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| It seems extraordinary that anyone would introduce a new tire that wasn't tubeless in 2019. |
Of course, those were the days when the first attempts at tubeless mountain bike tires were being tried. Stan Koziak was stalking the pits of NORBA races, selling his system to convert tires and rims to tubeless. Mavic, Michelin, Vittoria, and others were working out a system to eliminate tubes in mountain bike wheels that would be known by the acronym, UST. However; it would take about ten more years before the idea of tubeless tires became ubiquitous in mountain biking circles. We still haven't gone completely tubeless throughout the world of bicycles, but obviously, most high performance bicycle tires are offered as tubeless.
So, it seems weird to see any new performance bicycle tire introduced that doesn't have a tubeless option. However; there still are tires coming out, nice high performance tires, that are not tubeless rated. So, does that matter? I know a lot of people assume that if it isn't tubeless, it isn't good. Some folks won't ride anything that cannot be set up tubeless. But tubed tires, despite the feelings that it is backward technology, is still a thing. Many folks still use tubed tires for all sorts of riding.
Me? Well, I break my rides into two camps. Those bicycles that are used for my regular riding or for testing on RidingGravel.com, or those bicycles that are not used a lot, or are my fat bikes. For those in the latter group, I use tubed tires. Why? One word- maintenance. Tubed tires, despite what many people think about how they ride and what they think about flat protection that tubeless brings, are lower maintenance tires. All you have to do is air them up once in awhile. Tubeless tires require that you replace sealant, valve stem cores occasionally, and maybe even clean out the tire once in awhile. Plus, you have to worry about what tire seats up on which rim, because tubeless ready is one thing with some companies and another with others. But the main thing for me is that fat bikes and other rigs I own that don't get ridden much do not deserve to be set up tubeless, in my opinion. That is because most of the time, I would have to do tubeless maintenance almost every time I rode them. A big hassle I'd rather not go through. The only exception there being fat bikes in Winter. (I still may go tubeless there at some point.)
So, tubed tires are still a "thing", and really, I don't ever see that changing in my lifetime.
5 comments:
I recently (beginning of winter) converted two of my bikes back to tubes for the very reason you mention. I'm tired of the maintenance. It's nice to jump on a bike and not have to try and remember whens the last time you put in fresh sealant. When warm weather returns at least one of the bikes will probably go tubeless again.
YES, SO MUCH YES!! Someone who finally talks about the downside of the miracle that is tubeless. With 8 bikes in the stable that all get various amounts of riding in a year, I cannot fathom the complexity of the spreadsheets, algorithms and chicken scratched notes it would take to keep track of which bike had what done and when. While I can't deny the benefits of tubeless, you also can't argue the headaches involved is your trying to maintain more than one or two bicycles setup tubeless. The fact that the industry touts tubeless as the best thing since sliced bread but nobody, that I know of anyway, is selling a bicycle already setup tubeless, should speak volumes about how far we still need to go to make the system less labor intensive. The only people worse that those who feel compelled to tell you how you really need to be running tubeless no ifs, ands or buts are the folks who are compelled to tell you how you really must use clipless pedals; no ifs, ands or buts.
Orange Seal Endurance - I use it on all my bikes here in Oregon and only have to replenish it every 9-12 months. Just sayin...…...
@onoffrhodes.com- Glad it works for you, but it doesn't last near that long for us out here. (Not just me- but most folks that use it here)
I have tubes in one gravel bike with 42s and really like the lack of maintenance. Everything else is tubeless including the one hanging on the wall. Honestly I am sick of the maintenance myself. My hearing isn't good enough to shake the tire and hear the sealant sloshing around so popping the bead seems like the best alternative to seeing how much sealant is left (I suppose you could stick a test wire through the presta valve but.....). Reading this has me thinking of tubes on my Fargo as well but with 29x3.0 tires that not only seems like a lot of weight, but running less than 20 psi normally makes me think of pinch flats on the potholed up roads around here. Might be something to contemplate though.
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