Originally Posted by
chaadster
I didn't follow all that, but the point is going tubeless does not mean adding 200gm like you said it does. Plenty of people ride, in order to avoid flats, ride tires like the Specialized All Condition Armadillo, which is 285gm (in the top Elite model); put a lightweight tube in at 70gm, and you're at 355gm. Or, put a 240gm IRC Formula Pro Light tubeless and 60gm of sealant for 300gm. Save 55gm going tubeless, same wheels.
I'm still real fuzzy on how you can possibly defend saying tubeless adds at least 200gm...
You aren't comparing apples to apples. You are picking a heavy wheel for tubed tires and a light wheel for tubeless tires. It would be one thing if that is all that was available in those two categories, but that isn't true. I ride 1,270 g tubed clinchers. Why would I use a 1,690 g tubed clincher as my wheel for comparison.
Similarly for the tires. You are saying that heavier tires for tubes exist that are similar to the tubeless tires. That is certainly true, but totally unimportant. What is significant is that lighter tubeless tires DO NOT EXIST that compare properly to the most popular lightweight tubed clincher tires like the ones I referenced. The best comparison is within the single Schwalbe One model. The difference between the tubed and tubeless version of this SAME TIRE is just about 100 g per tire. When you offset the tube weight with the sealant weight, you are left with very close to a 200 g total difference for the two wheels complete with tires. Sure you can find heavy tubed tires and lighter tubeless tires, but those aren't apples to apples comparisons. When you compare the lightest wheels and tires that are otherwise similar from the two classes, tubed and tubeless, the 200 g advantage for tubed becomes immediately obvious.