fooferdoggie 

we have Schwalbe energizer tires 700x38 or 40 right now. I have a Schwalbe marathon on front a 38 as our new rims are wider and I could not get a 40 under the fender. so not sure if to go to the marathon on back or go tubeless. we have had 3 flats in several months of riding on the back. before that we never had flats till the tires were worn. fixing the flat on the tandem can be a real pain since its a e tandem and heavy. thinking of a marathon Almotion or such. with our bike its about 400 pounds and we go on paths too.

IPassGas

"3 flat in several months"... you have not found whatever is causing the flats. Independent of flats, I often carefully inspect tires looking for glass, wires or other bad stuff and remove it with a pick. It helps, have not had a flat in more than 4000 miles of loaded touring. I more often check tires when in area of high road debris (cities). Energizers are lower level, Marathon provide best flat protection, so go with marathons. Tubeless is worth considering if in goathead country, otherwise it just another messy complication.

fooferdoggie 

the last two flats were a tiny piece of wire I had to get from the inside and a shard of glass I had to push out from the inside. ya I was wanting to use up the tire but I dont know its getting annoying plus they wear pretty fast. Plus you have to fill them more often right? what I wonder would the tire seal if I cant find what's stuck in it? or if it's raining or really cold?

Leisesturm

Unless the wheels that came with that tandem are tubeless ready (unlikely) you are going to need completely new wheels to go tubeless. $$$. Then you will need new tires. More $$$. You need new tires anyway, clearly your present ones don't have enough flat-proofing for your conditions. Marathon Plus are the go to choice for this kind of assignment. Conti GatorSkins are another. It is not a binary 'tubeless = no flats/ regular tires = flats' kind of equation. There are flat proof and flat resistant tires that will mount right onto your present rims and do a great job. I doubt a pair of MP's will cost more than new wheels, tires, sealant, and etc. to go tubeless. You have e-assist. That means putting Slime in your present tires need not be a ride pleasure killing action like it might be if you actually had to push around the stuff with your own energy. "Friends don't let friends go tubeless" -Leisesturm

scycheng

I have a gravel bike which was set up tubeless from the manufacturer. Because of the pandemic, I couldn't ride it for 6-8 months. By the time I saw the bike again, the tires has gone flat and would not retain air pressure. I had to scrape out the goop which has mostly dried and decided to put a tube back in. Much less hassles with tubes though I did get a flat over the next couple of months.

Tubeless is not a panacea and you will have to carry a spare tube anyways so any weight savings is moot.

Marathon is a very durable tire. We don't use them because we ride mostly in areas with little road debris.

bwebel

Would one not get nearly the same flat protection from putting sealant into tubes as using tubeless tires?

fooferdoggie 

sometimes. I have tested most of the brands. they all have limits. rain is one another is if you can't pull out what caused the flat. I think thats the biggest issue I have to find and pull out what's in the tire from the inside. I have had a few holes seal too. higher psi is another issue.

Darth Lefty 

Tubeless for me has worked best when "all in," with the rims and tires made for it. It's not a panacea. It does not prevent tire maintenance, rather it moves it home. Also better for a frequently used bike, because sealant in the tire has a calendar life, not a mileage life.

I have it on my MTB and commuter bike. I have not tried it on high pressure roadie tires. I didn't put it on my tandem, which is a 1990's 26er and infrequently used. I did put sealant in the tubes once when I had a goathead. it sealed up and nothing bad happened.

Sealant sets up in a few months and the rare flats I have had since going tubeless have been due to no more liquid sealant remaining. And some holes need help. CO2 does not play nice with sealant, need air. So now my flat kit is a bottle of sealant, a core remover, a plug kit, and a little pump. The goal is to avoid breaking the bead. If you got a really bad tire-killing gash, not an average puncture, you would still need levers, a tube and a tire boot to get home. Some people just want to throw in a new tube like they used to for any puncture but that makes a little mess and the tire is tight.

Chilepines

I went to tubeless on our current tandem after started having frequent flats with tubes. In hindsight, I think it was from running tires that were too lightweight - Panaracer Pacenti Pari-Moto. I turned them tubeless and still got flats - but with the tubeless setup I was often able to get them to seal up by putting the puncture at the puddle of sealant in the tire. Now I've switched to the Specialized Sawtooth 38 mm tubeless and all is well. And I run Skinny Strippers on all my tubeless setups which makes getting inflated a breeze.

fooferdoggie 

Ya I doubt I want to go to the effort. we ride everyday till the time changed and the weather. now several times a week but t can be rain the whole time. plushy wife will be off the tandem for 2 months when she gets her shoulder bone replaced. I will jsut bite the bullet and put the marathon on.

dabac

There is always ”ghetto tubeless”. I’ve got my winter wheels set up like that, and it was a quite uneventful and inexpensive experience.
Neither rims or tires are tubeless-specific.
Although if I forget to keep them aired up during summer, I may need to use a compressor to get them to re-seat.
There’s a workaround for that, but it hasn’t been worth the effort to set it up.
It’s been working out well, although it’s difficult to say how many flats they’ve saved me from.
I’ve also used Kenda tire/tube sealant, which is closer in composition to the stuff used in Slime tires, so drying up is less of an issue.
I had one puncture that wouldn’t stop oozing. So I made a little wad of those fibers plumbers sometimes use to seal threaded couplings and poked it into the hole.This stopped the oozing and became a permanent fix.

fooferdoggie 

I wouldn't to have even brought t up if they were not. that would be so much to maybe save a few flats.

DangerousDanR

We have had two flats in about 6,000 miles running Schwalbe Marathon 700X37C with tubes on the tandem. Both were pinch flats, so if we had been running tubeless they would not have happened. One happened a couple miles from home, so no big deal. The other was on a barely there road in the middle of nowhere. We have about 3,000 miles on Continental GP5000 TL 700X32C running tubeless with no flats. That is not much of a difference

Flat prevention is not the biggest benefit I see with tubeless. It is the ride quality and the feel of the bike when cornering at speed. Some of that can be attributed to the different nature of the Marathon vs the GP5000. On my solo bike I find that tubeless transmits less road vibration. It is enough better that when I ride with the tube only wheels I am very much aware of the difference. The only tires I am running with tubes now are either winter studded tires that are not tubeless ready or on wheels that are not tubeless ready.

And for me the "mess" of tubeless has not been an issue. I have had a few flats, but all of them have been larger cuts or ruptures, and the tires were not repairable.

scycheng

One thing I hate, and I find impractical, trying to fix a flat on the side of the road with tubeless tires is trying to get enough pressure with a hand pump (even a decent Topeak with can be used as a mini-foot pump) to seat the beads of tubeless tires. My experience is limited but I found I need to pump the tire to about 25% above the rated pressure. With a 47mm tire, that could take a long time.

Are there better ways?

[Scraping the goo out once it semi-dries is a different matter]

Chilepines

With tubeless if you actually have a flat you are usually not "fixing" it on the road, but putting in a tube. I have not had a problem reseating the bead, and a CO2 inflator really helps in that situation.

fooferdoggie 

I got one of these as its all they had. this should work better on hard packed trails. I have a standard marathon plus on front.
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...tire?v=700X37C