Tube vs. Tubeless on ebikes

[Deacon Blues]

I had a rim tape failure two weeks ago on my road bike.
A couple of days ago I had the rim tape on the road bike's other tire fail.
I cleaned off my old tape and dried sealant, but I had the bike shop that a deal with install the new rim tape for me, because I really suck at install rim tape.
I got the wheel home, installed new sealant and the tire and, using my compressor, pumped it back up. The tire popped a number of times, so I thought everything was a go.
Unfortunately, the new rim tape didn't seal properly and there was air blasting out the wheel's drain hole.
Looks like I'm going back to the bike shop on Tuesday.

 

[fooferdoggie]

I have not had issues with rim tape. I use dt-swiss tape it's a little starchy and I get 2mm larger then the rim clean the rim with alcohol first. then just pull it tight and go around twice.

 

[Deacon Blues]

Mine was put on by the bike shop when I bought the bike back in 2018. My local bike shop that works on my bike (not the same bike shop that I bought the bike from) said that rim tape has a life expectancy and he wasn't surprised that my rim tape had failed.

 

[m@Robertson]

In addition to DT Swiss tape on some of my rims, I'm using WTB TCS tape. Buy it by the roll in various widths. Haven't had a failure yet. If tubed I stick with old-school Velox cloth.

 

[fooferdoggie]

In addition to DT Swiss tape on some of my rims, I'm using WTB TCS tape. Buy it by the roll in various widths. Haven't had a failure yet. If tubed I stick with old-school Velox cloth.

I tried the WTB TCS tape it was a pain to put on compared to the dt-swiss.

 

[mschwett]

That’s an interesting point. With tubeless setups and fat tires, I imagine many are running sub50 psi.

Anyone else used FO on 50-60 psi?

I run around 65psi max, and find sealant specifically designed for higher pressure tires works much better. it’s the same amount of work to buy and injext, so I see no reason to experiment with products not designed for purpose. save a few bucks i guess, at the risk of lost hours of riding from an unsealed puncture….

 

[fooferdoggie]

I run around 65psi max, and find sealant specifically designed for higher pressure tires works much better. it’s the same amount of work to buy and injext, so I see no reason to experiment with products not designed for purpose. save a few bucks i guess, at the risk of lost hours of riding from an unsealed puncture….

for sure. Now I dont run about maybe 55 so I have more choices.

 

[PSm]

In on of the recent threads there were a discussion about the tube vs. tubeless on the ebikes. There where several opinions expressed, but not sufficient statistics were shared to make a conclusion what is popular and actually being used by majority of people, at least those who visits and reads this forum. So I decided to open poll to get some statistics. Thanks for participating.

NOTE: this is for ebikes only!

Always tubes. And now, whenever possible (e-bike or traditional) , use TPU tubes for the weight savings and lighter/smaller volume spares. Found they work best for presta tube replacements, since schraeder to presta tube adapters aren’t great, and sometimes cause leaks.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Jeez, I run 45-50 with tubes and 30-35 tubeless.

 

[Tom@WashDC]

Riding last night in the dark 3 miles from home, picked up a 3 foot piece of wire, like coat-hanger diameter, dead center puncture on the outer part of my front tire. Pulled the wire out and a white mist (Stan's No Tubes Sealant) sprayed a fine mist up into the air, highlighted by my headlight. I started pedaling forward quickly, the hissing sounds stopped in 30 seconds. Rode all the way home! Yay for going tubeless.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Riding last night in the dark 3 miles from home, picked up a 3 foot piece of wire, like coat-hanger diameter, dead center puncture on the outer part of my front tire. Pulled the wire out and a white mist (Stan's No Tubes Sealant) sprayed a fine mist up into the air, highlighted by my headlight. I started pedaling forward quickly, the hissing sounds stopped in 30 seconds. Rode all the way home! Yay for going tubeless.

THAT'S what I'm talkin' about! Nicely done sir!

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Riding last night in the dark 3 miles from home, picked up a 3 foot piece of wire, like coat-hanger diameter, dead center puncture on the outer part of my front tire. Pulled the wire out and a white mist (Stan's No Tubes Sealant) sprayed a fine mist up into the air, highlighted by my headlight. I started pedaling forward quickly, the hissing sounds stopped in 30 seconds. Rode all the way home! Yay for going tubeless.

The exact same thing would have happened with a tubed tire dosed with Slime or FlatOut. or Stan's, if it has a formulation for tubes.

TT

 

[fooferdoggie]

The exact same thing would have happened with a tubed tire dosed with Slime or FlatOut. or Stan's, if it has a formulation for tubes.

