Turbo Vado SL 4.0 Wheel Durability

[ckendall]

Mount difficulty as far as tightness goes was average for tubeless. I used one tire lever for each bead. Two lever lifts per bead to mount. A shop mechanic probably would have rolled it on all hands no tool, but I am not that good. If you don't do a lot of tires it could take a little patience.

The G-one Speeds in my experience are looser, either that or they are thinner and stretchier. They are good tires - very fast rolling, light and supple. Easier mount than Allround, which are thicker and better grip on gravel.

So many other tires out there in the same general category. Some easier to mount, some harder. Avoid Challenge tires - some are unbelievably hard to mount. Also avoid Panaracer - some mount too loose and tend to burp or even blow off if you inflate too much.

Also don't overlook TPU tubes instead of Stans and tubeless mounting. TPU tubes weigh the same as tubeless fluid, are quite tough, and are nearly as supple as tubeless too. Not messy, no struggle to seat the bead when inflating, etc. The RideNow's perform indistinguishably from the expensive TPU's, and cost like 6 bucks a pop on AliExpress. Spares are good to have too.

Will definitely try those RideNow TPUs on my bikes first. Sounds like you are like me. I love to wrench and tinker with optimizing setups etc. and now its on my wife's new bike. But I’m unlikely to stay tubeless because while I like wrenching I don’t like the tubeless goops and refresh every 6 months.

 

[ckendall]

my somewhat limited experience (four different types of rims) with tubeless is that the rims which are explicitly and recently designed for tubeless are a lot easier, and even more so when paired with recently designed tires designed specifically to be tubeless. i’m a reasonably strong guy, and found it totally impossible to mount reneherse 42mm knobbies on my DT Swiss R470 rims. like not even close.

GP5000 Pre-tubeless on those rims, possible, but very very hard.

GP 5000 TL S (the most recent ones) and the alpinist II (redesigned for tubeless, allegedly) rims on my specialized not electric road bike, those I can get on with my bare hands. no soapy water no tire irons just the “make space“ technique combined with the “rolling palms” technique.

My recent experience was with some Bontrager carbon rims and the stock Bontrager tires they came with on my Trek Super-Caliber cross country bike. Getting the tires off was super hard as they did not want to release from the rim seal. Then getting back on was super super tough. I want to try some different tires hoping its easier and possible to change in the field or on the road.

 

[hankj]

GP 5000 TL S

Phenomenally good tires.

The Continental Terra Speeds come in 700x45mm. Relatively easy mount, fast and light. Bit on the the rebound-y side (as opposed to damp, these are a bit springy) but reduce vibration nicely. Sticky on pavement but take bit of care on gravel. Good tire for a lighter weight rider biases toward pavement but who rides sone smooth dirt too. Reminds of the GP5000 in ways ....

 

[Rás Cnoic]

Mount difficulty as far as tightness goes was average for tubeless. I used one tire lever for each bead. Two lever lifts per bead to mount. A shop mechanic probably would have rolled it on all hands no tool, but I am not that good. If you don't do a lot of tires it could take a little patience.

The G-one Speeds in my experience are looser, either that or they are thinner and stretchier. They are good tires - very fast rolling, light and supple. Easier mount than Allround, which are thicker and better grip on gravel.

So many other tires out there in the same general category. Some easier to mount, some harder. Avoid Challenge tires - some are unbelievably hard to mount. Also avoid Panaracer - some mount too loose and tend to burp or even blow off if you inflate too much.

Also don't overlook TPU tubes instead of Stans and tubeless mounting. TPU tubes weigh the same as tubeless fluid, are quite tough, and are nearly as supple as tubeless too. Not messy, no struggle to seat the bead when inflating, etc. The RideNow's perform indistinguishably from the expensive TPU's, and cost like 6 bucks a pop on AliExpress. Spares are good to have too.

Really interesting thoughts on the Vado SL and tyres etc. Currently running WTB Byways (44s) on my Vado SL after a winter on Panaracer GKs 42 I think, the SK knobblies ones, actually ran wider then the Byway 44s. The Byways are better on the dry summer roads for sure. Re the TPU innertubes I've always been interested in these but I read somewhere you can't repair the punctures? Is that true? They won't take patches. Great tip on the Ali express RideNows - worth trying a pair at that price! Regardless of repairs.

 

[hankj]

Re the TPU innertubes I've always been interested in these but I read somewhere you can't repair the punctures? Is that true? They won't take patches. Great tip on the Ali express RideNows - worth trying a pair at that price! Regardless of repairs.

TPU's are easy to repair! The patch is essentially just a sticker, similar to the Park Tool speed patches.

The trick with patching TPUs is to use an alcohol wipe first. The patch area needs to be very clean and no oils for the sticker to adhere.

The patches seem to work universally across brands, except Tubolito patches don't. (Maybe others, but so far only Tubolito not cross compatible in my experience).

The other tricky thing about TPUs is that once they stretch to the size of the inside of the inflated tire, that's the size that they stay. You need to be careful not to inflate them much outside of a tire, and careful not to pinch with a tire lever when reinstalling after first inflation.

But not bad at all to repair as long as you use an alcohol swab first.

 

[Rás Cnoic]

That's really helpful. And yes maybe it was Tubolitos I was reading about. Ali Express here I come!

 

[hankj]

That's really helpful. And yes maybe it was Tubolitos I was reading about. Ali Express here I come!

Tubolito patches work well on Tubolitos, but not on other brands. No idea why!