Is sealant really worth it?

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by bigbill

I pulled the tires off my gravel wheels last week to unlace the wheels and send the hubs to Old Potato for new rims. The tires were WTB Raddlers and today I was cleaning out the old sealant so I could reuse the tires. There were many dozen thorns poking through the tires and I never got a flat or been covered in sealant. I started using tubeless on the road in 2017 because I was getting at least two flats a week during the summer. The main culprit was shredded truck tires that leave steel wire on the shoulders. No flats on the road since 2017 and no spraying of sealant. I rode a Panaracer Race A to the casing before replacing it. I counted over two dozen objects through the tread that would have given me a flat.

Every one of these threads is anecdotal. I would venture a guess that most riders on tubeless have never had sealant sprayed on them, but most people have heard of a guy or seen it on a group ride. Wheels and tires are components which require attention, and tubeless requires a little more vigilance to make sure the tire is good and remember to top off every few months. In NE Texas, I would wear out a rear tire every 5-6 weeks in the summer so I never topped them off. Front tires every 3-4 months.

in your situation I would be tubeless all day long on all of my bikes! And when I get another gravel bike, it will most likely be tubeless.. but at this point, I don't get enough flats on my road bike to make the extra maintenance worth it, to me..