As I have announced, I’ve switched to a tubeless setup. Thankfully, my rims are UST ready (actually, so are Cris’) so all I had to invest in was the new tires (Schwalbe Jimmys) and sealant. Furthermore, I still had credit on the shop I got the tires from (from stuff I had them sell for me) so I really just spent 500 bucks on the new set of tires 🙂

A bunch of friends have been asking me for the reason why I preferred to switch to tubeless despite the weight penalty… and some are even wondering about all this tubeless hulaballoo altogether. So I guess this post would also make a good reference of my understanding on the matter.

I’d normally put it in the Orbea Alma post; which I’ve updated to reflect the upgrade, but this topic requires more discussion to get a real handle of issues one might have to consider in making the decision of going tubeless or not.

Before anything else, it’s worth mentioning that this whole discussion applies mostly to off-road riding. If you’re a roadie, a tubed or tubeless setup isn’t much of an issue; you just go with what’s lighter and more practical for you and be happy. On MTBing however, this can be a cause of concern depending on where and how you ride – which is why I’m posting this entry.

For those who don’t know, there are two types of “tire setups” one could use; tubed or tubeless. And for those who are still lost with the terms, they are exactly what they are said to be. But just to be safe, I’ll explain them right down to the basics.

Tubed

Having a tubular setup is where your tire requires a tube hahaha, duh! A tube is otherwise known as an interior (for those who used to have old cars with those types of tires). When you inflate your tire, you’re actually inflating your tube, which in turn inflates against the tire itself. The best analogy I could think of to explain the value of the setup is that your tubes are your feet, and your tires are your shoes. A shoe can be worn to a certain degree, even punctured, but as long as your feet are ok, you’re good.

The only time the analogy fails is that we’ve only got one set of feet 🙂 On a tubular setup, the benefit is that you can have “spare feet” (spare tubes) so if say a nail hits your tire and punctures your tube, you can easily change the tube without repairing the puncture on the tire… and all shall be well.

Problems with tubed setups

Rolling resistance vs Control

Consider road bikes for a moment. The higher the pressure (PSI), the less rolling resistance you have. This is a good thing for road bikes – which prioritize speed. If you plan to use your mountain bike on the road, then you probably would benefit from this as well. ¹ You’d sacrifice traction and control for speed. But then again road riding isn’t as technical as MTBing, so that trade-off is negligible.

However when you’re doing off-road, just think about the physics for a minute. Higher pressure means stiffer tires – the byproduct, of course, is less rolling resistance. Imagine that setup on technical terrain… you have less contact with the ground… and imagine if you’re running on uneven rocky surfaces, then you have even less contact then. So naturally, having high PSIs is detrimental in off-road conditions. Try riding a rocky, uphill path slowly with your MTB with 40psi, then try riding the same path with 30psi, and you’ll feel the difference.

Simply put, dropping the pressure allows your tire to deform more… which means it’ll be able to conform to the ground and overall; will have a better grip on the terrain you’re riding. So naturally, when doing off road, you want to be able find the lowest pressure you can afford to ride on.

Of course, you will have to balance this with the actual rolling resistance… remember that when talking about dropping air pressure, you’re basically balancing traction/control vis-a-vis pedaling effort (due to rolling resistance) and they seem to be inversely proportional.

Pinch flats

It’s worth mentioning that the benefits of low pressure off-road riding seem to outweigh the decreased pedaling efficiency. Which is why it’s kind of universally accepted that lower means better when doing off-road riding. Which brings us to the next problem: pinch flats.

“Pinch flats” are when your tubes are pinched against your rims and a hard or sharp edge. The obvious analogy here would be to pinch your skin with the tips of your nails… until you get a wound. That’s exactly what happens when you get a pinch flat. The lower the pressure, the easier your tires deform; which means the chances of “the ground” (one fingernail) compressing your tires enough that it [the ground] could hit your rims (the other fingernail) – then these two surfaces ultimately “pinch” tour tubes (which are right smack in the middle) increases.

So the “art” of tubular MTBing is to get the balance of going as low as you possibly can go, without getting pinch flats.

Advantages of tubed setups

The advantage of a tubed setup is the sheer practicality of changing the interior should you be unlucky enough to get a flat. As long as you have spare tubes to waste, then you’re ok.

Reality (at least for me)

Let’s be honest, how many spare tubes do you bring? Most prepared bikers bring two, I bring one. I have yet to meet someone who brings three or more on every ride (since they can get pretty heavy)

And assuming you do get a flat, have you tried to imagine the delay you’d have by trying to change your tubes? In the unfortunate event of a flat, it probably is a test of patience more than anything… and I’ll be first to admit that I don’t enjoy those kinds of delays.

So given we’re mountain bikers… who like riding off-road as fast as we can… you can imagine how easy it is to run over something that could easily compromise a tubed setup. Just like how I got a flat during the Sta. Rosa ride.

If it’s not those kinds of issues, it’s pinch flats… and that’s why I considered going tubeless.

Tubeless

Tubeless obviously, do not require interiors. Instead they have thicker walls, and require sealant to ensure an airtight seal around the rims… the sealant also seals new holes the tire may get (provided they aren’t major, and there’s enough sealant to handle it). The analogy I would have to say here would be a blood clot 🙂 your blood is the sealant… you get a wound, blood in the wound clots to prevent further bleeding. ² Although of course the sealant is fast acting

So just from the nature of the system, you can see how much less headache you will have as an off-road biker during a ride. A friend of mine working in a shop was telling me about his friend who like ran over 4 nails. They took them out one by one… his tubeless system sealed the holes… and they just re-pumped ³ Since course you’ll still lose some air pressure in the process and were ready to rock. So on a tubeless setup, assuming your tire has proper amount of sealant, just having a hand pump handy would probably be all you need regardless of how demanding the terrain is.

