Planemaker

Not sure I understand. The process for mounting a tubeless tire for road or gravel is the same. It takes me less than 10 minutes to mount and seal a tubeless tire (no mess, no fuss).

nycphotography

my schwalbe pro one 25's measure 28mm once installed on stans grail ztr wheels.

Nice and plush, but I was too inspired and ran them too low on pressure, and ended up pinching the front coming up off a dirt gate bypass.

I ended up having to lay the bike over to get it to seal and it took a couple tries / pumping up efforts.

Moral of story? Dunno. just don't run them too low on pressure thinking "tubeless won't pinch flat". BS. they most certainly will.

WhyFi

How many sets have you gone through and what kind of mileage are you seeing, ballpark?

chaadster

If you're looking for durability, you can forget about the Pro One, which is not an 'endurance' tire.

Wear rate will depend on weight and riding style, of course, but I got 1.2k out of my rear last season as an aggressive 220lbs riders. That's nowhere near what I'd call 'reasonable wear,' but isn't too far off what I've experienced from other race tires.

My advice would be to look at tires like the Specialized Roubaix, IRC Roadlite, Hutchinson Intensive2 and Vee Apache Chief. I've not ridden those and so cannot give a recco, but they seem more oriented as performance all-'rounders rather than race tires.

chaadster

I wondered about that comment too, as there is no difference between my road and gravel tubeless installation times or techniques.

Maybe Dalava was suggesting that wider tires go on easier, but I wouldn't agree with that either, as the combo of rim and tire brings other factors into play. I mean, my 23c P1s on 19.4mm bsw rims go on far easier than my 30c gravel S1s on 18.1mm bsw rims.

So yeah, what that comment is supposed to mean is beyond me.

WhyFi

Cool, thanks - yeah, I knew that they weren't meant to wear, but I was hoping for something ~2k+. I'll take a look at the others that you've recommended, and I might also have my LBS bring in a set of the Giant Gavia SLs, which seem to have positive mentions and are only $50.

chaadster

Oh, good call; I always forget about the bike brand tires, like Giant and Bontrager, but by all accounts I've heard, they're quite good. Maybe because I'm old, Specialized I don't forget about, though, because I used to love their MTB tires back in the late '80s!

nycphotography

Too new to tubeless to give real guidance.

Maybe 1000 miles commuting and training rides on the shwalbe pro one 25's (on a crux). Had that one pinch flat issue that was a pain to seal, but eventually did.

Maybe 1000 miles training rides on Hutchinson Fusion 5 "Performance" 25's (Boyd 28 wheels, sworks SL4). Had a flat that wouldn't seal last weekend in Cali. It would seal ifI put the cut at the bottom for a moment, but then a few minutes later, psh psh psh, then seal again, etc. I ixnayed heading back out and instead went to the shop where he "superglued" any cuts using masking tape to compress while drying, including the 1/8" cut in question which I think should have sealed. And he replaced the sealer with Stans "Race" sealant, which is supposedly thicker and seals larger cuts. It still broke loose again, but after pumping to excess pressure (which popped the seal again and peed on the floor before finally sealing for good) and leaving it sit for a couple hours, it seems fine now.

Wear wise, it looks like I'll get plenty of miles out of the tires. The hutches still have the ridge down the center line and the schwalbes dont show any real wear either.

For me, the jury is still out on tubeless. So far I'm liking the ride, but still learning how to deal with them.

WalksOn2Wheels

Ok, here goes. I'll try to keep it short.

First experience with tubeless: went from Open Pro rims running Conti GP4000s tires to a demo set of Ultegra wheels with Hutchison Fusion tires, both 23mm. Night and day difference. I didn't notice it as much going from tubed to tubeless, but when I switched back it felt pretty significant. (EDIT: Key point is that the wheels could have been a big factor as well.)

Fast forward to my Domane. Stock 25mm tires swapped for the identical 25mm tubeless version of that tire. Softened up the ride quite a bit due to lower pressures, but I didn't feel as huge of a difference in rolling resistance. To be fair though, I was recovering from knee surgery when I was first riding the bike and didn't put many miles on the tubed setup before I swapped over.

Now, with almost 2500+ miles on a tubeless setup on the Domane, I've had all of one flat. But I rarely got flats before then. Not really feeling like the initial hassle of setup and sealant, etc. is worth it. Putting a tube in was only slightly more difficult than any tubed tire I've done, but it was much messier.

Long term decision: The current tubeless tires will be swapped for Vittoria Corsa tubed clinchers of the 28mm variety. I will continue to avoid flats the old fashioned way.

WhyFi

Cool - thanks for your experiences.

When it comes to flats, I seem to go through streaks. Right now, I'm on a flat streak. I'm sure that the excess winter grit is playing a large part, but it's still frustrating. Yesterday I pulled a tiny piece of glass out of a gravel tire - I was surprised that it had driven straight through a knobby and not through a thin section. In any event, 3 flats in about the last 6 outdoor rides - yeah, I'll put up with a little hassle in the garage if it means I can avoid the majority of the flats on the road.

DXchulo

I hated my Fusion 5s. I got a ton of flats and not even 2,000 miles out of the rear. I switched to Intensive and those are much better. No noticeable flats yet, and the roads have had a lot more junk on them lately. I'm already over 2,000 miles and they are wearing out much slower. I'll easily get 3,000 on the rear.

jkcrowell

I've used Schwalbe Pro One 25c tires on Bontrager Aeolus 5 TLR wheels for a few thousand (maybe 3000) miles. I used Orange Seal sealant.

I got at least as many flats as I have with Continental Gran Prix 4000 S II 25c tires, which are what I was using before.

