Tubeless on road bikes??
#101
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I used to get about a puncture every 500 miles on average or about every other week. I live in a forested area so that often means changing a tire in a cloud of mosquitos. While I'm fast and have the whole thing done from start to finish in less than 5 minutes, that's an intensely unpleasant 5 minutes.
I was one of the first to go tubeless using the same methodology with tubeless tubulars back in around 2010. I went from 1 flat every 500 miles to not one flat per year. In the last 4 years I haven't had one. When I changed out the tires last time, my rear tire had 4 punctures that had sealed.
I use about one Dynaplug about every other year. Most of the time I don't even notice I had a puncture unless I feel a little sealant on my leg.
Overall, tubeless is about the same work because you have to change or recharge sealant periodically and sometimes you need to clean dried sealant out of your tires. But none of that has to be done at the side of the road and all of it can be done at a time and place of your choosing.
So overall, I'd characterize it as a huge win for me - less flats (like none) and better ride quality.
I quit keeping track but I think I'm in the same ballpark.
I was one of the first to go tubeless using the same methodology with tubeless tubulars back in around 2010. I went from 1 flat every 500 miles to not one flat per year. In the last 4 years I haven't had one. When I changed out the tires last time, my rear tire had 4 punctures that had sealed.
I use about one Dynaplug about every other year. Most of the time I don't even notice I had a puncture unless I feel a little sealant on my leg.
Overall, tubeless is about the same work because you have to change or recharge sealant periodically and sometimes you need to clean dried sealant out of your tires. But none of that has to be done at the side of the road and all of it can be done at a time and place of your choosing.
So overall, I'd characterize it as a huge win for me - less flats (like none) and better ride quality.
I quit keeping track but I think I'm in the same ballpark.
#102
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As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
#103
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There are success stories, and I'm glad to know that tubeless is working for you. No flats over the course of 15,000km is a beautiful thing!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
#104
Senior Member
There are success stories, and I'm glad to know that tubeless is working for you. No flats over the course of 15,000km is a beautiful thing!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
I don't care if anyone wants to ride tubes or tubeless. I know what I want to do. But what really is not useful, helpful or honest is wild exaggeration like this,
Agree completely.
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#105
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Easy enough to carry a tube even when riding tubeless if you are worried about flat complications.
#106
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There are success stories, and I'm glad to know that tubeless is working for you. No flats over the course of 15,000km is a beautiful thing!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
Zero is the number of times I've gotten a flat tire due to a puncture though the tread - road, gravel, or MTB. Recently, on my gravel bike, I rolled through a patch of goatheads, and about a dozen of them stuck into my tires (front and rear). I stopped and pulled them out, and continued on my way. If I was running tubed tires, my ride would likely have ended with call of shame, since I rarely carry more than 1 tube.
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Last edited by Eric F; 01-22-24 at 05:44 PM.
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#107
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Zero is the number of times I've gotten a flat tire due to a puncture though the tread - road, gravel, or MTB. Recently, on my gravel bike, I rolled through a patch of goatheads, and about a dozen of them stuck into my tires (front and rear). I stopped and pulled them out, and continued on my way. If I was running tubed tires, my ride would likely have ended with call of shame, since I rarely carry more than 1 tube.
But yeah, tubeless really sucks.
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#108
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You're annoyed by a cheap and simple device that allows you to get riding sooner and with less fuss? Weird.
And this is the line that convinces me that you simply don't understand how tubeless even works.
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#109
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Nice try.. I checked. You're not the OP, Mr Big Tubeless
#110
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the thrill of changing a tube in a high crime rate area, & or on a very busy shoulder with vehicles zipping by is all the more reason to stay with tubes. Converting to anything else is not being a true cyclists. Purist down to the last tube!
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#111
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This thread is like watching a debate of which religion is best. Argument, counter-argument, logic, ill-logic. Let’s just call it a draw. We all have our preference and no party is going to convince the other they are right.
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I concur that we all have our preferences and I also agree there will be no convincing the holdouts. But there is a so called winner, as the market has decided that the present and foreseeable future is in tubeless. Sure in low end of the sport tubes will be common but in the performance sector tubeless is the preferred choice because it works.
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I concur that we all have our preferences and I also agree there will be no convincing the holdouts. But there is a so called winner, as the market has decided that the present and foreseeable future is in tubeless. Sure in low end of the sport tubes will be common but in the performance sector tubeless is the preferred choice because it works.
