Last year I got new tires and switched to tubeless set up from tubes on my enve wheels. I think both had same Continental GP 5000 tires, but got new tires when I made the switch. Since the switch to tubeless, I’ve had 3 kind of sub par bike splits in triathlons in a row. I’m guessing it is probably fitness, but anyone have any insight on whether maybe switch to tubeless is slower? Want to decide if I should switch back.
Last year I got new tires and switched to tubeless set up from tubes on my enve wheels. I think both had same Continental GP 5000 tires, but got new tires when I made the switch. Since the switch to tubeless, I’ve had 3 kind of sub par bike splits in triathlons in a row. I’m guessing it is probably fitness, but anyone have any insight on whether maybe switch to tubeless is slower? Want to decide if I should switch back.
Probably not related to tubeless. Same pressure? What kind of tubes were you using when tubed?
Depending on what tubes you were running previously, it’s either equal (latex tubes) or faster (butyl tubes). Regardless, unless you’re running dramatically different pressures than you were beforehand, it’s unlikely the change would have made a dramatic change in your results either way
Last year I got new tires and switched to tubeless set up from tubes on my enve wheels. I think both had same Continental GP 5000 tires, but got new tires when I made the switch. Since the switch to tubeless, I’ve had 3 kind of sub par bike splits in triathlons in a row. I’m guessing it is probably fitness, but anyone have any insight on whether maybe switch to tubeless is slower? Want to decide if I should switch back.
As mentioned tire pressure could be a culprit. Did it change ?
Did tire width change ?
There are a few flavours of GP5000. Are you sure you are using the same ?
I’ve had 3 kind of sub par bike splits in triathlons in a row.
Were your power outputs (watts) roughly the same for these sub par bike splits as before the tire swap?
I think they are same GP5000 tires but I am not sure. Threw out old ones. These say GP5000sTR, but not 100% sure they are the same tires I had when I had tubes in them. Tire pressure I ran was 90 on tubeless. Probably 100-110 when I had tubes in. Power was lower for my race I just did then in past, so it is probably lost power and lost fitness not the tires.
Continental’s current tubeless road tires are:
Grand Prix 5000 S TR
Grand Prix 5000 AS TR
Grand Prix 5000 TT TR
.
Which tubes were you using previously?
I’m not sure which tubes I had before. Bike shop made switch and I did not look. Any difference between 3 different GP5000 tires? I have the S TR on now.
The S is the standard, roughly equivalent to the clincher version in terms of speed (slightly thinner center thread and thicker beads though, I find that you get much less miles out of it).
The AS is all-season one, more robust and puncture-proof, slightly slower.
The TT stands for time trial, thinner and more fragile but a tad faster.
“I’m not sure which tubes I had before. Bike shop made switch and I did not look”
Latex or butyl?
“I’m not sure which tubes I had before. Bike shop made switch and I did not look”
Latex or butyl?
And if you don’t know, it’s pretty easy to figure out: did they loose 10psi per day of standing around in the garage or rather per week? (likely to be second, butyl, if you don’t know)
Not sure why it really matters. In a worst-case scenario, tubeless with the s-tr tires is likely to be essentially equivalent to any other version of the GP5000 tire with a latex tube, which is all OP was really asking.
If he had latex tubes and now suddenly 80ml of sealant per tire (which I’ve seen shops do out of safety for 28mm tires and not knowledgeable clients who may not refresh until next service), then he may have lost some watts in the swap.
If he had butyl and 30ml sealant now, he should have won a bit.
In both cases were talking a few watts though, maybe 4-5, not sure he’d have noticed.
As others have said…tire pressure, tire width, wattage then you have aero position “ideal” and aero position “aggregate” (if you sat up more, got out of the saddle more etc).
Most people have no idea what their aggregate aero is. Every race I go and watch 90% of the field is bleeding wattage because they have an ideal aero position that they post on social media or ST threads that they can’t actually hold most of the time. When you go ride with these people they are sitting up on the cowhorns most of the time and when they ride indoors on Zwift they are sitting up too…then they expect that they will magically hold their wind tunnel position when racing on the slightest uphill or slightest head/cross wind.
So did you hold the same position on aggregate for the duration of the race?
Thanks everyone for the advice. I think it is not the switch to tubeless set-up slowing me down. After 2 years of really good bike results for me, had 3 sub-par bike splits in a row in tris over course of last two years. The good results seemed to be on a lot of flat courses for olympic distances. The 3 bad results were 2 punchy courses with a lot of climbing where I was in and out of aerobars a lot and 1 half-ironman which is longer than I normally race. The 3 bad results coincided with the switch to tubeless, but I think other factors were at play.
New post should be - how do I get better at courses where I have to climb a lot or turn a lot? Olympic distance bike splits have been 1:04 to 1:07 over last several years and I had a 1:19 on Sunday - ouch!
Best way to improve at that kind of terrain is going to be to ride outside on that kind of terrain, and even more so do your intervals on terrain that mimics the course so you can practice holding power through corners, cornering in the bars at speed, and pacing well on hills
.
Were you using latex or butyl tubes before?
Good advice and good explanation - I do 90+ percent of training indoors on Kikr bike. I live in Alaska, so outdoor tri bike riding has a limited season.
Not sure if latex or butyl. It was what the bike came with - I ordered bike from QR. Bike store did the replacing for me and I never looked at the tubes. My guess would be butyl.