Bicycle Mechanics - Tubed or Tubless

Ok so i was at my first race today, Mid-Atlantic Coal Cracker, and i got about 20 min into this race and felt rock on wheel.. Yup popped my tire. I talked to a lot of the "older" riders and they all said tubless is the way to go.

So....
The question is: Is tubless where its at? and if so, what tire you reccommend. ( I ride a TREK gary fisher advanced, 26" )

Thanks for checking this out and hope to get some good feed back!
-vince

The question is: Is tubless where its at? and if so, what tire you reccommend.

Yes, tubeless is where it's at. As for which tire, assuming your existing rims aren't tubeless compatible, I recommend going with the appropriate Stan's Notubes conversion kit for your rims and then you can use pretty much any tire you want with no inner tube. You can run low pressures without worries of pinch flats (no tube to pinch), and Stan's sealant will take care of all but the worst punctures.

Tubeless is indeed where it's at.

thanks!

i was talking to one guy and (with exsisting rim) you take a BMX bike tube ( 20") and put a slice down middle. put it on rim as u would any other tube but the flaps will over lap the sides of rim. then u put tire on, fill with some type of goop, air, then use knife to cuz of excess tube on side... does that make sense?

he said thats a simple "tubeless" make. without converting.

and do u have any links to that conversion kit???

and do u have any links to that conversion kit???

Stan's No Tubes. Stan's company started out very small, he was a mountain bike racer who wanted a lighter, better way to go tubeless. Now, ten or so years later, Stan's No Tubes has their own line of rims, wheels, tires, etc etc, and still has the simple conversion kits and supplies to convert standard rims and tires to tubeless. I've been using their products nearly as long as they've been making them. Great stuff.

http://www.notubes.com/

Tubeless has gained a lot of momentum for a couple reasons. One is the ability of sealant to handle thorn punctures, which in some areas is a huge issue. Another is the ability to run lower pressures without a risk of a pinch flat, improving traction and allowing the tire to "magic-carpet" the wheels over small bumps.

Be aware that you can still dent a rim, and it's possible to "burp" a tire too. This year I got a tubeless wheelset (NoTubes Alpine rims) and picked up some reputable tubeless tires, and burped them in two back-to-back races. I'd been pretty stoked on laying my pinch-flat history to rest, but the cure was worse than the disease, so I went back to tubed for the remainder of the race series... it's no fun nursing a squashy 10psi tire to the finish line.

Second race w/burped tire went like this:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqEP_mgD_zk

If I'd lost places as a result of nursing the bike through stuff, I would've been very ticked. As it was, it didn't change race outcome.

mech, sorry about the tire burps, but more to the point: great video! I enjoyed watching that.

Tubeless has gained a lot of momentum for a couple reasons. One is the ability of sealant to handle thorn punctures, which in some areas is a huge issue. Another is the ability to run lower pressures without a risk of a pinch flat, improving traction and allowing the tire to "magic-carpet" the wheels over small bumps.

On the road, tubeless tyres are meant to be halfway to the performance of tubulars, thanks to the more supple tyre. Better grip and comfort, less rolling resistance.

Mech, great footage, what camera were you using for it?

Mech, great footage, what camera were you using for it?

Contour 1080HD, shooting in 720p at 60fps to reduce rolling-shutter effects. It was mounted to the side of the head tube so it doesn't steer with the handlebars. The final video quality isn't as good as the original because I had to encode it twice (once with Dashware for the data overlay, then with a video-editing program for the "final cut") but it was for entertainment, and works for that.

If I could do it again, I'd get a GoPro since they have far more types of mounts, and would run front and rear cameras so I could show the chase.

If any XC racers here would like the unedited full-length race movies for indoor training in the winter, to keep from getting bored, I can send them to you, or they should be available out there as torrents soon, I sent a guy copies to seed.

thanks guys.

and nice video where was that race at?

Im going to try a cheap build of the "tubless" before i spend big bucks.

and nice video where was that race at?

Riverside State Park in Spokane, Washington. It was a 7-race series this year: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wednesday-Night-Mountain-Bike-Races/65619745403 If you like that video, there's one from each race: http://www.youtube.com/user/mechBgon?feature=mhee#g/u