Monday, November 10, 2014

Schwalbe Tubeless + Stan's NoTubes Road wheels

In the winter, I have a fear - it goes like this, riding along on the road, pouring rain and 3 Celcius. I’m staying warm, just. Then I puncture…

Shortly after starting mountain biking (and a triple puncture race) I switched to running tubeless off-road. It was a revelation. The number of punctures dropped dramatically (maybe 4-7 in the last 6 years), comfort went up, grip went up and piece of mind went up. Who wants to have to stop and fix punctures?

Two years ago I had a set of Stan’s NoTubes Alpha Pro road wheels and Hutchinson Tubeless tires. It didn’t change the world for me - they didn’t roll well, felt heavy and I actually still punctured (slow puncture, but could get home with only a little topping up) - I persisted some more but once the tires were worn, I went back to ‘normal’.

About 9 months ago I got a shipment of the only released Schwalbe One Tubeless tires - it has changed the game, since then, 15,000km and no punctures. I’m running lower pressure (around 90-105PSI as opposed to my usual 110) and feel they roll faster. They are a little heavier than the tubbed equivalent but the feel on the road, the faster rolling and ‘bulletproof’ feeling I get more than make up for it.



I have wanted to put something down about this for a while - it is something, like going tubeless on the MTB, that has changed the game. It isn’t exactly cheap, but freezing my butt off at the side of a road is mostly a thing of the past. (Now - since I wrote all this, I bet I puncture tomorrow!)

7 comments:

Stephen said...

You can't really be getting 15000km from a single set of tyres? At least on the rear. I've worn multiple tyres through to the kevlar in less than half that time.

Anonymous said...

Nope - when they wear down enough I change them out. I don't wait for them to puncture.

Anonymous said...

Yes but lets just say your at sally gap the fog descends quickly and then it rains, and then you get a puncture - how do you then fix a puncture! It sound great to get 15k from a tyres ,I always thought these type of tyres were for the pro's with a week stocked team car for replacement.

Mountain goat.

Ryan Sherlock said...

On the last comment - I still carry a tube etc... as normal so I would fix a puncture in the usual way. No difference.

Tubeless road wheels said...

That tubeless tyre is really very helpful because there is no chances of punctures in it.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
jade said...

Find new tires for any car or truck with Firestone Complete Auto Care's Tire Selector. Cheap Tyres Milperra