Do you prefer tubeless or inner tubes? 🧐

As a Luddite I have noticed that new bike tech never makes cycling less expensive

I tried tubeless tyres for almost a year, and ultimately went back to clinchers and tubes, partly because of an unfortunate roadside debacle that involved a serious puncture, spraying sealant, rain, a very stubborn tyre, bleeding fingers, and copious tears. I'm now using TPU tubes and standard clinchers, and am happy with that setup: the performance is as good or better than tubeless (if you don't try to ride on tubeless tyres with tubes inside), punctures are infrequent and relatively easy to repair, and the insides of my wheels are not full of disgusting rotating glue. I don't think this makes me a luddite; one shouldn't feel the need to embrace every innovation that comes along, if that innovation doesn't meet your particular needs.

Sponsors having a meltdown

Thanks for validating my need to stay with tubes. Regular tubes for the commuter and TPU for the road bike.

Used tubeless setup before. Its good on the rides, but the setup and the maintenance is just time consuming, quite impractical for a weekend warrior like myself. Then I tried TPU, and been using it for 2yrs now with zero complaints. Simple setup, very practical and reliable in my experience. Rolling resistance improvement is a plus as well. TPU inner tubes FTW.

My wife uses tubeless with Vittoria Air-liner inserts. She often rides alone and previously worried a lot (A LOT) about punctures, and the inserts enable riding home with no worries. They have dramatically increased her joy of riding, and someone else (me) does all the work of mounting the 0:35 tires with inserts. She is happy with topping up the pressure before each ride to be able to not even think about punctures now. A perfect candidate for tubeless tires.

I'm an ultra endurance rider and personally I use tubeless because I don't want any delays changing inner tubes when I join ultra endurance events! But there is a technique, I use wider 700x30c tire with 56/53 psi pressure because in my experience that pressure doesn't overwhelm the system. Anything 60 below for road use is good. It's those 100 psi guys who always have problem with tubeless. And I always bring a tire plug and that usually is enough. These days, I actually feel unconfident riding bikes with inner tubes as i feel I'm always going to get a flat tire. I feel more confident with tubeless.

I ride a couple of times a week, uncompetitively. I put heftier tyres on in winter. I get one, maybe two punctures a year on average. Yes, replacing a tube on the roadside is a pain but really, it’s about 15 mins each time. This is less work than the upkeep of tubeless tyres & a lot less messy. I would still need to carry a spare tube & a pump. Tubeless tyres are expensive. I simply don’t see the benefits for me

With TPUs getting cheaper and more available, it seems we've done full circle!

04:21 love how Ollie starts looking at Alex like "WTF are you on about" 😂 A) tubed setup can be lighter not heavier B) A maybe 1W difference in RR ain't gonna be the reason you can ride together...

I prefer inner tubes. Just old school, I guess. To me, they’re simpler.

In my opinion, inner tubes (TPU tubes set up especially) are also superior for hill climb. TPU tube + standard clincher tire set up is often lighter than TLR tire (heavier) + the slime stuff.

I use and have always used tubes. They are simple, cheap, no mess and I am used to them. I have a cerebular coodination issue and the mess I would get in with sealant would no be ordinary.

I think the obvious time tubes are an advantage is for bikes that don't get ridden often. I use tubeless on all my off road bikes but for road bikes, only the bikes I ride every week get tubeless. The rest have tubes so the sealant doesn't dry out while it's hanging in the shed.

I've recently switched over to TPU tubes on my road bike. I still see the benefit of tubeless for my gravel and MTB riding for the puncture resistance and dialing in PSI for the variable terrain but I recently lost my patience messing around with all the required upkeep for road riding where the benefits don't seem as tangible. I'd love to see GCN make a video comparing TPU, latex tubes and a tubeless setup with the same tubeless-ready tires/rims in the same scientific way that we saw on a recent clip comparing the three tube options. For me, I'd love to see the numbers objectively comparing TPU tubes and a tubeless setup.

