Seems some ppl have no problems with tubeless whilst others cant make it work
Personally im a tubeless convert, no dramas, all my bikes and wheels, love it and wouldnt go back, but I think you need to try it yourself to decide if its worth it
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I had my lbs set up my Mavic Carbon Pro SL (ust) wheelset tubeless at the beginning of the 2019 road season. Road 25 mm tires (mavic) in all weather conditions and travelled with them by plane 2x (dropped tire pressure for flights). No flats.
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what hassle? I have the mavic tubeless for my road bike and it beats tubes in every single possible way.
go tubeless and never deal with the hassle of tubes again.
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Howās the dry / wet grip though? Iāve read they sacrificed in that department to get the improved RRā¦
I havenāt noticed any problems with grip but I havenāt ridden them in the rain yet.
Do you have support car following you when you ride?
Yes- Go for it
No- Dont even think about
Good luck.
Why not just buy the cheap spare trainer wheel now, switch the tires on your outdoor wheels, and then finish off the GP4000s on the trainer? On a few occasions Iāve tried to eke the last few miles out of tires and regretted it when I ended up with punctures at the most inconvenient of times. Which reminds me that my rear GP4000 right now is so worn that itās practically square, I have a long ride this weekend, and a lovely new GP5000 sitting on the shelf ready to go, so I should almost certainly follow my own advice and change it when I get home!
Iām running tubeless on my tri/TT bike, mixed experience. Getting them on was a major PITA and took double the recommended sealant and several attempts before I got the front to seal properly. But since then theyāve been trouble free and it is nice knowing that minor punctures should seal themselves during a race. I ran latex tubes on my previous TT wheels and continue to run them on my road race bike, I donāt think the tubeless roll any better than latex (but both tubeless and latex roll noticeably better than butyl). But latex comes with itās own hassles as well, they can be a bit fragile getting them on, and they basically need pumping up before every ride. I know people who wonāt run them for that reason, though personally pumping up my tires every time I ride is something Iām happy to do for more comfort and better rolling resistance. My road bike wheels arenāt tubeless compatible and I see nothing like enough benefit in tubeless to justify the cost of upgrading them. Assume my next set of wheels will be tubeless though, just because thatās where the market (and the R&D money) is going.
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Thanks for all the replies so far. I guess my main issue with tubeless was only having 25mm tyres and not getting the full benefit as a 28mm kb even 30mm would give. After a people on the thread mentioned 25mm works fine for them, Iām going to give the gp5000 (I love conti) a go and let the LBS set up the tyres for the first time I use them.
Only down side of having the LBS set them up is not knowing how to do it yourself if you find yourself stranded by the roadside. Iām all in favour of getting the LBS to do stuff that requires specialist tools and doesnāt need doing often (I mostly leave headsets, bottom brackets and wheel hubs and truing to the LBS). But I like to know how to do the stuff that is fairly straightforward and may need a roadside fix, like tires, brakes, derailleurs.
Same as with clinchers if youāre just putting a tube/boot in. What you wonāt know is how best to sort them at home, but the learning curve really isnāt that steep at all.
RE: emergency fixes. Be sure to only disengage one of the tire beads if you need to put a tube in. This allows you to put the disengaged bead in the center channel when reinstalling the tire and makes it much easier to remount that side of the tire. Perhaps this is obvious, but iāve never seen this mentioned. This may not be an issue on wide rims with a wide/deep center channel.
The self-sealing properties of tubeless work better at lower pressures, as the sealant has more time to coagulate and close the hole. At higher pressures, it blasts out before getting a chance to seal. At the pressures generally run for 28mm+, it works well. At pressures typical for 23mm tires, you lose some of the self-sealing abilities (but still have all the hassle of tubeless). For 25mm, itās a bit either way.
I had to double the tape for both my wheels for 25 mm continental gp 5000 tl
Probably because of the high pressure around the holes in the rim there were some small holes
Orher than that i recomment TR setup
I used tubeless last year for the first time and absolutely loved the feel and ride, until I got a puncture that didnāt seal. It took me plus 3 other mates to change the tyre in a giant mess of sealant, and if I was on my own it would have been a very long taxi ride home. I am very happy changing punctures, but this was enough to put me off using them and Iām going back to clincher for next year.
If you want to use them, then I would save them for your crits, where itās better to have the performance benefit and the non-sealing punctures arenāt necessarily a problem. Plus having the sealant for any little punctures is an added bonus in a crit.
have you tried plugs? different sealant?
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No the whole thing just put me off, I would rather have the confidence to know I can get home. Might try giving it another go in the future
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I have the same concerns about going tubeless. I understand your cautionary measures. But I decided to try tubeless recently and so far my luck has been good (cross fingers, toes, arms, eyes, etc.). I donāt relish putting in a tube and dealing with the sealant everywhere. Thereās another thread that talks about what to carry in a saddle bag with tubeless tires that I found informative. Iām going to adopt some of the recommendations. the forum discussion title is:
Road tubeless tires - Whatās in your spare kit?
Give it a read. Iām new to tubeless tires too and am looking for any ideas that will make me feel more comfortable when Iām 20+ miles from home and my wife is at work.
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I made the conversion from GP4k+Latex to GP5K Tubeless last year on my TT and iām not looking back. Trained for a half and full IM without flats. Comfort over different pavement conditions is much better. Thereās a lot of data showing that they have better rolling resistance.
Go for it, you will not regret.
Did you have 25mm tyres?
Yes, I had 25mm on the tubed set up and kept it 25mm for the tubeless. The biggest difference was on the tire pressure. I know it is obvious that tubeless tires requires less pressure but I went from ~95 psi to ~65 psi which I tough quite substantial change. Iām a ~170lbs rider for the record.