rekon

Anyone here running a tubeless wheelset? If so, what wheelset and tires specifically?

After being stranded on yesterday's ride I'm seriously considering going tubeless.

Advise is appreciated!

Phlorida

A fairly recent adopter of tubeless road. My first set was Hutchinson Sector 28 tires on Shimano 6700 wheels. I replaced the 28's with Hutchinson Fusion 3 25's and have about 500 miles on them. I am building up a new bike with Schwalbe One 25's on Shimano 6800 wheels. All with Orangeseal sealant and Stan's removable core valves.

dalava

I've been on tubeless for more than 3 years as a result of "one too many pinch flat". I can honestly say that it has exceeded all my expectations.

Let's see: on wheelsets, I've used Stan's Alpha 340, Easton EA90 SLX, DT Swiss RR465, American Classic Argent, Shimano Dura Ace 7850, and American Classic Road Tubeless. On tires, I've used Hutchinson Intensive, Hutchinson Fusion, Schwalbe Ultremo ZX, Schwalbe One, and Maxxis Padrone.

The DT Swiss is the hardest to work with to mount tires, and Schwalbes have the best road feel. The Hutchinsons seem to last a bit longer than others.

One thing I have to say is that running tubeless is a bit of commitment because of the messy startup with sealant and whatnot, but it's well worth the effort IMHO. Others may not think so and will argue the lack of tire/rim selections and weight penalty is not worth it, but I am not one of them.

beatlebee 

I'm on Alpha 340s, Orange Seal, and haven't figured out what tire to stick with yet, but I hear that IRCs are where its at.

I just read an interesting tip for punctures: treat it like a wound and put pressure on it. I have had a few punctures but they all sealed.

I had a Schwalbe One fail on me recently but they sent me a new one.

gsa103

Shimano C24 TL with 23mm Scwalbe One. 75f/85r psi (160 lbs rider).

Old_Roadie

I have been on tubeless for going on 4 years now. Over 24k miles
I am currently using Dura Ac C24 TL rims, Schwalbe Ones. I use Café Latex for sealant
I have had one flat, a side wall cut on a rear Fusion 3 that no tire would have survived. Put a tube in it and road home. I used Gorilla glue on the cut when I got home. For some odd reason the tire sort of melded back together so that I had a hard time finding the cut on the outside. I did take the tube when I patched the tire out and it was fine tubeless with no issues.

Word of advice, make sure the little nut on the tubeless valve is not stuck every once in a while. Mine must have gotten sealant on it and when I had my flat removing that nut was the hardest past. And I also carry a tire jack, really helped on that cold rainy day when I flatted on the road.

I did move away from the Fusion 3s. Very hard to mount, but after you take the tire off the rim, almost impossible to get the tire to reseal after remounting. BIG PITA. More so IMO than initially mounting and sealing them.
I did have fair luck with the wear on the Fusion 3s, but not enough to stay with them.

I then went to Schwalbe Ultremo ZXs, and I liked them. I did get one fairly good sized cut on a ride but it did seal, I did have to add a few pumps of air, since first it was a slow leak, but No Big Deal. It did seal a
For a precaution I did put a regular tire patch inside where the cut was when I got home, but I would have done that with a tube clincher also. It was a rear tire and it lasted 2200 miles. Not bad for a cut tire

I went to order another set of the Ultremo ZXs but could not find them anywhere so I am now using the Schwalbe Ones

Dura Ace 7900 summary
Great rim IMO, yes, it is hard to mount Fusion 3s, Schwalbe - not too bad, BUT sealant (Café Latex) does cause oxidation and pits where the sealant dries up. This may have changed with the 9000’s. In my case, so far, it has been just cosmetic.

Tire summary:
Fusion 3 – good wearing, hard to mount, almost impossible to remount and seal but Mileage OK, averaged 3k miles on 3 different sets.

Schwalbe ZXs
I like these tires , I got 4,300 miles from a front, 2,200 on the rear that had a cut.

