What Are the Benefits of Tubeless Tires for Gravel Cycling?

Question

I have been cycling in gravel for sometime and like many others I have also heard of the advantages of tubeless tires for gravel cycling. What are the advantages of going tubeless?

Answer 1

Gravel cycling is also thriven with tubeless tires. It allows lower tire pressures without the danger of pinch punctures which normally happens with inner tubes when there are bumps. Since there is no inner tube, every hole is sealed with tire sealant. This setup has been around in mountain biking for quite some time and works quite well for gravel cycling too providing better comfort and increased traction.

Comments

Did a 5500km bike trip (sleeping in a tent, so quite a lot of weight) all around Sweden last year and ran tubeless - when it worked it was great. But I had several situations where sealant failed to seal small holes or the tire flew off the rim and that was an absolute nightmare: Spent so much time deflating, refilling with sealant and reinflating with often no success. Putting in a tube without a water hose around is just a pain - sticky tubeless milk everywhere. Still got stains of the dried milk on my frame to this day.

Might have been the kind of sealant (muc off) but I’d prefer just changing tubes when I’m on a long distance ride than having to fear this ‘ultimate failure’ when the sealant doesn’t work.

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Ive always added some glitter to the tubeless milk, helps seal a little bit bigger hole and when it does explode you look spectacular

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I use latex tubes on the road, it’s the best of both worlds... they have amazingly low weight and rolling resistance, as well as incredible comfort and I never had a puncture - they are incredibly resilient but you do have to pump them up daily so they are no use for tours. Tubeless all the way for offroad though.

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I use my gravel bike for commuting. Before I went tubeless I had 3 flats in a week. The roads in atlanta are awful and littered with glass and trash. I went tubeless a year ago. One time since then, I heard hissing from my tire after I finished a ride. I spun the tire a little bit, it went away and I haven’t had a problem since. I’ll NEVER EVER go back.

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I ride tubeless on all of my bikes, mountain, gravel and road. Flatting is almost a non-issue. Sometimes difficult to set up depending on tire/wheel combo, but worth it.

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Exact same experience for me on road v gravel tubeless. More trouble than it’s worth on the road bike - the sealant just squirts out everywhere, you get covered in it and it doesn’t even seal the puncture. Love it on my 650b chunky gravel tyres though.

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I always ride tubeless on my road bike. I had problem putting on a tyre ONCE and once a tyre got cut up on something loaded inside my car... And "sealant" and "inside car"... Yes it was like you imagine.

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In my experience, riding tubeless hasn't been worth the time and hassle! Went tubeless last year and had issues seating the tyres by myself. Went to my local bike shop where they did it for me. After a month, i got two flats in a week. The sealant never worked. I think the issue might have been my wheels, I read online other people had issues with the WTB like i did. Switched backed to riding with tubes and I never had issues with punctures, even when riding pretty hard terrain. I'm not completely  closed to tubeless but i didn't see much benefits.

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I've been riding tubeless on my road bike for +10k now and I absolutely love it! Only flatted once, after 6.5k on a single set of tyres without changing the sealant once. I ride the Zipp 303s, they are quick, comfortable and the low pressures allow me to do some light gravel riding too! I'am riding a Scott Addict RC, so it's really cool to see that you're riding the same brand.

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My experience with tubless is that the sealant seals max 3 bars of pressure, then reopens. after several days, you can pump back to 3.5bars (adequate pressure for 40mm tyre). This is verified on Schwalbe and Tufo tyres. BikeworkX and OKO Magic milk.

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Tubeless does not fully eliminate pinch flats but does require a harder impact to cut through a tire vs a tube

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Tubeless all the way. Also on the roadbike! You just have to use a good tyre and rim combo. The best are GP5000 TR S and Pirelli P Zero Race

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Great content! I definitely recommend tubeless. I went tubeless and will never go back!
Here in America we love us some dirt roads and the terrain can be anything from small finely-crushed limestone to big chunky “driveway” rocks.
Either way, I’ve found that running tubeless negates any issues one may encounter.
Also, being able to run a lower tyre pressure gives more performance advantage.
Keep up the great work!

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I ride tubeless on my road, gravel, trail and fatbike. Road; confort. Gravel; grip & confort. MTB; grip & small bump absortion. Fatbike; weight saving (especially with studded tires), grip on snow and ice. Common for all; no (or very rarely) flats. MTB & Fatbike; without a tube the tire have the shape it's designed to have instead of being rounded by the tube. On the roady anf gravel, the confort is enhanced by the fact that at the same pressure, the tubeless tire have a thinner wall (tube being absent) hence the added confort by the more supple sidewall. I just can't figure out why I'd go back to tubes!!

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I started non paved in 2015 on my Trek Madone with 28mm tires..too.much loose stuff. Got a Spec. DIVERGE IN 2016, then Crockett Cross shortly after. Added a Salsa Vaya 2 yrs ago. Mid 70s now. Ride daily 30 to 50 miles. Wide tires. Tubeless. Mud wheels ..mostly Panaracer Gravel Kings work well here in Mich. Only suspension is Red Shift stem
Nice content

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I've just picked up a Boardman ADV 8.9 a couple of weeks back, my only prior experience of cycling has been city bikes, hybrid bikes and mountain bikes. I wanted something that can handle the riding I do on my mountain bike (lots of muddy woodland paths, rocky farm roads, bridleways etc) but can also join up that sort of terrain effectively on the road. It's been really enjoyable so far, I haven't found myself under-biked yet for the terrain I tend to ride but I can cover much more distance without being knackered. I now breeze up hills that I struggled on before (Scotland is very hilly!) and I think my body is getting used to the riding position. Gonna stick with tubes for now but I might give tubeless a bash once my factory tyres are bald.

