TheRealDrPhil

I ride in Albuquerque, NM on a combination of multi-use paths and roads. Like a lot of the desert southwest, the most common ground cover on the side of the path is tribulus terrestris, or the much-feared and hated goathead. Another common risk is the pot-hole thanks to the dismal state of infrastructure repair in the second-poorest state in the union. I don't think I am more prone to goathead punctures or pinch-flats than the average rider, but even one flat is annoying and demoralizing. I was riding Continental GP5000s with same brand inner tubes. I love the ride of these tires - lively and responsive with low rolling resistance and low weight for good acceleration. But after two walk-home pinch flats within seven days I was frustrated and looking for a solution. I had a set of tubeless ready wheels, so I thought I'd try going tubeless - why not? A scour of the interwebs and I found a lot of reviews, but not the perfect tire. Light, but fragile. Resistant but heavy. Most reviews didn't really tell me a lot, as nearly every tire rode well. Is my "rode well" the same as the reviewers? (In the end I am sure I can say no...) Anyway, I ended up buying some Bontrager R3s following a very positive comparison review. This tire seemed like a good compromise. $70 each, fairly tough, and rode well. I picked up a set and all the fixins including Bontrager blue sealant. Putting the tires on wasn't all that difficult, and yes you need a car tire compressor set to 100psi to set the bead. Don't fool yourself, make sure you have access to such a thing. First ride and they seemed a bit sluggish. Must be me and I need to get used to them. I set them 10psi lower than my GP5000s at 90 back, 80 front. After two weeks of riding them, about 14 rides, I just couldn't get them to "ride well". They seemed heavy, they seemed slow. My ride average speeds were down by over half a mile per hour, noticeably.

I went back to the Google search function and reread many of the original reviews but found another one that mentioned the Veloflex Corsa Evo tubeless ready tire. The review was on the Weight Weenies forum and I hadn't seen this tire mentioned in the other reviews. Too light, too fragile, not too common - everything weight weenies love. I had been riding Veloflex tubulars on my 5kg road bike for years back in the early 2000s and loved them. I decided to give them a try and ordered a set. All I can say is that these are THE tubeless road tires to ride on. I am riding the 25C version (and will try the 28mm ones in the future for sure.) Light at 250g, supple with 320tpi casings, and relatively easy to install (you still need that compressor.) These tires are the opposite of the Bontragers. They are supple and fast and smooth. They roll fast, they corner fast and surely. These tires soak up the bumps at 80F/90R pressures. They sound fantastic, just like the GP5000s and old Veloflex singles. The only downside so far is the pressure drop overnight - about 10psi. But as a tubular rider for decades I always pump my tires up before a ride, it's part of the ritual and I embrace it.

So that's my tubeless road tire conversion saga to date. As my car racing friend once told me (he raced in the Daytona 24hrs), it's all about the tires. Most bicycle riders don't think much about their tires, but for me they are the most important component on my bike. Good tires, good ride. Bad tires, shyte ride. That's all there is to it.

I plan on trying other road tubeless tires in the future because, why not?

YMMV, of course.

DaveSSS 

Try the tire pressure calculator at zipp.com. Your pressures seem high.

Try orange seal endurance. I don't lose that much pressure with it.

Try michelin tubeless tires. Great performance overall.

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/sear...at=cra&dcnt=37

tomato coupe

How can you possibly conclude that when you don't know how much the OP weighs?

msu2001la

I like the GP5000 tubeless version. Curious as to why you didn't try that one if you liked the tubed GP5000?

I have mounted these (and other) tubeless tires several times using an Air Shot. I don't have a compressor. They do fit very tight on my wheels and would be challenging to unhook/rehook on the side of the road, but so far I've not needed to do that.

I use Orange Seal regular and so far have not had problems with unusual overnight pressure loss. There is definitely a learning curve to installing tubeless, but once you get it all set up it seems pretty great. I run 32mm size at around 65psi and much prefer this to the 28mm tubed version that I also currently have installed on another bike.

Eric F 

Some other tubeless reviews... https://www.bikeforums.net/road-cycl...ess-tires.html

sfrider 

If you liked tubed GP5000's, why not get the same in tubeless? I use a regular floor pump to seat them, no problem. Depends on the rim, tape, and valves though, in particular whether the tires form a seal and maintain it as they're inflated and pushed out and up on the rim. For me, no problems, just pump, seat, wait a little, then deflate and add sealant. GP5k's stay seated for me.