CliffordK

I haven't used tubeless myself, but the advantage is using the sealants. Those plugs above might help in some situations, but generally shouldn't be needed. If the hole is big enough, then just pop the tire off, patch, and put it back on.

Most Latex sealants will create a permanent repair of small holes (thorn holes). However, the sealants themselves also require maintenance and replenishment.

You can also use the sealants in regular tires, and some people have had good luck. The "green goo" is more or less long-term without needing replenishment, but not necessarily a permanent seal. The latex sealants should give a permanent seal, but require replenishment.

Your thoughts are similar to mine on the solid tires. The weight for the 23mm tires is actually comparable to the 25mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, so depending on one's tire choice, not a huge weight penalty. But, I do think they are slightly slower and harsher than my pneumatic tires.

I still have the solid tires on one bike, mainly used in the winter. I don't think they'd be my choice for a century ride, but are fine for short around town trips.

canklecat

Ditto, Slime or other sealants. I use Slime in the tubes on my hybrids, especially the errand bike since I don't bother carrying a flat repair kit and pump on the errand bike. It's only for short trips around the neighborhood to the stores. One less thing to worry about being stolen.

I've never had a puncture flat on the errand bike's Michelin Protek Cross Max tires, but have had a couple of peculiar flats from other sources. One was a slow leak from a defective valve core that wouldn't seal. Two were caused by rim tape that was too thin to adequately support the tube in a double wall rim. The double wall rims have deeper spoke nipple holes. Without fairly sturdy rim tape the tube will extrude under pressure through the spoke nipple holes. These are visible as dimples corresponding with the nipple holes. Eventually tiny splits occur in the dimples. Thicker cloth rim tape solved that problem. Some folks use a double layer of thinner plastic rim strips, or adhesive tape. Whatever works.

So as a backup I added Slime to the tubes for that bike. Those Michelin tires are heavy, 1,100g each, so the Slime won't add any noticeable weight. Riding the bike feels the same.

That worked well enough that I added Slime to the tubes for my other hybrid, which wears Continental Speed Ride tires. Great tires but the puncture shield is thin and I had about six flats last winter on those tires, mostly from goathead grass burrs and tiny shards of glass. (Broken glass is everywhere in my neighborhood due to the many yahoo redneck cowboy h0nkytonks down the street. Between the busted beer bottles and busted windshields and windows from wrecks caused by drunken yahoos, the streets are about 75% asphalt, 25% broken glass.) The wire bead version of the Speed Rides weigh about 500g each and I still can't feel any difference with the added Slime. My average speed is the same.

Planemaker

If you decide to go tubeless don't waste your money on the dynaplug because chances are you will never use it. If you truly want need to plug a large puncture on the road buy an $8.00 pack of Genuine Innovations slab of bacon.

JohnnyB65

I don’t think I would ever buy solid tires or Airless what ever they are called. I bought them for my wheelbarrow a while back because I was constantly getting flats. Then I was moving rocks with them last summer and discovered when its loaded down, the wheels get lumpy and start slipping on the rims. Now I’m sure bike tires would be of better quality than for a wheelbarrow, but I don’t think I would take the chance of crashing into something.

Anyway, my liners were delivered today and I haven’t had the chance to install them yet. Hopefully the thorns will not work there way through. I had a thorn popup through my shoe and I believe the thorn took a while to come through because of it size. My sole was thicker than the length of the thorn.

JohnJ80

Never fails to amaze me of the opinions of those who admittedly have no knowledge or experience with a thing but yet are willing to offer detailed advice and an emphatic opinion against it.

Tubeless has been run on mountain bikes for years and years and works very well. Tubeless has been run on road bikes also for years (albeit less) successfully. It’s not exactly a new thing.

I’ve ridden tubeless tubulars with sealant for a decade and my flats dropped from 6-8 per year to 0-1 per year in about 3-4000 miles per year. This is essentially the same technology as tubeless clinchers with respect to punctures. I now also have road tubeless clinchers and they work Super well. My experience has been that I typically wear out the tire before I get a puncture.

