre available? Or are they all racy lightweight types so far?

Hutchinson Intensives are supposed to be a training tyre. I would have a look at that.