How do you like the maintenance on tubeless tires? Would you recommend them over tubes ( that might possibly pop with 10 goathead thorns) What does routine maintenance look like?
Maintenance of just adding sealant every few months? Maybe cleaning/changing the valve cores too? It’s great.
lochaberthegrey on
I commute ~100 miles/week
When I was using tubes, I would average about a puncture a month that required a mid-ride tube change, and later patching. Addressing that probably added ~30 minutes to my commute.
Switched to tubeless, and I wear out tires more often than I have to deal with punctures mid-ride. When I do get a puncture that doesn’t seal up via the sealant, I really love Dynaplugs – granted they aren’t the cheapest option, but they work immediately, are pretty great, and very simple/quick to use.
Tubeless is maybe a tie with disc brakes (over rim brakes) for biggest increase in reliability/reduction in maintenance for my commute.
Vin_du_toilette on
Just remember to check the level with a dipstick every few weeks even if you don’t think you’ve gotten any punctures. Your tire will still be perfectly inflated with 0 sealant left. I’ve made the mistake of arguing the superiority of tubeless with diehard tubers. All I can say is for me, where I live, and the puncture hazards, I can’t ever imagine going back to tubes. Putting a plug in is going to be something that happens from time to time, but It’s pretty quick once you’ve done it a couple times. I still carry a tpu tube for Murphy’s law, but I’ve never had to use it.
65fahrenheit on
Maybe it’s the tires (wtb riddler tan wall), but I’ve had as many flats in a year with tubeless as I’ve had in 5 years with inner tubes.
So after a year I switched back to tubes and haven’t regretted it.
Friends of mine swear by tubeless.
Maybe I’ll give it another chance.
I commute about 150 km a week.
MrBriPod on
Biggest improvement in bike tech in last 20 years. Easy.
CXR1037 on
I don’t know what would make me ever go back to tubes. I even set my putt around town bike up tubeless. The maintenance is like others said “is there still sealant? Yes? Continue riding. No? Add sealant.” Maybe other regions are tougher on tubeless tires but I’m never moving from the Bay area so I don’t really worry about that.
InstantlyTremendous on
I run tubeless on my modern full-sus MTB. I switched a few years ago because I used to get punctures 2 or 3 times a month. I haven’t had a single puncture since.
I mean, I’ve probably had loads, but they just seal up and I don’t even notice.
Maintenance is easy. Get a valve injector and squirt in some more sealant twice a year. I do it when I’m switching from summer wheels to winter wheels and vice versa.
I still run tubes on my old hard tail I’ve converted for road use, but off-road I couldn’t go back to tubes.
Stock-Temperature271 on
I commute minimum 100km each week and use tubes. Only had to change one puncture the last year but my old commute was through the city and horrible for the tubes. Had punctures way to many times.
I have a mtb with tubeless so will learn how to fill it etc and then probably make my gravel bike/commuter tubeless. Still have my road bike, e bike and steel bike as tubes.
Maintenance with tubes is not hard imo and with 5 bikes is nice to have tpu inner tubes cause they hold air like brilliantly
-ImMoral- on
I have two bikes setup tubeless for three years, never had any issues. Both have been ridden quite a lot offroad, over rocks, roots etc. Only maintenance I have had to do for now is few clogged valve cores and had to add a litlle sealant twice.
Oh and one of them doesn’t even have tubeless compatible rims but it still works like a charm.
the_jeby on
Why is this happening?
– is the tire beaded without any residues between tire and rim?
– is the valve clog free?
Is that muc-off sealant? I use muc-off sealant from the big bottle. What I do:
– shake the bottle
– deflate the tire
– remove valve core
– remove any clog in the valve part
– take some sealant from the bottle with a syringe dedicated to this job (classic Amazon kit with syringe and tubing)
– add the tubing to the syringe and prefill to remove most of the air
– squeeze the tire before connecting the syringe. This creates a “negative” volume that can be filled with sealant easy
– connect the syringe tubing and fill while slowly rotating from 12 to 6
– spin the wheel, inflate
Zero spillage
Myissueisyou on
Ran tubeless on two gravel bikes for a year, something like 12+ punctures between them that we hadn’t noticed.
