To tubeless or not to tubeless

[Peat]

It's worth remembering that folk who rarely get p****** very often don't tend to talk about it. Hence, the bulk of stuff you hear about it will inevitably be the negatives.

I'm currently running Spesh Roubaix Pro's with Caffelatex. No problems thus far. Easy to mount and seal. They lose a bit of pressure if left for a few days. I'm due to renew the sealant soon, as per the manufacturers advice and am considering doing the MTB/Ghetto thing of adding glitter to the solution. The idea being that they act as a binding agent and help seal cuts.

[chrisbainbridge]

I am interested in the Finish line comment. Is that the version  with Kevlar?

I have it in my wheels currently and like the ease of inserting it but have not had a puncture yet.
Did you find problems with it sealing compared to stans ?

[Jakob W]

I'm due to renew the sealant soon, as per the manufacturers advice and am considering doing the MTB/Ghetto thing of adding glitter to the solution. The idea being that they act as a binding agent and help seal cuts.

Also makes your ride approximately 273% more fabulous...

(I did not know that this was a thing.)

[Hot Flatus]

I am interested in the Finish line comment. Is that the version  with Kevlar?

I have it in my wheels currently and like the ease of inserting it but have not had a puncture yet.
Did you find problems with it sealing compared to stans ?

It has failed to seal any puncture so far. .

[Ben T]

It could be an interesting experiment to, when somebody has an hour or two, and a tyre, spare, to test the sealing abilities of the various different types of sealant, against various different types of flint/thorn, etc and document the result.

[Peat]

I'd do it, but i'd want sponsorship. That'd be an expensive experiment!

Most comprehensive independent test I've seen so far is Bike Radar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2OqwuhNGfg

BUT. That's in a clean work shop with clean, round screwdrivers.

[rafletcher]

Not quite what you suggested...

https://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/best-tubeless-sealant-52683/

https://www.bikeradar.com/mtb/gear/article/6-of-the-best-tyre-sealant-50481/

EDIT: X-post with Peat

[teethgrinder]

One tip I've heard of to upgrade sealant is to add some glitter so it can plug bigger holes.
I've never tried it myself or know anyone who has.

[zigzag]

(as predicted) it looks like the 5000tl is the new top dog

corsas tlr are only good for smooth clean roads and even then i reckon the conti's would be faster for their better grip and higher speed they can carry through the corners. i hope the price comes down to below three figures for a pair in few months time as i have a psychological barrier paying that much for the tyres, no matter how great they are..

[Brucey]

it is an impressive result for sure. Hopefully they won't turn out to have problems; they shouldn't do, they are not built stupid-light or anything like that.

If you shop around they can be had for about £46 each, so not ridiculously expensive for a newish top dog.

cheers

[quixoticgeek]

(as predicted) it looks like the 5000tl is the new top dog

corsas tlr are only good for smooth clean roads and even then i reckon the conti's would be faster for their better grip and higher speed they can carry through the corners. i hope the price comes down to below three figures for a pair in few months time as i have a psychological barrier paying that much for the tyres, no matter how great they are..

Looks like ~4W per tyre faster than the GP4000S II, so for a pair, that's 8w. So over an hour you'd save 6.7kcal. So over a 12 hour ride, that's a saving of about ¼ of a mars bar... But on day 10 of an ultrarace when ones FTP has dropped to about 100w, that's an 8% saving...

I'm gonna need new summer rubber in the spring. Am very tempted to give them a try...

J

[sojournermike]

(as predicted) it looks like the 5000tl is the new top dog

corsas tlr are only good for smooth clean roads and even then i reckon the conti's would be faster for their better grip and higher speed they can carry through the corners. i hope the price comes down to below three figures for a pair in few months time as i have a psychological barrier paying that much for the tyres, no matter how great they are..

I’ve got a set of Corsa Speeds on a pair of wheels at present. I don’t suppose they’ll last long before needing repacked in any case.

[Hot Flatus]

My Hutchinson Fusion Galaktiks give a phenomenal ride. Better than my tubs. But, there is very little in the way of puncture protection. Dry summer use only.

[BrianI]

On the subject of MTB tubeless, are 29er tubeless wheels still available which use ye olde worlde standard q/r hubs and centrelock disc brakes? Seems to be all this 27.5+  boost or throughaxle type things? 

Bike is a 2017 Cube attention MTB with cube ZX20 rims which i don't believe are tubeless compatible.

[Brucey]

many boost hubs can be converted to QR specification by replacing the axle and/or the adaptors at the axle ends, but the details vary with the model of hub.  Other alternatives are to go fox six-bolt discs (they are cheap enough) and/or to convert the rims to accept tubeless tyres (which is a bit hit and miss) or to get the wheels built how you want them in the first place; plenty of hubs and rims of the sort you want, just not already built in the exact combination you need.
 
cheers

[sojournermike]

many boost hubs can be converted to QR specification by replacing the axle and/or the adaptors at the axle ends, but the details vary with the model of hub.  Other alternatives are to go fox six-bolt discs (they are cheap enough) and/or to convert the rims to accept tubeless tyres (which is a bit hit and miss) or to get the wheels built how you want them in the first place; plenty of hubs and rims of the sort you want, just not already built in the exact combination you need.
 
cheers

Indeed, which always seems a bit of a poor design choice given that the point of boost is, in part, to give better spoke angles and stronger wheels... still why spoil a good marketing story by actually doing the engineering eh

[BrianI]

many boost hubs can be converted to QR specification by replacing the axle and/or the adaptors at the axle ends, but the details vary with the model of hub.  Other alternatives are to go fox six-bolt discs (they are cheap enough) and/or to convert the rims to accept tubeless tyres (which is a bit hit and miss) or to get the wheels built how you want them in the first place; plenty of hubs and rims of the sort you want, just not already built in the exact combination you need.
 
cheers

I've seen various six bolt standard qr wheels in 29" size on rose bikes for ~£150 a pair which are tubeless compatible.

