Tubeless roadbike tyres

[con]

Hey all.
Have been running Schwalbe Pro 1 Tubeless on my !!! Chinese Spam Brand !!! wheels. After 2500km the puncture resistance is terrible. Does anyone have any tubeless tyre recommendations for lasting longer than Schwalbe Pro 1. Thanks
Andy.

[Rhubarb]

I run pro one and am happy with them. I think the secret is to get the right sealant. After some initial bad experiences with doc blue I went to Orange Seal and have been much happier.

[Mububban]

Hey all.
Have been running Schwalbe Pro 1 Tubeless on my !!! Spam Paradise !!! wheels. After 2500km the puncture resistance is terrible. Does anyone have any tubeless tyre recommendations for lasting longer than Schwalbe Pro 1. Thanks
Andy.

What sealant are you using? Are you confident it's always topped up and not dried out?

[Robdog]

I've just moved over to the Schwalbe from Hutchinson Fusion 3's Haven't had a puncture in years on either tyre but the Schwalbe is noticeably nicer to ride - the trade-off appears to be in durability.

I'm running down a bottle of Stan's at the moment and will probably go to Orange Seal once it's empty or stops performing.

[ianK]

I have also be on Pro Ones (and the predecessor prior to that) and have been very happy with them overall.
Agree with Rhubarb - Orange Seal is excellent.

Maybe the new Conti 5000 is worth a look (I loved the 4000 when I used to run tubes!) But, atm I will stick with Pro One

[Arbuckle23]

Shane had a bad experience

[Rhubarb]

Shane had a bad experience

Shane was using Doc Blue. Rhubarb had bad experiences with Doc Blue too, but Rhubarb changed to Orange Seal Regular and lived happily ever after.

[trailgumby]

Shane had a bad experience

Ahhh, that was funny.

I have not yet gone to road tubeless, but my 10 years plus experience with MTB tubeless provides a few lessons.

If the bead is so stretched that you can get the tyre off without levers, that's a problem with the tyre. You're going to struggle to get it to bead up. Secondly, I *always* put the sealant in first. If you don't, you're going to gum up your valves. The valve stem needs to remain clean. The sealant helps the beading-up process.

Thirdly, he made no attempt to pre-seat the bead. I always go around the rim and try to pull the bead out onto the shoulder to minimise the air gaps. Soapy water is a last resort.

I've never had a tyre not bead up. The only time I have to use soapy water is when the bead is stretched like in the vid, which has been on old-ish (1 year+) tyres.

[Bennoz]

Shane had a bad experience

LOL

Been there done that ! can totally relate

biggest and best tip i got was to pour sealant into the tire before trying to seat the bead.

...tips

+1 to everything there

[madmacca]

I've not used tubeless yet (they are sitting in my pile of spare consumables, waiting for the currently installed clinchers to wear out.

But it seemed to me from the video that it was pretty obvious that the existing tacky dried sealant was causing the beads to stick together, and that he should have removed that. Of course, if Shane were to respond that he'd had enough, and just wanted to go and ride his bike, he'd probably be right in that too.

[Ken Ho]

I used Hutchinson Fusion for a few years on the front until that tyre wore through the Kevlar. Bought some Schwalbe on special from Wiggle, grabbed a 23 and a 25. Never could get the 23 to take a bead, so threw it out in disgust and wrote a blistering review. Used a normal tyre for a bit, then tried the 25 a few months ago, worked like a treat after I sorted the rim. The years of Stan's had left some pinhole corrosion holes in the wheel, which had not leaked, but the new sealant I bought was the fine grit version that goes down a removable valve stem. I ended up using a tubeless rim tape, which I had not needed before (Shamal 2 was fit wheels)
Lessons, if league is an issue, use the Race version of sealant with the heavier grit. Also, when tyres are old, they puncture easy;yt and leak air a lot. I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of punctures in my current tyre, but no flats. FWIW< I've been running sealant in my tubulars too, the lighter grit version, and no flats there either, despite !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! road shoulder littered with radial tyre wires and glass. Have not had a flat in months since using either tubeless or tubes loaded with sealant.

[Thoglette]

FWIW< I've been running sealant in my tubulars too, the lighter grit version, and no flats there either, despite !! BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING !! road shoulder littered with radial tyre wires and glass.

+1 ish - I have a bottle of sealant as my "puncture kit" for tubulars. It works.

[Duck!]

Shane had a bad experience

Shane was using Doc Blue. Rhubarb had bad experiences with Doc Blue too, but Rhubarb changed to Orange Seal Regular and lived happily ever after.

Stan's/Doc Blue/Giant house-brand/possibly a few other labels sealant is not good for road tubeless; it's not thick & tacky enough for the high pressure. I've heard good things about Orange, but have never used it. Muc-Off is good; thicker than Stan's (and its relabelled siblings) and with a fibrous filler, it handles the high pressure of road tyres a lot better, and is more likely to seal a puncture, up to a point - there are some holes even the best sealant can't heal. Finish Line sealant is good in theory, it's thick & chunky and should fix some decent-sized holes, but the reality is it's too thick and doesn't spread around the tyre very well, significantly reducing its effectiveness. You need to thin it down with a bit of water to allow it to flow around the tyre.