TT

not always and only if what went in came out. if something small gets stuck in the tire and you cant find it then the tubed tire sealant worn seal it. with me I usually could only find the material from the inside. I found 5 punctures in my tubeless tire once from glass across the whole road and I only had a really low tire then ext day. I plugged the biggest holes and added more sealant

 

[Tars Tarkas]

not always and only if what went in came out. if something small gets stuck in the tire and you cant find it then the tubed tire sealant worn seal it. with me I usually could only find the material from the inside. I found 5 punctures in my tubeless tire once from glass across the whole road and I only had a really low tire then ext day. I plugged the biggest holes and added more sealant

I suppose I should have spelled out that if a piece of wire had punctured a tubed tire filled with a proper dose of sealant, and had been pulled out, there's no reason not to expect the exact same results Tom had with his tubeless tire.

It's not a question of yay tubeless it's yay sealant.

TT

 

[Tom@WashDC]

I suppose I should have spelled out that if a piece of wire had punctured a tubed tire filled with a proper dose of sealant, and had been pulled out, there's no reason not to expect the exact same results Tom had with his tubeless tire.

It's not a question of yay tubeless it's yay sealant.

TT

Well, I disagree slightly. Tubes can rip or tear internally, and no amount of sealant will help. I've run tubes for several years with Slime, and it did work, but sometimes it didn't becusese the tube would tear rather than just get punctured. If you are running tubes, Slime will definitley save you from many puncture flats.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

Well, I disagree slightly. Tubes can rip or tear internally, and no amount of sealant will help. I've run tubes for several years with Slime, and it did work, but sometimes it didn't becusese the tube would tear rather than just get punctured. If you are running tubes, Slime will definitley save you from many puncture flats.

So, if we're going to make up scenarios that could happen in some alternative universe or other, could you run over a broken Coke bottle bottom that might rip or tear your tubeless tire?

I'm certain there are situations that will defeat just about any flat preventative man has come up with so far. And every puncture is unique, so results are never guaranteed to be the same regardless. I'm just saying I am not at all convinced that tubeless tires are any kind of panacea for flats. Beyond that, my experience with (in my case) Slime and tubed tires has been excellent. If tubeless tires really are a better answer to the flat problem, and I'm not sure they are, I don't see it as more than a marginal difference.

TT

 

[mfgrep]

Depends on your terrain, build, and environment. Knock on wood I'm a light rider running tubes going on a year now without a flat.
No muss and no fuss. I'm cautious about maintaining correct pressure. That is all.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

My own experience using both tubes with sealant (mostly slime) and tubeless (mostly stan's) was that flats requiring more intervention than just airing up the tire were 3x to 4x more frequent with tubes than with tubeless. I have no clue as to why.

Also, the "interventions" with a tube required removing the wheel and replacing the tube. And my experience was also that patching a tube with sealant in it rarely worked well (mainly because it was hard to keep sealant from contaminating the patch area). On the other hand, a tubeless "intervention" was usually just putting a tire plug in and airing up the tire.

If you have a rip or hole in your tire that requires a tire boot you are in pretty deep trouble with either tubed or tubeless. A tire boot is there to just let you limp somewhere you can buy and install a new tire.

 

[Tars Tarkas]

My own experience using both tubes with sealant (mostly slime) and tubeless (mostly stan's) was that flats requiring more intervention than just airing up the tire were 3x to 4x more frequent with tubes than with tubeless. I have no clue as to why.

Also, the "interventions" with a tube required removing the wheel and replacing the tube. And my experience was also that patching a tube with sealant in it rarely worked well (mainly because it was hard to keep sealant from contaminating the patch area). On the other hand, a tubeless "intervention" was usually just putting a tire plug in and airing up the tire.

If you have a rip or hole in your tire that requires a tire boot you are in pretty deep trouble with either tubed or tubeless. A tire boot is there to just let you limp somewhere you can buy and install a new tire.

That all makes sense. Thanks for that perspective. Maybe I've been lucky and have had few cases that required intervention with my tubes. And apparently I'm one of the exceedingly rare people who don't freak out about patching a tube on while on a ride. If it happened to me more often I might have a different attitude.

TT

 

[fooferdoggie]

That all makes sense. Thanks for that perspective. Maybe I've been lucky and have had few cases that required intervention with my tubes. And apparently I'm one of the exceedingly rare people who don't freak out about patching a tube on while on a ride. If it happened to me more often I might have a different attitude.

TT

with me it would happen in the dark in the rain mostly. or on the tandem close ot home. the tandem is harder to remove the wheels.