Originally Posted by
Biker Pete
I have ‘tubeless ready’ carbon wheels and I’ve waffled back and forth on the tube vs tubeless question. For my riding style (a daily 10 mile loop on flat and known roads) I made the decision for tubes. While it’s wise to ‘never say never’, flats are just not a concern for me on these roads. I use TPU tubes so weight-wise, it’s a coin toss. And after spending a good amount of time reading the analyses on bicyclerollingresistance.com I’ve come to the conclusion that the marginal gain in lower rolling resistance for tubeless is just not worth it for me. My bicycle frame will accept a maximum width of 28mm tires, and according to the SRAM and Silca tire pressure calculators, I anticipate no significant gain in ‘comfort’ with tubeless when the tires are inflated to their ‘optimal’ pressure. So for me, it’s tubes. At least for now.
Some will vehemently disagree but I believe the "ability to run lower pressures with tubeless" claim is marketing B.S. First off, the pressures I see recommended are not in what I consider to be pinch flat territory, unless you ride on pot hole riddled roads and make no effort to avoid them or lessen the impact. Secondly, the idea that you can find the magic pressure that results in the occasional bottoming out that would be hard enough to cause a pinch flat but soft enough to not damage the rim is quite a stretch for me. The only exception I can see is the hookless rims that don't have the thinned out hook part of the rim sidewall, but even that's a stretch.