Giving up on tubeless

deandean

I've been tubeless for 5 years. My experience is that it's great when it's working well. But I've had major let-downs too many times out on the trail, it's a pig to get the tyre & valve out and put a tube in to get me home and then I need a compressor, tippex and a lot of patience to get the tubeless setup again.
So I've ordered the tubes that come pre-filled with slime, hopefully these will be fairly reliable.
Has anyone else gone away from tubeless?

Peter T

I run tubeless on my full suss (well only because it came that way when i bought it) cant say i notice a big difference between them and running tubed on my hardtail as i run both at 20psi. I've a compressor at home so can pop them back on easy enough but have witnessed the difficulty people have with putting in a tube to get home out on the trails. I've escaped so far running tubed, I just took out the valve core and squirted some slime into it. 1 year later still hasn't dried out. Personally I dont see the advantage when i look at the types of area's i ride

FirstinLastout

What the hell you doing with tippex?

Wanderer78

FirstinLastout wrote:

What the hell you doing with tippex?

Lovely smell off it, keep yea going while trying ta bait a tyre on

deandean

LOL Tippex is what I call the latex sealant ðŸ˜

Tenzor07

sparrowcar

Tubeless for about 6 years now and never any issues on multiple tyres and rims. Including racing (badly) about 15-20 enduro races.

Set up is key, do it right first time and shouldn't be any issues.

boomdocker

deandean wrote: »

I've been tubeless for 5 years. My experience is that it's great when it's working well. But I've had major let-downs too many times out on the trail, it's a pig to get the tyre & valve out and put a tube in to get me home and then I need a compressor, tippex and a lot of patience to get the tubeless setup again.
So I've ordered the tubes that come pre-filled with slime, hopefully these will be fairly reliable.
Has anyone else gone away from tubeless?

Are your wheels 5 yrs old?
Are they tubeless rims? (or are you trying to make them tubeless 'ghetto' style)
Are you using tubeless tyres?
On the trail - what pressures are u running? Fine line between low pressure for lots of grip and 'burping'

Wheels/rims have moved on a lot in the last few years
If your wheels are old, get a new pair and should be a lot easier

Wouldn;t touch those slime filled tubes, way too heavy and you're defeating the purpose by putting tubes back in and losing all the advantages of tubeless - grip etc..

FirstinLastout

Tubeless since '12 with only one flat over few thousand Kms, due to a shredded tyre, riding rock, gravel, forest etc both here, Euro & further.
Generally tend to fit & ignore with just occasional top ups.
My main bike used to live in my car when I traveled with work a lot more... I found continued exposure to high temps led to losing pressure & effectiveness.

However it's the lower pressures, extra cush and hugely increased grip available that makes it worthwhile.

deandean

Thanks all for your input.
My rims are tubeless ready, no rubber strip needed.
My tyres are Continental Cross Kings.
What cheesed me off about tubeless was last week I went to go for a pedal, the rear tyre was flat from a small puncture that loads of sealant leaked out through. I don't have a compressor and despite a lot of trying with a track pump I couldn't re-mount the tyre. So no spin.
Hence my thought on moving back to tubes.

deandean

Thanks all for your input.
My rims are tubeless ready, no rubber strip needed.
My tyres are Continental Cross Kings.
What cheesed me off about tubeless was last week I went to go for a pedal, the rear tyre was flat from a small puncture that loads of sealant leaked out through. I don't have a compressor and despite a lot of trying with a track pump I couldn't re-mount the tyre. So no spin.
Hence my thought on moving back to tubes.

Lemming

[Tubeless-friendly] Tyre choice affects your ability to seat a tyre to run tubeless. Some tyres require a compressor, others nothing more than a bog-standard pump. I've experienced both with a combination of the same/different tyres on different rims. I've put Maxxis tyres on older 26" UST rims and up-to-the-minute modern 27.5" rims with nothing more than a £20 aldi track pump in no time at all, and I've laboured, sweated, and swore enough to make a drunken sailor blush with a Schawble number that was lightweight unawares to me at the time that I had to accept defeat on and bring to a shop to have them seat it with a compressor. The only real difference as far as I can tell - anecdotally speaking - is all of the tyres I've mounted without needing a compressor had heavier, DH casing so the carcasses were thicker than the lightweight one I failed to mount myself.

I have a pair of older 26" Conti Trail-Kings but they're not tubeless ready AFAIK so I have never tried to set them up tubeless and have no clue how good Conti tyres might be in that regard.

covey123

Lemming wrote: »

[Tubeless-friendly] Tyre choice affects your ability to seat a tyre to run tubeless. Some tyres require a compressor, others nothing more than a bog-standard pump

Had serious issues getting a tubeless tyre to seat against the rim properly before,to sort it I put a tube in,pumped it up and left it overnight.
Took the tube out the next day and tyre had shaped perfectly

FirstinLastout

covey123 wrote: »

Had serious issues getting a tubeless tyre to seat against the rim properly before,to sort it I put a tube in,pumped it up and left it overnight.
Took the tube out the next day and tyre had shaped perfectly

Have done this and found it effective although I over inflated the tyre and left it a couple of days.
The last Maxxis I put on had deformed during storage/transit and was a bugger to get it to seat properly.
Softened it beforehand by warming it slightly in the oven, just slightly mind not a full roast.

