s a road cyclist having a bike tire with tubes inside has been the standard for as long as I can remember.
However as none of us live in a vacuum, you’ve probably heard a lot about tubeless from the greater cycling community or even purchased a bike with wheels that are “tubeless ready” . This is what happened to me and I’ve spent the last 2 years running tubeless for road and gravel.
For this blog we’ll dive into tubeless tires with a specific focus on road cycling so that you understand what tubeless entails and can decide if it’s worth it for you.
In my opinion, for gravel and mountain biking tubeless makes perfect sense but for road cycling it’s a bit more nuanced. The short answer is it really depends on your riding conditions.
If you tend to flat frequently while riding then tubeless may be worth considering. If you rarely flat then tubeless is likely not worth the extra effort as it requires more maintenance than a tube setup.
We’ll dive into all the details in the following sections and even chat about alternatives before jumping on the tubeless train as sometimes a more puncture resistant tire can be more than enough.
Tubeless Setup, What is It?
Running a tubeless setup is as it sounds is a tire and wheel set without a tube. In place of the tube is a liquid sealant that coats the inside of the tire to help create an airtight seal and serves as the main mechanism to clog punctures.
When a tubeless tire is punctured the air in the tire rushes out and as the tire rotates the sealant is pushed by the air towards the hole at which point it starts to clog and seal it. In many cases you can just continue riding without having to do anything.
Overall a tubeless setup will result in possibly less maintenance while out riding but requires more care off the bike. Below are some of the benefits and challenges of a tubeless setup.
Benefits of a Tubeless Setup
- When it works it’s like magic and you may not even notice you’ve had a puncture until you’ve finished your ride. This means less time off the bike when riding to deal with punctures and possibly no dirty hands from taking off your wheel.
- Tubeless allows you to run at a lower tire pressure which can provide a slightly more comfortable ride and better traction due to the larger surface area of your tire touching the road.
- Pinch flats are much less common since you don’t have a tube sitting between the tire and rim.
- You can purchase plugs which can help seal larger holes quickly, which again saves you from having to remove a tire.
Challenges of a Tubeless Setup
- The setup of a tubeless tire may require additional equipment in order to properly inflate the tire before and after sealant is added/ Tubeless setup can also be very messy which I’ll touch on in a later section.
- The tubeless sealant requires regular topping up of about every 3 months as the sealant inside dries up and/or is used up to seal punctures. Forgetting to do this may result in your tires not sealing when a puncture does happen eliminating the purpose of a tubeless setup.
- You still have to carry a tube when you ride as the sealant does not plug all punctures. Adding a tube to a tubeless wheel on the road is a very messy process as any sealant in the tire can get all over you when you take the tire off.
- If you do get a puncture while riding there is a chance the sealant could spray out onto you, your bike, or even another rider.
- Additional tools are often good to have to help with punctures on the road such as tire plugs, but this means purchasing and carrying another tool.
- It’s not recommended to mix different sealants, so if you’re not happy with the one in your tires you’ll have to fully clean out and resetup the tire before switching which is a time consuming and messy process.
If you're still interesting in learning more about tubeless and what you need to set it up I'll dive into this in the following sections.
Tubeless Terminology
Before we dive into the gear to setup tubeless there are some common terms and phrases you'll come across when a tubeless wheel and rim is discussed.
These are:
- Tubeless Ready -> tires and/or rims that are ready to be setup tubeless and rims typically come with tubeless valves and are pre-taped
- Tubeless Compatible -> rims that can be setup tubeless but likely require you to tape the rims yourself and/or purchase tubeless valves
- TLR / TR -> abbreviation to signify a rim or tire is Tubeless Ready
- Tubeless Only -> refers to rims that can only be setup as tubeless
- Non-Tubeless -> these are rims that cannot be setup tubeless
- Sealant -> the liquid sealant used in place of a tube for a tubeless setup
- Hookless -> newer rim bead design that features flat sidewalls and is only compatible with a tubeless setup
- Rim Tape -> tape used to cover the inner part of a rim which is important for forming an airtight seal in a tubeless setup
What Gear You Need to Setup Tubeless
Tubeless Ready Rim and Tire
Setting up your bike as tubeless means you need a rim and tire that’s tubeless ready or compatible. Most major brands have a tubeless lineup now and often you’ll see this noted as TLR / TR for Tubeless Ready on the actual products.
For example a popular road tire such as the Continental Grand Prix 5000 series, comes in a tube version and a tubeless ready version.
Rims typically won't have this designated on the actual rims like you find on tires, however these details will typically be noted within the rim details or technical specs, as you can see here from Hunt.
In addition tubeless ready rims will also be taped up along the inside. This tape is there to help create the airtight seal since there is no tube in place. Most rims if they are tubeless ready will come pre-taped as you can see here with many DT Swiss wheels.
Tubeless Valve
The next part of a tubeless setup is the tubeless valve. With a tube setup the value is physically attached to a tube but with tubeless you now need one that actually screws onto the wheel so you can pump air into your tire. If you purchased a rim that’s tubeless ready these valves are typically included with the rim.
There are also new valve designs that are meant to improve tubeless setup such as this set above from Santa Cruz's Reserve line, which I'm currently testing out. I will report back on my experience after I finish installing them and have gone out on a few rides.
Tubeless Sealant
Lastly to finish the setup you’ll need tubeless sealant.
Some of the popular sealant brands out there are SILCA, Stan's No Tubes, Orange Seal, and Muc-Off.
