We Test Tubeless Tyres To The Extreme... Can They Survive?
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- čas přidán 30. 06. 2024
- Tubed or tubeless, that is the question!
Your tyre set up is important whether it is for race day, workout, or even a leisure ride. James and Mark attempt to find out whether tubed or tubeless tyres are the way to go through a series of 'real-world' tests 😅
We test tubeless to the Extreme 00:00
The Set-up 00:28
The Test 04:44
To be Tubed or Not to be Tubed? Our Thoughts 13:17
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Are you running tubeless tyres? 🛞
Nope. Not going either. BTW; there used to be city bike tires with sealant in them, wouldn’t tubes with sealant be better compared to tubeless?
@@MichaelZ-1 No. You'd lose the benefit of reduced rolling resistance.
@@panzerveps that wasn’t the question. I couldn’t care less about that little bit of resistance in my training rides. A tube filled with that milky substance would be cleaner to install, cleaner to remove (especially when you’re on the side of the road) and to replace.
No, I'm using the TPU Tubes from Schwalbe, Aerothan and am very happy with them, no puncters yet, 1000km already.
I tried on my gravel bikes, and I have 1/2 assed it on my wife’s bike. All of my bikes are back to tubes.
Am I wrong or they have the best job in the world. They are literally playing, hammers, nails bicycles and punctures. It's like a kids dream
You're not wrong! Working for GTN is amazing 🙌
I've ridden over nails with tubes, had it stuck IN my tire, rode another 10k before I noticed it. But it didn't puncture the latex. I was able to use the tube for another 5000km+ km before it finally punctured. And you guys said to use latex, but you're clearly using TPU for the tests.
Yes, I looked a TPU to me too actually !
Thing is, with Latex tubes and GP5000s I’ve had one puncture in 8+ years. So for all that faff, tubeless solves a problem I don’t have. Tubeless on gravel bike though and glad of it.
That's great! It's all about finding what works for you 🙌 Are you interested in the lower rolling resistance of tubeless?
test results : 2 tyre changes on the tubeless (including the initial installation) versus 4 tyre changes on the tubed. If we do the math, 2 tyre changes times 10 minutes per tyre change equals 20 minutes for the tubeless versus 4 tyre changes times 3 minutes per tyre change equals 12 minutes. You convinced me to keep my tubed tyres, thank you very much !
Just out for a group ride with six friends... two of us run tubeless four of us had tubes. There was a bit of broken glass on the road and four out of four tube riders got flats, none of the tubeless... after nearly 20min faffing about, one of the tube riders burst their tube on reassembly and then about 1km down the road another got a second flat. Another 8 min on the second stop and now 30min of my ride has been spent watching a bunch of lads change their tubes...and folks say tubes are easier than tubeless 😂
Then every 3-6 months remove the tubeless tyre, clean it, replace sealant - well over an hour lost.
Tubeless on road bikes 32mm and under - waste of time in UK. Sealant seals for your ride but then never fully seals. Always there’s a weep of sealant as the bike sits in the garage.
@chrisspray8010 maybe the sealant you use is too thin?
Set up my bike tubeless (same pirelli as in the test) and found that tubeless actually sucks in most cases of glass cuts, while tubes surprisingly often survive (like in the test). Since I seldomly encounter direkt nail hits but very often small glass, I went back to tubes and never regretted
I'm tubeless on all three bikes. Last time I changed the sealant one wheel refused to stay up, the shop suggested changing the tape and it went up first time. Very happy with it all.
Trust your local shops 🙌
@@gtn The guy in the shop was a bit annoyed he couldn't get it to inflate with the compressor but offered to sort it if the new tape didn't work.
Well now i carry an extra tube with me.
The thing with tubeless is any one of those holes can and will come back to haunt you at any time they can and do decide to reopen. People don't realize that leak you just got on your tubeless is an old leak reopening.
Keepemcoming
Love the sirens in the background. Did you guys steal those wheels? Now that's commitment to the mission!
When the content is this good the police get involved 😉
Never mind tubeless or tube. The most important thing is that you guys used an Erdinger bottle 👍
I have tubeless, love it.
Day to day yes it is - the reduction in punctures is awesome.
