Tubeless in Seattle

Ok, Team Moose is not really in Seattle but that title is too good to pass up.  However, we are  tubeless and darn proud of it.   It has been almost a year since I wrote this about Tubeless tires. It is time for an update.

I have now put over 13,000 miles on Schwalbe One Tubeless tires on Flo 30 wheels.  If you add the Rear tire and Bontrager XRL wheel on Ms. Daisy (Moosashi) you can make that 16,000 miles.  I am on the third set so it looks like they are lasting over 4000 miles per tire.  Ms. Daisy is still running strong with 3,000 plus on her original  tire.  During this period I have had one flat. I’m convinced this flat was preventable.  The sealant in the flatted tire had dried out. Had the sealant still been in liquid form I believe the number of flats would be zero.  If you compare this to my 800 miles with 3 flats during this same timeframe while riding on tires with tubes it becomes a no brainer.  Tubeless wins in a landslide.

How do they roll?  I really don’t know.  My riding finesse is not good enough to differentiate between the type tires.  There is a slight difference but it is hard to  describe.  I do like the feel.  Your best bet is to borrow a friend’s set of tubeless for a short ride and see for yourself.  If you are about to buy a new set of wheels make sure they are Tubeless ready.  My Flo 30’s work well using the yellow tubeless tape (note: Flo 60’s and 90’s are not tubeless capable.).   Much more impressive is the Bontrager wheel of Ms. Daisy.  It comes with a plastic channel that forms perfectly with the wheel in lieu of the tape.  Her tires require air very infrequently while mine need a few pounds every other week or so. They also keep the sealant off of the aluminium wheels.  The Bontrager Paradigm Elite wheelset is my first pick and most likely my next set.

What are the cons of the Schwalbe Ones?  I can only find two.  The first is there are no wear indicators. This makes it difficult to tell when the tire needs  replacing especially since these tires are completely slick.  In fact I plan on remounting my old tires since I believe they have plenty of miles left in them.   The second gripe is knowing when to add sealant.  My current method is  to remove the valve stem while the stem is at the three o’clock position then rotate it to six o’clock.  Now use a small  allen wrench as a dipstick to measure the  sealant level.

Team Moose is a big fan of the Road Tubeless revolution.  We were suckered bought into the pricey Bontrager Tubeless pump.  This pump looks like it is on steroids as it contains an air chamber which holds the air until you are ready to release it all at once.  It is essentially a manual air compressor  which works great sealing tubeless tires during initial mounting.  The problem with the pump is unless you have a lot of tubeless tires to  mount you only need it once in a blue moon.  The good news is it also works like a conventional pump on any tire and totally confuses your non tubeless friends.   The tubeless system is working well for us.  They will probably work for you.  Only one way to find out-go ahead, take the plunge.