However what might be an idea is to try a tubeless conversion on my current wheels using a proper tubeless kit and proper tubeless tyres. A previous attempt using a "ghetto" conversion using a split 24" tube and non tubeless tyres (folding Schwalbe smart sam) was less than successful. The tyres went on and sealed, but lost pressure in a few days plus seemed to burp easily...

Certainly worth trying this first of all as the current wheels probably have a fair bit of life in them still.

[Alex B]

I am interested in the Finish line comment.

It's the perfect sealant in every respect except one: it's not very good at sealing holes. Very small ones sort of get sealed with a "weeping" wound; slightly larger ones just don't seal.

Shame :-(

[BrianI]

many boost hubs can be converted to QR specification by replacing the axle and/or the adaptors at the axle ends, but the details vary with the model of hub.  Other alternatives are to go fox six-bolt discs (they are cheap enough) and/or to convert the rims to accept tubeless tyres (which is a bit hit and miss) or to get the wheels built how you want them in the first place; plenty of hubs and rims of the sort you want, just not already built in the exact combination you need.
 
cheers

I've seen various six bolt standard qr wheels in 29" size on rose bikes for ~£150 a pair which are tubeless compatible.

However what might be an idea is to try a tubeless conversion on my current wheels using a proper tubeless kit and proper tubeless tyres. A previous attempt using a "ghetto" conversion using a split 24" tube and non tubeless tyres (folding Schwalbe smart sam) was less than successful. The tyres went on and sealed, but lost pressure in a few days plus seemed to burp easily...

Certainly worth trying this first of all as the current wheels probably have a fair bit of life in them still.

Anyhoo, tessa 4289 "tubeless" tape ordered off ebay, £12 for 66m! of 25mm width. I already have Joe's no flats rim strip and 1l of sealant from  my previous attempt using non tubeless tyres on non tubeless rims Just to get some tubeless tyres and we'll see how the conversion goes. Decathlon seems to have michelin 29x2.1 tubeless ready tyres for £17 a each.

[BrianI]

No Michelin's in stock, so took a punt on BTwin all terrain speed folding tubeless ready tyres, 29x2.10", £16.99 a tyre! Perhaps more tyre shaped objects compared to Schwalbe / Continental etc. Although I'm sure I read somewhere that BTwin tyres are actually made by Hutchison?

[BrianI]

An update - if the admin think this would be better on the MTB forum, then let me know, and I'll repost it there.

Anyway, in the shed I found half a roll of the rim sealing tape from a Joe's no flats conversion kit I had previously attempted a tubeless conversion with, using the Cube ZX20 rims (non tubeless, made by Alex rims), and standard wire bead Schwalbe Smart Sam non tubeless tyres.  Less than successful as the tyre was quite a loose fit on the bead.

Anyway, this time around, I put on a single layer of the joes tape (I have a 66mm roll of 25mm tesa 4289 tape on its way from ebay, but I thought I'd experiment with what was left of the joe's stuf).

One layer of the tape applied (overlapping the valve hole 2inces either side), then burnished down with a soft tea towel, then I carefully added the joe's rubber rim strip & valve. I fitted the Btwin All Terrain Speed 7 Tubeless Ready (folding bead) tyre. Not a very tight fit on the rim, so perhaps another layer of the adhesive plastic rim tape required.  But the tyre did inflate without any issue using a track pump. No obvious hissing either! 

So hopefully this tubeless conversion may actually work.  I do have plenty of sealant to hand, but I think I'll wait on getting my tesa tape, and add another layer and compare results.  Long term though, I'll look to get a proper set of tubeless wheels 

[Ben T]

Just did the 3 monthly sealant top up on both my bikes. The older set up on my burls (stans alpha 340 rims + schwalbe one TL-easy tyres) did their normal thing of unseating as the pressure gets to zero, but then re-seat fairly easily. But the newer set up on my audax bike (mavic tyres + mavic rims), I was quite impressed that they didn't even unseat at all, so I didn't even need the airshot for them.

[bludger]

Back in from an Audax and had a tubeless learning.

They are cracking tyres (panaracer gravel Kings SK), they ate a monster pothole beautifully, but this morning, 2 days since I'd last inflated them properly, they had in fact lost rather a lot of air which badly affected my speed. I didn't actually notice until I looked down and saw a load of sealant had squeezed out the front.

So if you do go tubeless and do touring/multi day rides be sure to have a quality touring pump with you, or access to a track pump, as they definitely do lose air much faster than clinchers!

[zigzag]

(my) tubeless tyres hold air the same as the tyres with butyl inner tubes, i.e. require once a week top-up. if they leak air faster it means the system is not set up correctly..

[citoyen]

I had a problem recently with my front tubeless tyre losing air quicker than expected. I guessed it was in need of new sealant so topped it up and went for a ride but it had still lost a lot of air by the time I next went out. Pumped it up and went out again for a much longer ride and it has been fine since.

Had a bukakke moment while out a couple of days ago (knew I should have refitted the mudguards) but it sealed itself after a few attempts, before too much air had been lost, and the mud spray from the roads soon did a good job of covering up any evidence of tyre jizz on my face.