However long term, Urgh it’s such a faff lol to deal with lol.
you can buy tubes filled with sealant, so it is way more puncture resistant than normal tubes then
They're terrible at sealing
You don't get the added advantage of low rolling resistance 👀
My bike came with tubeless and I used it for a while. But the first time I got a puncture, it failed to seal. Rather than deal with that mess, I replaced it with a standard tube. Not very long later, I got a puncture in the other tyre which also failed to seal.
So basically, I'm 0/2 for tubless' famed puncture resistance doing its job. So I've completely switched back.
There's a huge chance you had punctures that sealed so quickly that you never noticed them
Tubeles tires have increased my confidence for cycling alone as I don’t worry about getting stranded. For me it is as much about safety as comfort and convenience. Fun video GTN!
If safety is you're concern then you should never use tubeless 😅
That's awesome! It's great when you have confidence in your tech 🙌
@@nemure just carry a tube with you in your repair kit and do a swap like you would have to anyway with a normal tubed flat. Tubeless is great tech, especially if you have an air compressor it really takes very little time to do maintenance every 6 months or so.
@@zachn6844 every 6 months 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Latex dries out really quick if you don't make maintenance daily!
I use tpu tube in a tubeless tyre. Seems to work quite well. I’m thinking about adding a small amount of sealant to a tpu tube in a tubeless tube, less mess! 🙂
In my case tubeless tires were very hard to remove. So I converted back to clincher with TPU
When did you make this choice? The tech has come a long way recently 👀
I've had a set of Reynolds rims that came with the bike including tubeless valves. Tried to set it up with Schwalbe Pro One TLE tires but they wouldn't seat. Went back to a bike shop to have my rim tape replaced even though the factory one was tubeless ready. I bought a Topeak air tank and eventually a compressor and when the tire did finally seat, air was still leaking out elsewhere from the rim. A year later sealant was still flowing out from the rim's inner cavities through the spoke holes.
Currently I'm using Continental supersonic race tubes. They are butyl but super thin and only weigh 50g. Perfect tradeoff between price and performance, as they cost 9-10€. I notice no difference to aerothan tubes on my TT bike. I rarely get flats and when I do it predominantly is because of glass where I get these nasty holes that not even a tubeless repair kit can plug. At that point I would have to put a tube in to get home, but imagine all the mess with the sealant then...
On a Gravel bike or MTB snake bites are a thing, but it only happened to me twice in the last 4 years. You just have to be wary of the lower tire pressure, most of the time you can avoid obstacles that would result in a pinch flat. Unless you are super hardcore downhilling with speed, but personally I am not. I'm riding these bikes too infrequently anyway and then especially I'd have to keep rotating and maintaining the tires if they had sealant in them.
BTW with butyl tubes you can totally fill sealant into them to contain the mess and have protection just like with tubeless. Only thing you miss out on is the rolling resistance.
Okay I laughed a the end -- getting to purposely mess up bikes as a job sounds like fun, but the idea of doing it to Ollie and Alex's bikes just adds to the enjoyment of it all.
I've been running tubeless tires for four years now and have never had a flat, despite the abundance of sharp flintstones here in Denmark. It's much easier to set up on MTB tires though!
I really enjoyed the grimace of pain you both got as you approached the various nails 😲
We're glad someone did 🤣
I decided to go tubeless one afternoon. After a few hours and a lot of mess gave up. Naturally, there is an advantage to tubeless but man it's tricky. Haven't wanted to try again yet
I have run tubeless in two 70.3 tri’s, two Escape from Alcatraz tri’s and Rock Cobbler 10. No flats. Switching to Fillmore valve stems was a help. All my training rides are tubeless as well. It works.
This was enjoyable! Still riding tubes though 😂
Have we not convinced you of the benefits 👀
Tubes. I know how to change a flat, it's no big deal. The setting up and maintenance of tubeless is a deterrent for me.
Tubeless can be mounted fast by knowing the right techniques. Newer ones are tight and need to seat both sides in the middle, then a lever might not be even needed, which you wasted quite some time on it. Used and old tires can get very loose, making them really hard to seat, especially on wider rims.
I love tubeless on road bikes, but my lbs (and my local online bikeshop) has been sold out of my preferred tubeless tire for a while.
What tyre is that?
