madfx

Ok, mtn bike noob question on tires, what's better and why for a non serious rider, I ride a few times a month, single trac forest stuff.. I had a HR 29er sport and bought a CDale Of CL that I planned to flip on the bay, but after riding it I sold the hardrock.

The CDale has Stan's tubeless and I need tires, and not sure if I should stay tubeless or tubes.
I dont ride any rock or roots on my typical loops.

pablosnazzy

I run tubeless on my main bicycle, tubes in all the others. I think if you want to have tubes, get them, they are awesome. if you want to be tubeless, get a tubeless set up, it's awesome. 6 of one, half dozen of the other. one is not better than the other.

however....lets do some armchair psychology, shall we?

you asked if you should be tubeless, which means you are thinking it's a better idea and want confirmation from others to make sure you are making the right decision, which means deep down, you want tubeless. if you didn't, you wouldn't even consider it or ask, so...

get the tubeless set up and never worry about it again...

madfx

LOL.. Thanks, I no very little about MTN Biking, Im mostly a road guy, love to hit the woods and would more often if the dude I ride with wasn't so lame..

I don't know the benifits of tubeless , I thought they were mostly for low pressure riding, slow technical stuff etc.. ? I guess I just don't know the benifits or maintenance issues with tubeless , my noobness to mtn tells me tires with tubes are a no brainier , same with tubeless ?

Surfer34

how do you fix a flat with tubeless when you are out on the trails ?

pablosnazzy

if you get a flat, you either put air back in the tire and keep riding, or you put in a tube. in the 2+ years i've had tubeless, i have had 1 flat, because i let the stan's sealant dry out. when i changed my rear tire, it was riddled with small punctures. never went flat .

In addition to being able to run a slightly lower tire pressure, the benefit to tubeless is you don't get flats, for the most part, and you don't have to be buying tubes all the time. the stan's sealant, which helps seal the tire to the rim, also seals any punctures. if you rip a sidewall, that's a different story. also, it's a bit lighter, but i would say 99% of riders wouldn't notice the difference or care.

madfx

This ^ is what I was thinking also..

Thanks pabsnaz for the answers! Think I'll got with anouther set of tubeless and just keep a tube in my pack.

Now the question is What tubeless tires? It has kenda nevegals now they are chewed and the tread is a bit worn so I couldn't really tell if I liked them when I rode.

pablosnazzy

we here all like continental trail kings, i swear by them, for this area, so if you asked me, i'd say trail kings. nevagals are very good as well, if they are best for your area, go with them. go to the shops in your area and ask what they are riding.

JonathanGennick 

LOL! Or it could be he's just been hearing tubeless talked up by other riders. Some days I feel the biggest benefit to going tubeless would be that I'd no longer get peppered by all the questions about when I'm going to go tubeless.

JonathanGennick 

Since you're going to swap tires anyway, maybe dump the sealant from the tires you have now and try them with tubes. That way, you get a tubeless and tubed experience on the same tires. See what you think of the difference. Then decide which way to go w/the new set.

allroy71

Tubeless vs tubed to me is about how much work you like to do on your bikes. If you don't like messing with you bike, I say stick with tubes. (I have tubed and tubeless set ups)
If you don't mind a little bike attention then get tubeless.
Most people need an air compressor to seat a tubeless bead (extra toy for some folks). Or if you are lucky, a high volume floor pump may do it. Some people need to soap up the tire to seat it, a little messy.

You need to add sealant into tubeless tires, anywhere from 3 months and up. I think mine was pretty dry after only 3 months. You can either unseat the tube to clean out the dried up "snot" or you can just take the valve out and and more sealant. I poke an old guitar string into the valve to see if any sealant still remains.

So there is more work in the initial setup of tubeless, but if it helps you get less flats and you like the extra traction/cushness, that might negate all the work. On the flipside, I have used slime tubes and they have worked for me, especially in Southern California, with thorns.

madfx

^^ thanks for this.. I was looking around online at tires and saw the slime tubes, your answer acually Helped answer my questions, I was also thinking of the maintenance with tubeless ... I'm just going tubes, I'll try the slimes. I don't like messing with my bikes, I'll do tire/tube changes re wrap bars etc and light duty adjustments but mostly I just bring my road bikes to the shop for tune and to adjust anything I can easily do myself in a few mins..