And even in the worst case that you wreck the tire beyond sealant repair… you can still stick a tube in there for emergencies… or if you have a patch kit, and CO2 cartriges, then you can use those.

Advantages of tubeless setups

Because there’s not tube to “pinch,” pinch flats are non-existent… the direct implication of that is you can run on much lower air pressures (think along the lines of 25psi) – pressures you wouldn’t dare run on if you had tubed tires. This gives you unprecedented control – It’ll just be up to you if you can handle the rolling resistance that comes with it. Also, because of the lower PSI, your softer tires will have extra shock absorption, which I guess would be a welcome by-product given I ride a hardtail.

Assuming you’ve done all the preparation before a ride ⁴ Checking if you have enough sealant, or if the sealant hasn’t dried up You’ll literally worry less during a ride.

Problems with tubeless setups

Tire changing

Changing tires (should you need to do so) is messy! I experienced this when the shop installed the rear tire in the wrong drive direction; I had to switch its orientation when I got home… and got the “sauce” (sealant) all over the place.

Also, assuming the worst case scenario; you’re on the road, and you get a major flat that the sealant can’t fix… and you had to take out the tire from the rim entirely: it’s impossible to pump it back up to get the tires to seal with the rims with a hand-pump. You’ll need a CO2 cartridge for that quick burst of air that will seal the tires back. That, or just use a tube… a scenario which you hopefully wouldn’t have to encounter during a ride. I have a Topeak Two-timer, which is a handpump that can work with CO2 cartriges… and I also bring a tube for those worst-case scenarios.

Weight

Normally, the weight should just match a tubed setup; your tires are heavier since they’re thicker, but the sealant required is much lighter than the weight of an inner tube. So they ultimately should even out. But honestly, if you want effective amounts of sealant (60-80ml on each tire) tubeless setups can be a bit heavier (at least that’s what I felt). But I think the trade-off is worth the peace of mind when hitting the trails.

Maintenance

You’ll have to be conscious of the condition and amount of sealant in your tire. Basically you need about 60-80 (XC riding, much more if you’re DH/Freeride) in your wheels… and make sure the sauce’s wet/usable ⁵ they usually dry up over 3-6 months of aggressive riding listening to how it swishes inside the wheel would give you an idea I guess.

Overall

So both have their pros and cons.

I guess it’s safe to say that tubeless setups have the advantage during a ride, but requires more maintenance “back home.” A tubed setup on the other hand, is practically maintenance-free “back home” but will be more susceptible to issues during a ride.

This is exactly why I said at the very beginning that this is an issue for off-roaders and those who like to push hard on tough terrain. You’ll really have to determine what type of rider you’re going to be, and what type of terrain you’ll be riding in a lot. If you like to have complete control of the situation (e.g. taking it slow, and avoiding the really hard parts), then sticking to a tubed setup would probably be good. If you’re the type who likes to “charge in first, ask questions later”… you’ll definitely benefit from a tubeless setup.

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Now that we’ve discussed the value of the tubed/tubeless argument. I’ll now try talking about the bastard-offsprings: the conversion kits.

A conversion kit is literally a kit that allows you to use tubular specced tires for tubeless use. The advantage of this approach is basically cost effectiveness.

Genuine UST rims are expensive. Genuine tubeless UST tires are likewise expensive. If you have a non-UST system, then you’ll have to re-invest in new wheels as well as tires. Conversion kits allow you to use whatever you have and go tubeless. To that ingenuity, I say more power to them!

But cost aside, I always believed that if you’re going to do something, do it right. Plus I have a few concerns with the whole “conversion kit” approach. Don’t get me wrong, the nature/concept of conversion kits in and of itself is fine from what I’m seeing. The “issue” really stems from the tubular tires being used; your weakest link is the very thing you’re trying to “upgrade.”

The reason why UST tires are more expensive is that they’re designed to be more durable; as they are intended to be ridden without tubes (duh!) A conversion kit merely ads a rim lining that allows a proper airtight seal between your tubular tire and your rims… it doesn’t magically “reinforce” your tire in any way. It’ll still get punctured just as easily as it was when you were in a tubed setup. ⁶ Only this time, you won’t have a tube to bail you out

So now you’ll say “that’s what the sealant is for!” – and you’d be absolutely right. Which brings us to the next concern. Sealant is a chemical forumula, and there have been cases that the sealant actually adversely affects the inner walls of tubular tires, since they weren’t designed to be used with sealant. So while you may get some “instant” gratification by the conversion, over time, you may be compromising the life of your tires. What use is sealant being able to fix punctures when it damages the inside of your tires over time. Again, genuine tubeless systems were designed to be used with sealant so the materials and inner walls are built to handle the chemicals.

Although they say that the “sealant” manufacturers have reformulated their sealants to be “compatible” with regular tires, not sure if I should feel any more confident with that claim… I’d rather not take chances and get a proper tubeless system – there’s just too many possible points of failure on a converted tubeless system that you’d probably be safer sticking with the possible points of failure of a tubed setup.

Conclusion

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, different strokes for different folks. Know how you ride, where you ride, what amount of effort you are willing to go through during flats or maintenance, then pick your poison. Both of these systems aren’t going away 🙂