About to give up on road tubeless

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by makoti

Oh, stop that.
The first tubeless tire I tried. Two punctures in a week, one the tire bubbled and let go and the sealant still worked. Horrible tires. Moved on to Conti's 5000 (older version) and only two punctures in thousands of miles.

Puncturing is more of a matter of bad luck than the fault of the tire. That said, Yksilon Pro UST's (made by Hutchinson) had slightly better puncture resistance than the Conti 5000's when tested on bicyclerollingresistance.com and I think the sidewalls are less likely to cut/fray. I think they are a great tubeless tire and the best I've used. The casing is well sealed and I haven't had the tight/loose bead problems and porous casings that I've had with other tires like Rene-Herse and GravelKing. That said, I don't think the make/model of a tire has much to do with the subject of this thread.

@m_sasso, I don't think you can compare bicycle tires to car tires. Plugs work on bike tires AFAIK and car tires don't normally have sealant in them.

[Toddykins]

I was hugely impressed when I rode directly over multiple strands barbed wire in Kyrgyzstan and my sealant (orange seal endurance) worked with limited pressure loss despite visible cuts to my RH Juniper Ridge tires. My ankle on the other hand...Getting nicked by Soviet barbed wire was not a life experience I ever anticipated.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Puncturing is more of a matter of bad luck than the fault of the tire. That said, Yksilon Pro UST's (made by Hutchinson) had slightly better puncture resistance than the Conti 5000's when tested on bicyclerollingresistance.com and I think the sidewalls are less likely to cut/fray. I think they are a great tubeless tire and the best I've used. The casing is well sealed and I haven't had the tight/loose bead problems and porous casings that I've had with other tires like Rene-Herse and GravelKing. That said, I don't think the make/model of a tire has much to do with the subject of this thread.

@m_sasso, I don't think you can compare bicycle tires to car tires. Plugs work on bike tires AFAIK and car tires don't normally have sealant in them.

The casing bubbled up. Big blister on it. Not a question of luck. When it let go, the sealant sealed it and I rode home. That's when I knew this tubeless thing was better than I had thought.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by sg8357

If you want messy tires, wake up and smell the Tubasti.

They don't know how good they have it, right?

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by makoti

The casing bubbled up. Big blister on it. Not a question of luck. When it let go, the sealant sealed it and I rode home. That's when I knew this tubeless thing was better than I had thought.

Did you have the Yksilon Pro's or the Elites? The Elites were reportedly not that good.

[fourflys]

Originally Posted by makoti

Let's see...I plugged a tire last year. Still holding, but the tire could use being replaced. You're right, it was a temporary fix. And it helped my budget.

exactly.. I'm guessing MAYBE 5% of people who have a tire plugged ever get it fixed further.. thinking otherwise is just crazy.. plus I've never had anyone who fixed a tire for me ever recommend getting it fixed further (just based on it being plugged).. and that was at gas stations or full-on tire shops..

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by bigbill

Each tubeless post, at least once a week, takes me back to fast team rides when some guy would cross-chain and snap a rear derailleur. I don't know why people want derailleurs. Then there's the guy who never replaces his cleats until one snaps off during a ride. Everyone should ride flat pedals with sneakers.

Tubeless tires are just another component that requires attention and no amount of anecdotal evidence will change that.

I get the sentiment but a cross chained derailleur (with presumably too short a chain and/or some massaging from a stick) or cleats worn out to literal exhaustion are straw men arguments when compared with tubeless not doing 'what it says on the tin'.

I think tubeless is largely fantastic until it isn't, and then it's a bin fire. How often you wind up in that bin fire is a YMMV situation.

But it's not the same as your straw men, because tubeless simply isn't light years ahead of tubes unless we're talking low pressures and pinch flat resistance... in which, yes, it is like going back to single speed and flat pedals.

Nuance eh.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Did you have the Yksilon Pro's or the Elites? The Elites were reportedly not that good.

They weren't mine. A friend loaned me the wheels to try since he was interested, bought them, and them never tried them (don't ask). Which ever they were they were very disappointing.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by jimoots

I get the sentiment but a cross chained derailleur (with presumably too short a chain and/or some massaging from a stick) or cleats worn out to literal exhaustion are straw men arguments when compared with tubeless not doing 'what it says on the tin'.

I think tubeless is largely fantastic until it isn't, and then it's a bin fire. How often you wind up in that bin fire is a YMMV situation.

But it's not the same as your straw men, because tubeless simply isn't light years ahead of tubes unless we're talking low pressures and pinch flat resistance... in which, yes, it is like going back to single speed and flat pedals.

Nuance eh.

We could always wake up the guys who think tubes are a total waste of time and money, don't think glue is that messy, and spend their winters opening, repairing, and sewing tires up. I'm sure they have had this exact conversation

[ridethecliche]

Originally Posted by MikeD

Mavic Yksilon UST.

Gross

[TonyG]

Originally Posted by makoti

We could always wake up the guys who think tubes are a total waste of time and money, don't think glue is that messy, and spend their winters opening, repairing, and sewing tires up. I'm sure they have had this exact conversation

I never had that conversation.

[jimoots]

Originally Posted by makoti

We could always wake up the guys who think tubes are a total waste of time and money, don't think glue is that messy, and spend their winters opening, repairing, and sewing tires up. I'm sure they have had this exact conversation

If you're still clocking big miles on tubulars in 2023, chapeau, ride on.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by makoti

The casing bubbled up. Big blister on it. Not a question of luck. When it let go, the sealant sealed it and I rode home. That's when I knew this tubeless thing was better than I had thought.

This happened to me on a Compass tire used tubeless. It didn't burst and I sent it back for a replacement.

Lesson learned from this thread: I shoulda used the plug kit I had in my seat bag when the puncture wouldn't seal. I didn't even think about it at the time (duh!). Also thinking about going to a single speed or a fixed gear because my derailleur might tear off when I cross chain my gears :-)

[FastCanon]

How do we judge the effectiveness of tubeless? If it works, you won't see a flat. If one day it didn't work, did some people say I quit and revert back? Was it because it was hard to fix? Was it because it wasn't 100% effective?

I was anti-tubeless for a while until biking up Haleakala. My friend had tubeless and made it up without any problems. I had three flats. While descending, I was a little worried I might get a flat and crash. When we came back to the hotel, he had 5 white spots on his tires.

A couple of years later, my wife got into road biking and I converted all tires to tubeless. My wife was hesitant because it was very hard to put a tube inside a tubeless tire. I showed her how to put it in without tire levers. She did it and practiced on doing it over and over again. Five months later, she ran over a piece of nail riding Continental 5000 S TRs. She called me but didn't want me to rescue her. I drove to where she was anyway. When I got there, she was almost done putting in the tube. She said stay away so that her bike group can see that she was able to fix a tubeless tire. I drove back to work and she was ok.

When I cleaned up the tire and pump it up without sealant, there were eight holes in her tire including the hole with the nail. I asked her if she wanted to switch back to tubes, and she said no but I did show her how and where to ride on the road to reduce exposing to thorns. She rarely gets white spots and we both haven't gotten a flat since. Well, I haven't gotten a flat since converting to tubeless.

I still get flats with my mountain bike that I train at night but it's an old bike that can't be converted to tubeless.