Depending on the brand you may have to follow different methods to get the fluid into the tire. Some brands you can inject the fluid through the valve but others you’ll need to add the fluid before the tire is fully fitted onto the rim. Make sure to read the instructions from the brand you choose in order to have as trouble free setup as possible.
Valve Core Remover
If you’re injecting sealant through the valve this is where the valve core remover comes into play.
A valve core remover simply allows you to unscrew the valve core, the top portion of your valve which you open and close to let air in when pumping up your tires.
By removing the valve core you can create a wider opening in your valve which allows you to inject the tire sealant through.
Optional But Helpful Tubeless Setup Accessories
Tubeless Sealant Injector
Tubeless sealant can be added directly to your tire before you fit it completely onto the rim, however this method can be messy. As a result many sealant brands allow you to add their sealant through the valve itself which is often easier and less messy since the tire is fully on the rim at this point.
If you’re adding sealant through your valve it's much easier to do this with the help of a tubeless sealant injector. These injectors allow you to suck up your tire sealant from the bottle and then push the sealant into your tire (after taking out the valve core).
In addition, these injectors allow you to easily measure how much fluid you're adding to your tire making them more accurate then just eyeing the amount.
New Pumps or Air Canister
When it comes to inflating tubeless tires, they may not form an airtight seal right away and you may find it hard to get enough air into the tire to seat the tire onto the rim.
As a result there are now pumps with built in chambers that you can fill up which can then be used to release a burst of air into the tire to seat the tire to seat it.
They also make standalone tanks like the one below which attached to your current pump which do the same thing.
Either way this is an extra expense and I would not recommend picking up something like this unless you’re having trouble seating your tire. I’ve also noticed that more recent tires seat much easier now and form the seal without requiring these special pumps.
For example, I just setup my tires with these Parellia P Zero tires and I found them easy to not only install but seated with just my normal pump. I’m also testing the tubeless valves from Santa Cruz which may have something to do with it as well.
Maintaining a Tubeless Setup
One of the big differences between tubeless and a standard tube setup is the ongoing maintenance.
With a normal tube setup you just need to pump air into your tires and that’s it.
However with a tubeless setup you’ll need to keep the liquid in your tire fresh which will require injecting new fluid into your tires about every 3 months.
I’ve also ran into situation where the tubeless liquid had started to even clog the valve itself and I had to replace the valve core in the best case or use a small screwdriver to poke a hole through the sealant so I could inflate and add more sealant through my valve.
Finally every year or so it’s also a good idea to fully clean out your tire which itself is a process. This requires removing your tire, thoroughly cleaning out all the dry and wet sealant from your rim and tire, and possibly retaping your rim as well. This is a messy process and I recommend using gloves and some sort of floor covering as you don't want the fluid spilling out on your floors.
In my most recent tire change I had to do all these steps and also replace my valves as they had become so clogged up that when attempting to clean them they started to fall apart.
Changing Tires with a Tubeless Setup
When it’s time to change tires you’ll pretty much go through the same steps as the yearly cleaning of your tire setup.
So make sure you have time to do this work as it’s not something that can be quickly done before a ride.
Alternatives Before Going Tubeless
With all the above you can see that going tubeless will require additional work and the benefits again are really dependent on your local riding conditions and if you happen to flat often.
However before going tubeless if you’re looking for some of the benefits offered such as greater puncture protection or comfort there are a couple things you can try out.
Stronger Tire Protection
Many brands now offer more robust versions of their tires to help reduce punctures. As a general rule it’s always good to ask other cyclists or the local bike shop what they are running as moving to a more protective tire casing may do enough to reduce flats on the road.
These likely carry a little of a weight penalty but again less punctures means more time just enjoying your rides.
Going to a Larger Volume Tire
If you’re looking for slightly more comfort when riding you can also try a larger volume tire. With many of the road bike now using disk brakes, this often correlates to more space within the frame for your tires and as a result you can typically run a larger tire.
Bikes will have a physical limit of how big of a tire you can run based on the frame design but more modern road bikes allow you to run bigger tires such as a 28c or 30c. A larger tire will typically run at a lower pressure resulting in more comfort. Larger tires are also a growing trend with the pro cyclists out there as if you look at the bikes from the recent Tour de France you'll see is is a trend as noted in this article from Bike Radar.
Weight Savings
If you’re thinking about going tubeless to save weight it’s actually debatable if a tubeless setups weighs less than a tube setup as you’re adding liquid into the tire as a replacement for a tube.
However one option you have with a tube setup is moving to a lighter weight tube for road riding which can be drastically lower weight than a standard tube such as these Tubolito ones below.
Compared to a standard tube you could see savings up to 73g per tube. If you want to know more about this I go through these weight savings in this post.
In Conclusion
I hope this post helped you better understand what it takes to run a tubeless setup and determine if it’s worth it to you.
Again if you rarely flat I think it’s not worth the ongoing maintenance, additional equipment, and expense.
However if you ride on rougher roads and frequently flat then running tubeless can be a game changer. It’s the reason why tubeless is the standard for the majority of gravel and mountain biking.
Over the last 2 years since I’ve gone tubeless on the road I have not had a single flat and enjoy the peace of mind that there is less of a chance of me having to stop my ride to change a tire. The maintenance off the bike is real and can be annoying if you just want to get out and ride but as long as you don’t mind tinkering with your bike it’s not the worst thing.