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In my experience tubeless works great as long as your tire pressure is 40psi and under. As a heavier rider once you go above 40psi I have found that the sealant just keeps coming out and doesn't seal the puncture.

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My 25mm tires went from 100psi to 95psi after a puncture using Orange Seal. Normally I’d be running around 85psi, but I had just gone for a PR on a segment of smooth road. Orange Seal is far superior to anything else on the market…

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Helpful proviso about riding tubeless on roads. I like being able to up pressure a bit, since the knobs and wider tires slow me down as it is, and frequently I'm looking at 40/60 if not 50/50 paved surface. I have not decided on a tire I love so am still using tubes but that would have been an unfun discovery. Thanks again.

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As a mountainbiker I ran tubes for the first 8years tried tubeless a couple of years but fur me it was always more a mess than a good thing. Used to Switch tyres a lot it also got expensive. Also in my opinion and as an ex bike mechanic most flats are caused by pinch flats which can easily be avoided by checking tyre pressures. I really do enjoy gravel bikes but cant really get my head around the fact that it is something else than a cx bike other than a bit of tyre clearance

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Helpful content. I run my WTB Raddlers tubeless and it’s kind of a p.I.t.a. Maybe they’re not set up right but I lose some air every 2-3 days and last week one was dead flat and I had to struggle getting them beaded and all. I used tubes with liners on my other bike and had no issues with flats. May go back to doing that if my re-tape job doesn’t hold. We have a lot of thorns where I ride.

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I work as a bike mechanic/builder, and i still find tubeless a big hassle no benefit and i only see the bad stuff with people i ride with or build bikes for. i dont puncture that often at all on tubes and im a pretty small/lightweight man. so i might not be the target audience to be fair. in the end i prefer some lightweight inner tubes like tubilitos over tubeless

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WTB tubeless on Hunt Gravel wheelset, lovely and comfortable ride and great grip.

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Tubeless on the road is a pain, I ran back to latex tubes with GP5000 best combo

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Hardtail MTB and Gravel bikes are both tubeless, I haven’t gone tubeless on my road bike yet but probably will when I have to replace my tyres.

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I/ve been riding road tubeless for 10 years.  Campag Shamals with Hutchinson tubeless, no wuckers.

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No problem setting up and running tubeless on a road bike. Works very well.

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Had my road bike for 5 years and always been tubeless, over 13,000 miles and only ever one issue where it wouldn’t seal, so tubeless all the way for me

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I have one huge issue with tubeless. Changing tiers. If you can afford and have enough space to keep 2 sets of wheels then it might not be issue for you but I live in an 1 bedroom apartment with 3 bikes. Even without spare wheels it feels like i live in a  bike store.

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I always get ‘pinch punches’ on the first day of the month. Haven’t had a pinch flat since going tubeless.

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Pretty much always ridden tubless on my 'allroad' bike, only ever had one bad puncture which eventually sealed once I put some air in the tyre. I run quite high pressures too.

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I've been riding exclusively tubeless now for over a decade although never with a tubeless specific tire or rim.  I can't recommend it enough (that is unless you enjoy fixing flats on the side of the road).  I'm riding my 3rd 150 mile gravel race this weekend.  My bike of choice is my surly big dummy cargo bike and hookworms 26x2.5 (tubeless of course)

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I run tubeless on my gravel bike and my mountain bikes, but recently it went back to tubes, because I found if I didn't use one of my bikes for a few weeks, I had to top it up with air..

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I think tubeless is great for serious riders but for me who is a part time off road rider it is a bit of a waste considering the need to replace the sealant every 3 months.

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5:25.  This is the reason I am still holding out and using tubes. I use my gravel bike for All roads. Sometimes combining 30-40km of serious unpaved fire road ( dirt double track, cobbly knobbly rocky stuff. heavy loose gravel, fine cinder track all on the same road) and then fill up to 5 BAR for another 30-40 km of paved mountain road ( big technical road descents)   That said.  I drop to 50psi for the unpaved bits  ( sometimes a bit lower on the front) with 40mm Schwalbe mararhons.   I have never had a pinch flat in maybe 3000kms of gravel road and about 90,000 meters of vertical.    How do you find tubless works when filled to 5Bar ( 72psi)?

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Tubeless; yes. Literally cannot remember the last time I had to stop and fix a puncture. Well, ok, that's a lie, it was three years ago in Portugal ... on a bike with inner tubes.

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Got two years and 8k miles on tubeless, I will never ride tubes again but I will never hold a wheel of a tubeless rider lol. I punctured this year and it sealed but what a crap of shit on my leg till it sealed!

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Tubeless - Off road I can't comment but can certainly see the benefits... on road, while I will still get punctures, I'm likely to be able to get home on them. In terms of ride... oh my. So nice... comfortable (30mm Vittoria Rubino), great grip. Tubeless can be a bit more of a faff but for me the ride quality out weights that issue.

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Tubeless only on my MTB.  Tubeless kept blowing off my gravel bike ‍ for no good reason!

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Tubeless is great. Only issues ive had is with the sidewalls of some tires leaking and on leaky sidewall tires, the sealant like is impossible to get off the inside of the tire.