Tubeless road tires.

[TexasProgresive]

I recently bought a new ultergra 6800 wheelset so that I could have some spare wheels. I thought what the Hell, lets try tubeless as these wheels are tubeless ready. I got my local bike shop to order me some Maxxis Padrone TR 700c x 25. I mounted them without a lot of trouble and road them on Sunday. My other 6800 wheels have Michelin Pro 4 Endurance 700c x 23 with latex tubes. The Michelin front wheel weighed exactly the same as the Maxxis.

I have trouble feeling much differences between the 2 tires concerning ride feel and rolling resistance. The tubeless hold air somewhat better than the Michelins with latex tubes but I always check pressure before riding. The other good point of the Maxxis is I was able to get them on the rims without levers which I have never been able to do with the Michelins. I carry a Koolstop tire jack in my jersey in case I have to remount a tire on the road.

Any of you have experience with road tubeless tires?

[Brother Buzz]

1. Back in my day we called them sew ups and this device was essential for summer ridding in the west

I was surprised to see that someone from Bicycle Research started making them again after a forty-year hiatus!!!!

With the improvement and selection of super quality clincher tires, I would never, ever, choose to ride tubeless again

[TexasProgresive]

2. Sewups are tubular tires that are glued on the rims

they are still made and used mostly by pro racers who have support, too much trouble if you flat. Tubeless is relatively new. They are a clincher tire with no inner tube just like a car tubeless tire. It is usually recommended to run a sealant in the tires. The alleged advantages are less weight, lower rolling resistance and able to use lower pressure.

These Maxxis tires went up in my opinion after several rides. I have 100 miles on them and they are performing very well, in the wet as well as dry.

This is good piece on the virtues of tube tires, tubular and tubeless.
http://www.ilovebicycling.com/clinchers-vs-tubulars-vs-tubeless-tires/

[Brother Buzz]

3. Silly me!

I know absolutely NOTHING about about tubeless systems, although I've been looking at the possibility of running Stan's NoTubes Tire Sealant in a conventional inner tube. Ever hear of anyone doing that?

[TexasProgresive]

4. I've been hearing mixed results.

It seems to me that running Stan's sealant should help. On the tubeless tires I have read wear riders unmounting tires have seen little blobs where the sealant sealed punctures they never knew they had. Tubeless for road are fairly recent. The MTB people have been running them for years. It's taken the tire people a while to work out the higher pressures of road tires. Tubeless ready tires tend to have a higher tpi (threads per inch) then tube tires.

The wheels I use are already tubeless ready. There are no holes for the spokes. In fact I never used rim tape with tube tires on them. I did change out the stock tubeless valve stems for Stan's because the Shimanos don't let you remove the valve core. It is much easier to inject the sealant in a valveless core. Otherwise you have to squirt it in the tire before seating the bead.

[Brother Buzz]

5. They reintroduced a removable valve core in conventional presta inner tubes...

That was my inspiration to give Stan's a shot.