Tried tubeless on a road bike, rear tyre seemed prone to punctures which did seal over the first 5 rides then the tyre totally failed. Rubbish. My GP5000’s with tubes suffer 1 to 2 punctures a year as long as you don’t wear the tyres too thin. I fail to see any benefit. All the scenarios you mention could basically be summed us as - “when you really need your bike to work - use inner tubes”

Ive used tubeless for over 10 years on mtb and 4 on my road bikes. With the exception of one brand of tyre i have never found it too muuch faff. I have also benefitted from loads of times where i havent had to stop to fix punctures. (Which are more likely to happen in the cold and wet). I admit that i carry a spare tube incase i have a catastrophic puncure but that us just common sense. You can ride whatever you want, there is plenty if choice out there. The important thing is that you enjoy your riding.

Every time I do some maintenance on my tubeless setup I swear I'm going back to inner tubes... with the price of tubeless tires getting a bit crazy I may actually do it.

I'm 71 and probably technically out of date. However , my Challenge Gravel Grinder Race open tubular 700 x33 clinchers are low maintenance , the bead can be popped at about 60 PSI and I've had one flat in 5 years of these tires. I run butyl tubes rated for max 28mm to make them lighter and easier to install , and I run them at 30-35 PSI. If you are not out to beat the world performance-wise but like hard , rough riding then life doesn't get much simpler or dependable. I love riding more than maintenance.

So basically for all important rides use tubes, maybe that’s because tubeless is rubbish?

I'm a hobbyist with a handful of road bikes and simply don't have the time to replace sealant all the time. Waxing all the chains is already taking enough time, so TPU inner tubes is the most practical solution for me. Haven't had a puncture in a year, perhaps also due to the wider 28mm tires?

The reason why I have never tried tubeless tires on my bike is because of the sealant you have to use. If we ever get tubeless tires for bikes in the same manner like we have tubeless tires for cars then I would happily try them. Until then it would be tires with inner tubes for eternity.

I use the old fashion black inner tubes. They hold air well. Haven't had flats for years since I started using expensive tires. When going on group rides, I generally don't have air up the tires. So I have a better chance of getting to the ride on time. And of course they are much less expensive and less work.

Another thing, regarding puncture resistance, is that if you're getting flats often, simply try another brand of tire. I used to run one popular brand of tire (feel free to guess), and got _a lot_ of practice fixing flats. I switched to a the most commonly recommended "puncture resistant" tire, and it rode much worse, and still gave me tons of flats. Eventually I randomly tried another brand of tires when I saw some on sale, and suddenly started getting way less flats, in spite of the fact that I was going from a tire being marketed as puncture resistant, to a really thin walled flexy racing tire. One one of my bikes, I've got some schwalbe marathon supreme tires, and the only flat I've ever had on them was when I was running them tubeless and the rim tape blew out and ripped through a spoke hole. After cleaning that mess, I switched it to tubes, and haven't had a flat tire in years. They aren't a particularly fast tire, but I've had great luck with some s-one tires (more recently renamed to the g-one speed), which I also haven't had a flat on, and they do feel like a reasonably speedy tire.

I communte to work 27 miles. I prefer tubeless - I will take all power savings I can get so I can continue enjoying my rides through the week. Plus, after 2 nails stuck to my tires already, I am ok rolling the dice with self-healing tires.

If you take the puncture protection out of the equation it really reduces the benefit vs pain ratio. Here in Japan, the roads are generally in very good condition, there isn't rubbish on them and there are very few plants with thorns that litter the road. I'm running Panaracer Agilist 23C tires which weigh a mere 180 grams. No punctures. At all. Stick a TPU inner tube in there and the minimal increase in rolling resistance over tubeless is more than compensated for by ease of use. You're also going to have to try pretty hard to get a lighter setup than that with tubeless. It's pretty situational, but I think it's flat out wrong to discount tubes. It's easy to see the kind of conditions you ride in, hook them up to the value your're tying to get and then imagine everybody in the world is in the same situation. It's not really the case. I've lived in the UK before and I'd happily put up with the inconvenience of tubeless there, but for the riding I do here... I currently can't be bothered. Having said that, I know of people here who swear by tubeless -- though they ride a *lot* more than me, so they have more chances for punctures.

My 4 years with road tubeless has been mixed, when working it's fine and liked it. Setting up tubeless is what made me switch to clincher with TPU. A few times replacing worn tubeless tyres with new ones, then when it came to inflating, wouldn't go up atall, had to remove sealant and tyre and replace the rim tape then it worked, why the tape leaked when it was previously working I don't know, happened a few times and finally my patience wore thin and had enough. If I were to go back to tubeless then I'd only use the latest rims that don't require any rim tape.

I have many bikes (n+1) and inner tubes are far better if you don’t use some bikes in a while. Also much cheaper. Only exception is MTB or fat gravel tyres.

Can't wait for the next video titled, "When are rim brakes BETTER than disc brakes?" Another factor is the absolute joy of repairing an inner tube, sandpaper, chalk and all!

I'm gonna have to disagree with two of these. 1 Commuter - I don't want small punctures making me late for work - having them sort themselves out as I ride is ideal. I also want to be comfy on the bike in work clothes without a shammy so lower pressures are better. 2 Long distance bikepacker - same as above really - want the small punctures to sort themselves out and more comfort is needed when you're in the saddle all day, day after day. A puncture bad enough to need a tube would be just as much pfaff with a tube than without as it's one with serious damage to the tire anyway. You don't bikepack for multiple days without a pump and topping up tires and looking after the drive train become daily rituals anyway.

The rolling resistance benefits are all well and good, but I'm never going to notice that difference. I'll stick to tubes, thanks.

Wouldn’t it just be easier to list the few scenarios were tubeless is actually better than inner tubes at this rate? I’m a commuter and occasional tourer, for those reasons I’m sticking with my inner tubes.

I went on a self-supported ride for a couple of days and chose to go tubeless. Before that, I was ONLY using TPU and latex tubes. I am usually good at avoiding flats (my tubes usually last several months or indefinitely from getting punctures) but didn't want to deal with trying to switch or patch a tube on the side of the road losing valuable daylight. My routes were never far from civilization. The pressure had dropped a little on the second day on the front only, but not enough to warrant a trip to the closest LBS to get air. At the end, I never touched my wheels. I'm so happy with tubeless now, my latest set of wheels are hookless.

I have gone back to tubes (CYCLAMI TPU) from tubeless because of the mess. Punctures are still going to happen (especially in Arizona where every tree and bush has thorns) and the pinwheel of sealant drove me crazy. Sealant on the frame, the saddlebag, the bike light, socks, shoes, bib shorts and jersey before the puncture seals. Not huge amounts, just a fine spray all over everything.

Inner Tubes. I used to fill them with the green sealant goop, but what I found was that when you repair the tube with either a sticky patch or a glued on rubber repair, the goop gets forced into the glue and reacts with the glue so the patch does not last very long and it turns into a gooey mess. So now I don't use goop, I carry patches so I can repair the tube and re-cycle it. Not being a luddite, I am not prepared to pay the cost of going tubeless. Double Gs or Three Corner Jacks (Emex australis) prickles and broken glass have no mercy on bicycle tyres.

Butyl tubes have always been reliable for me. In fact, my travel bike was in a storage case undisturbed for nearly 8 years when I decided to bring it back from hibernation. Tires were flat, but with a quick pump and they held air like brand new. I can only imagine what a glob of tubeless sealant would be like if left in a tire for nearly a decade.

Great points guys. Recently travelled for a cycling holiday and the company insisted the set up was tubes not tubeless for exactly these reasons. Love You ……. Bye

Traveled a 10-day trip with endurance carbon road bikes through Montenegro/Albania. Inner tubes Butyle did the job really well. Constant air pressure, no pumping.

Guys the issue is tubeless on the road isnt an improvement on say latex + clincher. The only time its worth the hassle and risk of failure on the road is may be competitive TT or a supported race with mechanics 😁. Leave tubeless to off road riding were low pressures/big tires are more suitable 😁 I tried tubeless on road and have gone back to latex tubes and descent tire like GP5000 which i change well before it wears out and the last time i got a puncher was around 30,000 km from hedge cuttings.

That was the perfect advert for NOT going tubeless! I think they are a solution to a problem that doesn't exist. I can change an inner tube in just a few minutes and take the opportunity to have a short break, take a drink and maybe have a snack. Tubeless just appear to be too much trouble and don't guarantee a puncture free ride. If you still need to carry a spare tube with you, just use inner tubes!

they really are the Beavis and Butthead of cycling tech! :D

I don't buy the "hassle to fix a flat" argument. Anything that punctures bad enough to overwhelm a tubeless setup is going to wreck an inner tube. You are already going to be on the side of the road for 10-15 minutes. You are gonna be dirty (the black dirt that comes from handling tires). If tubeless cuts the number of roadside repairs in half, it is worth it. Just make sure you use non toxic biodegradable sealant.

Ah tubeless another magnificent invention until you're in the middle of nowhere covered in gunk. The bike industry lives to produce solutions for problems that don't really exist.

I agree with some of this, but as someone who has done multi day rides in remote places, I'd definitely always go for tubeless for this, fewer punctures is way better, and plugs deal sealant deals with most little punctures, and plugs with nearly everything else.

FINALLY! People are waking up to the machinations of BIG BIKE!

I'll stick to tubular tyres have used for over 30 years

You missed anyone who isn't using tyres wider than 25mm. Tyre pressures at 25mm tend to be too high for sealant to work well. I hate tubeless though because it's made rims and tyres so difficult to fit, not the sealant but just actually getting tyres on a rim and seated properly.

Yes, I'm somewhat of a Luddite, but it's probably because all of my bikes are at least 21 years old. Same for the narrow wheels that "might" be able to fit a 28mm tire.

I run tubeless on 3 bikes, and have ridden over 30,000 miles without a problem (over 10 years). However, I use tubes in one bike for winter rides (the few days over 40F in Michigan) when the tubeless set up would likely be dried up. This way I don't have to use sealer in the fall.

I’m a verifiable caveman. Tubs, with tape (NO glue!) are still my preferred choice. They’re quick and easy to install, no mess, incredibly fast, and crucially - SAFE. At 100 quid per tyre they’re expensive but once you’ve ridden Vittoria’s Corsa G2.0 tubs it’s difficult to ride anything else. I haven’t had a puncture in well over 3000 miles on current set. They look as good as the day I got them. Today I put 60 miles on a brand new set of GP5000 clinchers and, putting aside a slow puncture, they didn’t feel anywhere near as impressive. It’s all personal preference though. Clothes, diet/fitness, and a well maintained bike are the biggest performance/speed enhancers - not tyres.

I tried Tubeless and initially, it was great. However, after getting covered with sealant on my commute bike I had to strip the whole bike to clean, and the lycra was ruined. Then the mess of another few other occasions combined with the tire frustration and not having the nice road bike with tubless compatible rims I went back all tubed (tubeless is more expensive). I did get fewer "snake bites" off-road with tubeless but again it is so easy with a tube to get going. In my opinion, if you racing and every watt matters crack on with tubeless.

Commuter here...I would really consider it good advice to pair an inner tube ONLY with a tyre with good puncture protection. Having to deal with sealant can be a pain, but having to fix a puncture every few 100 km is no fun either.

Well… always carry a Dynaplug (or similar), when going Tubeless. The sealent doesn’t close every puncture. Saved me on a multi day trip, vacation and on a commute to work. It even takes less time than changing an inner tube. Push it in, reinflate the tire and you are good to go again. But it isn’t bullet proofed as well: If the plug needs some additional sealant to seal and you’re in wet conditions , it won’t do that! It’s because the sealant doesn’t dry when the tire is wet. (Double pain then!) To sum up: I only recommend tubeless to tech-friendly friends with disclaimers like this.

Gotta disagree with commuter and ultra endurance because much less likely hood of punctures with tubeless - c’mon boys don’t get soft

I still use inner tubes simply because the pros vs cons of tubeless weighs heavily on the cons imo. It's more expensive, it's more maintenance, more complicated, and it's a mess. I can comfortably change a tube on the side of the road with my bare hands in a about 5 minutes, once had to work on a friends bike with tubeless ready tires and they were just a nightmare to take off and put back on the rim. They're not infallible either and when you do encounter a puncture that the sealant can't fix then now you're going to have to deal with sealant everywhere, on the side of the road, while putting a tube in. I get AT MOST 2 or 3 punctures A YEAR on Vittoria Corsa tires anyway and that's often only when my tires themselves are near end of life. I live in the Philippines and the roads here are HORRENDOUS. I have to deal with massive potholes, broken glass, and the wire that comes from the carcasses of old car tires on a DAILY basis. I honestly think that if you're getting so many flats that going tubeless is high on your list of priorities then that's simply a skill issue, whether it be bike handling or situational awareness. Any performance advantages are marginal at best and can be rivalled by TPU or Latex tubes anyway. The ONLY place where tubeless makes 100% sense is mountain biking. I even have tubes in my gravel bike!