The Dynaplug kit is a lifesaver. There are punctures where you may run out out of sealant before the hole is plugged (say your sealant is low or drying up) and this gets you back on the road fast. What isn’t obvious about tubeless tires is that they are typically a battle to get on the rim. Dynaplug gets around that and you can plug a large hole very fast. Best part is that you are on your way very fast - a few minutes. If you want to be that guy wrangling a rim and tire on the side of the road - hey, that’s your business.

Tubeless ought to work super well for the OP.

Clyde Power

I commute & utility cycle in Denver, CO. approx. 4,000 miles a year. Goat heads and glass are the main enemy of tires on my commute. What worked for me was to switch to a combo of Schwalbe Marathon HS420 with GreenGuard protection and STOP Flats2 tire liners. Found that goat head thorns could occasionally get past the Schawalbe's so added the tire liners. It's a heavy combo, but it allows me to get to work without stopping to fix a flat.

tcs

Before you drop $500~$1000 for new tubeless wheels, tires and sealant, you might try putting sealant in your existing tubes. Slime. They have it the bike department @ Walmart, six bucks, or about twice that @ a 'pro' bike shop. Follow the directions on the label. I've personally had great results combating off road thorn flats with this stuff.

The two knocks I've heard on tire liners is 1) increased rolling resistance, documented in instrumented tests, but perhaps not a major issue with off-road knobbies, and b) the liners themselves wearing or poking holes in the tubes. These are long standing problems, documented going back over four decades. I don't know if the more recent liners are any better in these regards.

A new solid tire gets introduced to the market every 5~7 years. Nobody enjoys flats, so can't blame 'em for trying. 'Net reviews on the current flavor, Tannus, seems to run from 'not bad' to 'I wouldn't wish these on an enemy'.

JohnnyB65

Wow $500 is way more than I would ever spend. If it came to that I would donate the bike to Goodwill or something and give up on riding altogether.

I used slime in my son's bike about 30 years ago, but it was stolen before we got the chance to see if it worked.

bogydave

I used Stan’s rim tape & sealant
on stock wheels
Marathon supreme tires
On 2nd year

Wanderer

How about that new solid tire by Specialized?

pesty

Yes, you can spend $500 or more on a set of tubeless wheels, but that goes for standard clinchers and tubular wheels as well.

Performance bike has a fairly decent pair of 30mm deep tubeless ready wheels that you can usually for about $200 for the pair. I have them, I used them as my heavy day to day training wheels. They have held up well and have stayed surprisingly true. Downside, as you’d expect for a $200 set of wheels, they are kinda heavy. I want to say about 1800g for the pair. Many bikes these days actually come with tubeless ready wheels, just add tape.

Having used the Stan’s Cross Strip to convert a pair of Mavic Open Pros to road tubeless, I would avoid that at all costs. Extremely difficult to get tires on, just in general a royal PITA.

pesty

My bad. I have heard they work fine for cross/mtb, but never tried it.

rumrunn6

either I need to get more flats or ride more so I get more flats cuz I was grumpy swapping out a tube Friday night. maybe I just needed a scotch & soda. got 'er done tho, rode the bike, works fine. back into storage it went

Cyclcist11023131

I ran my beach cruiser with Fix a Flat for four years. Every once in a while it would shoot white liquid out for a few seconds. Then seal up. When the tires finally wore out, I had to cut them off. Took about an hour to clean up. Was worth it to never have flat on the grocery runner. Now with my Schwalbe Marathons I hardly ever flat. When it does it is usually a slow leak from tiny wires off the road.

JohnnyB65

This is my main culprit and I don’t know the name of it, but it doesn’t cause an immediate flat. It slowly works its way through causing a slow leak. I had one work its way up through my shoe once and I started feeling it days before it actually penetrated my foot.

I've also had flats with thorns from rose bushes.

BBassett

I use Schwalbe MARATHON PLUS TOUR HS 404, heavy tubes, tire liners, and Stan's Tire Seal. One flat in the last 4400 miles.

Terex

As others have hinted....tubeless. I ride my mtn. bike in northern NM and haven't had a flat with tubeless tires. I have things like cactus and industrial strength goat head stickers to contend with.

If I was still riding road those tires would be tubeless too.