Tried tubeless for 18 months but finally gave up and went back to tubes 6 months ago. Had as many flats, if not more, than when running tubes so never saw the supposed advantage.
who puts the tube completely flat into the tire 😵
Latex inner tubes are no-no when weather is hot. They tend to "puncture" themselves, heard and seen by myself.
I believe the best tubes option would be TPUs rather than latex.
In my location Tribulus creeping grows and it's a GIGANT problem for the tubes. So, I used sealant in my tubes but this war bulky/heavy/slow. So this year I moved to tubless. And already got a little cut with glass (had to put a patch on inside as it didn't hold heigh pressure) and a few self sealed punctures. Anyways, I'm happy I moved to tubless.
I just had to drop out of my race with a flat yesterday (road bike, not sure I can go tubeless on these wheels). I need all the help I can get. Tubeless now on my tri bike.
Did an ironman 70.3 Aix-en-Provence last Sunday. On one of the steep downhill turns hit something sharp on the side of the road and my tire immediately blew up (I had a tube). There was literally a hole on the side of the tire - if it were tubeless tires, my race would be over. In my case replaced the tube and even though the tire needed replacement in the end - I still managed to finish the bike course and had overall a great race. After this experience - only tubes!
But you can put a tube into a tubeless tire as a back up, just need to unscrew the valve.
Why would your race be over?😂 I'd throw a plug in there and I'd be set. If a plug didn't work, I'd use a tube.
It's flint around here that causes the problem with inner tubes. It's hard to see when you puncture and then if you don't remove it from the tyre it's phone for a lift time.
Do you take a spare tube on every ride?
@@gtn Yes and have had to be rescued 3 times. Tubeless is so messy 😂
So far I have been running tubes on all my bikes, simply because it's easy to change them and I am used to it. My new gravel bike setup will be tubeless though, as I want to get some experience with them and find out if they are really that good like everyone says.
Never had tubless so far, but with my new bike with tubeless ready wheels I really struggle to place the tyre after puctures.
I'll probably convert to tubeless soon :)
Just got tubeless tyres and I know nothing about how they should be maintained- appreciate a vid if one is planned. Thanks 👍
Awesome! This video should help 👉 czcams.com/video/9QK3f4BbZg4/video.html - Although we could do a more in-depth tubeless maintenance for sure! Watch this space 👀
Did go tubeless but have returned to tubes. Far easier to deal with the puncture that tubeless didn't seal ... no mess and easier to get tyre off and back on
I have a bike with a 20 year old tyre and the innertube could be 20 years old too since I don't remember changing it the past 15 years. Then again, I have no need for weak expensive lightweight stuff 😂. Zero punctures and lots of cycling.
Another bike had a gaping big hole held together by threads where you could see the innertube, and the tube didnt balloon out and explode until after a whole month of constant bike touring. And it was still possible to repair the innertube and put it back in so im gonna say innertubes are pretty sturdy and simple way to go.
You guys are like a couple of schoolboys playing in the backyard! Looks like you had a lot of fun doing this!
We did... we did have fun! 😊
Tubeless on my mountain bike when I'm riding where there are lots of goat heads, otherwise tubes with Slime. Tubes with Slime on my road commuter. Tubes with Slime on my road bike for everyday rides, but TPU tubes when speed matters. Slime works surprisingly well--and doesn't need refreshing in hot weather as often as other sealants.
Why not doing a rolling resistance / speed test in real world with tubeless vs latex vs TPU ? :)
If you have problems finding pot holes in the UK welcome to frost broken asphalt in Finland 😂
Statistics, what is the rate of punctures in the pro peleton now vs. 10 years ago? Hmmm, maybe they were riding tubulars then. I still see the pros puncturing, ruining their races. What stats can be gathered, tubed clincher vs. tubeless clincher?
I’ve been running tubeless for nearly 3 years now also have vittora road liners in and haven’t had a puncher just top up the sealer every six months just in case
Awesome!
I love my Gp5000 tubeless!
6:40 you actually managed to ride through the gap. Fair play
Who said triathletes don't have skills 👀
No squirt of air to get the tube inflated to stop it pinching ?
TPU tubes all the way,although I did get a faulty one that leaked between the valve and valve stem. They’re great when they don’t leak.I also like latex tubes for the cushy ride quality. Couldn’t be doing with a tubless set up, faffy & messy. No thanks to them.
