World Tour: Tubeless Tires?
 

(1) Just bought a Giant Gravel bike (Revolt 2). Will fly to Japan for 3 mo then China. Plan to bike all of mainland Asia. Should I remove the Tubeless tires and use a regular tire w/a Tube?

(2) I want to be bikepacking but it seems the only way I can carry a MacAir laptop is via a bike rack. True?

Thanks.
Pali

check dimensions of laptop and bike triangle.

consider custom made frame bag.....waterproof and heavily padded inside, with carbon-fiber (or just plain old plastic) side panels for protection.

I would go tubeless but bring spare tubes. Keep the sealant fresh, and hopefully you won't need the tubes, but if you do need them, you have them, and you can convert to a tube set-up when necessary.

No idea how to carry a laptop on a bikepacking set up. My iPad sits in my handlebar bag, but that likely won't work for a laptop. Backpack would work, but I'd rather use a rear rack than a backpack.

Don't know if this is the case with wider tires, but one issue with some road tubeless tires is that they don't play nice with tubes. This spring I had a puncture that would not seal due to me being remiss in not adding fresh sealant. I had to limp back to the car because I could not get the tire (25c) to seat properly with a tube in it. Despite trying three times, it kept bulging at the valve stem hole. I would at least test fit a tube in your tire before embarking.

That's interesting. I definitely have not experienced that with my tires, 26 x 2.15 up to 26 x 3.0. Some I ran with tubes before changing them to tubeless. Some I put tubes in for the sole purpose of getting them to seat. And some I put tubes in because I screwed up and ran out of sealant. The only time I had a problem is when I was carrying a tube that was too narrow for the tire. But, yeah, no experience doing tubeless on narrow, road tires.

Some air security personnel will deflate your tires if they inspect the bike. There are rules against compressed gasses on passenger aircraft and some security personnel think that a pumped up tire holds compressed gas, which a strict reading of the rules is correct. Would deflated tires with sealant in them be a problem?

You can't carry compressed gasses on a plane, the people that I know that have used tubeless carry CO2 cylinders. If you need CO2 cylinders, you might have to resupply after every flight. Is this a major hassle?

I have never used tubeless, maybe my comments are not pertinent?

Once a tire is aired up and seated on a tubeless rim, letting most of the air pressure out shouldn't be a problem. I've run multiple non tubeless specific tires on a tubeless rim and had no problem with low pressure once it was seated. I deflated my tires almost entirely to fit my bike into a box once and the tires didn't unseat during the flight. I would not, however, use non tubeless rims. Tires don't seat on them, and you will lose your seal/sealant. That would be a mess and a PITA.

As for the road tires, I haven't used them personally, but from what I've read, they seem to be a different thing to deal with all together compared to higher volume mtb type tires.

Personally, I'd run tubeless and bring a couple spare tubes as suggested above. Chances are you'll save yourself from getting any flats. Worst case, you get a flat and put in a fresh tube as you would do anyway. My one caveat being that this applies strictly to Stan's sealant. I've done a lot of reading on the subject. Stan's seems to be the way to go. I tried it and it works great for me, so that's what I stick with.

If the OP is using the OEM 700x40 Giant Crosscut tires, there should be absolutely no issues with poor sealing or fitting an emergency tube. Even at a +200lb rider weight, pressures would be in the 40-50psi area.

The Revolts all appear to have a decently sloped top tube, so I cannot see a laptop fitting inside the triangle. It's rear rack or backpack.

All non-issues, I think. I have flown with my tubeless tires a number of times. I let all the air out, but the tires stay seated on the rims with the sealant inside. It's never caused a problem. CO2 cartridges may be a problem to fly with. I've never used them. Carrying a pump has always been the easiest solution for me, and it seems like it's definitely the way to go if you are unsure of finding a bike shop. I've heard that CO2 may not even be advisable for airing up tubeless tires because they can cool and interfere with the effectiveness of the sealant, but I think that's primarily an issue when seating them for the first time.

Thanks for enlightening me, since I am ignorant of tubeless tires I thought it best to throw out some of the concerns that I would have had. The tubeless users that I have known specifically said the CO2 was for initially airing up the tires.

I've heard of people using that specifically because initial set-up is easiest with a fast burst of air, but I've heard that it can interfere with the sealant, so an air compressor is preferred. But the need for that burst of air is generally a one-time thing. Once the tire is seated on the rim, you can deflate it and reinflate it with a normal pump.

WORLD tour and you don't know what tires to use? ;)))