Schwalbe Ones
So far very good but not allot of miles yeas of
1,163 on the front 285 on the rear.

I did give up on moving the front tire from the front to the rear when the rear wore out. You have to clean the rim of dried sealant, clean the tire from dried sealant, so now I just change out the worn tire when it needed , but I do add sealant every 6 weeks or so.

Bottom line, for me, I love the ride, yes it does take more effort in prep, etc. but well worth it for me.
I do not recommend tubeless to others, I tell them they need to do their research it, know that it IS a commitment, and they have to make their own decision.

Hope this helps

whitemax

Stans 340 Alpha with Hutchinson Fusion 3's. You can ride without sealant if you really want to be a weight weenie and then carry a tube if you flat. No problems encountered.

chaadster

I'm on American Classic Argent wheels with 23c Schwalbe One tires and Stan's sealant. Love the setup; easy mounting, light, great performance, super feel.

GuyDebord

Im on Sector 28's with Reynolds Stratus Pro Disc wheels, so far very, very happy. I moved from Conti GP 4Seasons with Roval Fusee's

FIVE ONE SIX

i'm pretty simple:

Ultegra 6800 tubeless wheelset
IRC Formula Light 700x23 tires
Orange Seal sealant
Stan's No Tubes 44mm tubeless valves

i went with the Ultegra wheelset cause i'm currently 230 pounds and needed something tubeless that doesn't have a rider weight limit and didn't weigh 2000 grams, so the Ultegra's were perfect, and considering i got them for $359 last summer from Merlin Cycles it was a no-brainer.

next came the IRC Formula Light tires. i went with them cause my mechanic uses them on both of his tubeless road bikes, and has never had a problem with either set, so i figured i'd try them too. i had 1 flat with them, in the end of the fall from sharp rocks on a dirty road, but it was really my fault cause it was the end of the season and i didn't add sealant for 3 months so the inside of the tire was completely dry inside. so i added 2 ounces of sealant when i got home and the hole sealed good as new in about 5 minutes. other reasons i went with the IRC tires is cause their 23's are really 23's and their 25's are really 25's, unlike the Hutchinson Atom's and Fusion 3's, which are narrower than the 23 and 25 they're listed as. and lastly, the IRC'S are MUCH easier to work with than the Hutchinson's.

i went with the Orange Seal over the Stan's the local shop uses cause of the great reviews it gets everywhere online. it's worked good so far, and the one flat i had was really my fault cause it was the end of the season and i didn't add sealant when i should have. that hole sealed fine though when i got home, and haven't had any other issues since then...

the original Shimano valves were really bad and they clogged with sealant within the first month. i went with the Stan's valves cause the rear wheel is an offset drive wheel, and the inside rubber seal on the Stan's valves fit perfectly when i carried over the offset Shimano hardware to seal them. also, the Stan's valves have something the original valves didn't, removable cores. basically, it's much easier (and less messy) to unscrew the cores and add sealant at 8 o'clock than to break the seal on the sidewall at 6 o'clock and slide a clear tube in the tire, than have to re-seat the beads when you're done, all while not spilling or dripping any sealant you just added. i've been using the Stan's for months and not one problem...

and sorry for the long post, but i like to be descriptive...

chaadster

On the topic of sealant topping up, I just want to say that the Stan's I put in Schwalbe Ones has lasted for months. Like 4 or 5 months, I think, before I replaced it just because I was having the wheel retensioned after a crash.

I dunno if it's a tire thing, wheel thing, climate thing, or a combination of factors, but I wanted to mention it because some of the posts above indicate really short change intervals which may frighten off some folks.

thermalattorney

Hutchinson Sector 28s on Stan's Alpha 340s using Stan's valves and Sealant. 75F/80R

Pros:
Super cush
No pinch flats

Cons:
Cost. Managed to ruin a tire and they aren't cheap
Initial setup can be finicky (took me a three remounts and a different brand of sealant to get my first set to seal properly. A month later I helped a friend set up the exact same tire/rim combo without issue.)

