I’m sure its been asked a million times but Im looking at converting to tubeless from clinchers.
Is it worth it or can it be a hassle?
Am I now in the minority with clinchers?
Im looking at doing this for 70.3 & IM distances.
I’m sure its been asked a million times but Im looking at converting to tubeless from clinchers.
Is it worth it or can it be a hassle?
Am I now in the minority with clinchers?
Im looking at doing this for 70.3 & IM distances.
I think what really matters in making this decision is the tire width and pressure you plan to run.
What do you mean by “converting”?
I need some new tyres, my wheels are tubeless ready but so far I have used clinchers. I’m deciding if now is the time to go tubeless and if they are worth it. I.e pros and cons.
Some of the questions I have are around maintenance of them - renewing sealant? What if you do puncture and the sealant doesn’t work and how common is that ?
In my opinion the complaints about tubeless setup and maintenance are WAY over hyped. If you have any kind of mechanical skill it’s straight forward. I add a little bit of sealant every 6 months or so. I go thru tires every 9-12 months so when I swap tires I clean up the rim and put new rim tape on. I’ve never had an issue mounting tires or getting them seal or anything. I was literally saved this morning by my tubeless setup. Got a small hole on my rear tire that would’ve need a new tube, but the sealant did its job and I kept riding. I’ll add a little bit of sealant to that tire and keep riding it till I need a new one. The only thing I’ve had happen that was annoying is I’ve had valve stems get clogged up that needed to be replaced. It took 4 minutes and I was good to go.
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
In my opinion the complaints about tubeless setup and maintenance are WAY over hyped. If you have any kind of mechanical skill it’s straight forward.
It is HIGHLY dependent on the wheels and tires you use. I’ve tried tubeless on several different setups with some frustrating results and others good results. A couple setups, I could not get the tire to fully seat or seal. Most of my issues were a couple years ago with some of the first tlr designs. The tires have seemed to improve and have gotten easier to mount. Same with wheels.
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I have owned a small bicycle manufacturing company for 30 years and try almost every product that comes out. I have installed thousands of tubeless tires on my customers’ bikes and used them on my own bikes.
Got a new road bike, changed the tires out and went tubeless before the first ride. Took me all of 15 minutes to decide I needed tubeless on my tri bike. If the roads you race or train on have any kind of patching or repair on them they make a huge difference.
If your wheels are tubeless ready it’s incredibly easy to convert them to tubeless. Pop the valve stems on and make sure you’ve got a strong pump to get them seated, I use a small air compressor that I had previously for filling my car tires.
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I have owned a small bicycle manufacturing company for 30 years and try almost every product that comes out. I have installed thousands of tubeless tires on my customers’ bikes and used them on my own bikes.
Oh fantastic. So do you feel the latex and clinchers are best for most AG triathletes?
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I have owned a small bicycle manufacturing company for 30 years and try almost every product that comes out. I have installed thousands of tubeless tires on my customers’ bikes and used them on my own bikes.
Oh fantastic. So do you feel the latex and clinchers are best for most AG triathletes?
Yes.
I think for the benefits on race day, running tubeless is a major plus - I wouldn’t go back
Small puncture - self heals
bigger puncture - dynaplug fix
Even for day to day riding I think its major plus - I even run sealant on my 6sp fold up commuter.
However, as I’ve experienced recently, tubeless only works if you keep on top of your wheels and tyres, by either replenishing and rotating them regularly to avoid the sealant pooling (and evaporating) - so for that disc wheel or racing wheel set - it might be best to empty them and refill come race week as I’ve had a right weekend ungluing my race wheel set due to leaving them sat there in their bags with the sealant.
In my opinion the complaints about tubeless setup and maintenance are WAY over hyped. If you have any kind of mechanical skill it’s straight forward. I add a little bit of sealant every 6 months or so. I go thru tires every 9-12 months so when I swap tires I clean up the rim and put new rim tape on. I’ve never had an issue mounting tires or getting them seal or anything. I was literally saved this morning by my tubeless setup. Got a small hole on my rear tire that would’ve need a new tube, but the sealant did its job and I kept riding. I’ll add a little bit of sealant to that tire and keep riding it till I need a new one. The only thing I’ve had happen that was annoying is I’ve had valve stems get clogged up that needed to be replaced. It took 4 minutes and I was good to go.
