Mountain Biking - Tubeless tires?????

I went to a race last Sunday & a guy I was talking to said my next upgrade on my bike should be tubeless tires & crossmax wheels.
What is the upside to tubeless & downside if any?
Can I use my regular Mavic wheels for tubelss.
THX!!!!for the info in advance.........

I have never used tubeless, but I am pretty sure you won't be able to use your current wheel set. One benefit is that they are lighter, no tube involved, but supposedly there are others, I just don't know them.

tubeless are what come on high end motorcycles such as bmws and such. they are great, no tube to pinch and they are easy to seat. the trick to seating them is to use a 12g inflater to seat it since there is no tube. the tires fit a little tighter. check out some sites like www.advrider.com and search there forums for putting on tubeless tires

I'm not sure what wheels you are using now, but crossmax are sweet, but thin your wallet out real fast. The cheapest version of crossmax runs about $500 and up (for a set). I must say though that I have the SL version and they are sweet.

Tubeless is a nice option to have because you can run either tires that require tubes or ones that don't. The tires are generally a little heavier, but you don't have the weight of a tube in there so it evens out. I think the biggest advantage though is that it allows you to run your tires at a lower pressure because you don't have to worry about pinch flatting.

I went tubeless because I go sick of getting flats. Living in Phx at the time, I was getting a flat about one out of every 3 rides. The tubeless fixed that. No pinch flats and, with a tire sealant, no punctures.

It's not always lighter. The major advantage is tire pressure. You can run a good 10-15 psi less with tubeless (down around 30 psi or less even for 200lb rider) than with tubes because there are no pinch flats. You can use your rims with a Stans NoTubes kit.

http://www.notubes.com

I converted my singlespeed wheels and have not had any problems. I have CrossMax tubeless on another bike with no problems either. You don't need the CrossMax. While the wheels are great, they're pricey. If i had to do it again I'd probably use the Mavic UST rim and pick a hubset I liked. Even a Chris King set up would be cheaper than CrossMax (at least the SLs).

Bottomline, tubeless are great. I won't go back to tubes. They can be hard to seat the first time, but it's worth it. No flats since I've converted (over a year ago, but only really rode for the first 6 months of it). With the Stans conversion you can run any rim and tire you want, but I recommend a UST tire because they have stronger sidewalls. Even if you go the full UST rim and tire route I'd still recommend Stans. It's a great tire sealant.

I went tubeless because I go sick of getting flats. Living in Phx at the time, I was getting a flat about one out of every 3 rides. The tubeless fixed that. No pinch flats and, with a tire sealant, no punctures.

It's not always lighter. The major advantage is tire pressure. You can run a good 10-15 psi less with tubeless (down around 30 psi or less even for 200lb rider) than with tubes because there are no pinch flats. You can use your rims with a Stans NoTubes kit.

http://www.notubes.com

I converted my singlespeed wheels and have not had any problems. I have CrossMax tubeless on another bike with no problems either. You don't need the CrossMax. While the wheels are great, they're pricey. If i had to do it again I'd probably use the Mavic UST rim and pick a hubset I liked. Even a Chris King set up would be cheaper than CrossMax (at least the SLs).

Bottomline, tubeless are great. I won't go back to tubes. They can be hard to seat the first time, but it's worth it. No flats since I've converted (over a year ago, but only really rode for the first 6 months of it). With the Stans conversion you can run any rim and tire you want, but I recommend a UST tire because they have stronger sidewalls. Even if you go the full UST rim and tire route I'd still recommend Stans. It's a great tire sealant.

Great post!

I agree that you should look into Stan's Notubes. I run tubeless with tubeless rims, but if I had a set of tubed rims, I wouldn't hesitate to go the Stan's route. A few of my riding buds have done this with great results.

I've not had a flat since going tubeless in 2003. Use the Stan's sealant, and you'll be golden. :)