I haven’t tried tubeless yet, but I can say that I’m quite happy so far with the Ride now TPU tubes you can buy for cheap on AliExpress.
I generally aim for as low maintenance stuff as possible, so this fits well into that philosophy.
First I’ve heard of these. What’s the advantage?
Allegedly:
- Lower rolling resistance
- Lighter weight
- Higher puncture resistance
- More expensive
- Trickier to repair?
Higher puncture resistance with lower weight? That seems counter intuitive but if you can vouch for it then maybe I’ll give it a try
I have an ebike so I don’t really care about weight lol
I can’t vouch for the properties. I can only really say that I haven’t had a puncture with them yet.
They are pretty cheap when purchased on AliExpress fwiw, so that might be a good option.
I know there’s an actual product category called “tubeless,” but do airless tires fall into this category? Because after a run of bad luck where I was getting flats nearly every other time I rode, I put a set of Tannus on my bike and it was the best bike-related thing I think I’ve ever done.
I run TA inserts on my electric fatbike: Slows things down a decent amount, but I have not gotten any sort of flat since installing them.
Not sure that would really be classified as “tubeless” though they technically are without tubes, those are usually classified s solid tires if you’re talking about the actual tires they make and not the inserts (though the inserts do give me run-flat, which isn’t too terrible).
Right; this was my question. Technically, they are tubeless - just not in the original and traditional way the term was coined. I’m not using inserts, BTW - I went the whole-tire route, and - yeah - they’re solid.
I can’t really tell the difference, but I’m a casual rider. The benefit to me is that they’ve improved my riding experience immeasurably, as I no longer have anxiety about getting a flat on long rides. I hate changing tires in the middle of a ride; it’s dirty, and never easy, and takes time I’d rather be riding. So any extra firmness or weight which - again, I really can’t detect - is well worth being able to enjoy the ride without worry.
My wife, who still has tubes, says she can feel that they’re more firm, but not substantially. Mine are three years old now, and I think it’ll be interesting to see what improvements will be available by the time I ride the rubber off and need to change them. I’m really excited to see reviews about METL tires - also airless and tubeless, but not solid like Tannus.
In any case, I was mostly curious about the taxonomy. Airless, then, are not considered tubeless even though they don’t have tubes, merely because of how tire technology has evolved - right?
I run tubeless on my eMTB and road bike, because they have proper tubeless rims. Tubes on my fat tire and cargo bikes with a rim liner and slime, because they don’t have tubeless rims.
I live in an area with goatheads and I’ve picked up 30-40 per tire before in a bad area. Sealant works well for me.
The only time I had a tubeless setup with liquid sealant was on an e-scooter.
Got a puncture, the sealant did not close the puncture but made a huge mess.
On my bikes, in well over 12,000 km, I’ve had only a single flat. And that flat was caused by rookie error when installing a new tube after replacing my tires.
I see no compelling reason to spend money on sealant, worry about topping it up, still needing to carry a tube, and also needing to carry a tubeless puncture kit.
I’ve run Flatout in mine and it works great, but from what I’ve heard, Slime sucks.
I forgot the brand I used, but it was one of the “best” and most recommended at the time (only a few years back). It was purple.
On my current e-scooter, it runs tubeless by default, but has a gel liner, rather than liquid, so it self-heals without maintenance or mess. That would be awesome to have in a bike tire.
These days Flatout is pretty much the go-to for tube sealant, but if I recall, it was more tan colored?
I remember now, it was “Armor-Dilloz”. Never tried flatout, but the whole experience just left me unimpressed. I’ve been totally fine with bike tubes. Even on bikes that are used all year round, in +30 and -20 Celsius… no issues. No need to check them. Just inflate once in a while, and I’m good. LOL
If I rode regularly or long distances, I would go with tubes. Nothing would suck more than having a flat far from home, and that tire goop doesn’t always work.
You can still put a tube in a tubeless bike FYI, many people who ride tubeless still keep a tube or two as an emergency backup.
See, this is why I join these communities. I learn a thing or two!
I’ve thought about tube vs tubeless with regular riding, like commuting, and have a slightly different conclusion. For the record, I’m 100% tubed and still haven’t managed to give away sealant that I got for free.
Tubeless has two nice commuting/regular-riding benefits. First is when there are frequent encounters small punctures, like thorns or steel wire. The maintenance time benefit of tubes disappears quickly in this case. Minor punctures with tubes can be mitigated with puncture resistant tires or liners, but that compromises ride quality and speed.
Second, every moment of your time isn’t created equal. Time when traveling is not as fungible as maintenance time. I can schedule tubeless maintenance. I cannot schedule when I get a puncture. Tubeless is zero delay or just a quick pump-up compared to patching a tube. Even catastrophic punctures are a wash; both setups need a new tube.
What setup to use really does come down to “it depends.” Are you always cutting it close to get to where you need to go, but are good with routines? Consider fast tires in a tubeless setup. Do you struggle to maintain your bike or are always early to your destination? Marathon Plus tires with butyl tubes would be a solid choice.
As for me? I only carry patches for most of my rides. It works on every one of my bikes and I’m not usually riding somewhere with less than 15 minutes of buffer time. Although it does suck to patch a tube when riding at night. That’s a suck I’m willing to take.
I did not like liners but I found puncture resistant worked well enough that I have not gone tubeless.
He kinda touches on this in the article but I always felt tubeless was more for off-road applications anyway. Personnally I have a few bikes and my enduro bike is the only one with a tubeless setup
Sorry, but tubes are significantly better for off-road performance. What do you off-road?
Edit: I can’t really say why I wrote this comment like this. Very aggressive. Sorry again.
Pinch flats are way more likely when running low tire pressure off road. That does not happen with tubeless setups.
Yeah sorry, I’d meant that -in my experience.
I’d had issues with loss of air on hard turns or losing the bead more often. I wonder if the model of rim was poorly designed.
My enduro mountain bike. We are talking about bicycles in this discussion, are we not? I suppose I can’t speak to anyones experience but my own but I used to get a lot more flats on tubed setups. Now the only time I get a flat is when I’ve broken a wheel
I’d only meant in my own experience. Sorry about that. I definitely wrote that comment as an asshole.
What pressures do you run in your tubeless setup?
Any specific rims or style you’d recommend?
I usually run around 35psi (2.41 BAR) front and rear but I’m also kind of a giant who destroys rear wheels too often.
Currently on a Spank Race 33 rim and Vittoria Syerra’s for tires. The Syerra’s are really cool. They have really good rolling resistance. They aren’t the best in cornering grip but I find its really easy to ride them on the ‘edge’ of their grip if that makes sense. I also run cores in an attempt to prevent breaking more wheels
Here’s the bike if you’re curious:
