Re: tubes vs tubeless? you decide.

On 2/16/2025 2:23 PM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 2/16/2025 12:51 PM, Mark J cleary wrote:

On 2/16/2025 9:54 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 2/16/2025 4:57 AM, zen cycle wrote:

An article on Cycling News
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https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/i-use-inner-tubes- on- all-my- road-bikes-heres-why-i-still-havent- embraced-tubeless/
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It's a long read, and not very well written (imho), but I generally agree with the points he makes.

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+1
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It's an immature technology (relying on what a former RBT contributor called "frog snot") but it has its place.  That place is observed trials, with ridiculously fat tires under ridiculously close to zero pressure with a lot of irregular bashing and twisting.  Tubes pinch and shift in that environment.  The more your riding mimics that, the more tubeless works for you.
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I agree with guy completely. In fact I am not a retro grouch at all but some things on bikes have not proven to be all that much better. Tubeless tires for one. I rarely have flats and I don't deal with sealant and setting up tires. I can swap out a tire and tube in a hurry and if I flat a new tube on the road to get back. My tubes have multiple patches and last for years. My road bike riding is all on pavement. I am not going around gravel and bad surfaces unless I am forced by mistake.
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Along with this I will mention another item that at least for me has limited benefit. I don't like cables buried in the tubes. THE standard exposed cables are quire easy to change out and until they manage making buried cables as easy as exposed I rather opt out.
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My next list is the infamous press fit BB. I have BSA threaded and even some manufactures have come back to this standard. Much more reliable and almost no maintenance ever needed. Buy a new BB and go forward.
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I will say the disk brakes are better and while rim brakes work fine disk allow better stopping in rain and when in mountains and such. They also allow bigger tires and less concern for wheel setup.
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OK I am done but never a tubeless for me

 Agreed. It seems that fashion often transforms "better under this very limited circumstance" to "You gotta have this!!!"
 Really, most "modern" examples of bicycling fashion are chasing diminishing performance benefits. Any decent quality bicycle is an amazingly efficient machine. Aero cables, fancy bottom brackets, tubeless tires give practically unmeasurable performance benefits.
 And I suspect a fair number of tubeless setups are bought by people who never learned to fix a flat.
 But I'm an admitted retrogrouch.
 

For road bikes that probably explains a lot of adopters, but there are purposes for which tubeless (even in this current primitive state) solves real problems.
--
Andrew Muzi
am@yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971