I ride clinchers with latex inner tubes. I’ve never had to do any of the above in bold. To me, just a personal opinion and I respect other views, but I never hear people complaining about their clincher/tube set up, but regularly hear about issues with tubeless tyres not sealing, getting tyres to seat. I guess I’m an older cyclist and maybe just stuck in my ways!
In my opinion the complaints about tubeless setup and maintenance are WAY over hyped. If you have any kind of mechanical skill it’s straight forward. I add a little bit of sealant every 6 months or so. I go thru tires every 9-12 months so when I swap tires I clean up the rim and put new rim tape on. I’ve never had an issue mounting tires or getting them seal or anything. I was literally saved this morning by my tubeless setup. Got a small hole on my rear tire that would’ve need a new tube, but the sealant did its job and I kept riding. I’ll add a little bit of sealant to that tire and keep riding it till I need a new one. The only thing I’ve had happen that was annoying is I’ve had valve stems get clogged up that needed to be replaced. It took 4 minutes and I was good to go.
I ride clinchers with latex inner tubes. I’ve never had to do any of the above in bold. To me, just a personal opinion and I respect other views, but I never hear people complaining about their clincher/tube set up, but regularly hear about issues with tubeless tyres not sealing, getting tyres to seat. I guess I’m an older cyclist and maybe just stuck in my ways!
Same for me (including the “older cyclist” bit).
I guess it also depends on the wheels you have. I have older (not tubeless ready) wheels which are still ok.
When I would buy new equipment I think I would still remain with clincher with latex, since it would seem more advantagious to me.
RR is practically the same, but messing around with sealant and sealing tape and difficulties with mounting would turn me off. Although I know I would miss the advantage of automatic sealing after a flat.
But as I mentioned, it depends on the wheels and tires the industry provides for: maybe in future we will all be forced to go tubeless (as with the diskbrakes).
Interesting detail: Bora-Hansgrohe, Soudal Quickstep and TotalEnergies changed from Tubeless last year to clincher with latex or tpu in the Tour of this year.
I would stay with clinchers and use TPU tubes. I use revoloop, but there are many others. You will end with the same rolling resistance, weight, and less hassle. TPU tubes hold the air just as good as butyl tubes, are a lot easier to install than latex and butyl and a replacement tube weighs next to nothing. Only “downside” is they cost around 30 euros/dollars each. But when bikes have gotten to 15k, that is a quarter of a peanut.
What are your thoughts on TPU be latex?
I made the switch a couple of years ago and I’m quite happy. Reasons being installation in a rush can easily lead to a pinched tube followed by a blow up, they don’t retain air, manufacturing defects are not uncommon in latex, and I do not perceive a performance difference, which is backed by published data. The only downside is price, and patches are not very trustworthy.
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I have owned a small bicycle manufacturing company for 30 years and try almost every product that comes out. I have installed thousands of tubeless tires on my customers’ bikes and used them on my own bikes.
Oh fantastic. So do you feel the latex and clinchers are best for most AG triathletes?
Yes.
Is that mainly bc of the extra maintenance or something else?
My main concern with switching is ability to make it to T2. I’m on the fence right now.
TPU tubes hold the air just as good as butyl tubes
I get at once a flash of mind:
I always regarded that an unimportant advantage over latex, but as I think about it again: I always have to go into T1 at racemorning to inflate my latex tubes, which is quite annoying. I could refrain from that with TPU. That would really be a big advantage.
I’m a big fan of clincher tires and latex tubes.
have you ever run tubeless to compare?
I have owned a small bicycle manufacturing company for 30 years and try almost every product that comes out. I have installed thousands of tubeless tires on my customers’ bikes and used them on my own bikes.
Oh fantastic. So do you feel the latex and clinchers are best for most AG triathletes?
Yes.
Is that mainly bc of the extra maintenance or something else?
My main concern with switching is ability to make it to T2. I’m on the fence right now.
Clinchers allow you the flexibility to run butyl tubes in training, so longer life & less regular inflation needed compared to latex, but you can swap out for race-day tubes & even tyres if you want (eg due to road conditions).
How often do you puncture per thousand miles? If you inspect tyres before racing, the odds should be lower, unless you swap to something like Conti Supersonics?