Russ Roth

I'm building up a new set of track wheels for my daughter to ride, mostly Kissena and TTown using 24h/20h 45mm deep carbon rims from Pub. They were blowing them out for 35.00 a rim and couldn't pass on the deal (should have bought more). Novatec hubs and Pillar Wing 21 spokes are hopefully on their way from Bdop but no tracking number yet. That had me looking at tires since she'll use the old wheels for a lot of training practices and I hate swapping tires constantly. I see on Bicycle Rolling Resistance that the veloflex TLR record 25 tires are the lowest rolling resistance and their site mentions good for track bikes.
As the Pub rims are tubeless ready this seems like it could be a good way to go, though fit could be an issue. I tested her bike with my wheels which have the exact same internal dimension and found her current 23c challenge tire fits fine though measured just over 25mm with the wider rim, not certain how exact the veloflex is in their measurements, an additional positive was that the 25.2mm the challenge measured fit the 105% ratio for tire to rim for optimal aerodynamics. The improved rolling resistance would be a benefit. So will tubeless be a good way to go?

79pmooney

Do people run tubeless on the velodrome? Are they allowed? (Burping, wet sealant on the track ...) I'd check first. I don't ride the velodrome but live 2 miles from Alpenrose, knew one of the mechanics there and never heard of anyone running tubeless.

Russ Roth

Well that's the problem, no clue. Kissena doesn't have a governing body outside of the city to make the decision and I can find nothing on ttown or rock hill. Found a conversation on use at a track in Edinburgh where they allow tubeless but not dual compound tread and veloflex does say for road and track race use. I think the limit it to race due to how thin the tread is. Tubeless in this application wouldn't use much sealant, wouldn't need to since punctures aren't common, even at Kissena. And being a hooked rim and how hard it can be to separate the tire from beads on TC rims, I almost wonder if it wouldn't be safer for the rider in a sudden pressure loss vs a standard clincher, not as good as a tubular, but better.

79pmooney

I bet if you go to the TTown website there is contact info there. That person would know.

veganbikes

I mean if they are just for the track and everything is tubeless I would think going sans sealant would make sense if you had to run tubeless in that situation. If everything is of quality and seats right you aren't worried about punctures (or shouldn't on a track) so sealant would be less needed. Plus you wouldn't be trying to run low pressures so burping shouldn't really be an issue. I always dry seat a tire anyway so if it works like that just leave it like that. In the end a race usually isn't that long so I cannot see any downsides to running just air and in the end I don't think there is a tubeless tire out there that cannot be run with tubes as far as I know and tubes are easy to carry so I would go for it sans sealant and see how it works.

TejanoTrackie 

Also, burping is only an issue when you hit a sharp bump on the road or off-road, which is not an issue on the track. So, even if you use sealant, the chances are very low that it will ever seep out and get on the track. The only concern that I would have is that even if the rims and tires are TLR, they cannot be inflated as high as tubed tires, which might result in higher rolling resistance and affect performance in competition.

Russ Roth

You've never seen Kissena have you? The bumps on turn 3 are crazy.
According to bicycle rolling resistance a latex tube adds .2-.4 watts of extra resistance, I'm just going to toss in latex tubes and call it a day.