Frustratingly, I only had one puncture which successfully sealed, quickly. Another one which sealed, but took probably 15 minutes to get it to stop leaking sealant and was more of a hassle (and mess) than changing the tube. It did, however, eventually seal so that I could add air and continue the ride.

The other punctures I got, 4 total, did not seal. 2 were repairable with plugs, and allowed me to get home but required the tire to be dismounted to be repaired afterward. One was so bad that even with a plug, it would not seal. One destroyed the tire well before it was completely worn. On every flat, my bike was coated in sealant.

Every time I mounted a tire for the first time, I was able to get the bead to seat without trouble. However, every time I removed the tire to install a patch, it was very difficult to get the tire to seat again. To where I literally spent two hours once with every trick in the book, spraying sealant everywhere, trying to get the tire to seat again. Eventually I had success only when I mounted the tire with a tube, left that in the sun for a few hours to warm, and removed the tube and seated the tire. This is using a compressor to seat along with soap water.

TLDR: It's been hugely more hassle with tubeless and no better flat protection. Which is a great shame, as I loved the feeling of the tires when they were on, I definitely preferred the ride quality. I believe some of my difficultly getting them to seal is that I'm a clyde, and so have to run higher pressures, which just gives too much force to keep the sealant inside. However, I'm back to tubes until I decide to perhaps try another tire.

Happily running tubeless on my MTB which has never flatted, gets fantastic traction and I had 0 problems getting the tires seated.

DrIsotope

My advice to anyone considering tubeless is to disregard any reviews of the Schwalbe One / Pro One-- it's a racing tire sold to normal people. It will treat you mean. I went through 4 of them in less than 2,500 miles, every tire meeting a premature end due to an unrepairable cut-- and I patched, plugged, and glued every one of them multiple times. They are a tire with absolutely zero flat protection, and no protective belting of any kind. Of course, because of that, they are almost unbelievably comfortable, roll forever, and have outstanding grip. They also last about 1,000 miles.

Opposite end of the spectrum, I ran Maxxis ReFuse TR for over 10,000 miles and never recorded a single flat. Not one. Unfortunately, they only come in wide and wider (32 and 40mm) so when my last set wore out, I went to cheaper, narrower tires. But with the amount of rain we've been getting, I have a feeling that the goathead level come summer is going to be like nothing we've ever seen, and it will either be a matter of back on the fatty tubeless, or get used to changing 2-3 tubes a week.

SpeshulEd 

I'm fairly positive you'll get close to the 2k miles out of the Pro1s. I was getting close to that on my last set until I gashed my rear tire. Even with the gash, I should be able to use a boot and get some life out of it yet, just probably won't be able to run it tubeless again.

I'm currently running the Vittorias and after 100 miles, they've easily become my favorite tire. I'm not sure if it's fairly new bike syndrome, new tire syndrome, or what but I shaved nearly 3 minutes off my PR last Friday, climbing South Mountain...and I held just shy of 21mph for 25 miles on my ride Wednesday night without even trying.

That said, I almost flew off the side of South Mountain when I was descending by coming in hot on a switchback. I ended up locking the back tire and skidding the rear. Somehow I managed to stay upright and not fall to my death and surprising enough, didn't shred the tire to bits.

geluzj

My first foray into tubeless is with Schwalbe Pro One 28c on A-Class CXD4 wheels on a Giant Defy Advanced. Great deal: got them from probikekit.com for $80/pair with free shipping. I think I found an incredible deal on the wheels: $230 for a ~1550g wheelset on the popular auction site. The final component was the Effetto Mariposa tubeless kit: $40. It was incredibly easy to mount the tires, going on without levers. Getting the beads to seat was a mixed bag. The front seated with just my floor pump. But I couldn't get the rear to seat, but $10 to the LBS did the trick.

I'm only about 250 miles in on them and am cautiously positive. They do feel fast, light, and comfortable. The wheel upgrade did drop about 600g, so it's tough to attribute all the gains to either the tires or wheels. I did have a flat, but due to dry sealant (the California rains have kept me off this bike too often!). I was able to pump up and limp the remaining mile home. Then injected in new sealant, inflated, and got the leak to seal. The tires have held pressure well before and since, similar to my tubed set-ups.

The Effetto Mariposa Caffelatex sealant is weird stuff, kind of "chunky" consistency, designed to foam up inside the tire for better sealing of sidewall holes. It did dry up shy of three months, and I wasn't very diligent in spinning the tires in the long gaps between rides.

All in all, with the performance, comfort and just one operator-error-induced flat, I'll give tubeless a thumbs-up. And for me, it was a reasonable upgrade, costing about $360.

DBak

Installed Schwalbe Pro One 25's Saturday morning and put 80 miles on them this weekend. Initial impressions are that the ride quality is noticably better than my GP4000's that I have ridden the last few years. Far too early to talk about durability or puncture resistance, however I have gone about 3k since my last puncture with the GP4000's so hopefully that streak remains intact.

Mounting the tires on my Boyd 44mm's was stupid easy. No tire levers need, not even close actually. Pumped with a track pump and no issues getting a seal the very first attempt. Deflated tires, then removed valve cores, added 2 oz of Stan's sealant, and inflated again. Grand total of no more than 5 minutes per tire from zero to go time.

At this point the only thing that would make we switch back to the GP4000's would be punctures. The ride quality is so much better (ran at 95r/90f compared to 115r/110f) and it was so simple to mount and set up the tires I have no problem replacing a rear tire every 1,000 miles or so if that's all they last.

FYI. Paid 39 dollars deivered to USA from Merlin Cycles. Best deal I had seen. Makes this a no brainer for me as long as I don't start getting punctured. I am carrying a tube and a Dyna Plug kit just in case. Crossing my fingers.