Tubeless Cyclocross

[Dude]

This has been debated for years and I thought I would offer my experience. I bought some Stans Alpha 340s off of a paceline member to be used on my steel ss/geared cx bike. Threw on the Vittoria XG TNT tubeless tires and with my floor pump, seated right away. Deflated, added some sealant and inflated again without a problem. Ran them at 40psi (about 10psi lower than tubed cross tires) and they were awesome.

One thing to note, unlike MTB tubeless tires, I would normally inflate tires, check the bead was seated all the way around and then I'd deflate to about 5 psi and make sure the tire was still seated all the way around in the rim. If they were, you're good to go.

The stans/vittoria setup didn't do this. There was no physical lock between rim/bead at very low pressure. They'd actually pop out of the rim and into the center channel around 10psi. Because the tire was so tight to begin with, I felt confident it wouldn't move (it didn't and I intentionally beat the ····· of the tires to make sure everything was kosher).

For those of you familiar with Philadelphia, I did a 1/2 lap in the wiss and some of the gravel paths to fort washington. Rocky/boney east coast crap, hard pack, chunky gravel and lots of pavement. I'd take these anywhere though.

The key lessons here are use tubeless specific rims and tubeless specific tires. MTB tire/rim combos seem to have a higher tolerance, not so in cross world.

[p nut]

Have you tried lower PSI? I run around 30psi (maybe touch above). I'm not too heavy, so having to go 40psi on tubeless serves no purpose for me, unless the course was riddled with goatheads.

[gavingould]

this has also been debated a few times on Paceline in the past couple weeks, over several threads.

[bcroslin]

Originally Posted by gavingould

this has also been debated a few times on Paceline in the past couple weeks, over several threads.

over several years is more like it. man, i want tubeless to work so bad for CX but after the dreaded burp last season i'm back to clinchers this year and probably tubulars depending how my season is going in Oct.

[Dude]

I havent run it any lower, at 30 psi I'd be hitting the rim. I'll try it just to see but my conditions require more psi.

[jhat]

Is there something wrong with hitting the rim? Pretty common with tubulars

[p nut]

Originally Posted by bcroslin

over several years is more like it. man, i want tubeless to work so bad for CX but after the dreaded burp last season i'm back to clinchers this year and probably tubulars depending how my season is going in Oct.

Maybe I should (finally) give tubulars a try.

Any of you familiar with Cane Creek Volos wheelset? Someone has them locally and they look to be in good shape, although a few yrs old. Comes with Grifos glued on that has a season of racing on them. $190, which seems to be a good price. 24/28h I believe, which should be fine as I'm about 160lbs.

[Dude]

@jhat something wrong with hitting the rim? Yeah, I don't want to mess up my rims.

[mtb_frk]

I used my tubless wheels today for the first time in my race. I have iron cross rims, specialized tracer tires, with stans sealant. I weigh about 195, and ran 30psi in the front, 32 psi in the rear. The course was mostly flat, with a few gravelly hills, and bumpy. The tires didn't burp at all, and I hit a rut on a turn pretty hard that I didn't see on the warm up laps that I had to check my wheel true after the race. . The tires weren't as supple as my fmb tubulars, which I run at close to the same pressure. So overall I was pretty happy with the set up.

[jhat]

In a cyclocross setting, clincher rims can take a pretty good hit without damage. You are not hitting the hard edge of a pothole, you are hitting earth and tree roots with some rocks depending on where you are racing. Rim strikes are common in cyclocross. If you are not touching the rim to the ground at least once per lap, you have too much tire pressure. Of you are bottoming out repeatedly many times per lap, you might have too little pressure.

Not trying to be argumentative, but I don't understand the fear of hitting the rim on the ground once in a while.

[ChrisG]

In 2010 & 2011 I raced full seasons on Hutchinson tubeless-specific tires (carbon/Kevlar bead) mounted on Open Pros that I converted with Stan's rubber strips.

I ran pressures in the high 20's and banged the rims occasionally, but never burped over the course of 25 or so races. As long as you're using the right equipment, hitting the rim is just a symptom of getting the pressure right.

[jhat]

ChrisG, I am interested in what tires you used. I have an old set of open pros that I would like to give it a try. You were running the same tire pressures that I run at. I race with FMB tubulars but I really hate the gluing process

[RacerJRP]

I ran a tubeless CX setup for yesterdays race. They are not nearly as good as a tubular setup, but WAY better thn runnign a standard clincher with a tube. I'll be switching back to tubulars for next season once I get the new bike dialed with the disc brakes.

I ran 24/28 psi without issues at 155 pounds. 6800 tubeless wheelset and Hutchinson tires with Stan's.

[ChrisG]

Originally Posted by jhat

ChrisG, I am interested in what tires you used. I have an old set of open pros that I would like to give it a try. You were running the same tire pressures that I run at. I race with FMB tubulars but I really hate the gluing process

I used the Hutchinson Bulldog tread. I think it's since been replaced by the Toro. Hutchinson has a line of tubeless-specific road and CX tires that have carbon/Kevlar beads, and they were flawless for me in the two seasons that I ran them. I might add that I was using sealant as well.

I also have nothing but good things to say about using the Stan's rubber strips to convert the Open Pro wheels.

[DfCas]

I used Stans Arch rims and hutchinson Bulldogs with Stans sealant. I had major burp problems below 45psi I found I could ride lower pressure with a tube. I bottomed out on the rim occasionally and never pinch flatted with a tube.