[Duck!]

Shane had a bad experience

Ahhh, that was funny.

I have not yet gone to road tubeless, but my 10 years plus experience with MTB tubeless provides a few lessons.

If the bead is so stretched that you can get the tyre off without levers, that's a problem with the tyre. You're going to struggle to get it to bead up. Secondly, I *always* put the sealant in first. If you don't, you're going to gum up your valves. The valve stem needs to remain clean. The sealant helps the beading-up process.

Thirdly, he made no attempt to pre-seat the bead. I always go around the rim and try to pull the bead out onto the shoulder to minimise the air gaps. Soapy water is a last resort.

I've never had a tyre not bead up. The only time I have to use soapy water is when the bead is stretched like in the vid, which has been on old-ish (1 year+) tyres.

Road tubeless is a very temperamental beast, and although helpful, MTB experience doesn't guarantee a successful setup. The main issue is that road tyres, due to being so much narrower, are not anywhere near as supple as MTB tyres, and the construction necessary for tubeless accentuates it. Further, moulding inconsistencies, packaging-induced bead kinks etc will all conspire to a poorly-fitting tyre that can be damn near impossible to seat. It's best to do a dry run, without sealant, to ensure the tyre will seat; if, as per common and usually successful MTB practise, you put the sealant in first without testing the seating, you'll fairly probably be wearing a large portion of said sealant!

Probably the most reliable, but still not guaranteed successful method for road tubeless is to remove the valve core and use a compressor to blast air into the tyre to get it to seat. GENTLY release the pressure to minimise the risk of the beads unseating, inject sealant, refit the valve core, then inflate.

Sometimes though there is no choice but to chuck a tube in, run it for a couple of weeks and leave it in the sun as much as possible (drop the pressure a bit if it's hot) to soften and conform to the rim before going for tubeless.

[Tim]

Sounds like an awful lot of faffing around with different products and procedures.
Tubes in road bike tyres seem easier.

[trailgumby]

Sounds like an awful lot of faffing around with different products and procedures.
Tubes in road bike tyres seem easier.

Yeah, I haven't bothered with it yet. None of my road rims are tubeless.

[g-boaf]

Sounds like an awful lot of faffing around with different products and procedures.
Tubes in road bike tyres seem easier.

My wheels can be run as tubeless, I even have the valves for that. I was tempted to go that way, but reading this post it seems like no benefit. I think I'll just avoid that altogether. Seems like a lot of pain and frustration for not much benefit.

[P!N20]

Seems like a lot of pain and frustration for not much benefit.

Just think of the weight savings g-boaf!

[g-boaf]

Seems like a lot of pain and frustration for not much benefit.

Just think of the weight savings g-boaf!

Don't think there is anything to save in weight - just seems like too much fuss.

[Thoglette]

Don't think there is anything to save in weight - just seems like too much fuss.

Where's my popcorn?

[g-boaf]

Don't think there is anything to save in weight - just seems like too much fuss.

Where's my popcorn?

Those tubeless tyres at the moment seem like they don't offer any real benefit, but a whole lot of fuss in having to fit them.

Maybe instead of worrying about your popcorn, you could try those tubeless tyre systems out for 5000km or so and let us know how you go by the end of the year. Should keep you busy.

[Chris249]

My wife's had road tubeless on two bikes and I really dislike them. They seat OK but the very prominent bead etc or some other issue with the tires makes them very hard to fit. And if you do the riding she does, including 44km of country and town commuting every day, you can easily end up with a hole too big for sealant. The tightness and mess means that putting a tube in is a nightmare, so tubeless tires have left her stranded on the roadside.

[g-boaf]

My wife's had road tubeless on two bikes and I really dislike them. They seat OK but the very prominent bead etc or some other issue with the tires makes them very hard to fit. And if you do the riding she does, including 44km of country and town commuting every day, you can easily end up with a hole too big for sealant. The tightness and mess means that putting a tube in is a nightmare, so tubeless tires have left her stranded on the roadside.

That’s the worry I have. I also do a lot of riding and have no desire to be stuck by the road side.

I actually did ride a bike with that setup last year. Didn’t realise it - just rode the bike and gave it back when done. I didn’t have any problems, but then the country roads I rode on were also very clean. You don’t see so much smashed glass on the roads in France.

[Thoglette]

Maybe instead of worrying about your popcorn, you could try those tubeless tyre systems out for 5000km or so and let us know how you go by the end of the year. Should keep you busy.

I'll only manage that by Xmas and I've still old skool - tubes above 30mm and tubulars below that. I don't have to deal with caltrop/double-gees or hypo-low tyre pressures so I don't feel that I have a good reason to change.

Others have more strident views. Hence the popcorn.

[Damo380]

I am running Mavic UST wheels with the matching UST tyres and I am very happy with them. This is my first foray into tubeless, bit after watching a few vids on the Mavic system I gave them a go. After 3000km and a few punctures that did as per the brochure and self sealed I will keep using them.
However today I got a cut in the tread that was about 8mm long and went all the way through. No glue was going to seal that sucker. I put a tube in to get me home and will replace the tyre this week.
I like the lower pressure they run at as well a little bit more comfortable.