Only took the tyres off when I crashed and held to replace the bike lol
11 Comments
Maintenance of just adding sealant every few months? Maybe cleaning/changing the valve cores too? It’s great.
I commute ~100 miles/week
When I was using tubes, I would average about a puncture a month that required a mid-ride tube change, and later patching. Addressing that probably added ~30 minutes to my commute.
Switched to tubeless, and I wear out tires more often than I have to deal with punctures mid-ride. When I do get a puncture that doesn’t seal up via the sealant, I really love Dynaplugs – granted they aren’t the cheapest option, but they work immediately, are pretty great, and very simple/quick to use.
Tubeless is maybe a tie with disc brakes (over rim brakes) for biggest increase in reliability/reduction in maintenance for my commute.
Just remember to check the level with a dipstick every few weeks even if you don’t think you’ve gotten any punctures. Your tire will still be perfectly inflated with 0 sealant left. I’ve made the mistake of arguing the superiority of tubeless with diehard tubers. All I can say is for me, where I live, and the puncture hazards, I can’t ever imagine going back to tubes. Putting a plug in is going to be something that happens from time to time, but It’s pretty quick once you’ve done it a couple times. I still carry a tpu tube for Murphy’s law, but I’ve never had to use it.
Maybe it’s the tires (wtb riddler tan wall), but I’ve had as many flats in a year with tubeless as I’ve had in 5 years with inner tubes.
So after a year I switched back to tubes and haven’t regretted it.
Friends of mine swear by tubeless.
Maybe I’ll give it another chance.
I commute about 150 km a week.
Biggest improvement in bike tech in last 20 years. Easy.
I don’t know what would make me ever go back to tubes. I even set my putt around town bike up tubeless. The maintenance is like others said “is there still sealant? Yes? Continue riding. No? Add sealant.” Maybe other regions are tougher on tubeless tires but I’m never moving from the Bay area so I don’t really worry about that.
I run tubeless on my modern full-sus MTB. I switched a few years ago because I used to get punctures 2 or 3 times a month. I haven’t had a single puncture since.
I mean, I’ve probably had loads, but they just seal up and I don’t even notice.
Maintenance is easy. Get a valve injector and squirt in some more sealant twice a year. I do it when I’m switching from summer wheels to winter wheels and vice versa.
I still run tubes on my old hard tail I’ve converted for road use, but off-road I couldn’t go back to tubes.
I commute minimum 100km each week and use tubes. Only had to change one puncture the last year but my old commute was through the city and horrible for the tubes. Had punctures way to many times.
I have a mtb with tubeless so will learn how to fill it etc and then probably make my gravel bike/commuter tubeless. Still have my road bike, e bike and steel bike as tubes.
Maintenance with tubes is not hard imo and with 5 bikes is nice to have tpu inner tubes cause they hold air like brilliantly
I have two bikes setup tubeless for three years, never had any issues. Both have been ridden quite a lot offroad, over rocks, roots etc. Only maintenance I have had to do for now is few clogged valve cores and had to add a litlle sealant twice.
Oh and one of them doesn’t even have tubeless compatible rims but it still works like a charm.
Why is this happening?
– is the tire beaded without any residues between tire and rim?
– is the valve clog free?
Is that muc-off sealant? I use muc-off sealant from the big bottle. What I do:
– shake the bottle
– deflate the tire
– remove valve core
– remove any clog in the valve part
– take some sealant from the bottle with a syringe dedicated to this job (classic Amazon kit with syringe and tubing)
– add the tubing to the syringe and prefill to remove most of the air
– squeeze the tire before connecting the syringe. This creates a “negative” volume that can be filled with sealant easy
– connect the syringe tubing and fill while slowly rotating from 12 to 6
– spin the wheel, inflate
Zero spillage
Ran tubeless on two gravel bikes for a year, something like 12+ punctures between them that we hadn’t noticed.
Only took the tyres off when I crashed and held to replace the bike lol
Can just feel the slight improvement in handling.
Nothing would ever have me back to tubes