Thank you to James for exposing IRL before I had to google 😂😂
Im tubeless all the way... Just out for a group ride with five friends... two of us run tubeless four of us had tubes. There was a bit of broken glass on the road and four out of four tube riders got flats, none of the tubeless... after nearly 20min faffing about, one of the tube riders burst their tube on reassembly and then about 1km down the road another got a second flat. Another 8 min on the second stop and now 30min of my ride has been spent watching a bunch of lads change their tubes...and folks say tubes are easier than tubeless 😂
it was great for Olly n Alex to "lend" their wheels for this test :) BTW, I am not sure I have ever cringed as many times while watching a video before.
You have to add sealant every 3-4 months no matter how much you ride. And then it's expected that you wear out and replace your tires every year. If not, you ought to remove the tire to remove the dried sealant that has built up.
Did I miss the double blind test where you see if you can tell the difference by feel?
Tubeless is great until the pressures go up. If you’re running higher pressures more than likely you WILL be plugging. Then the sealant will seal around the plug. But sealant at high pressure won’t last immediately
define high...
@@lpeter1172 it depends on the volume of the tire. over 60psi in my 42 and up won't seal. 80 psi in my 28's won't seal. Etc.
@@lpeter1172 I should append, will not seal until the pressure gets low enough to seal, and even then, I cannot return to the original pressure without a plug in some holes. Not sure where my original reply went, but in my 42 and up tires I cannot get 60 psi and above to seal. In my 28's I cannot get 80 and above to seal. I didn't do a comprehensive test at all volumes and pressures but at a certain point the sealant cannot seal alone
Surely a fairer test would be to include slime/sealant in the tubes?
I've never raced on anything except tubulars and have no plans to change. The tire + rim is a lot lighter, they are livelier, they are more flat resistant (no pinch flats), and far more comfortable than a clincher or tubeless of the same diameter. Patching the inner tube is more time consuming, but maintenance is not a performance factor so it does not influence my choice for a competition setup.
You have a far bigger chance of a pinch flat with a tubular than tubeless
Surely the problem with tubeless is the lack of standards; rim profile vs tyre bead. Is that still the case? I use much treasured Mavic UST.
That seems to be less of an issue now. There is certainly can be some compatibility issues but it is much better than it used to be. We would recommend giving tubeless a try 🙌
Surprised you guys didn’t use TPU tubes.
If I had a flat in a race, tubeless means the race is over! Tubes can be changed in 2-3 minutes!
I would definitely go for tubeless if it would not require a blast pump or CO2 cartridges on the road, and when it happens, then you better be good at seating your tire rapidly
It's not hard to treat it like a tubed tire in the case of a tire that won't seal. That said, Dynaplugs are incredible. In 80k miles, I've only needed 3 tubes but need a plug every 2-3k miles.
You should be using tpu tubes rather than latex IMO
You guys said you're using latex tubes, but then Mark installed TPU tubes?
I am a heavy rider. So pinch flats are for me. I never ever had a flat since I switched to tubeless...
That's the beauty of tubeless! Say goodbye to pinchflats 🙌
Stans No Tubes has an excellent video on how to set up tubeless tires. Do not follow GTN example.
Tubeless, but still carry a tube and CO2 in the event of a catastrophic failure (not happened yet!)
I run tubes because I'm too lazy and cheap to even think about trying to change to tubeless. 🤣
I use latex tubes for my road bike, tubeless on my MTB. I’ve never had a puncture and I think that tubeless for road bikes is nowhere nearly as reliable as it is on the much larger MTB tires that also run at much lower pressure.
Besides, are all road wheels compatible with tubeless? I think that mine are not but I don’t understand why they aren’t even if I put the rim tape.
I have a lot of goatheads where I live. Enough that I've double flatted a couple times a year before going tubeless and rarely went more than a few days without a flat. This is with durable, conti 4 seasons. With tubeless, I still get those goatheads but I get maybe 3 flats a year
for Gravel Tubeless, for road,a TPU tube
That is a TPU, not a latex tube Mark is installing, am I right?
