There must still be a few readers out there who have not followed the Dutch Monkey down the merry tubular path; for them I offer an update on an alternative. Road tubeless has been lauded as the best thing to happen to cycling since the introduction of seatpins. These have been around for years but the road version has not gathered the expected momentum. Michelin made them then discontinued, Continental* is not interested, Bontrager said they were coming out with a model or two, Maxxis has a model. Hutchinson has a nasty little near-monopoly on the road tubeless market. Basically, there are maybe six models total and Hutchinson makes three of them. The tyres are different from regular clinchers in two ways: their square carbon bead snugs into square extrusion in the tubeless specific rim and they have a butyl inner-wall layer. The bead makes an airtight seal. The addition of latex sealant inside the tyre prevents almost all air loss and self-seals.
For unexplainable reasons I was advocating for them long before I actually used them. I liked the idea of no pinch-flats but moving to 25mm tyres mostly solved that. I liked the idea of using lower tyre pressure, which also was solved by going to 25mm inner-tubed tyres. It is claimed tubeless ride like sew-up tyres due to the lack of inner-tube but the tubeless tyres have a butyl coating on the inside to keep them airtight so they can’t be as supple. They may ride better than clinchers but they are heavier than sew-ups. Tubeless require forty grams of liquid sealant, there’s some more weight.
Pros
Cons
Debatable misconceptions
I’ve been using Hutchinson Intensive tubeless tyres on Campagnolo Eurus 2-way fit wheels for nine months. I’ve had a total three punctures, all resulting in latex spew, sealing and riding. So the good news is I haven’t been sweating on the side of the road replacing inner-tubes. That never was a big problem, I can do that in seven minutes, I’ve been doing that for many years. Seven minutes is less time than it takes to clean the bike from the latex after-party. What I don’t know about are the slow leaking punctures that the latex handles without messy fanfare. Seven minutes is also about a tenth of the time one will spend fixing a flat on a sew-up tyre. Even if “fixing” means peeling it off, putting in a pile you will never touch again and installing a new sew-up tyre.
I can dispel some misconceptions. The tyres do easily seat with a floor pump. I’ve installed the last resort inner-tube in my shop for practice but not in the field. Installing an inner-tube with the sealant covering everything roadside would be nasty. If one keeps the bead at the center of the rim and finishes at the valve, most can install a tubeless tyre with cycling gloves on, no tools. They will also come off easily if the bead is kept in the center of the rim and one starts near the valve. It is no harder than clinchers. I haven’t tested the claim that they stay on the rim while riding deflated, nor will I.
Do they ride better? That is the Question. We would happily put up with the lack of tyre selection and latex cleanup if the ride was a lot better than inner-tubed clinchers. I wish I could proclaim right here, right now that they rule but I can’t. I find it very hard to qualify those differences without some real testing. My inaugural ride on road tubeless was also my inaugural ride on my new Eurus wheels. The bike did corner much better, that was obvious and I assumed it was the Eurus wheeels not the tyres. Maybe that assumption was wrong but there is no way to tell unless I had two wheelsets to test one after the other, which I don’t. If the ride improvment was definitive, should it be the tyre of the future? If more tyre manufacturers jump into the pool the technology would improve and remove a few of the problems.
What the world needs is this: three wheelsets, a clincher, a tubeless and a tubular. All built the same except for rim/tyre choice. Have a group ride where wheels are swapped and tested, blindfolded! It is the only way. We await the offers.
Are we all confused? Are you sorry you just read an article with no definitive conclusion? You are welcome.
*Continental won’t manufacturer a tyre unless it stays on the rim at double it’s maximum pressure. I can’t imagine clinchers perform better than tubeless for that particular test.
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I like the tried and true clincher with inner tube set up. Though, I only ride with 25mm tires and big ones at that. I like the Michelin Optimum tires; you can get them from outsideoutfitters.com for $80/pair, they last forever, are optimized for front and rear so you never have to rotate them to compensate for wear, and best of all michelin tires are almost always large in volume than stated. The optimum is stated to be a 25mm size but measures more like 27mm. When mounted to a Velocity A23 rim or a Hed Belgium rim these tires ar sublime (especially with latex intertubes). Another awesome tire is Challenges Paris Roubaix; they call it a 27mm, but the tire is straight up 30mm wide and has the gum side walls. Wide widths are the way to go. Not too much alteration or investment required, and best of all this subtle change is requiring frame manufactures to produce bikes that provide ample clearance. The All-city Mr. Pink frame is a great example of this. It's Columbus Zona, ED rust treated, has a BB30 pressfit (perfect for Campy Chainset installs), has steel crowned lugged fork, and has clearance for 30mm tires.
I've had two straight seasons with no flats on Hutchinson Fusions and Dura Ace C24s. No way would I ever go back to tubes.
Good write-up Gianni, And good discussion all. Here are my data points. Two seasons with Fusion 3s on Campa Shamal Ultra 2-Way FiTs. Awesome ride quality and handling with the lower pressures. I never rode tubs, so no comparison there, but far superior to tubes, no question. The Fusion 3s perform well, but certainly are not super durable.
No flats last season with ~7,000km. Two flats this season in 10,000km. First was due to my laziness in riding on a rear tire that was worn way past its useful life. Warm summer day, and the fix took a bit longer than with a clincher due to the tightness of the bead, but really no big deal. Much better than I had expected. Second flat was last weekend on a very rainy day at the tail end of a major storm that left the roadways super gritty and filled with debris. I heard the sealant trying to do its thing but the cut was just a bit too big. Fix was much more difficult with everything wet, gritty and slippery. Had it been colder, things would have really, really sucked.
For me, tubeless is the way for all but winter. The higher probability of a flat from all the crap on our mountain roads and the added difficulty of fixing it in cold and wet out weigh the performance advantages. But outside winter, tubeless rocks.
@Nate So that was a great breakdown because you managed to crystallize the issue. I went in big and early on the road tubeless after a particularly unlucky stretch of flat tires. This was about 2 years ago. I used a Stan's conversion on a few different wheels including carbon, all worked well. If you think that not getting a flat/dealing with it on the side of the road is really important, these are awesome. Otherwise, it's another choice that may or may not appeal to you. They are heavy, that is certain. They are smooth, that is certain. Ride quality (and all product testing) needs to be dealt with as you suggest. Blindfolded and compared to it's competitor and a placebo. They can be made rules compliant except for the stem nut, which is unfortunate but not tragic and compensated for by the fact that you not longer need a spare tube/levers/CO2.
@Steve
Yeah right!
@Steve
This is right without yeah.
I'm planning on riding 30mm Dugast tubular slicks for KT2013. Will be plush on the cobbles at 60psi. Any objections?
It's what Lars Boom rides.
http://m.cyclingnews.com/features//pro-bike-lars-booms-rabobank-giant-tcx-advanced-sl-1
@G'rilla
What bike are you riding, an R3? Those 30's won't fit in the R3, matey.
@frank I was thinking of bringing my new ti cyclocross bike with a road crank if it's ready by then.
@G'rilla
Bold move, I like it!
@G'rilla
Nice!