My slightly dissenting take: Listening to folks explain how easy setting up tubeless tires is reminds me of when I used to tell folks gluing on tubular racing tires was no big deal.
Though I never use a higher pressure to avoid pinch flats, I never get them. I mean in the last 2 decades I think I got 1 pinch flat and that was whomping a sizeable rock coming down a trail riding 45mm tires (schwalbe "fatties" from RBW) at between 20 and 25 psi. For me avoiding pinch flats is not a selling point for going tubeless. I go weeks on end without getting a single flat all the time. But even though I live in the land of drought and am rarely out in inclement weather, when I do get one I don't like it, and almost all my flats are from wires or thorns or small flints which I expect OS would have sealed without me even stopping. So I have some interest in considering the whole tubeless thing. To that end I have acquired and am now using a set of wheels set up tubeless on one of my bikes. So far (~6 months in) it seems fine and has the following advantages for me: When I ride that bike along a trail with goat head producing flora all about I am much less worried, and so far 0 flats. I tend to ride that bike on days after it rains (when there tends to be much more crap along the side of the roads), again less worried and so far 0 flats. I have another bike with tubeless compatible rims that I've not gone tubeless on. I may consider it, but where my tubeless wheels have WTB Byways on em, that other bike wears 38mm RH extralights. I've heard the RH extralights sidewalls tend to weep when set up tubeless, and that doesn't sound like fun to me. On Wednesday, April 15, 2020 at 5:49:23 AM UTC-7, Tim Bantham wrote: > > There's been some discussion on the board lately about the pros and cons > of tubeless tires. I am a tubeless believer but I wasn't always that way. I > wanted to share my experiences as a way of adding some perspective to those > considering giving it a go. Analog cycles is doing an Instagram live on > tubeless tonight at 5:00 PM ET. You should watch it if you are remotely > interested. Much of my current tubeless knowledge was gained by talking > with James and Candice. Before I met the good folks at Analog I had quite a > bit of experience with tubeless setups. Some good and some not so good. > > The first thing I'll make clear is that you can continue to run tubes in > your tires and be perfectly happy for the remainder of your biking life. > Nothing wrong with that. Tubeless is not going to rock your world. However, > there are many benefits to setting your tires up tubeless. I'd like to > share those with you based on my own experiences. > > You can run low pressure without fear of getting a pinch flat. If you are > a Riv fan you already know the benefit of soft tires. Subtle ride quality > with lots of cush to absorb the bumps. To me this is worth it alone but > there are other benefits. > > Much easier to fix a flat tire. True confession I rarely get a flat tire > with tubeless. If you get a small puncture sometimes just riding the tire > allows sealant to get into the hole and seal the tire. If it doesn't seal > you have to plug the hole. Let's say you run over a nail. You can fix the > flat without removing the wheel. Murphy's law is that 75% of your flats > will be on the rear tire.With a tube you have to take the rear wheel off in > the field. No big deal right? I know... I've done it tons of times. That > said, if I can avoid doing so why wouldn't I? With tubeless you can plug > the hole without removing the wheel from the bike. That to me that is a > significant benefit. Of course there remains the possibility that you can > get a gash in the sidewall. That happens but if you are prepared with > gorilla tape and gorilla glue you can fix that without removing the wheel > from the bike as well. > > Final tips: > > - Get the Dynapill made by Dynaplug for your tubeless repairs. > - Still carry a tube with you. A tube could always be installed as a > last resort but it should be rare. > - Invest in a good air compressor. An air compressor is handy! The > pumps that are sold claiming to seat tubeless tires don't work as claimed. > I know because I own one. > - Don't try to seat tubeless with a regular bicycle pump. Doesn't work > and not worth the frustration. See above. > - Use Orange Seal Endurance Sealant. Best sealant on the market. Blows > away anything else I've ever tried. > - The tubeless tape that Analog sells is fantastic! Easy to work with, > has the right amount of stretch. > - Don't try to set up any old rim/tire combo tubeless. Look for rims > that are advertised as tubeless. I have Velocity Cliffhangers and Quills > on > my bikes. Both set up easily. > - Buy a tubeless ready tire. > - Don't worry about sealant randomly oozing out of your tire. Doesn't > happen if you set everything up correctly. > - Use a regular bicycle pump to maintain air in your tires after > successful set up. > - Refill with fresh sealant every six months. > - Buy the Park Tools valve core remover to make adding fresh sealant > easier. > > Hit me up with any questions. Do watch the tubeless set up live show > tonight on Instagram and go to Analogs website for tubeless set up tips. > > Tim > > > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/02a28b5d-3fe2-4f5c-b3ad-85659a109176%40googlegroups.com.