Gerry

Only issues I've had have been on my xc bike where the wheels are not tubeless ready. Left for a month or two one wheel lost its seal and would not reseal with new sealant. Brought to expert cycles Other than that.. couple of bikes and no issues in about 8 years. Used to go to a garage to seat new tyres but now have an air shot. Never had an issue on a trail or a spin. No punctures. Oh I've cursed it now. Would swear by tubeless.

deandean

Well, the slime-filled tubes arrived yesterday, and Boomdocker you're right - they're very heavy! Actual weight is 450g each (29er).

So, a bit like a girlfriend who dumps you from time to time but you keep going back to her - for now I'll stick with a tubeless set-up, this last time :P

Helped by my finding a new Continental Cross King tyre that I'd forgotten about. Fitted last night, 100g sealant, hit the trails tomorrow

Peter T

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnbLI_tLpLs

If all fails give this a try, its what I have done with my hardtail

fatbhoy

I've been having trouble inflating my new, tubeless conversion tyres.

Rather than buying one of those booster canisters, which eventually I might have to, I got a little brass adapter for a couple of euro that converts the valve to a car-type valve.

I thought it was a great idea until I brought it to the local petrol station that has a free air compressor, which didn't work for me, to my surprise. Someone since has told me that it's something todo with it needing back pressure from the tyre to work. It worked fine on my car tyres.

Anyway, does anyone know any petrol stations around Dublin that have the old type of air compressor handles: the type that you hold onto the valve, and press a lever/button to shoot air into the tyre?

Alkers

fatbhoy wrote: »

I've been having trouble inflating my new, tubeless conversion tyres.

Rather than buying one of those booster canisters, which eventually I might have to, I got a little brass adapter for a couple of euro that converts the valve to a car-type valve.

I thought it was a great idea until I brought it to the local petrol station that has a free air compressor, which didn't work for me, to my surprise. Someone since has told me that it's something todo with it needing back pressure from the tyre to work. It worked fine on my car tyres.

Anyway, does anyone know any petrol stations around Dublin that have the old type of air compressor handles: the type that you hold onto the valve, and press a lever/button to shoot air into the tyre?

There is normally a setting on those pumps for using with a flat tyre - that might work.

Can you not just buy a decent track pump?

fatbhoy

Alkers wrote: »

There is normally a setting on those pumps for using with a flat tyre - that might work.

Can you not just buy a decent track pump?

I have a deadly Joe Blow Max track pump. I got it to inflate one tyre, but not the other. Had to pump like a mofo.

I'm going to scout around a few petrol stations while convincing myself to part with 60 euro for a booster canister.

I forgot about that "inflate from flat" setting. Thanks.

Effects

Peter T wrote: »

If all fails give this a try, its what I have done with my hardtail

What's the point in having non removable valves in a tube?

Effects

fatbhoy wrote: »

Rather than buying one of those booster canisters, which eventually I might have to.

I've got one in the post at the moment. €40 from Rose for the Schwalbe one.
I can't take it with me on cycles though!

I thought it was a great idea until I brought it to the local petrol station that has a free air compressor, which didn't work for me, to my surprise.

I've used one of those adapters. But I had to remove the valve core to get it to work. It seated the tyre, then I put the core back in and used my track pump. THIS WAS MY THIRD TRIP TO THE PETROL STATION!

Anyway, does anyone know any petrol stations around Dublin that have the old type of air compressor handles: the type that you hold onto the valve, and press a lever/button to shoot air into the tyre?

Can't remember the last time I saw one of those. But I used the Applegreen at the Fairview end of the Howth Road. One of those newer machines but set it to flat and it sends a decent burst of air, then keep pressing that button.
It's also free, which is pretty rare these days.

fatbhoy

Effects wrote: »

I've got one in the post at the moment. €40 from Rose for the Schwalbe one.
I can't take it with me on cycles though!



I've used one of those adapters. But I had to remove the valve core to get it to work. It seated the tyre, then I put the core back in and used my track pump. THIS WAS MY THIRD TRIP TO THE PETROL STATION!



Can't remember the last time I saw one of those. But I used the Applegreen at the Fairview end of the Howth Road. One of those newer machines but set it to flat and it sends a decent burst of air, then keep pressing that button.
It's also free, which is pretty rare these days.

Class, thanks for that :-)

I'm about to pull the trigger on this:

https://www.bike-components.de/de/Topeak/TubiBooster-CO2-Inflator-p67797/schwarz-1-Liter-o200042/

You can use it as a booster, plus you can take off the little head and bring it (and a little CO2 refill) with you and use it as a CO2 inflator. Perfect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w3wCx46CYc