Cassopher

I just bought a set of Rovals off of eBay that were set up tubeless. I’ve never owned a tubeless set or even ridden tubeless, I’ve always owned ran clinchers. What are the benefits of tubeless and if I decide to convert over to clinchers how hard would the conversion be? Thanks

rsbob 

OuterMarker

The benefits of tubeless are you can't get pinch flats, puncture flats are less likely (the tubeless sealant can quickly seal small holes as soon as they form), and you can ride at lower tire pressures (since you don't need excess pressure to prevent pinch flats). I just recently went back to inner tubes on all my bikes though. Here is why. I ride road, so if you ride trails, this might not matter as much.

Disadvantages:

Wheel manufacturers and tire manufactures aren't working together. As a result, my tubeless rims are on the larger end of the tubeless standard tolerance, but my tires were on the smaller end of that standard. As a result, in order to fit the tire, I needed to warm the tire up with a clothes dryer to get it to expand. After, it would still take several tire levers and sometimes an extra set of hands to get the tire on the rim since the bead is much tighter than a clincher. Eventually, the day I feared came; I got a puncture that was too big for sealant and a plug to work. I struggled for 30 minutes trying to fit an inner tube in the tubeless tire, but there was no way it could work. Apparently, over the summer the industry figured this out and fixed the standards, but that doesn't help anyone with older rims.

The sealant sucks to work with. It stains clothes and gets everywhere. It also dries out, so every 3 months or so, I would take the wheels into the shower to wash out the old sealant and put new sealant in. It always made a big mess. Want to change from summer tires to winter? Another big mess.

So while tubeless greatly reduces the likelihood of getting a puncture, if you do get a bad one it is cataphoric to fix on the side of the road. I can change a clincher in 15 minutes with just a mini pump (no dryers or tire levers). I would rather deal with one extra flat a year than deal with a sealant mess anytime I change tires and a ride ending flat every few years.

rsbob 

I have tubeless 27s and don’t have anywhere near the struggles you have. After a bad sidewall cut was able to swap a tube in on the road in 10 mins. Yes sealant maintenance is a bit much but no other flats in close to 3000 miles on the same tires.

Toespeas

there are no advantages of tubeless on the road , its just a different way of riding , converting back to tubes will mostly be a tighter fit requiring you to need thicker tire levers because it will harder to mount or dismount if you do get a flat .

tubeless for trails and gravel , MTB , great , road will not be fun once you get holes in your tire , if you do run tubeless road you will need sealant , co2 , booster pump or air tank sometimes , tubeless tape .
you will have to learn to mount and when to change tape because it can be impossible to mount , you will need patches if you get holes in your tire , because you dont have tubes if you tire gets a hole its pretty much game over , so many more issues with tubeless , tubeless rod is best for race day wheels that dont see high miles !

mihlbach

1. Clean out the sealant
2. Add tubes
3. Inflate
4. Ride

DrIsotope

Are y'all really gonna do this? REALLY? Oh look, there's already a smiley for it.

Rogerogeroge

1.5 Remove valve stems
1.7 Not required, but I would replace the tubeless rim strip with conventional rim strip. Especially if tires are difficult to mount or remove.

rsbob 

tyrion

When I switched to tubeless, my hair started growing back in. Thicker and more luxurious than ever.

mack_turtle

I've definitely "pinch-flatted" a tubeless tire. You need to whack the rim on a solid surface pretty hard hard, but I've done it to my mtb and a CX bike.

Toespeas

so ignore it !

Toespeas

its important to let new tubeless runners know just how difficult it can be , i recently bought a hutchinson , on sale , and this tire is a cx tire and it locks in so tight i need a tiny little screw driver to break the bead , there is no way i could get it with my bare hands , and if i needed to add a tube there is almost no way i could fit a regular 25mm tube in there , when i did run tubeless road i carried the 18mm skinny tubes , as they where the only ones that could fit without a struggle and a gamble i would not put a hole in one , also mounting and dismounting was risky with plastic levers so now i carry 1 plastic and 1 metal , because there is no way i can get the bead over , and since he says he is running tubeless ready im sure its tape over spoke holes and thats the hardest one to set up and maintain .
its kind of a dead horse but if someone asks ill let them them know exactly what they are in for , tubeless is great when it works , completely sucks when it doesn't , and by the time you get done with all the stupidity , you could have just changed the tube and been on your way , i always think back to those time i had to boot a hole that was too big for tubes or tubeless , i remember one tiny little seashell ruined my 40 something dollar tubeless tire and i had to get new ones because it would not seal , i remember my first crit i got hole in my tubeless , so many terrible memories , LOVE them on the trails though

BlazingPedals

Tubeless tires ARE clinchers. Is this a "tubeless vs tubes" question or a "tubeless vs tubular" question?

msu2001la

I have definitely never showered with a tubeless tire.

mack_turtle

I love this feature of BF. great way to mitigate stress and trigger some weirdos.

Toespeas

fine by me

tomato coupe

1.1 Curse
1.6 Curse more.
2.1 Curse very loudly.

alcjphil

Tubeless rim tape is thinner than a conventional rim strip which would make it easier, not harder to install or remove any tire, tubeless or tubed. Leave the tape in place

tomato coupe

This is tubeless tires in a nutshell.

dabac

Well, the headline says ”tubeless conversation”....

rsbob 

My second wife was tubeless and she never flatted.

Danhedonia

Looks like the Girl Guides are fighting over the annual field trip destination again.