does anyone tour on tubeless?

[thecaptn]

Does anyone ever tour on tubeless tyres?

[RonK]

I doubt it - I don't think there are tubeless rims strong enough for touring. Perhaps some 26" tubeless MTB rims would be up to it.

[toolonglegs]

No idea... but rims are not the limiting factor as any clincher rim can be made tubeless compatible in a matter of minutes... maybe see if you can actually find any tires in your ideal touring size in tubeless specific.

[trimike]

I know a lot of hardcore MTB'ers are changing to tubeless tires. I ride 26' wheels on my Surley LHT, i never thought about changing to tubeless, but i know like toolonglegs said it only takes a matter of minutes to change and the cost is cheap also. I might look into it.

[il padrone]

Stan's no-tubes. You need neither tubeless rims nor tubeless tyres, just the special rim band with valve and the sealant

I haven't done it because I prefer the reliability of a tube with patch kit and spare tube for back-up, and don't fancy messing about with a tyre full of sealant on the road. The fact that I have had virtually no punctures in the past 6 years also does have an influence

[thecaptn]

Stan's no-tubes. You need neither tubeless rims nor tubeless tyres, just the special rim band with valve and the sealant

I haven't done it because I prefer the reliability of a tube with patch kit and spare tube for back-up, and don't fancy messing about with a tyre full of sealant on the road. The fact that I have had virtually no punctures in the past 6 years also does have an influence

If you receive a cut in the tyre, with tubes one can repair it well enough to continue but can you do the same with tubeless?Would you need to change the tyre?

[WarrenH]

I have Maxxis tubeless tyres ... but run them with Maxxis 'feather-weight' tubes.

At the end of a tour on tubeless, tubeless tyres, I can imagine both tyres would be filled with about half a kilo of goop in each, if ridden without tubes. Wise-up on that one.

On MTBR, there's an old thread about how much goop (by volume and weight) ends up inside tubeless tyres over time, if the maintenance of the tyre is only expedient and less than timely. Do check out the pics on the thread. There were gobs of goop as big as fists, removed from inside some tyres ... sprayed-in to keep 'em humming along.

Tubeless with Kevlar beads are good for off-road touring. They fold-away into a pannier or pack very nicely, certainly a big plus for storage, if you feel or have the need to carry a spare tyre. Otherwise, carry a $5 note ...or two 5ers, not a 10er?



Warren.

[il padrone]

If you receive a cut in the tyre, with tubes one can repair it well enough to continue but can you do the same with tubeless?Would you need to change the tyre?

The answer is you put your spare tyre in it, with a tyre boot if needed to get you back on the road.

The thing is;

1. There will be a lot of messy sealant to clean up,
2. The remnant sealant may glue your tube to the tyre , and
3. If I have to do all this I may as well just run a good puncture-resistant tyre and fit a tube.

So I have not bothered - for normal road/gravel road touring where you are carrying gear anyway it's not an issue. For MTB day riding on trails, desiring to carry minimum gear and using light knobbies that are not puncture-resistant, it makes more sense.

[brokenbus]

I am commuting on tubeless. I needed a bigger tyre as part of my commute has a lot of sand and even with 26 x 2.1s I still have to get off and push occasionaly. Gone from about 18 puntures a year to no occasion where I have had to stop and put a tube in to get me home and I would say I have done around 3-4000 km tubeless. I did a punture where the sealant sprayed out everywhere and I had to wait about a minute with the hole facing down to get it to seal. Still made it home though.
If you want to go tubeless I would look at some tubless specific rims and UST tyres. I have found them easier to fit up in my limited experience. Fitting Used UST to XT rims involves a track pump and a couple of minutes where a Used Non UST crossmarks to Mavic 317 with a Joes kit invovled 3/4 hour of stuffing around and ended me getting another UST tyre instead. The Non UST fitted up okay when it was new but I think the bead has stretched a bit as I could not get it to inflate this time- My fault for not riding for 2 weeks and letting it go flat which brings me to another problem which is they lose air quicker than a tube, particulary the non-UST conversions.
If you dont need mountain bike tyres I would probably run a punture resistant tyre which has a lower rolling resistance.