Noctilux.95

Hey guys,

Just ordered a pair of DT Swiss RC28 Spline Mon Chasseral Tubeless wheelset. My only experience with tubeless was Giant Gavia tubeless tires, which were terrible. What do you guys recommend? Thanks!

DrIsotope

What was you issue with the Gavias? I've got 2,500 miles on my set, and have never had a single problem. Were you using the SL or the SLR?

The Hutchinson Fusion 3, aside from being the toughest-to-mount tires I've ever witnessed, perform remarkably well-- I just cannot speak to their longevity, as they're on my wife's bike and she rides about 1/8 the miles I do.

Anyone that mentions Schwalbe One is not your friend, unless you're looking for a tire with zero flatproofing and an average tire life of about 900 miles.

dim

for racing: IRC Formula Pro Light ....:
https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collect...tubeless-tyres

a training tyre:
https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collect...tubeless-tyres

and the one that I'm using now for winter:
https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/collect...ess-road-tyres

really good tyres and last very long

chaadster

Schwalbe Pro One, durability and mileage aside, is a hot performance tire. I love how it feels and handles, both front and rear, so it’s very confidence inspiring. They also hand-mount on American Classic Argents really easily, which is nice.

It’s true P1 is not very durable— I have a thread here called “Schwalbe Pro One cut horror continues”— nor high mileage, and the Tubeless Easy designation is a misnomer, because needing sealant as they do really requires extra work.

That said, I continue to use Pro One despite my complaints because they do ride sweet, and I’ve been reluctant to mess with a good thing. As a heavy, aggressive rider who’s probably less risk averse than I ought to be, trusting my rubber is a big deal to me.

I also have a pair of IRC Formula Pro RBCC tubeless on another Argent wheelset, and while I haven’t ridden them yet, I do appreciate their true tubeless construction. They’ve been holding air without sealant and leaking down slowly over a few weeks. I’ll certainly put sealant in for riding, but it’s nice knowing that however much I put in will go towards puncture sealing rather than being soaked up by the tire just to get decent air retention.

Interestingly, 23c P1 are wider than 25c RBCC on the same 19.4mm bsw rims.

robbyville

I was not a fan of the Hutchison Fusions at all. Didn't like the ride quality although wear was pretty good with just over 1500 miles before cuts had me decide to replace.

One of. Favorites was the Bontrager R3, mounting was reasonable and wear about 1200 miles. To be fair though I used to ride a ton of gravel which I'm sure altered the wear. I've never had a flat on a tubeless tire but always use an ounce of sealant.

Today was my first ride on the new Schwalbe Pro Ones that Chaadster mentioned. The ride quality was fantastic, nicer than the old version that these just replaced albeit I got 25's vs. the previous 23mm. The mounting was an absolute horror show. They were the easiest tire to get on the rim that I've ever had, I was stoked with this TL Easy business but I could not get these suckers to seat. Brought them to my LBS and they couldn't either and we tried every trick known. I ended up putting tubes in them and mounted them to the rim to try and shape the tire overnight. Next day went back to LBS pulled the tube out of one side put the valve stems back in, new sealant and still had problems. Got one tire seated and done, and then last ditch removed the last rim tape which perhaps had shrunk a bit, re-taped, re mounted and seated on the first go! I'm sure my problem was an anomaly but wowzers it was annoying!

Nice thing is that it's done now and I Dont imagine any further problems. Did a 60 mile ride on them today, while riding in the group hit a massive pothole that knocked my saddle off kilter. Bad enough that it took out both tires of he rider ahead of me in a double pinch. Other than having to deal with my saddle now piercing my prostrate the tires were fine with not even a burp!

GuitarBob

Thought I'd add my experience with Schwalbe Pro Ones. I recommended them, then set them up for a friend that I ride with all the time. I then watched as three different tires punctured repeatedly or outright failed due to a tear, all within a grand total of a few hundred miles. I'd classify the roads we ride as mostly pretty darned good.

When the tires arrived I sure liked them, as they mounted easily (on C24s) and were light weight. Given the horrid durability of the three we used, I'd relegate these to 'race day' tires.

Since switching to Hutchinsons, which are admittedly quite a bit heavier, no punctures or tears after at least 1500 miles on the same roads. For what that's worth...

robbyville

Jeez Bob just ruined my day ! Hopefully I don’t have the same problems after all the challenge of seating them. At least I got them for under $40 ea.

Those fusions did wear well for me but the ride was uggo, and I never thought for a minute that I’d be able to differentiate tire ride qualities. Next time around try the Bontrager R2 or R3, both are really good

indyfabz

Specialized Roubaix.

GuitarBob

Ack, sorry! You can always hold out hope that we just had terrible luck...

I'm with you so far as never imagining I'd be able to distinguish ride quality of different tires... until I did. Early on, I switched from Conti gatorskins to Michelin Pro4s. On my first ride I had forgotten about the new tires, so for the first few miles I kept wondering what the heck was wrong. Every imperfection was not being transmitted directly to my arse!

robbyville

True enough!

I've heard great things about the Specialized Roubaix but the price kept me away for now. On my list though!

rosefarts

Well ****.

