by Mike Finlay

Created on: May 28, 2008

The tubeless mountain bike tyre appears at first to be the best of everything. By this I mean they are:

Cheaper
More grippy
Less frequently Punctured and fixable
Easy to fit (most recommend using just fingers)
Lighter than tyre and normal inner tube
Less resistant to rolling

In fact the only down side appears to be availability, although with the cheapest option being Stan's Tubeless System at just $25 for front and rear wheels it seems to me to be worth the effort of mail ordering.

THE BASICS:

Coming in a small pack, the system consists of a pot of liquid rubber, 2 valves and some rim tape. See where this is going?! It really is that simple. Removing your tyre and old, now redundant, inner tube you go about sanding down and smoothing the well of your rims. Taping up the finished, cleaned rim you need to pierce a hole through the original valve slot. If your rim already had a manufacturer's rim tape in place, take the opportunity to remove it and clean the whole thing up - you may as well use the tape you just bought!

Once reaching these dizzy heights of this complicated proccess(!), simply plug the valve hole with your new valve and some un-diluted goo from Stan's pot of rubber. It's important at this stage to make sure you have left no gaps in the seal between valve and rim because this is where the air will be leaking in ten minutes' time should you forget!
Filling the tyre with some slightly diluted goo (read the instructions carefully when mixing) and spreading it around, slot the tyre into place and inflate the tyre with a high pressure pump (just for the first time). All being well, you will have a lovely new lightweight tyre with absolutely NO leaking, popping or exploding goo - magic!

So, is it worth the hassle? It all depends on what riding you do, although I have yet to see the downside of this system for any rider.
If you are a downhiller, or ride hard cross-country, then you will be aware of the benefits of running a tyre at a lower pressure. This gives a vast improvement to the grip of your tyres but also, with inner tubes, will increase the number of races you pull out of due to pinch flats.
In short, tubeless tyres prevent the pinch flat allowing you to run tyres at low pressure with a much lower risk.

In terms of maintenance for the average cyclist, they can be patched up from the inside using normal puncture repair kits and repairs are less likely to fail as the air in the tyre pushes the patch against the inside of the tyre wall. You can replace repaired or new tyres without the issue of pinching an inner tube in the process, although you do have to re-seal new tyres every time you replace worn ones. They can be fitted using any tyre and rim combination and will ride the same as any normal wheel. Specialized's '2Bliss' tyres were recalled last year but all seems to be well with the new range and I have yet to hear a bad word said about the new movement in tyre technology.

All in all, if you are happy to pay an extra $25 every time to replace your tyres, then I would say the advantages are many and the disadvantages few (or virtually nil). If you are unsure or unconvinced by the hype, fork out $25 and give them a whirl yourself - I really don't think you be left feeling deflated...

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