Originally Posted by
cyber.snow
The other area I see on some of the tire manufacturers sites is their push towards tubeless as the "new technology". It seems that you increase the risk of a flat and increase the maintenance required to fix a flat with tubeless, but then I am not sure.
What is your experience?
I've been touring on tubeless tires for a couple years, converted my commuter road bike to tubeless last year and have been mountain biking tubeless for about 4yrs.
A properly setup tubeless tire/rim is far more resistant to all the small nuisances flats you would typically get riding the side of a road or highway. All those small bits of metals and glass that would create a slow leak get sealed easily by the sealant as well as thorns if you live in thorn country. Some of the medium size punctures will also get sealed exactly when sealant stops working really depends on size of hole, tire and how much sealant you have in there.
I carry tire plugs for these medium sized holes and typically just insert the plug, pump up the tire and roll away. I have left a plug in my tire for 400kms+ of very rough dirt road touring and it was 100% when my tour ended and could have stayed in there for the remaining life of the tire.
A tubeless tire has less rolling resistance than the same tire setup with a tube and that's important for tourists who are rolling along all day for days on end.
If you have a total tubeless failure [which is very rare with a properly setup wheel] you simply put in a tube and carry on.
I really can't see a reason to not run tubeless on a tour. I certainly won't be doing so.