Tubeless or not tubeless?

[Max Effort]

I’m guessing that this has been debated in the past, but it’s not putting me off dredging it up again

Main question:
Is going tubeless really worth the hassle?

Secondary question:
What’s the best way of doing it?

I’m running 27.5” plus i45 WTB Scraper rims, with 2.8” WTB Trail blazer (rear) & 3” WTB Bridger (front).

Thanks in advance for the help

[ScotRoutes]

Do it.

Buy some 50mm WTB tape, some tubeless valves and some Stans. I've done a couple of tyre choices on i45s with only a standard trackpump. You'll hear/read lots of horror stories but take your time, don't try any shortcuts and you should be fine.

[BigdummySteve]

Tubes are a good excuse to stop for a brew

Unless you’re the one with tubes

[FLV]

Sometimes its easy, some time its a faff.

always 100% worth it

[redefined_cycles]

Tubeless... especially on that size of tyre

[middleagedmadness]

That rim and tyre combo on the plus side will go up straight away with just a track pump
On the negative do some thumb exercises to get the tyre on and off the rim and put the sealant in through the valve core
I've started using muc off sealant it's a horrible pink if you get It on your tyres but it seals holes better than Stan's imo. Can't say how long it lasts as only been running it for 2 months

[redefined_cycles]

After using the valve core, i tend to squirt a touch of gt84 or any other grease or oil-lube lying around... IMO it keeps it from gunging up. But i only do this the once or twice as I don't think you want it really mixing with the sealant too much...

[Jurassic]

I'm facing this dilemma on my gravel/road bike currently as I tend to swap between knobblies and road tyres quite often depending on what I'm riding. I'm currently running tubes as it be such a pain swapping tyres over if they were tubeless whereas I can do both tyres and have them back on the bike in about ten minutes using tubes. I think the longer term solution will be to replace both sets of tyres with a pair of Gravel King SKs (that will work okay in both scenarios) and run them tubeless. My other bikes are all tubeless though.

[middleagedmadness]

+1 for the gravel king SK swapped last month from Riddler's on the cdf ,roll quick on tarmac good grip on muddy towpaths , hopefully last longer than the Riddler's

[Bearbonesnorm]

You've got the perfect tyre / rim combo for (fairly) painless tubeless. As Stu says, the WTB rims / tyres are quite tight but in a good way. All my Scrapers are set up tubeless using Gorilla tape (don't go mad) and have never caused me any trouble. The tyres are a tight fit on the rims regardless of set-up so I tend to figure that tubeless makes those field removal operations less likely.

[99percentchimp]

Good result swapping 2 wheels to tubeless yesterday. About 40 minutes to do both with rim tape in place. Front went up first time and rear took a couple of goes. Stans went in after the tyre beads were well seated and the valve core removed. About 80-90mls in 2.35 tyres.
Well worth it and confidence inspiring grip delivered.

[whitestone]

Apart from 23/25c road racing tyres I don't see any benefit to running tubes so tubeless all the way for me. There are a few fairly well known rim/tyre combinations that don't work but apart from those it's generally painless but sometimes mounting a tyre can be an exercise in frustration.

This guy is basically saying if you go tubeless then commit to it - https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/blogs/news ... less-tyres. The biggest problem is that if you decide to put a tube in you have to be really, really careful to get out all the thorns that you never knew you'd picked up.

This weekend I just happened to have two tubeless "incidents". The first was on a demo bike - unbeknownst to me (and Sam from Cotic) there was an anchovy in the top of the sidewall of the rear tyre and I caught it on the edge of a pothole and some air escaped. Fortunately I was nearly back at their van. The second was on my Spearfish about two hours later when I caught the edges of two rocks almost simultaneously and I burped a lot of air out. A bit of swearing* and some pumping of air and I was back riding.

*This may be an understatement.

[Lazarus]

Sometimes its easy, some time its a faff.

always 100% worth it

This some combos work easily some take some faff

Plenty of vids out there but I prefer to use a proper compressor* and have never ever had a tyre go up with a track pump [ though i could do it with one i just topped up fuel or unbeaded a small part of it.

The biggest problem is that if you decide to put a tube in you have to be really, really careful to get out all the thorns that you never knew you'd picked up.

THIS also

As above only my 22c road bike is non tubeless

* Use one of those pumps/storage thingies for a cheaper more portable option- they work ok IME.

[ScotRoutes]

I prefer to use a proper compressor* and have never ever had a tyre go up with a track pump

Whereas I bought one of those Airshot-type pumps and I've never needed to use it