Going back to tube bliss

I am so done with this tubeless hype!

I've been running Tubeless for a few years now and I've come to the conclusion, that for me the prevention of a few flats a year just doesn't justify all the hassles that come with it. The only reason why I converted to tubeless is because I got sick and tierd of hearing one of my riding buddies b!tchin and complaining every time I pinch flatted even though I've witnessed him getting flats many times even though he was tubeless. By going tubeless it seems to me all I did is traded pinch flats for side wall tears. For some reason I've never had so many side wall cuts since converting to tubeless. Not to mention the mess of installation, The hassle of adding more Stan's every other month, the expense of buying UST tires and bottles of Stan's for maintenance.
When you do slice a side wall and have to put a tube in, now you have to deal with the mess of all the Stan's getting all over the place while trying to put the tube in. Plus, I've gone down twice because the front tire burped. The last time I wrecked is because I sliced the side wall, lost air pressure then burped the tire and crashed. Then when I went to put a tube in it, I couldn't get the valve stem out because the Stan's acted like Loctite and had locked the knurled nut into place so I had to walk my bike out 4 miles.
For me tubeless is too unsafe and unpredictable. I would much rather change a tube once in a while.

Sorry, rant over.

 

I divorced tubes a couple years ago. I was ignorant thinking that going tubeless would make me invisible on the trail to flats. That is until after burping my tire in Palm Canyon on an evil rock and having it completely fail half way into the ride. I am still running tubeless now but on longer epics I will always make sure to add more juice, more air and carry an extra tube just in case.

 

Maybe I'm not hard enough on my gear... but I'm never going back to tubes.

 

Pros and cons Either way, but tubeless is a real pain when it fails, I run tubes too

 

I just went tubeless, and someone just told me, the reason to go tubeless in the first place, is to run lower pressures for better traction. Yes this has got to be true, but I'm not going to sacrifice a bit more safety, and will run a higher pressure. I decided I had to try it. If I ever burp a tire I'm going back to tubes. Short of a side wall tear, how many are burping tires with higher pressures? It also seems to me the cost is higher for tubeless.

 

I tried tubeless for a while and had so many flats and problems going back to tubes was great!

 

3+ years without tubes and it has been pure bliss. Never had a flat unless I let the Stan's go dry. The only tire I've ever had burp was a loose fitting Nevegal...and it only lost 10 psi or so.

When I try a new tire for the first time and am not sure if I'm going to like it I'll throw a tube in. Seems like every time I do I end up getting a flat from a goat head. I hate flats.

I've had some tires with a couple dozen slightly weeping goat head holes that seal up and hold air just fine. When I see that it reminds how good tubeless is.

...of course now I've jinxed myself.

 

Your making a mistake. Take a deep breath... and a few steps back...
Now jump back on that tubeless bike and give it another try!

 

are you using ust rims as well as ust tires?

 

nope.com
When tubeless fails, it fails catastrophically.

 

Yep, Mavic 819's

 

I have run tubless for a while....years and never had a problem with UST rim and UST tires as the sidewalls are thicker
As for sidewall tears on tires tubes or not that tire is done , i still carry a innertube with me just in case i need it

Like said before dont let the stans dry up

 

I still ride tubes on my mountain bike, but tubeless on the road...figure that one out.

 

I rejected tubeless for a lot of years.......late last year finally gave in and tried it.

Started out with jut the back tires on my wife and I Stan's wheels. After they earned my trust, I swapped over the front of my bike.

Last month I even converted over my Velocity Blunts on my Tallboy with the Bontrager Tubeless strips.

So far I have only had one issue......sliced a sidewall on a Conti coming down from Modjeska Peak. However it was only a slow leak and I was able to get to bottom of Harding without it going flat.

 

I'm not a huge tubeless fan, but this past weekend I did the 24 hours of Old Pueblo. Cactus was the name of the game out there. One dude was running slime tubes, flatted at 4 in the morning and had to swap out tubes. the next day, he found 15 holes in his slime tube. My team, we all ran tubeless and we had no issues. And I did run over cactus on my 1 am loop. I agree with all the mess and hassle, but had I been running tubes I would have had at least one pinch flat and probably other needle induced flats.

 

I have run Stans for years....1000s of Miles, 1M+ ft of ascending and descending various trails only One issue....ever, just recently actually, sliced sidewall / burp.... shoot now I probably cursed myself.

 

My buddies keep bugging me to go tubeless. I have demo'd bikes set up tubeless, and they do have a different feel, but I had to run them at almost the same psi to avoid banging the rim, so much of that feel disappeared. I am sticking with tubes. I agree with the OP, when tubeless fail, it's often catastrophic. They are annoying to maintain, hard to repair on the trail, easy to burp and not much, if any, lighter. If I lived and rode where there are lots of thorns and cactus, I would probably convert, but for now, I like the simplicity of tubes. A couple of pinch flats a year is no big deal.

...And I have never flatted my DH bikes (dumb luck or too conservative?) running Minion DHFs (Exo in front) and/or High Rollers with DH tubes. Uh oh, just jinxed it...

 

run what ya brung, i dont judge

 

I went back from tubless on everything to tubed with a little slime or stans in the tube, now i don't dread tire changes.

 

In the 20+ years that I've been MTB'n I can probably count on one hand the times I got a flat from a thorn so IMO that argument is out the window.
I agree with Herzalot, either way I run in between 30-35 psi in my tires