I have still not tryed tubeless. Please dont tell the label, luddite faction master. I just got using tubes and seems easyer than the goo.

I use TPU tubes and carry a butyl one as a spare + patches. If I get a flat I patch the TPU tube at home.

I've been using latex inners for years on my endurance bike and my climbing bike. I love the smooth ride especially with 26mm slicks on rough Scottish forestry tracks. Also love the ringing sound they make as you ride and I reckon they're as fast as anything. They cant weigh any more than liquid latex but they're much less faff. Only downside is the need to pump them up every time you ride. I carry a spare butyl inner tube and 2 gas canisters as butyl stands a better chance of bridging a puncture that deflated a latex tube. When they do deflate, latex tubes often make an embarrassing squeak but they are easily patched, same as butyl.

Bikes = Haven't fundamentally changed since the 1800's Me = Still waiting on that great tech and innovations ...lol Marketing = Marketing

I can see tubeless being more trouble than it's worth for road tires. But for gravel, CX, MTB, or anything your run pressures lower than 60psi for, the benefits of tubeless outweigh the cons for me. Bigger tubeless tires on the right setup are no more difficult to remove than tubed tires, and lower pressures mean sealant works better and doesn't spray everywhere

Slime Self-Sealing Inner Tubes - absolute game changer for me. After four back wheel punctures in two months, two on one 100km Audax ride, I noticed these Slime brand inner tubes in my local Halfords store last August. So I thought I would give one a try, and fitted it on my back wheel. They are a normal butyl tube that contains a sealant. It seemed to work well until last November when I got puncture in, yes, you guessed it, my front tyre! So I now have slime tubes in both front and rear tyres and have not had a puncture in six months (touch wood!). Another advantage is they stop the valve leaking, so I barely need to top up the air in the tyres. Yes, they add a 100g or so of weight, but then again I could lose about 15,000g!! (33 lbs) myself. I will worry about the weight when I am down to my target weight of 70 kg (140 lbs).

Tubes, square taper BBB, front derailleurs, mechanical brakes, rim or disc, steel framesets, yep thats me, a proud Luddite.

I was so proud of my first tubeless setup and went straight back to tubes after my first serious punture. I am never going back.

People who runs tubeless still carry inner tubes. The same for those who does MTB. Some people don’t get punctures just because luck is on their side. They’re bless with pristine roads and never had to think twice. Forget about all these rolling resistance talk, majority of casual cyclist cares very little about it. Fact of the matter, replacing tubes is easy, fast and fuss free. Running tubeless is proven when you run low pressure, that’s why our friends in the MTB discipline benefited a lot from the tech. Roadies, unless you’re willing and prepared to deal with the mess that results from a puncture that refuses to seal, best stick with tubes. There’s no need for any debate here and be thankful that as consumers you have options.

As for ultra endurance 30 to 40 ml of sealant into the tube works pretty good yes it will dry out but I think it does more slowly inside the tube . As far as that goes that can be good for commuting to casual rides too because the sealant is very likely to work for most puntures that make it through that last layer of puncture protection . It will also lengthen the air refilling intervals. Heck while you're at it fill it with nitrogen and possibly forget about it for along time. Especially if weight and speed aren't your first concern. For many of us getting to a destination without any flats is most important.

I am trying tubeless for the first time and the commuting aspect is the one I'm most interested in because pinch flats are my most common obstacle. Tubeless may do well in removing pinch flats from my equation, and if so, I think it's worth the extra work.

