I don’t even run with a flat kit and proper tubeless.
Do I miss the frame pump, tubes, patch kit, tire levers? I kinda miss having excuses to stop, smoke a bowl, and eat snacks while changing a flat a little.
Eating snacks out at good vista points with clean hands is cool too.
If you’ve ever tried to mount Michelin tires on Mavic rims, then you’ve probably experienced the hardest part of going tubeless.
But I agree, I don’t think I’d put tubeless on the wief or kid bike. The kiddo has already learned about pinch flats, though.
So far tubeless has been an effective way to slow down my tire dithering. I’ve done zero* dithering on the two bikes I have setup that way.
Although it might cause new adventures in tire dithering: why not just buy another set of wheels instead of swapping out the tires?
*MTB has had completely zero dithering. A set of tires has been purchased for the day/ruiner, but there’s basically no motivation to actually swap them out (except for me asking every so often what folx think of their Ramparts).
To be fair, the tubeless setups have been pretty great so far. Any commuting bike with tubes gets the belt+suspenders treatment.
Swapping tubeless tires on tubeless wheels setup well is pretty simple. Hardest part might be getting the bead on and off if it’s tight which is just the same as tubed. No mess either, use a spray can lid to scoop up the extra sealant from inside the tire for MTB, that little measuring cup that used to come with Stan’s works great for smaller tires. With a proper pump, it doesn’t take longer to seat the bead when you’re all done either. A spray bottle of glass cleaner makes it even easier, and then you get a clean wheel out of the deal as well.
There’s no need to be afraid of tubeless, it’s fine. There was a learning curve when it was new, but it’s been pretty well settled for what, almost 10 years?
That said, I dither on tires a lot less now with tubeless because I never have the excuse of a punctured tube.
People who are afraid of tubeless are like my dad being afraid of computers.
I would offer the caveat that road tubeless seems a little less error-tolerant than mtb / gravel. HIgher pressures, less air in the system, sealants not really optimized to stop a blowout at 75psi.
Also the rubber on a rear 25mm tire is still going to wear out pretty quickly, so if you’re doing 4-7k miles a year, you’re going through at least a tire or two annually just by riding. I wholeheartedly believe that a 42mm gravel setup might be able to live on a bike for a few years, though.
It’s still better overall, in terms of ride quality and less frequent flats. Most of my rides start by riding through freight depots and rail yards, and the massive tides of broken glass and tire wire used to reliably flat a gp4k about every six weeks. Since setting up tubeless, none of that, just one annoying unsealable leak on a tire that was pretty done anyhow.
Same for mtb for most of us/equivalent of those riding 4-7k road.
Well I took the wheel off for that. Only reason this wheel needs attention at all is because I’m running EL switchback hills that a friend gave me which already had a giant hole in the sidewall when I got them. Real tubeless tires are much more “set and forget.” Much like hydraulic brakes, tubeless just works and I like its failure modes better than that of a tubed setup.
Huh, mtb tires are only good for 150-200 hours? I imagined them lasting longer because of? Knobs?
Knobs and and tear. Middle here hella worn, and side knobs probably could bend backwards easily. So, not really that much grip.
Some super soft tires that grip awesome don’t last long. Knobs are known to rip completely off. So yeah depending on the tire and how aggressively you ride that sounds about right.
MTB tire life varys wildly. I’ve had a brand new rear tire look like that after two weeks of riding in Colorado and Moab. When I lived closer to the forest, if I drove to the trails I could get two or three years out of a set of tires.
Yup. I had the side knobs on a Hans Dampf like the one in the picture start to tear after 1 ride. I don’t know how the new ones are, because I switched off of them.
I wouldnt mess with tubeless on Compass tires anyway. And typically I would change from Barlow Pass to Ramblers or CX tires weekly. Also I guess I dont want to admit that selling two bikes wont even pay for a decent set of spare wheels. Maybe if the spare set was 650b off-road it might work. My fully could work tubeless but I havent had a puncture in years. I dont tend to tire-dither on bikes that only have one end-use.
Are you riding an Open with tubes in the tires?
Yes I am. It came set-up. I tipped the jizz out of the Ramblers and put on my Barlow Passes for a week, CXed it that weekend with maxxis Razes and put the BPs on again for a gravel race the next weekend. Has the Ramblers on it now. They are tubeless compatible.
I think I may’ve gotten a TB14 to seal up.
Yup.
What’d it take?