gtingley wrote:
I don't quite get that last statement, you can run tubeless with normal tires, not just UST.
If you don't mind dealing with the mess if you get a puncture that can't be sealed...or, the fact that the stuff dries up over time (which makes it a poor choice for me since my MTB sees only periodic use these days).
Seeing as your original reply to me talking about the adoption of pros using tubulars in WC and OG races, the n yes I'm certain they will take the speed over convenience. The reason I'm certain is because they do in fact choose it. How did a discussion that starteds with your speculating that no one would adopt tubulars if clinchers came first, and my pointing out that pro mountain bikers have adiopted them even though clinchers came first, become about what Tom would use periodically. In spite of your almost literal God complex, what works best for you doesn't always work best for Pro racers in once in a lifetime events.
gtingley wrote:
Lower pressure without pinch flats was the benefit over latex tubes.
I think you mean over butyl tubes. I don't know of ANYONE besides myself who actually runs latex in their MTB tires, and I haven't had a single pinch OR puncture since I started using them (although, as I admit above I don't use my MTB as much any more, but it HAS been quite a few years since I switched to latex in the MTB)...and I run pretty low pressures typically too. You need to on the trails around here to maintain traction.
So now you either make your own mtb latex tubes or have a factory that makes them just for you? I'm pretty certain neither is true and if you can buy them, even if you have to really search maybe just maybe you aren't the only person in the world who's smart enough to use a product thats available by pressing Buy Now on a website.
gtingley wrote:
Tubular XC wheels are simply the same as CX wheels, just a little beefier. Not anything new. Same benefits of lower pressure w/o pinch flatting.
Again, that comparison should be noted as in relation to butyl tubes. How many people running clincher CX wheels use latex tubes?
I doubt either of us really knows, but more germaine to this discussion is virtually every top cross rider uses tubulars with latex tubes vs clinchers with either latex or butyl. I find it interesting that of the 2 pinch flats I've had on the road in the past year (and the first ones for MANY years) happened with butyl tubes :-/
So what, flats with clinchers and butyl tubes has what to do with mtb using clinchers, either with butyl, latex, or tubeless vs mtbers adopting tubulars in the search for better performance? gtingley wrote:
I was tubeless using mold builder and electrical tape back in '01 when I last raced XC. That was in the "pre-Stans" era.
Yup...me too. Brewed up some DIY tubeless myself. Had to be careful with tire selection though, since some tire beads were too loose and at lower pressures the bead would "burp" and lose pressure. I lost a good rear rim that way :-(
Which is likely why pro mtbers are looking at tubulars. All the low pressure benefits of DIY tubeless with little of the risk. More cost and set up, but that hardly is a factor in top level pro mtb racing. Styrrell
Styrrell