The point of tubeless tyres was so you could run lower pressures and therefore have more grip while mounting biking. This doesn't apply to road cycling, with a 30mm tyre people will have plenty of grip and masses of compliance over formerly what might have been used a 23mm. The point of tubeless, much like TT tyres, is absolute performance, do you care about 2W per tyre savings? Some people do, most people which is basically anyone not actively in a Race, don't. All while in the last 5 years tubed tyre performance has meant you could have gone from a 15W tyre to a 10W in a standard set up. Tubeless is faster, and I am sure in some part of the world running a fast tyre is impossible due to road conditions, this is where tubeless might shine, but in places where the roads are okay, punctures are few and far between with modern performance tyres, and with TPU inner tubes your spares are even smaller and lighter than they used to be. TPU inner tubes as spares is where the innovation is!

I am a techie person and don't mind using tubeless. But I understand those sticking with tubes because of the hassle and mess. It's your bike, setup whatever you like.

Alex still thinks tubeless is a lighter set up. The milk by itself is already heavier than tpu inners. Add to that a heavier tlr outer tyre and your tubeless setup is heavier . So another reason to stick to inner tyres; tubeless is heavier.

I am Going back to tubes today. Been having issues with Tubeless, my second attempt in Years.

I have tubes on the bikes I use for commuting (a road bike for summer, a MTB for winter) as I find them easier and less maintenance. I have maybe one puncture/year and as I carry a spare tube, a set of tyre levers and a mini pump or a CO2 cartridge it takes just minutes to get moving again. On my fatbike I use tubeless as there it saves a significant amount of weight (the bike is horribly heavy anyway at about 16 kilograms) and the small air loss is not a problem on the high volume, low pressure tyres so they work really well, there has not been significant loss of pressure from the several punctures I have observed, just a wet patch from the sealant for a while. My TT-bike has old-school tubulars because good quality second hand carbon rims for those are quite affordable as they are considered obsolete by most "serious cyclists".

Inner Tubes for all of my bikes. I have 1 flat tyre per year. That’s okay.

I disagree on cycling holidays. Just top up sealant before the trip and it will seal punctures along the way. Brilliant

So basically, to sum up the video: tubes are pretty much better for everything except maybe racing, and while you say love tubeless, you also mentioned about 10x you hate the complexity, unreliability and the mess... :P Perhaps there is bike mannufacturer's conspiracy out there after all :P

How does that Humble Pie taste??? 😋 😋 😋

Scraping dried out sealant from a bead-blasted Ti frame more of a hassle than setting the tires tubeless, so I gave up on it. Thankfully I haven’t had a single flat in 7 months, which is far more reliability than I ever had with tubeless

When I got a new bike, I made sure to get it with tubeless ready clincher wheels just to have the tubeless option, but I am now using TPU tubes and so far I am happy with the ease of maintenance, performance etc.

I just completed a cross country trip on my tubeless tires. During the trip I had one occasion where I lost pressure but I plugged the hole pumped it back up with a co2 cylinder and it held pressure the remainder of the 4400 mile trip. On another occasion I noticed sealant leaking from a small hole but it sealed having lost only a couple of psi. For me tubeless is the way to go. This was a van supported trip so I did have access to a floor pump. On a self supported trip my opinion may have changed.

Commuter here, using tubes in order not to be stocked halfway between home and work because of some sealant not working, or not being able to seat tire properly.

Maybe when you run a MTB, and run about 25psi. On my road bike at 110psi, I would never run tubeless. I switched my aero TT time bike from tubeless to tubed.

On my fast wheels I use gp5000 with vittoria latex innertubes. There is a 0,2 watt disadvantage in rolling resistance to my setup vs the tubeless gp5000. Would love the extra puncture resistance from tubeless but I can change an inner tube in less than 3 minutes (without the sealant mess). I have had 1 puncture for the past season (about 5000km) so the extra-puncture-resistance-and-you-are-just-a-tech-resisting-noob-for-not-going-tubeless-sales-pitch is a bit lost on me.

