Tubed or Tubeless?

[WelshGas]

Last week I had my first ever puncture in 58 years.

Well, I must admit, I hadn't cycled for 56 of those years

Seriously, first puncture in 1,500 miles: I removed the rear wheel, took out the old inner tube, replaced with new, replaced tyre, only took 5 minutes. The next bit though took me over an hour and only resolved itself the following morning with me turning up at the bike shop with wheel in one hand, bike in the other and asking for someone to put my wheel back on my bike. I am a mechanically hopeless disaster area.

Picking my bike up today it was suggested that I think about converting to tubeless with sealant slopping around inside. My immediate thought is "if it's so good why isn't everyone doing it?"

Thoughts please.

It would seem your problem was not repairing the puncture but reassembling the bicycle after the repair.
Most of the systems mentioned are aimed at "sport" cycling. They reduce the incidence but don't eliminate it and don't address the reassembly after a repair.
So, either get some helpful instructions and practice on reassembly or go for a system that entirely eliminates the possibility of punctures, but at a cost.

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[GrannyJen]

Thank you for your replies:

To summarise my own thoughts:

1: Learn how to fix it yourself. Well, I have lost count of how many hours I have spent in dealer workshops doing just that. However, both those experiences and every video I have ever watched are all in the same scenario. Under cover in a well lit place with the bicycle in upright plane and three foot off the ground on a stand. A world of difference to looking at a derailleur assembly on a bike that is upside down on the deck in thick grass with the sun glaring down and traffic making a deafening roar. That is where I find my old problem with just about anything mechanical. A complete inability to look at one bit and work out how to fit it into another bit. This is why I stopped cycling in the first place. However obstinacy with me seems to increase with age which is why I have a "visit you at home" bicycle maintenance tutor coming to my home in August. It is the logical answer, but by far, for me, the hardest.

2: Tyres. The tyre in question was a nimbus armadillo. It has a Kevlar "black belt". However it was the valve seat that failed. The tyres I have on my new bike are Pathfinder, again with the Kevlar black belt. The reason I asked about tubeless was because it was suggested to me by my local bike repair man, the same repair man that spent countless hours with me last year showing me how to keep my bike on the road.

Reading the comments above it seems to come down very much to type of use. If I were to analyse my cycling miles then it would probably come down to 80-20 tarmac - off road with the 20% off road being mainly well compacted gravel. My new bike is far more hybrid and being me then I am going to be tempted to go more off road but that huge sense of caution I carry with me of "don't break anything you can't fix" would probably temper my enthusiasm considerably. Therefore the arena where tubeless seems to come into its own as a no-brainer, mountain biking, is not likely to be where I will venture most.

Given the Pathfinder tyres I have now are from the same family as the Nimbus Armadillo that gave me and Jo a combined 3,000 miles without anything penetrating the tube, I am going to stick with what I have. If I change to tubeless I would probably change wheels as well as conversion kits do not appear to be a resounding success and the cost of that plus new tyres appears excessive for any small advantage gained.

I will persist with "fix it yourself". For very good reason I so far have resisted practicing on my own bike without supervision. Taking a loose collection of parts back to the bike shop can be a humiliating experience. Having said that when I went back with wheel in one hand and bike in the other they were not surprised. It appears there are plenty like me.

Thank you everyone. Yet again this forum proves to be a brilliant place to get advice from.

 

[nick100]

Last week I had my first ever puncture in 58 years.

Well, I must admit, I hadn't cycled for 56 of those years

Seriously, first puncture in 1,500 miles: I removed the rear wheel, took out the old inner tube, replaced with new, replaced tyre, only took 5 minutes. The next bit though took me over an hour and only resolved itself the following morning with me turning up at the bike shop with wheel in one hand, bike in the other and asking for someone to put my wheel back on my bike. I am a mechanically hopeless disaster area.

Picking my bike up today it was suggested that I think about converting to tubeless with sealant slopping around inside. My immediate thought is "if it's so good why isn't everyone doing it?"

Thoughts please.

Another vote for tubeless. My wife and I ride gravel bikes and road bikes. All tubeless.
I ride on 35psi on gravel and 64 on road.
They are more comfy owing to the lower pressures, they corner better, and repairs are radically different.
Often you will puncture and never even know about it as the sealant in the tyre seals the hole. If you have a hole which the sealant will not fix, we put a plug into the hole with a Dynapklug racer kit, takes about 10 seconds and you never have to remove the wheel ,or the tyre from the wheel so it's brilliant for people nervous about fettling bikes .
The only downside I can see is that it does cost more money overall. The sealant needs replacing twice a year as it loses efficacy, and there is a set up cost buying the plugs to carry with you.
My wife has just done a 970 mile cycle, with not a whiff of needing to touch her tubeless tyres.

 

[aileron346]

A bit old school maybe, but I used tubeless for a few years and have gone back to tubed. I use road bikes and town bikes, including a Brompton.

For me punctures are about always running high quality tyres, Schwalbe Marathon or Marathon Plus for my town bikes, replacing tyres before they wear out when they start getting micro cracks (I replace chains more frequently than tyres) and being comfortable with the (very) occasional puncture repair. Thorns from cut hawthorn hedges in Autumn seem to be the main culprits where I am.

I found tubeless way more hassle than it was worth, though can just about get it for off road.

Yes- very marmite!