Review--Goin' Tubeless

It's fun to share gear stories over beers and around the shop. This time, we asked Chris Hobbs, one of our good clients, to share in length the pros and cons of tubeless road wheels. As many of you know, we as a shop have collectively embraced road tubeless technology (tubeless not tubular). Enjoy....


I have been riding tubeless for 15 months. I changed over from shallow carbon rims with open tubular tires, which is a comfortable and high performance setup by clincher standards. I purchased Dura-Ace wheels with Hutchinson Fusion tires in 2008. Of course I did....that was the only tubeless setup available at the time. Even today, the limited options for equipment are the biggest drawback of tubeless, but that is slowly changing.

Pump it Up

I made the change because I was looking for a more comfortable ride. Just based on feel, the tubeless seem to roll the same at 100psi as the clinchers did at 110psi. I had to ride my clinchers at 110psi to avoid pinch flats. I have ridden the Fusion2s as low as 90psi without a pinch. I generally use 100/95psi front/rear. That worked great when I was 210lbs last year. I should probably drop it a bit now that I am lighter.

Of course, with the lower tire pressure, the handling feels better. I don't know if the actual design has any inherent advantages here--I suspect a tubeless tire at 110psi corners like a clincher at 110psi, but since you can run lower pressures at the same rolling resistance (because there is no friction between tube and tire), you get the ride and handling of a softer tire. Or, you can pump them up for lower rolling resistance.

It has been a long time since I have ridden tubulars, so I can't really compare the ride and handling. But, I hear that tubeless is close, and with all the convenience of clinchers. Weight-wise, the rims and tires are slightly heaver due to the modified bead and stiffer sidewalls. But, you save a bit overall versus a clincher since there is no tube. But, you splash some sealant in there and I would say it all works out even.

Let's talk about the convenience. I run Stan's in my tires, and I definitely get fewer flats than I did with clinchers. The numerous small holes in my tires are testament to the effectiveness of tire sealant with a tubeless tire. Of course, they are not invulnerable. I have gotten about 4 flats over the last 15 months, where the tire damage was too large to seal. When you do flat, just throw in a tube and ride home. You also probably have to throw a wrapper in there to reinforce the tire since the hole might be large.


Better yet, carry a spare tire on your back, campionissimo-style.

A minor drawback is that you need to use an air compressor or CO2 cartridge to inflate a new tire when you change it, to get the tire bead to seat properly (obviously does not apply in you throw a tube in on the road). If you are in your garage and changing a tire, don't expect to finish the job with a floor pump. I just throw on a schrader adapter and drive over to the gas station. Pour some Stan's in, finish seating the tire and hit it with the air compressor and it will inflate enough to seat the bead properly. Finish it off to 100psi with the hand pump. Better yet, let the shop deal with the mess.

I mentioned the limited equipment selection. Hutchinson recently released 2 more tire options, a lightweight racing tire (the Atom) and a training tire (the Intensiv). The weights across all 3 options are pretty close. The Atom is basically the Fusion without the slightly firmer rubber in the middle. I have one on the rear of my Time, and I don't notice any difference. I recently put an Intensiv on the back of my IF, and I am a big fan. After many miles and lots of glass, the tire does not show any nicks or holes. The Intensiv is also slightly larger at 25mm, so you can run even lower pressures. Michelin is rumoured to be near production on tubeless tires.

In 2009, Fulcrum and Campy started offering tubeless on their high end wheels. Shimano added a carbon hybrid wheel and an Ultegra level option. All the currently available wheels are your basic shallow profile aluminum rims. The bead area of a clincher is tricky for carbon because of the lateral loading, and the high loads on a tubeless bead are certainly problematic. Corima does make a 45mm deep carbon tubeless rim, but it is heavy. Theoretically, you can make any clincher rim tubeless with some special rim tape and sealant, but the bead design is different enough that it makes sense to run tubeless-specific rims.

Chris Hobbs