I will tell you how old school I am. I had to Google what TPU is. I have cycled on and off since my early 20s (56 now) I lost my drivers license in the early 90's and commuted to work by bicycle. Discovered I loved cycling and started taking the long way home. Then started riding on the weekends. I frequented a local Performance bike shop and there I discovered thorn resistant tubes. I still use them to this day. Yes they are heavier but I enjoy the piece of mind of hardly ever getting a flat and the two times I have I was able to pull to the side of the road safely because I wasn't rolling on the rim. I have a Trek 1000 SL I bought new in 2006 and it still has the same thorn resistant tubes I installed then. All three of my bikes have them. Won't ride without them.

After switching to tubeless I’ve never had to replace or fix my tire for the last 4 years. Around 10k km with no issues. With tubes i had punctures quite often. Weekend rides or hollyday trips or flights and there was no issues with tubeless for me. Never going back 😊

Does GCN Tech have separate support vans to follow Alex and Ollie?

Inner tubes for me, no question....but I have learned to use smaller dia tubes with larger tires, with great success. The tubes weigh as much as the (high-quality) tire if you use the recommended diameter ones. I'm using *quality* butyl 23/25c tubes w/ 32c tires, no problem so far, and the wheels feel much more spry for it. I ride 80-90psi, and have had no problems, save perhaps for having to pump-up every few weeks, instead of a month or more. What few flats I have had (two this season) I'm no longer trusting patches. Either the glue is not up to spec, or the patches themselves are unfit for purpose, even using old proven ones. Anyone else noticing this? Self-adhesive patches I've had zero luck with, possibly my penchant for higher pressures exacerbates the bond. I do still carry a patch kit, but only as an emerg backup if the replacement tube fails.

Switched my rear tyre to tubeless and encountered a pile of screws on the road while riding home late at night after work. The screw was banging against my mudguard and I stopped and took it out. Rotated the wheel and it immediately sealed up and has been sealed ever since.

Sponsors started making TPU tubes.... Nice AD GCN

Great coverage here. I am not a Luddite by any means, but most of my commute friends keep trying to get me to convert to tubeless. I stand by my argument that the last thing I want to deal with is a flat with all tubeless goo as flats will eventually happen. Since 90% of my riding is commuting I stick with tubes.

No, not another tubeless video. Yes to tubes.

If you need to do your own puncture repairs, tubes are better than tubeless. End of story. PS I'm more than ok with being called a "luddite" by a fashion victim. 🤪

I use inner tubes with sealant in them 😅 But I have good reasons 😂

Kudos to the folks behind the camera. The editing on this one was fun

You pretty much covered every scenario of cycling for not using tubeless. In other words, use tubeless when the sun is shining, low wind, perfect temperature and clean road surfaces. And also have a phone-a-friend on stand by for pick up. I'm still riding clincher tube and tubular tires (which by the way are much less of a PITA than tubless). And I am not so much of a traditionalist, I just perfer what works best for having a great productive successful stress free ride. YMMV

Once went out with a friend and she got a 10-12mm cut in the tire. With inner tube it was easy to fix, and I used a plastic bag to cover the cut. The tire resisted until we got home, about 70km. Now that with tubeless was unfixable without an inner tube.

I'm definitely in the first category. When you're riding a sub £1K bike that came with wheels that aren't tubeless ready it's a big outlay to change (even if I wanted to). Same reason I'm using flat pedals as well, couldn't justify the investment (more the cost of decent shoes than pedals on that one)

I have a 2019 LIV Avail AR, came with Tubeless set up. I rode it just fine, maintained it, etc.. early this spring started riding after winter, tires CONSTANTLY startled to go flat after sitting overnight. Would hold air during ride, but overnight would go flat. Thinking my tires may have become dried out and porous, I had new tires put on at the bike shop. Sealant was still oozing out along rim 😠. Just today, I took off tire to completely add new sealant, and the bead was really crudded up with sealant. Tried cleaning it all off, could not get it off the bead totally, cleaned the channel on the rim complete, but it was pretty clean, put in new sealant, made a huge mess trying to pump it up, gave up and, luckily I had a tube, cleaned it all up and put a tube in. Ordered a few more tubes, I’ll be putting tubes in my newest bike also, never going tubeless again, not worth the trouble.

Poor "Alan", he doesn't love anyone. Give him someone to love, lads!

Hi, I've just got a 27.5 silverback and is tubeless it's a awesome ride

Correction.. inner tubes require no maintenance not less maintenance 😂