Originally Posted by
terrymorse
There is essentially zero speed benefit to tubeless. Some people like the puncture resistance benefit, but tubeless will not make you faster.
You can achieve very low rolling resistance with a non-tubeless clincher tire, and either a lightweight latex or TPU inner tube.
Yes you are correct that using lightweight tubes there is minimal increase in rolling resistance over tubeless, though there is still an increase. With more typical butyl tubes the increase in rolling resistance is significant and it will make you faster. If I ran light-weight tubes only, I would flat on about every other ride. I may not live in the goat head capital of the world, but it's at least a contender. So, to run tubes, I need heavier tubes, Slime or equivalent, and tire liners or foam inserts, which I do run on some bikes. But tubeless is still most efficient and pretty close to flat-proof.