Tube or Tubeless!

Hello!!!

I’m thinking to change my tires from tube to tubeless!! i have bianchi infinito cv ultegra 2021.

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Some people love and some people hate. I always remember seeing @pav’s problems with tubeless! Wonder what Pav is using now he is riding agin??

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Yep. I had all sorts of issues with it. I’m running tubes. So far no punctures :ok_hand:

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Total convert to tubeless. The roll faster, get less punctures that force you to stop and are quicker / easier to fix if you get one. And they’re more comfortable because you can run them at lower pressure for the same size. They can be fiddly / annoying to seat when new until you know how. The caveat is never smaller than 25mm and 25mm only when they come up fat on the rim.

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I’m sure I’ve read if you run latex tubes you get better rolling resistance. I’m thinking it was Josh @ Silka. That said knowing he also works with a lot of the pro tour teams and they have started switching to tubules all be it also running inserts as there is a much higher risk of the tire coming off the wheel.

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Agree with this. I do remember talking to @pav about this before. I think he had a story about a tubeless tyre coming off his wheel once. I will let him share that!

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I think it depends on the type of riding you do and how handy you are with this kind of thing. If you get a shop to do most of your maintenance, tubeless can be good. You just have to maintain the sealant (even if you don’t get a puncture it needs regular topping up/replacing)

Either way, it is a good idea to practice changing a tube or plugging a tubeless tyre for emergencies.

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Agree with @James on this.

@cyclemadman :rofl: yeah that was a bad day. If I remember right, it was the week after I got back from Haute Route Rockies where I had a bad fall on the gravel. Smashed the same hand/arm on the way down this time.

Went to put a tube inside the tyre and had skinny tubes for the wider tyres. Got it inflated enough to go to the nearest bike shop for rescue. The shop said it was caused by the wheel tape not being double wrapped. Not a nice experience.

Couple of thoughts here. I do run TL now most of the time. My lightweight climbing wheels still have tubes though. Pav is right, there are ultra thin tubes that get the rolling resistance down. I do use the Continental SuperSonic ones, Latex tubes do not work well with rim brakes. Main issue with those lighter tubes is that they blow out if the rims get very hot. So going very aggressively into a hairpin turn on a downhill causes a tube to pop every now and then. ALways makes for a good story though, assuming you did not wipe out.

Switched to TL by accident. Got a wheelset to play with, and just wanted to try out TL. Turns out that this is sort of a game changer. In spring and autumn I would sacrifice a tube almost every other longer ride. Make that 8 to 10 a year. In the last 2 years TL, I had to replace only 2 tires, both with cuts that would have had me replace the tire on the tubed setup as well. In addition to that, one tire had about 5000 miles on it, so pretty much end of life anyway. Last weekend I got a puncture about 15 miles into a short 80 mile ride. Sealed off quickly, some more air into the tired, and done.

The downside of TL is that when a tire is gone, it’s game over. You need to replace that one and trying to get it off out there and stuff in a tube is virtually impossible. Not that it could not be done, but you’d just limp to the next spot where somebody can pick you up.

TL coming off the rim … Some wheel brands introduced the concept of hookless rims. If a tire gets too hot and expands, it can fly off the rim. Same thing if you hit a pothole. So that might not be a good idea.

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Have you come across dynaplugs? You can repair a tubeless puncture in the wild and ride the tyre until it is worn out.

Yes and looking at the dynaplug system. It leaves a metal spike on the inside of the tire so if you have a puncture you can’t fix and need to add a tube. I’m not sure about leaving those in place and whether you would need to pull them out and then add the tube.
The other systems I’ve seen and have just use the bacon strips but never had to use them. So far if I see/get a puncture which doesn’t seal quickly once home I take the tire off and patch the inside properly as you would an inner tube. I also carry the kit to do that in the wild as well.

Only got tubeless on my MTB.

Seen that. Don’t quite trust that. TL is a deal with the devil. It works very well, till it does not. It’s just that for me it worked, all of the time. Except for one time where the tire was gone, terminal, whether TL or with tube.

The dynaplugs and other assorted idea just make you carry a complete toolbox around. Kind of the opposite of the idea that you can avoid taking tubes with you if you run tubeless.

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I’m a tubeless convert. Started out using tubeless only on my mtb, which got me used to using bacon strips for repair. Then after about 10 flats in the first 1000 of a 3500-mile ride, I switched to tubeless on my touring bike, with no punctures that didn’t repair themselves for the remainder of the trip. Finally I converted my endurance bike to tubeless, running Zipp 303s wheels and Conti GP 5000s 28’s. So far so good… the setup is more comfortable on long rides and the two punctures I’ve had sealed themselves (one with a little finger pressure required). I carry one TPU tube, as compact and light as latex but more puncture resistant, and a few inches of duct tape, just in case I damage a tire badly. I also carry one tool smaller than a pack of Lifesavers to ream out punctures and apply bacon strips. A tire lever and a CO2 cartridge complete the tire repair kit, with the valve for it being built into the tool mentioned above. As comfortable as I am with this setup, I should mention that all tubeless tire/rim combinations aren’t the same. The WTB Expanse tires that came with my bike were rated for use with Zipp 303s hookless rims, but they simply didn’t hold air as well as my new Continentals. I had to pump them up quite a bit every day but still, they did fine on all-day rides. A friend of mine is trying to run tubeless (road and gravel) and doing everything right as far as I can tell, but his tires will go flat by the end of a 2-hour ride. Be prepared for that possibility and ready to switch out tires if necessary. Tubeless is not only more efficient, comfortable and convenient, it’s easier in every way.*
*when it works😉

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Great advice here! Thanks for posting :slight_smile:

@jtate I have experienced this with tyres going flat a couple of times now. Every time I have put the wheel under water and found tiny leaks through the side walls. When I spin the wheel slowly, holding it horizontally, the sealant coats the side walls and this leak problem has gone away. It is worth trying to rotate slowly underwater and see what you observe.

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There is something to that. Usually put the wheel semi flat, so that the sealant can soak into the side walls. Rotate a bit each 30 mins, flip around, rinse and repeat.