Chris!

Just wondering what everyone is riding. I'm riding a drop bar bike with 700x40 WTB byways. Been mostly happy but will be looking into new tires sooner than later. Riding tubeless but not convinced it's worth it. I spend more time topping off air and etc than I did when I had tubes. I ride about 80% roads and the rest is double track and gravel rds. Looking at most likely going back to tubes and 700x40 seems to be a sweet spot for me.

staehpj1

I have still been using gatorskins with tubes. Since I pack crazy light I have been using skinny sizes.

I absolutely love the tubeless setup on my mountain bike. I went from at least a thorn flat a week to zero flats, none. At home, I top off every ride any way, on tour I top off every couple days any way, so I don't consider that a big hardship for tubeless. I also like the supple ride of tubeless.

I also enjoyed riding my old 1990 race bike across the US on the ST with 14# of gear and 25 mm Gatorskins (actually I started on 23mm until I wore them out). I also enjoyed my old MTB on a mixed surface tour with 2.1" tires with lots of low knobs. They served surprisingly well on the pavement.

If I were to make a change and start with a new setup it would probably be tubeless, especially if I were running tires as wide as you are. I am less convinced about going tubeless for a skinny tire setup. I haven' been anywhere during the pandemic, but when I get out after it could be on either of those bikes again. That said, my ideal choice would be a new gravel bike maybe with two sets of wheels to accommodate different types of riding and with a tubeless setup on at least the fatter tire one.

staehpj1

One thing I didn't mention in my first response is that whether on not it is worth it may depend on whether you will ride much in goat head thorn country. Even with no goat heads here in Tallahassee I find it worth it on my MTB due to the blackberry and other thorns. When I ride in goat head country it becomes a no brainer for me. So where you plan to travel may be a major factor.

randallr

There's a great site with actual rolling resistance measurements for a wide range of tires: bicyclerollingresistance.com

pakeboi

Schwalbe Marathon Almotion HS603 40-622 (700 x 38c) Tubeless

Pratt

Bruce Gordon 700c tires, pump them up once a year.

Rick

Schwalbe MARATHON MONDIAL (26 x 2.00)

Chris!

Tubeless or with tubes?

staehpj1

Seriously? Must be large (high volume) size and low pressure.

Pratt

Yes, 50mm run at about 45psi (3bar) with tubes. The literature says you can run them tubeless, but they can't say that legally, or words to that effect.