I just got a set of Pro One's in 28. Haven't even mounted them yet. I think I'll keep them since I'm about 145lbs soaking wet and these won't be my everyday tire.

Kinda wish I'd seen this review a week ago though.

robbyville

See what happens I guess... I went on a little recovery spin today, really nice riding tire I have to say. We have really nice roads here but a ton of debris which is why I like to ride tubeless. I'm always amazed seeing some of the cuts that my tires have received with no ill effects, compared to those I ride with who get one flat after another and another. Although I still ride my regular carbon clinchers some of the time and haven't had any flats recently (knock on wood), I replace the tires just as often as the TL's and when I first moved here I had something like 6 flats in the first 8 months which precipitated my return to TL's!

I'm truly a fan if you can't tell.

nycphotography

Around 5000 tubeless miles this year....

I ran Schwalbe Pro One 700x25 (Road bike #2 and Crux), and Hutchinson Fusion 5 Performance 700x25 (Road bike #1.

I found the Schwalbe to be better overall, even though I cut one down and had to replace it.

The Hutchinsons are now pretty worn, and are basically puncturing and sealing almost every ride. I'm going to replace them with the Schwalbe Pro Ones off my Crux (like new, owing to the replacement due to cutting down), and I'm planning to put Schwalbe G One 700x30 on the Crux for commuting, gravel, dirt trails, and crappy roads. It doens't look like the tread is very aggressive, but the lower pressure of a 700x30 will at least seal easier when punctures do happen.

San Pedro

I am thinking to go tubeless when my current tires wear or bite the dust, but it looks like there is a shortage of options. I'd be interested in Specializes tires, but I can only get them from an LBS, meaning the price will be much higher than buying from the USB U.K.

SethAZ 

I got my Hutchinson Sector 32s over the weekend. Went for a ride on New Year's Day for the last time* with the Compass 32mm tires on the bike, and ended up getting a flat for only the second time during a ride when a hidden object was hiding amongst some leaves in the bike lane, FSM dammit. Oh well. I put the Sector 32s on last night. They started out undersized by over a mm, but stretched out under pressure overnight so that they're now just a hair over 32mm. I'm anxious to see how they compare with the Compass tubefull tires. I'll get out on my first real ride in the morning and see.

The Sector 32s actually went onto the Light-Bicycle rims of my AeroClyde wheels without too much difficulty, and without using soapy water or even tire levers. The rubber was slick enough that I was able to inch the bead over with just my thumbs, though they were pretty tired by the time the tires were on.

*they're still perfectly good with only 1100 miles on them, so they're saved off to the side to put back on if the Sectors suck or just aren't as nice. The Compass tires are truly amazing, so it's a tall order, but I really wanted to try tubeless again, so here we go.

chaadster

Well, there are really quite a lot of tubeless options, it's just that the price range of those options is pretty shallow, really existing (in terms of list price) only from about $50 - $100. That's where the meat of the performance clincher pricing is too, though, so while there is no low end to speak of, the range of performance tubeless rubber is pretty good.

While Continental and Michelin remain the two big exceptions, a whole raft of brands offer road tubeless tires, e.g. Vee, Maxxis, Hutchinson, Specialized, Vredestein, Compass, Vittoria, Panaracer, Schwalbe, IRC, Bontrager, Giant and Mavic all come to mind. That's what, 13 brands? Even if each brand only had 1 tire (most have more), if we were to say you used two sets a season, that's 6 seasons worth of all new tubeless rubber experience. Again, in practical terms, there's probably more like 3x that number worth of tubeless tires to try out, so you'd be kept busy for years trying to wear out the options. I wouldn't call that a shortage!

EDIT: I forgot about Kenda and the Valkyrie Pro TLR

WhyFi

+1. I have a set of SLRs that have been excellent (well, one had an issue splitting at the bead, but it was replaced free of charge).

robbyville

I'll have to check those out, I've never heard of them

Ald1 

Anyone ever try GCN's recent suggesting of using a tube with sealent in your tubeless tires? Thoughts? Pros? Cons? Would keep things neat. I just picked up the Pro Ones for my Domane winter bike build....now I'm thinking......

evan326

I just ordered some to try that very thing.

chaadster

Huh? I don't get it. Anyone have a link to this GCN recco?

Ald1 

Here you go:

chaadster

Okay, thanks, but they did not suggest using sealant in a tube for tubeless tires; that makes no sense on a couple of levels. What he said was that those not running tubeless could still get the benefit of tubeless sealant by adding it into their tubes.

deepakvrao

About 7000 kms on Shwalbe Pro Ones. Distributed over 2 bikes, so about 3500 kms in each set. Ride great, and never been stuck on the road, except for one side wall cut [when I had to put in a tube and a boot].

Wife has also ridden about 6500 on her 2 sets with no issues.

This is India, where otherwise, I would have a flat at least once a month. These have flatted and sealed. One time, I got a flat 500 meters from home, and rode on for a century.

I am surprised at guys saying these wont last a 1000 miles.

Ald1 

Chaadster. You are correct. Just thinking ahead. Do folks run tubes in their tubeless tires???