Tubeless tire experiences

OP here. This has turned into quite a thread, but my conclusion is that I'll be sticking with tubes. At my age, I ride less and am less likely to be riding in the types of places where flats are a known hazard, and anyway this is not known as an area that's prone to causing them (I don't even know what a "goat head" looks like). Over the past few years, I probably get one flat a year across my three bikes and have had a few flat-free years. My SL has had one flat in two years of ownership and I suspect that that one might have been due to a loose valve core.

I guess that I was interested as always in keeping up with the latest technology, but the preceding discussion leads me to believe that going tubeless on a bicycle at this time adds a lot more complexity than I'm willing to deal with these days. :confused:
 
I just ordered some Flat Out from Amazon. I'll put it in the three bikes that my wife and I ride that have tubes and I'll continue on going tubeless with my other two bikes.
 
rochrunner said:
OP here. This has turned into quite a thread, but my conclusion is that I'll be sticking with tubes. At my age, I ride less and am less likely to be riding in the types of places where flats are a known hazard, and anyway this is not known as an area that's prone to causing them (I don't even know what a "goat head" looks like). Over the past few years, I probably get one flat a year across my three bikes and have had a few flat-free years. My SL has had one flat in two years of ownership and I suspect that that one might have been due to a loose valve core.

I guess that I was interested as always in keeping up with the latest technology, but the preceding discussion leads me to believe that going tubeless on a bicycle at this time adds a lot more complexity than I'm willing to deal with these days. :confused:
Click to expand...
yes tubeless is only practical if you ride a lot. for me it gives me a month smoother ride and they are faster too. on our tandem its so much better. tires to keep flats down are so harsh and slow.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
Yeah, the Worst Case Scenario is if you have a rip or tear in the tire. In that case you have to:
  1. Possibly use Shoe Goo or a sewing kit to close the rip
  2. Install a tire boot
  3. Get rid of all of the sealant
  4. Get rid of all of the thorns, staples, tire wires, and whatnot poking through the tire
  5. Install a tube
  6. Limp back to civilization
Fortunately ripping a tire is extremely rare for most of us. I've never had it happen to me (knock on wood).
Click to expand...

i'm not sure it's that dire, current/new tubeless road tires and road rims pretty much seal even without a lot of sealant. what i'd do in that scenario would be take off the wheel, hold it rip side up, break the bead and pull one side off the rim, wipe clean the area around the puncture, scuff it up a bit, and stick on a patch (most tubeless tires work with vulcanizing patches, not all). wait a few min, seat the tire again, spin it around a bit, inflate with c02. it's actually a lot like patching a tube but the patch is on the inside surface, so air pressure and centripetal force are working for you, not against you.

older pre-etrto tires and wheels may be much harder to get seated, and a small pump or co2 cannister might not be able to seat the bead if you remove too much of it. but the above method is quick and neat. i've never had a catastrophic puncture like that but i tried it on a worn tire before replacing just to see how stranded i'd be without a tube, and my conclusion was that it wasn't hard at all, in some ways easier than putting in a tube because only a few inches of bead have to be unseated and re-seated.
 
One thing I think gets missed in this discussion:

99 percent of punctures in a tubeless tire can be replaced without removing the wheel

Given that a lot of e-bikers aren't able to remove their wheels while on a ride, and perhaps even at home or in their garage, I'd make the argument that even if you don't ride very far and are a beginner you might be better off tubeless. You'd just need to learn to check your tire pressure before every ride and carry a small pump to air your tires with as necessary. Which you should be carrying in any event.

If your rims and tires are tubeless compatible an LBS will typically charge about $100 to make your bike tubeless. And if you haven't done it before and don't have all the appropriate tools that is a reasonable price. Honestly, it is easily imaginable when you go down the tubeless learning curve that you'll go through $100 worth of rim tape before you figure it all out.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
One thing I think gets missed in this discussion:

99 percent of punctures in a tubeless tire can be replaced without removing the wheel

Given that a lot of e-bikers aren't able to remove their wheels while on a ride, and perhaps even at home or in their garage, I'd make the argument that even if you don't ride very far and are a beginner you might be better off tubeless. You'd just need to learn to check your tire pressure before every ride and carry a small pump to air your tires with as necessary. Which you should be carrying in any event.

If your rims and tires are tubeless compatible an LBS will typically charge about $100 to make your bike tubeless. And if you haven't done it before and don't have all the appropriate tools that is a reasonable price. Honestly, it is easily imaginable when you go down the tubeless learning curve that you'll go through $100 worth of rim tape before you figure it all out.
Click to expand...
yes but 99% of e bikes dont have a tubeless ready rim. hell a lof of the better e bikes dont either.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
One thing I think gets missed in this discussion:

99 percent of punctures in a tubeless tire can be replaced without removing the wheel

Given that a lot of e-bikers aren't able to remove their wheels while on a ride, and perhaps even at home or in their garage, I'd make the argument that even if you don't ride very far and are a beginner you might be better off tubeless. You'd just need to learn to check your tire pressure before every ride and carry a small pump to air your tires with as necessary. Which you should be carrying in any event.
Click to expand...

Amen to this here. I got my first flat on tubeless in close to 5 years of using them today, and it was because I failed to keep an eye on the sealant level. The fix was - remove stick, add sealant, spin wheel, inflate, ride off.

Tubes drool
 
I'm not so lucky. Since April when I did my tubeless conversion I had three flats -- all of which were resolved by airing up the tire and spinning the wheel. There was also about six weeks of teething while I got the rim tape right. Mainly that meant I had to air up the tires every morning before the ride, so not really a big deal. Finally I redid the rim tape and got it right the second time.
 
Mr. Coffee said:
I'm not so lucky. Since April when I did my tubeless conversion I had three flats -- all of which were resolved by airing up the tire and spinning the wheel. There was also about six weeks of teething while I got the rim tape right. Mainly that meant I had to air up the tires every morning before the ride, so not really a big deal. Finally I redid the rim tape and got it right the second time.
Click to expand...
I was a wimp and got the LBS to do it.
I have often inspected both tires on the work stand and pulled out thorns etc. Also seen telltale signs of sealant activity.
Been lucky so far methinks...
 
I jut checked how much flat out is in the rear tire of our tandem it's almost empty. I shut put in 6 oz less then a month ago. its all leaking out from around the bead. the front tire does not do that but its a different rim.
 
I've used this Quick Change inner tube before. One piece, slides around the rim. It really works and you don't have to remove the front or rear wheel. Huffy makes it in 27.5" an other sizes as well. Changed my wife's flat tire in no time at all without removing the rear hub wheel. Schrader valve only.

Huffy Quick Change Tube

qwikchange.jpg
 
DaveMatthews said:
Uh oh... hope you didn't jinx yourself!
Click to expand...
You have forced me to use the www.deepl.com translator this time! :D (The DeepL is far beyond the Google Translate, and it can understand English idioms!)
Well Dave. Polish roads are clean, and we specifically have very little thorn if any. If I ever had a flat, it was only because I had installed the tube wrongly (pinched by the tyre bead) or I damaged the tube valve. If I get a flat again, I will be first to tell you :)

I use really good tyres but incidents happen everywhere. However, my friend Jerzy rode for an improbable distance on his Continental tyres (until they got bald) without a single flat!
 
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