jowilson

Has anyone switched to tubeless for flat prevention? Is it worth it?

dramiscram

I don't think I would ever switch but here's an interesting article: https://www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/...ou-go-tubeless

dynaryder

I have friends that run tubeless off road and on their race bikes,but they all use tubes for the street. Much easier to deal with when you flat,and unless you're running skinny road tires,most of your flats are from debris not pinched/popped tubes.

cafzali

It's worth noting that pinch flats are the only types of flats that you can say with certainty are eliminated when you go tubeless. Since they're relatively easy to avoid in the first place by regularly checking inflation, I'm not sure I'd go tubeless for that reason. Others like the feel of them better, but I personally haven't made the switch, so I can't say one way or another on that front.

fietsbob

I have Thick Thorn resistant tubes inside my Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, they are pretty near puncture proof..

happens to be the 406 20" wheels in my Bike Friday so weight penalty is less than if I put HD tubes in the 26" wheels.

DX-MAN

Point 1: NOTHING 'prevents' flats, except for those crappy 'airless inserts' that Walmart sells, and I'd rather walk than use those. Tubeless reduces flats, especially pinch-flats, with the sealant used -- Stan's works well. Debris punctures have less effect with the Stan's solution, as well.

Tubeless setups DO roll better, that's from personal experience; some 'experts' claim there's less friction between tube and tire which accounts for more rolling resistance, but I dunno..... I just know they feel lighter (even with UST tires) and roll better.

There's been a lot of crosstalk in the business about ease of adapting various standard MTB tires to the process, due to the porous nature of lighter, single-ply tires. I also know personally that automotive Fix-A-Flat will seal the casings perfectly, as I used it as an inner coating before using the Stan's. This actually leads me to wonder if the auto F-A-F wouldn't work for MTB tubeless all on its own. I HAVE a good set of wheels for the purpose, and the Stan's rim strips...so what am I waiting for? (Time to try it, that's what....)

Bizman

I have been running tubeless with Stan's sealant in my FS mountain bike for almost 3 years and wouldn't go back to tubes, pull a thorn out, seals back up, off you go. I am hoping to get my fat bike tubeless one of these days. Stan's will dry up after a while, but it is easy to open a tire bead and put more in. I have found it lasts about 4-6 months depending on heat (park by my coal stove) that must dry it out developing slow leaks over time.

My road bike has Campy Shamal Ultra 2-way fit tubeless wheels with Hutchinson Intensive 25 tires using Hutchinson sealant as they recommend no problems, roll great, no flats from punctures, don't ever want to use tubes if I don't have to. I have over 7000 miles on a front tire, I had one rear last 2800 miles (sidewall cracked) another went 4000 (cracked sidewall). It will dry up over time also but have been running no sealant at all in the front tire. I check tires before every ride as they will leak down a bit without sealant and a lot less if you use the sealant.

jowilson

Let me know how that works for you. I am interested in how it will work out on the road, as I have only ridden tubeless on the mountains.

jolly_ross

I've had pretty good success with tubeless mountain bike tyres. Twice (in several years) I've had a tear in a tyre too big to seal - and have had to put in a tube to get home. The trick is to watch out for thorns which have previously gone through the tyre, snapped off and been sealed and glued into place (pointing inward) waiting to pop a tube. You have to carefully remove these. Both times there were about 8 glued in thorns - each of these would have been a puncture with tubes.

Getting the tubeless setup in the first place is a pita - I'm guessing that each system results in as much total time faffing about as the other - it's just that with tubeless it's at a time when I chose, and it's in my shed.

Will be very interested to hear how it works out for you on road tyres if you go this way.

dramiscram

Just to be sure, by saying tubeless do we all mean tubular tires?

Tubulars are not tubeless from what I know (which is not much).

doc0c

What about airless? Those are puncture proof.

HardyWeinberg

I'm assuming not.

dramiscram

I see. Thanks for the info.

I still prefer my clinchers and tubes

Darth Lefty 

I've been thinking of trying it just for fun (which is, after all, one big reason why I ride bikes). Since the notion is that it reduces puncture flats, I was thinking of trying it with some pretty light tires.

rubic

I mean eventually all of us run over a roofing nail or something and we get a flat. While commuting, especially, a quick tube replacement is essential. That alone precludes me from using tubeless, at least for commuting.

buzzbee

I have not used tubeless, but a friend did try it for about 6 months.
They were OK, but not really fewer flats, and when there was a flat, or a spoke problem, it was more bother to repair than with using tubes.

Like others here, he and I now use the Marathon belted tires, and the extra thick thorn resistant tubes with slime.
Heavy yes, but we each have now had at least 20K miles without a flat, so no complaints.

HardyWeinberg

I got a pointy stick through the sidewall last night, I would have been eager to find out if the sealant in a tubeless setup would have kept me going. But I could just lay the bike down, whip the piece of tube out, patch it, and get back on and keep going (I was running late, as always).

I wrinkled the patch and had a slow leak for the remainder of my stops but now it's fixed for real.

Rick@OCRR

I too have been tossing the tubeless clincher idea around for quite some time, for both commuting and sport riding.

After listening to the experiences of tubeless cyclists I know and reading others reports on forums, I have come to the conclusion that:

While the tubeless wheel/tire does have some advantages, the disadvantages outweigh them. So for me, sticking with normal clincher tires and tubes untill tubeless technology jumps another level (or two).

Rick / OCRR