Worth it?
Yes. Lower PSI=comfort, which is a benefit you feel every ride.

ingo

Shamal Ultra with Atom Galactik, and Eurus with Atoms for 4 years. Neither have sealant. Last year was the first in my cycling career (35 years) I did not have a flat, although I did less than 2000 km. It's expensive when you cut a tire, though I will usually wear out the tread first. Also no problem patching punctures using a regular patch kit for tubes.

Elduderino2412

Stan's Alpha 340(front) & Alpha 400(Rear). Fusion 3 w/Stans sealant. Love it.

Smokinbbl

I have Stans Alpha 340 with Schwalbe one in size 23 w/Stans sealant. I run it 70/75 and I am 155. So far, I have had no problems.

dbnm

Can anyone comment on the American Classic Road Tubeless wheels? Any using them for every day use?

Anyone notice flext in the Alpha 340 Pro set up? I'm 160lb and looking for some lightweight wheels.

chaadster

The AC Argent are my eveyday wheel, and I think they're pretty badass. They are certainly somewhat aero, as they're faster on the same bike than the Ksyriums I race on, and they're very responsive and solid under my 220lb mass. They're listed at 1372gm, so quite light, too. I really like the feel of both accelerating them and holding them at speed. I've launch off curbs and loaded them up laterally without issues, and even crashed in a multibike pileup which put a ding in the upper rim and, I think, caused some spoke loosening. However, after a retension, they've run perfectly for several hundred miles. I don't recommend jumping them, of course, but I figured if they were gonna be flimsy I'd rather find out sooner than deep into some ride, so I was deliberately hard on them the first few rides, but they proved reassuring. The styling is very modern, I guess, which some might find busy, but I like quite alot, especially since the silver/black scenario plays well with my silver/carbon Athena stuff. I should also note that both Hutchinson Fusions and Schwalbe Ones went on/off easily.

Jackmen

I have run several different wheel sets and several tires. I have never ran a tubeless specific wheel set as its not needed. You only have to have tubeless tires.

Strted with some alloy Neuvation 28sl's that had stans tape to seal the rims. These were set up with Hutchenson Fusions 25's with sealant, then switched to some Farsport carbon clinchers 23 wide by 50 deep carbon clinchers these I got specifically without the spoke holes on the inside of the rims, but thewy still were not tubeless rims, just put a stans tubeless valve stem in them with stans sealant and ran these with Shcwalbe ZX tubeless 23's. After these tires wore out i switched to some Schwalbe one tubless tires 25's which are the best. I am selling this bike and pulled the tires off and switched them to my new Avenger 25X40 carbon clincher's (not tubeless specific). Put some stans tubelss valves in them and stans rimtape on them and they work even better with the schwalbe ones.

Bottom line is any rim works better when ran tubeless. I typically run my tubeless at 80/85Psi and have about 7500 miles on them with no flats. They are highly recommended. Use 2 Oz of sealant per tire and you are good to go.

UnfilteredDregs

I've got 3.5k on Hutch Secteurs and Ardennes+ rims. Works good.

Orange Seal.

bt

I'm running Yes Tubes.

GuyDebord

How often do you refill the orange?

UnfilteredDregs

No punctures, I add an ounce every 3 months.

chaadster

Using a standard clincher rim requires sealant to make it airtight, right?

Jackmen

I should have made that clearer. Yes standard clincher rime do require sealant, however, I would not run a tubeless road tire any other way. Sealant is what make them to where they self-seal for small penetrations.

chaadster

Yes, of course that's true, but I have seen somewhere that not only do punctures to tubeless tires without sealant not result in the rapid loss of air as in a tubed setup, but that tubeless is less flat prone because the casing will tend to seal itself back around a puncture whereas a tube will not.

I agree that, except in cases like Shimano where sealant is not recommended, it makes little sense not to run some sealant in tubeless specific rims. A couple ounces or less really is cheap insurance against most common causes of flats.