Tubeless or not to tubeless?

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Permalink Reply by duane dickey on August 16, 2009 at 6:23am

I've never had any problems w/my Shimano's, none at all. I run tubeless for sure and love 'em.

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Permalink Reply by Echappe Equipment on August 16, 2009 at 8:00pm

We're going to have them available to demo starting in mid-September here: http://www.racewheelrental.com/products/shimano/7850-SL-CX.html

If you already have a set thats fine, but you can use ours to see if its worth the investment in tires and sealant. :)

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Permalink Reply by Darren on August 18, 2009 at 10:42am

I am thinking about doing the Stans 355 rims with WTB interwolfs anyone done this yet. I have found in the Mid-Atlantic DC area are races are pretty dry not mud fests of the northwest. If this doesn't work I will do Bulldog/Pirrana on my road Fulcrum 2-way fit wheels which I have been running road tubeless this summer.

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Permalink Reply by Jason on August 18, 2009 at 3:25pm

I run Hutchinson/Stan's/Ksyrium SLs on my single speed...and it will be my B bike for non SS races.

No problems. No flats either. Flats on my tubulars, but not my tube-less.

They burp a little...and I mean only a little. No significant loss in pressure. I will run them on particularly sharp, rocky courses instead of my tubies.

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Permalink Reply by powenb on August 19, 2009 at 6:45am

Jason,
What do you run under the Stan's rim strip to get the seal?

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Permalink Reply by cxchiva on August 19, 2009 at 7:03am

I believe the Sl's are sealed already...no spoke holes

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Permalink Reply by Echappe Equipment on August 19, 2009 at 8:10am

Yeah, the SLs have no spoke holes.

The only issues I've heard about with the SLs is burbing air because the hook on the rim has a hard time holding the pressure from a tubeless system. The Dura Ace wheels have a "more burly" hook that was designed for holding air under the pressures of a tubeless system.

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Permalink Reply by andrew on August 19, 2009 at 10:47am

from my racing experience, having badly burped the DA/hutchinson setup, the dura-ace wheels are still better with a stans strip. The hook bead is burly, but at the low pressures of 'cross it shouldn't make a difference. the stans strip takes up space and creates a tighter seal.

even then, we got better results from conventional wheels, electrical tape, a stans strip, and normal tires. the sealed rims (ksyrium, dura ace) are great but without a strip the tire doesn't have a tight enough seal for really low pressure from our tests.

it's my observation though that the hutchinson tire, if it's easy to mount on your wheel, may not be the best for tubeless. it has a strong, stiff bead which is great for high pressure safety but the ease of mounting the tire means it's not as tight as it could be. that's not great for a tubeless setup. even with mtbs, a loose UST tire at low pressure can burp or be seated incorrectly...you definitely want to avoid this risk at low pressure on a narrow tire. plus it makes it harder to initially seal.

one of our most reliable setups has been an askium wheel, electrical tape with a stans strip and sealant and michelin mud tire. the HED rims (I believe you have these Gabe?) with a Stans strip and a michelin have has also been quite good.

low 20s psi without burping on a 160 pound rider resulted in sloppy cornering but no burping. CXM has tons of tubeless content including tires that have worked well in tests. good luck everyone but be careful experimenting.

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Permalink Reply by powenb on August 19, 2009 at 1:52pm

Last year I ran a pair of Hope/Open Pro wheels and Vittoria XG tyres tubeless, with great results.
The only problem I had was only having an intermediate tyre, when at times I needed a more aggressive mud tyre.
This year I have upgraded to a set of Ksyrium SL Premiums and will either run Michelin Muds tubeless, or run tubes so I can easily swap tyres depending on conditions.

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Permalink Reply by Echappe Equipment on August 19, 2009 at 8:23pm

Thanks for the insite! The larger volume CX tires definitely react differently than the road tires. My teammate and I were talking about the DA wheels the other day with regard to this. We love them as all around wheels on the road, but the narrower width on them compared to a Stan's 29er rim or the HED C2 rims combined with the larger volume of tire would probably pinch the tire too severely at the bottom.

The Stan's 29er rims are SO wide that you'd need to run all of your wheelsets with this rim because the brake set up would have to be specific to that width. While the HED rims are 23mm, which is slightly more than a standard 21mm rim, its not so extreme that your brakes won't work with other rims if you need/want to swap wheels.

If we run a HED tubeless set up it'll be a Bastogne laced 3x for 'cross. If someone wants to try it, definitely let us know.

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Permalink Reply by c-note on August 20, 2009 at 12:36am

The Stan's 355 rim will not require a rim strip, only the yellow tape=lighter. WTB should be fine. Panaracer, IRD crossfire, Ritchey speedmax/excavader are all good. fulcrums's probably better with the rimstrip...

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Permalink Reply by Anton Petrov on August 20, 2009 at 11:13am

I ran Reynolds Solitude+ Stans + Hutchinson Piranhas last year for the whole season. Had no issues except for the occasional air burp on super hard offcamber turns. At the beginning of the season i ran them low enough that i would feel the rim occasionally. But then i got some air burps and was running more pressure towards the end of the season. Didn't refill them with sealant until this year. The tires were great in terms of traction. The wheels are light and stayed true. (except for a cassete body failure which cost me my 15th place in race once... hahaha, but reynolds took care of it).

bottom line is that i recommend. way cheaper then tubulars. although i am running tubulars this year but only because i am getting a wheelset for free.

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