Turns out that TPU is not so puncture resistan as seen in tests later
@@Brkchey Yes, but with my avg 1 puncture a year for the past 10 years (avg 3000-4000km/year) I only have to change my inner tube once a year, and not 2-3 times per wheel to clean the old sealant and put in a new, while also making a mess in the process.
I am wondering why does not Continental use their puncture protection ContiSeal tech they have in their car tyres.
why not both?
i always use tubless on rear wheel and tube on front wheel
but,if bike weight doesn't matter, tubeless all the way
if i go to hill and the road surface is good ,i will not use tubeless .
My tires are too old for tubeless, I run old generation zipp 404 & 808
It would seem you need to carry a tube in any case in case of larger damages, and in the event you need to use it you get the goop all over yourself when you change it ??
I get flats so seldom I don't see the point.
Is tubeless READY??
I have a love hate relationship with Tubeless
No, you should not be using latex. They're great, but they lose air very rapidly. You can get the same benefit from TPU, and they weigh less.
Tires, "tires" tire.... it's called spell check. On
Is it easy to travel with tubeless?
Tell me About height increase!
The tech is superior, go tubeless! I have no problem with tubes but the benefits of tubeless far outway tubes. a huge consideration, very few talk about, is how almost every wheel manufacture of carbon wheels has gone to disc vs. rim brakes. Rim brakes ona carbon wheel has always been a problem, and for that reason alone, tubeless is better.
I'll stick to tubular tyres done me well for many years tubeless on abroad bike not good
The way i ride my bike I dont care if my 3 hour ride take 3 hours and 5 min . So I will admit that I have sealant in my tubes.. Hate me if you like I know I do deserve it hehe..
I hardly ever flat with tubes…..my tubeless tires are always flat when I go to ride. When I rode tubeless with less air for a softer ride, I bent my rim riding over a railroad track. I have never bent my rims with tubes installed….so far sticking with tubes!
He should not be allowed to put any type of tire on without parental supervision.
Using TPU tubes , 10 usd from china .
Wait? You didn’t show what happens when you DO get a flat with tubeless. You are absolutely screwed, right? Plus, I have seen so many pictures of people with tubeless glue sprayed all over their back, car, walls, children, bird cages, bath tubs, aunt Gloria’s self portrait, eyes, other bikes, cars in the garage and unwanted children. What to do with all that unwanted glue?
Lets be honest. Neither of these are really good tire Systems... You Should be riding Tubular... That is the only Way to Go.
You lads are like a bunch of kids.... except where are your helmets! So irresponsible tsk tsk tsk
Latex tubes are shit
This crap bullshit again?
First let's go with tube tyres. You have on the market bullet proof tyres made tu run with tubes, nails won't go in those, so puncture resistance is waaaaaaay better than tubeless
They have little to no maintenance and can be used whenever u need. Cheap and easy to set
Now tubeless, they have way weaker and more expensive tyres, they need specific and more expansive wheels and they're dangerous. They can go off the rim since are hookless which is a death trap
They have problems sealing higher pressure means sealent sprays and never blocks the hole, cause you know, not everyone run 32mm wide tyres on road
The sealent has a LOT of maintenance, you can't leave the bike quite for couple of days or sealent starts to dry out and make a paste inside the tyre that is just solid latex making the wheel ride worst, slower and heavier altering the center of gravity
The sealent is toxic, more often than not front wheels punctures get people to get latex sprayed on their face
And lastly, on real world you won't find any of these things on the road, you may find a bolt or a nail every now and then if you're unlucky. Is not the common thing and you can always avoid them if you pay attention where you're going on
Ps it's IMPOSIBLE to pinch flat a tube if you're pressure is set properly, pump you're tubes always before going for a ride and you'll never get 1
Tubeless can't pinch flat indeed, but who needs a pinch flat when you're whole tire gets separated from the rim causing a guaranteed crash?
Oh don't forget if you ruin you're tubeless tyre and you need to put a tube inside to go back home and pump it you won't be able to do it with a hand pump, some people is able to do so after a very extend, long and exhausting effort but not always forcing you to spend even more money on co2 bottles and plugs to seal the bigger holes that yet again, won't happen on a regular puncture resistance tyre like the continental super sport plus 😅
Day to day yes it is - the reduction in punctures is awesome.
However long term, Urgh it’s such a faff lol to deal with lol.