Comments on: Going Tubeless: What You Need To Know- Why Tubeless?

By: Keystone Kid

Keystone Kid — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:57:37 +0000

Tubeless is better, but for most mountain biking traction and impact absorbtion isn’t terribly important. But when you start downhill biking, then you realize you must soften your tires or the impact and vibration will be intolerable. Softening your tires is the only solution. But if you soften a tube tire below 40 psi, you will probably have to fix three or four pinch flats before you make it down the mountain. By going to tubeless you can soften them to perhaps as low as 30psi and will never get pinch flats. Using sealant, just as with tube tires (slime) will seal punctures. Also, the softer tire allows much increased surface contact and tire grip so you won’t slide out of turns so easily. Having a soft tire is comparable to having suspension – rather than move the whole wheel, hub and fork on every bump, the tire simply conforms and absorbs. So a 4″ travel bike at 30psi is like a 5″ travel bike at 40psi. Saving the frame and suspension from a lot of trauma. And you won’t get flats. If you run a tubeless tire below the rated minimum pressure, you could still get a pinch flat, which will in most cases seal but probably will not seal quickly or until you add air a few times with a pump. A set of new quailty tubeless tires and wheels is close to $1000.

By: UnitedWeRide

UnitedWeRide — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:17:25 +0000

My expierience this far with tubeless is limited. I do know that my 2.4 MK on my Stans Flow w/ Cafe Latex mounted flawlessly but that darn 2.2 TNT Saguaro I couldnt mount to save my life, or some tire levers, or my Stan’s Tape. Any tips to mount a tight beaded tire without tearing up the Stans tape??

By: CheifRock

CheifRock — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 06:55:38 +0000

@JeroenK: Sure flats can be avoided, thats not what I’m saying. I ride tires at 28-32psi in Northern Colorado where there are many a rocky trails and hellish thorns and cacti that will ruin a ride, I’m not a careful rider, maybe I’m just lucky.

The biggest advantage of a tubeless tire is allowing you to actually take advantage of the casing of the tire, this is why a road tubular rides better than a clincher, and why an auto bias tire rides differently than a radial tire. By removing the tube you allow the tire to flex and move in ways that it couldn’t before, which is where the better traction, cushioning and lower rolling resistance come from. Riding any tire tubed and then tubeless at the same psi will show a night and day difference, especially over rooted and rocky terrain.

The sealant that is needed to make non-tubeless tires or TNT/tubeless ready tire air tight is just an awesome by product of going tubeless.

By: JeroenK

JeroenK — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 07:29:22 +0000

@CheifRock, that might not be an argument for you, but generally, GT is spot on. I think he describes what tubeless does for the tradeoff between traction, comfort, rolling resistance and puncture risistance really well.

Sure, some riders never flatten in the first place, because they put a lot of air in big, knobby tires, because they ride in places without roots or rocks, because they ride very clean lines, because they use DH inner tubes, you name it…

Tubeless allows me to ride my skinny XR1′s at pressures that result in reasonable to good comfort and traction levels. Without it I would be running unreasonable risk of puncturing, or I would have to put in so much air, they would be unrideable for me.

By: CheifRock

CheifRock — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 06:48:30 +0000

Why is the puncture resistance the first argument always made for going tubeless? I ride tubeless now that the proper rim strips came back into stock for my Bonty Rhythm Elites, and use Bonty XDX tires, and I rode them tubed before that with Stan’s in the tubes and never flatted, so the argument is moot. The ride quality on the other hand is vastly improved, the traction and cushioning of a tubeless tire for me is a much larger why and the first thing I always bring up.