Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

I am about to take the plunge on my cx bike and was interested I reading people's experiences with road tubeless. What are the pros and cons and what are some things to look out for? I run tubeless on both my mtbs so I am completely familiar with the whole concept, but wonder how it will translate to high kms on the road. If it works well on the cx commuter (set up as a road bike) I will convert the roadie as well. For the moment, cx will run alpha discs, so no wheel conversion.

http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/viewt ... t=tubeless" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

mrgolf wrote:I am about to take the plunge on my cx bike and was interested I reading people's experiences with road tubeless. What are the pros and cons and what are some things to look out for? I run tubeless on both my mtbs so I am completely familiar with the whole concept, but wonder how it will translate to high kms on the road. If it works well on the cx commuter (set up as a road bike) I will convert the roadie as well. For the moment, cx will run alpha discs, so no wheel conversion.

You know my view, been telling you the same thing for 2 years. With your fairy weight they should be even better - lower pressure = better rolling resistance, smoother ride, more comfort. I have been forced to call the sag wagon once this year when I jammed a 5mm branch through it 4k from home. Tyre down to canvas in spots. I have had some glass punctures that did not stop me continuing to work or home. I have a quick fix for slits that dont seal easily. Eventually I took the tyre off to clean out the stan's boogers and patched the inside of the tyre. Time to NIKE Crispy I dont think you will look back.

Figured you would pipe up Neil. And I am mainly using your experience as a catalyst to take the plunge. I am starting with my commuter (CX) and if I like it, I will put it on my roadie.

What is your quick fix for slits? You use Hutchinson, yeah? Do you use stans sealant? Are there any cons?

I will be running Hutchinson Intensive 25's on a set of Stans Alpha Discs which weigh in at just over 1500g. Should be an awesome setup. Nice and light and quick.

Cruiserman and I speak the same language....... I whole heartedly support his post , any roady who is not riding tubeless is missing out on a better quality ride, few punctures ( zero in my case) and an increased safety factor of the downhill front blowout that can't happen.
My only advice would be to skip the intensives and just use Fusion 3. There is virtually no benefit using Intensives , they are not wider (hardly), heavier , might last a bit longer, but the current F3 is quite robust I reckon even more so in the sidewall than the Intensive , and definitely not as quick.

But everybody I know is enjoying the Hutch F3 tubeless experience ...... If only other manufacturers were on board. I have order Schwable Tubeless Ultremos , but they won't be here till Feb '13.

So you mounted them up yet Crispy - let us know what you think now.

First ride today. 94kms north of Canberra. First impressions are that the ride is better and worse. Smaller isolated bumps seem duller, like the diff between Alu and Carbon. But sequences of bumps seemed possibly harsher. But difficult to tell in isolation. Better if I rode them back to back tubeless and tubed. The stans wheels have more spokes and are noticably stiffer, so that could be the difference. Speed didnt seem that different, although the extra spokes (28 vs 20) may have had an aero effect.

But, I didn't get the setup for ride or speed. It was mainly for the lack of punctures. All else is an added extra if any advantage is to be had. Longer term analysis may yield more rounded observations. There is no reason to go back, though. There is certainly no disadvantage. If there are no punctures, or very few, the system is all I need it to be.

Mounting was simple and straightforward. Tyres inflated with a track pump first time on the back and after a minute of valve fiddling on the front. So easy compared to my MTB experiences, which weren't horror stories. Held pressure first time with a vial of Stans fluid.

Currently organising some custom disc road clinchers built. The Stans I ordered fell through.

If I could find a set of 38mm carbon tubeless clinchers around 1200g, I would be the happiest pig in mud ever.

Use the Joe's "road racer" sealant, Stan's is better suited to MTB pressures.

I gave up on tubeless... too many punctures that wouldn't seal or I couldn't get the tyre to seat again on the rims.

I'm back on Panaracers - the old Extreme Duro is now the Race Type D, one puncture so far in about 1000km. I think I was averaging a flat per week when I couldn't buy any stock.

Sent from my iThingy...

Crap! Thats not what I want to read having just taken the plunge...

My experience has been quite good with road tubeless. I'm running Fusion 3s and Stans sealant on some converted rims. Had plenty of punctures go unnoticed until after the ride when I worked out what felt like spits of rain where actually sealant as I found little bits on the bike. Also pulled bits of wire out of the tyre at times that would have definately have punctured a tube.

I have had two sidewall cuts that wouldn't seal properly. One I put a tube in straight away. The other I rode to a more suitable repair location, the sealant held enough pressure to ride carefully along but topping up to proper pressure would break the seal again as I rode so I put a tube in for the rest of the ride. Once home I put a standard glue on puncture repair on the inside of the tyre and it has done over 1000km since without issue.

hotshod wrote:But everybody I know is enjoying the Hutch F3 tubeless experience ...... If only other manufacturers were on board. I have order Schwable Tubeless Ultremos , but they won't be here till Feb '13.

I'm looking forward to trying out the Ultremos when they're available. My only gripe with the Fusion 3 is the harder centre compound doesn't have the same wet weather grip as the GP4000 they replaced so out of the saddle climbing on slippery roads take some extra care. Hoping the Ultremos will be an improvement in that regard.

mrgolf wrote:Crap! Thats not what I want to read having just taken the plunge...

Gotta remember that Twizz is the puncture master. I reckon he could puncture a solid rubber tyre.

Can anyone recommend any cheap tubeless compatible rims for a road bike? THinking about putting them on my single speed as it doesn't have quick release skewers so punctures would be a pain to fix.

frb_bike wrote:Can anyone recommend any cheap tubeless compatible rims for a road bike?

Any rim is compatible with tape and valves.

Crawf wrote:

frb_bike wrote:Can anyone recommend any cheap tubeless compatible rims for a road bike?

Any rim is compatible with tape and valves.

Yes, but I had no end of trouble getting the tyres to seal up after the first session on the rim. The initial fit, I could get the mounted using a floor pump, but a few hundred k's later and the beads are nowhere close to the rim and it's CO2-opened-at-speed to get them sealed up again. This didn't seem to be a problem for people with tubeless specific rims.

twizzle wrote:

Crawf wrote:

frb_bike wrote:Can anyone recommend any cheap tubeless compatible rims for a road bike?

Any rim is compatible with tape and valves.

Yes, but I had no end of trouble getting the tyres to seal up after the first session on the rim. The initial fit, I could get the mounted using a floor pump, but a few hundred k's later and the beads are nowhere close to the rim and it's CO2-opened-at-speed to get them sealed up again. This didn't seem to be a problem for people with tubeless specific rims.

Never will be cause the tubeless specific rims have an extra ridge in them like a car rim to hold the bead in place air or no air.