Originally Posted by
Leebo
Couple of counter points here. The new standard of a tubeless rim with a tubeless ready tire is a game changer. The beads are locked in. The lower part of the rim shelf is mated to hold the bead of the tire. Never burped a bead. The great advantage of lower pressure is better traction. Paired with a wider rim and a stiffer sidewall= magic, just my opinion. No tubes to pinchflat. On 2 bikes in 3 years, 1 flat. YRMV. New England rider here, lots of thorns in the woods to deal with. Tubeless are a great solution for my issues. The naysayers may just have to try a set up to be convinced, not just solving issues on paper. Took the tubes out of my Trek Farley 8 ( fat bike) they weighed 1 POUND apiece. Replaced with 1/4 cup of sealant= win. You do need to add sealant on a regular basis. Sometimes not the easiest to setup as well. For me, a much better system.
First, tubeless tires are new to begin with. They've not been around for all that long. A "new" standard is just an unspoken admission that the "old" system didn't work all that well. As for the bead being "locked in" that has been happening with tubed tires for, roughly, 3 decades. It's called a "hooked rim" and has be standard since at least the late 80s. That's the reason that you can run 110, 120 or even 160 psi pressure on tires with tubes.
I understand that lower pressure provides better traction but it comes with the cost of possible rim damage due to impacts and the possibility of separating the rim from the tire if the pressure is too low...i.e. a "burp". "Burps" can happen on all tires when they are run at low pressures. Bicycles aren't unique in their ability to have them or to avoid a burp. Off-road motor vehicles have the same problem when the pressure is lowered too much.