Are Tubeless Tires Worth It?

The proper test would be what is called a coast down test. Get up to a fixed speed, coast to a stop and measure the distance. You can do it multiple times with each set up then do some math to tell for sure which is the most efficient. You will want to perform analysis using Excel. You have to add the free statistics package and do the ANOVA test. Follow the directions carefully. The more times you do the identical coast down the more sensitive the analysis will be. However, it is just as likely there will be no statistical differences due to the number of variables you cannot measure.

It comes down to whatever is easiest to fix on the side of the road! No matter how fast a setup is, all gains are lost if your struggling to fix it.

Orange Seal, my friend. The Silca sealant is really messy, dries out quickly and the carbon fibers clump. It also destroys tubeless tape. As you say, tubeless is more-or-less a necessity on California roads.

Hi Mich I found your channel yesterday and am really enjoying the vids (Subscribed). Really excellent content and very professional. I’m in the middle of binge watching your vids from the start to catch up. Keep em coming mate, great stuff! Blessings from England.🙏👍🏻

Yes the problem is you used Tubeless tyres with hookless rims with inner tubes? The correct set up (Clincher tyres with tubes) may have produced better results. Personally I have never gotten onto the tubeless train and many of my customers are switching back to tubes… I’m a big fan of latex, they feel more comfortable and lighter than Traditional tubes, but they lose air faster. However, with the latest Innovations in TPU tubes I think I’ve found the ultimate setup! I have been testing Ridenow tubes (video to come) and they have fabulous and reliable qualities as well as being the lightest set up. After this I’m sure I will never be convinced to go tubeless and put up with all that pain, hassle, expense and mess.

Great content Mitch! I’m sure these take a lot of time and effort so here is a small amount towards your next brew as a thanks :)

I've used butyl in my TL Mavic Ksyrium set for years with great service. Light weight tubes have always ended in tears. TL for sure on the mountain bikes which are easy to throw a tube into on the trail unlike the road bike which would be an ordeal, nightmare. Keen to try a pair of Maxxis road tires as they have been bullet proof on the MTB. Great content Mitch, envious of your BMC.

I ride tubeless now and i feel that it reduces the vibrations. However, I've used latex tubes in turbo cottons for years and loved the springyness. Close second best imo and much less hassle!

My suggestion: buy the non-tubeless version of this tire (Vitoria calls it foldable on their website), put in latex tubes, and compare that to tubeless. The tubeless version has thicker rubber that needs to hold air. Vitoria website lists it at 330g, while the the foldable version is 250g. That’s 80g lighter per tire. Foldable tire (250g) + latex tube (80g) = 330g Tubeless tire (330g) + sealant (50g ish) = 380g Foldable tire + latex tube will be much lighter and probably feel much better to you.

Fellow LA guy! I think of the tubeless felt sluggish, you had too low air pressure... That has been my experience. If I'm not careful, my tubeless is running at 40 psi and I go for a ride and feel a little strange. Then I get back home and check see that they're at 40 PSI and I'm like oh no wonder I'm so low. Generally can run at 60 and fill fast and smooth but I'm kind of a heavy guy so I always pump it to 70. Victoria, NEXT is a really great tire. I'm switching to that for all my bikes going forward. Feels just a little less fast than the GP 5000 STR but just looks so much more robust. Gives me peace of mind. Used to only run rubino pro before tubeless days.

I’ve been completely disappointed with tubeless since 2008 - yes 14 years trying to make it work. My customers love them or hate them too. I’ve been riding latex tubes for a few weeks and have noticed they are losing too much pressure on my longer rides. Today’s 8 hour - 125 miler with 10,000 ft my tubes lost 12 psi! From 90 psi down to 78 psi - that’s going to be a deal breaker for me since my typical events are 200 milers and 500 milers.

I'm thinking TPU is for me. Good video

Been tubeless in all of my bikes for two years. I haven’t had to fix a single flat since going tubeless. I will never use another tube again. I always carry a tube in my saddle bag so worst case I can throw a tube in if I absolutely have to.

the silca stuff is gnarly... it ruined two of my bibs already. I've been using stans for a couple years and was perfectly happy but fell for the carbon fiber, foaming hoopla. I'm going back to stans. it sealed as fast (if not faster) and it came off my bike and apparel with just a shake of my hand.

What style tires were you using? Using tube type tires for the latex or butyl tube is optimal for those setups. Using tubeless tire with tube is sub optimal because the tire already has the tube baked in reducing overall latex ability to deform.

I use TUP tubes and they work perfectly for me.. no mess but lower RR and light weight

I'm not watching this till after the holidays when there's a slight chance I can afford to go tubeless. I will say it's nice to live outside of a city for the first time in 20 years and not have to deal with street detritus nearly as much.

Hi Mitch, as you mentiond you want comments on suggestions on how to improve these tests, here is something that is taught in the first semesters in physics. Basically, every measurement is worthless unless you have an estimate of the error of the measurement. E.g. if tell you I need 10 mins for a distance, that doesn't tell you anything, unless you know if it is 10mins +/- 5secs or 10mins +/- 5 mins. Therefore, you need to repeat tests, so you can get an average and an error. As in the real world, you won't have the time to repeat long runs for and endless amout of repetitions, try to get at least 3 repetitions of each test, even if that makes the test shorter. E.g. it is better if you repeat a 3km time trail 3 times compared to a 10km time trail once, even though you rode less distance in total. Then, take the average duration for that time trail and the standard deviation (certainly you can find a calculator for that if needed) for the measurements. This way, you can compare the setups and now, if your results show relevant differences or where just by chance. An example to illustrate why that is so important (and why it is so frustrating that the standard in youtube does science seems to never give errors): Lets say your set up A itakes for a 3km time trail 9min with an error of +/-5 s. Your other set up takes 9min15s +/- 5s. You know setup A really is faster. Imagine now, you had massive wind on that day, or a traffic light on your route, or you would count the time in your head, whatever, makes the measurements less accurate. Your results might now be: Set up A: 9min10s+/- 30 seconds. Set up B: 8min55+/-30seconds. You would have no idea which set up is actually faster, or if it was decided by the wind or the traffic light. You would only know that the difference is not big enough to be dominant over the other factors unless you repeat the measurement more often to reduce the error. You could then decide wether it is worth it or not, but you wouldn't hold to a wrong result thinking you found wisdom there

I was worried there for awhile that you may come to the wrong conclusion but some how you came through to the right answer. Yes tubeless is the correct answer to your situation. Any situation that has horrible road and is prone to numerous flats is tubeless territory. PS: it’s not important because you’ve correctly decided on tubeless but making a proper comparison between a tubed and tubeless tires you need to compare a tube tire with a tubeless tire, not a tubeless tire with a tube in it. That’s a redundancy. Tubeless tires have a different construction from tubed tires and feel quite different. Also you typically use less air in a tubeless tire to get that supple feel. Play around with the pressure to experience the different ride and traction.

Great content man... you just earned yourself a subscriber.