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#114
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There are success stories, and I'm glad to know that tubeless is working for you. No flats over the course of 15,000km is a beautiful thing!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
And I have less landfill. I know you can kind of upcycle tubes but it’s not ideal.
Last edited by choddo; 01-23-24 at 01:22 AM.
#116
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There are success stories, and I'm glad to know that tubeless is working for you. No flats over the course of 15,000km is a beautiful thing!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
As for your non-tubeless friends who had to fix flats while you watched, I assume all of them were able to change the tube and continue the ride. Additionally, none of them had sealant spray all over their bike, none of them had to install an annoying plug, and none of then had to attempt to reseat a tire with a hand pump or CO2 cartridge. They simply changed their tube, inflated the tire and went on with their day. That too is a beautiful thing I love tubes!!!!!
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#118
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I'm unlikely to go tubeless, if only because I have a fleet of bikes with perfectly serviceable non-tubeless-compatible wheels. Balancing the cost of a couple or a bunch of pairs of new wheels against fixing the occasional flat with a tube (with 38-mm-wide tires on my most-used bike, a rare occurrence), I'll put up with what I have.
That said, the discussions that are the most entertaining on this subject are between the hooked-rim and hookless-rim tubeless proponents.
For example, a few of the latter have hotly maintained that the manufacturers of hookless rims use that design to save the consumer the agony of pedaling around with the additional weight of hooks - four in all, per bike! - which seemed a little fishy.
Then I read an article on hookless-versus-hooked technology that included a droll comment from the DT company that obliquely explained the motivation behind other manufacturers' embracing hookless (hookless carbon rims are easier and thus cheaper to produce):
' However, for road wheels, DT is committed to hooked rims. “For us, a more intensive manufacturing process is not an obstacle and within the R&D of new high-end wheels we have proven in measurements that there are no performance disadvantages in aerodynamics and rolling resistance,” says Eggert. '
That said, the discussions that are the most entertaining on this subject are between the hooked-rim and hookless-rim tubeless proponents.
For example, a few of the latter have hotly maintained that the manufacturers of hookless rims use that design to save the consumer the agony of pedaling around with the additional weight of hooks - four in all, per bike! - which seemed a little fishy.
Then I read an article on hookless-versus-hooked technology that included a droll comment from the DT company that obliquely explained the motivation behind other manufacturers' embracing hookless (hookless carbon rims are easier and thus cheaper to produce):
' However, for road wheels, DT is committed to hooked rims. “For us, a more intensive manufacturing process is not an obstacle and within the R&D of new high-end wheels we have proven in measurements that there are no performance disadvantages in aerodynamics and rolling resistance,” says Eggert. '
#119
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He must have been an engineer because it took forever to return on the g*d damn road. I remember he was analyzing what had happened and marking the puncture spot with a small crayon he had in his pocket so he could know where to put his 5$ bill.
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Was that $5 folded in half first, or used single-thickness? Would using a $10 have cut the return trip's time in half maybe? Nobody'd brought a $50 for 'just in case' need?
#121
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Single thickness. Found it weird since it's kind of long and wide for a small puncture.
He was asking us to hold the bill while he was putting the tube in and inflating it...
A souvenir to forget. He obviously knew not what he did.
He was asking us to hold the bill while he was putting the tube in and inflating it...
A souvenir to forget. He obviously knew not what he did.
#122
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My main road bike is now tubeless, no issues. With the higher pressure of road tubes, I think having good sealant and good tires are key. I'm running Stan's race sealant and GP5000 TRs on it and it's been trouble free. I've had a few self-sealing punctures, but have never had to dart my road tires.
It took me awhile to make the switch to road tubeless, but now I wish I did it sooner. I've been tubeless for years on my mountain bikes and later, gravel. I've had to plug those tires in the past, but it's obviously a much different tire usage.
It took me awhile to make the switch to road tubeless, but now I wish I did it sooner. I've been tubeless for years on my mountain bikes and later, gravel. I've had to plug those tires in the past, but it's obviously a much different tire usage.
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#123
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Aside from gel wrappers, £5 notes have become the goto “big hole in the tyre” tube reinforcement here ever since the Bank of England switched to plastic notes. Which are strange things but seem near indestructible.
#125
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I flatted near the bottom of Old La Honda, but the group just rolled by. I fixed the puncture and chased hard, catching back up to the group before they reached the summit. They were surprised.
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