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Who has gone back to tubes?

PB Forum :: All Mountain, Enduro & Cross-Country
Who has gone back to tubes?
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flag Beef46
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 7:38 Quote
Probably been done before, but as the title really - Who has gone back to tubes?

At the end of the summer I bought my first full suspension bike (2018 Giant Reign 2) after getting back in to bikes following a 20+ year break! Anyway when I bought it, the rear wheel had a very minor dent in it, so today I decided to straighten it out.
Removing the tyre and straightening the rim was a piece of cake. Getting that God awful tyre sealant off the tyre was a right ball ache. Dont know what sealant it was but christ it was difficult to get off. Tried just rubbing it off with my hands, using soapy water and a brush & sponge. I even tried using some adhesive remover that we use at work but nothing really had the desired effect. I spent a good hour cleaning it all off and even then I didn't get all of it. The hardest bit was getting it off the bead of the tyre.
So based on all that I thought sod this and put a tube in. Will do the front tyre when I've got a suitable amount of motivation to do it.

So anyone else gone back to tubes?
flag fielonator
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 8:24 Quote
Aye nonny-no! It took me a long while to try tubeless, but now I run my tyres below 20psi on my local trails and love it. Couldn't do that before. I agree the increased mess and buggeration that tubeless brings is a pain but I'm happy to put up with it.

It's also stopped me swapping my tyres every time the weather changes, now I change for winter and then again for summer and try to ignore the in between bits.
flag tomhoward379
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 8:29 Quote
Nope. Never will.

Not sure why you were cleaning everything off the tyre though? I never have, and while I don't swap tyres every week, I do change for summer/winter. Never had a problem
flag Will1848
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 8:30 Quote
Nope. Went to ghetto tubeless before it was common and was happy to see it go standard. The reliability and ability to run low pressure far outweighs any extra work I need to do in the workshop.
flag NERyder
O+ FL
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 8:39 Quote
I went back to tubes on my 2016 Intense tracer. The rims are early "tubeless compatible" and would burp and even unseat once under heavy G turns or landing small drops. I am for tubeless but not with the rims on my current bike.

My Ripmo getting delivered today is going to be tubeless though. I hope I can get it from the LBS before they shut down due to Coronavirus. Everything is shutting down here in Boston right now. It will be just my luck if I have to wait a month because they shut down.
flag Beef46
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 9:37 Quote
tomhoward379 wrote:
Nope. Never will.

Not sure why you were cleaning everything off the tyre though? I never have, and while I don't swap tyres every week, I do change for summer/winter. Never had a problem

I was cleaning it all off because from what I've researched, you shouldn't mix different types of sealant and as I didn't know what sealant was in the tyre i thought best to get it all off. Plus i dont think the tyre would've sealed again with all the crap on the bead. So the plan was to clean it all off and start a fresh with some new sealant that I planned to buy. However as soon as I realised what a ball ache it was I decided to go back to a tube. I continued to clean it all off cos I'm a bit anal like that.

I'm in my early 40's now, 6'2" and weigh 105kg and pretty unfit. Therefore, the few grams gained from the tube doesn't bother me plus I don't get to ride nearly as often as I'd like due to work, family etc. Haven't ridden for a while now just due to the god awful weather. I'm not afraid of getting wet and muddy - infact the last time I rode I got covered in mud and crap and had a fair bit of fun. But with all the rain we've had in the UK since then it's just been too much.
Another reason that going back to tubes doesn't bother me is that I dont have no where near the skill level to be riding hard enough to reap the benefits, therefore the increased cost of remaining tubless doesn't seem worth it to me. A new tube is a couple of quid, so if I get a puncture I'll just spend a few minutes swapping it out and be on my way.

I get that there are benefits from running tubless and I understand why it's now so popular, but for me at this present time tubes just seem far cheaper and easier. However having said all that I'll see how I get on and who knows maybe in the future I'll convert back to tubless!
flag csvetich
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 9:40 Quote
tubeless every time if possible, an additional plus i find it be more eco-friendly, i don't have blown tubes laying around anymore. i live in the country, rubber and plastic trash is just bad.

not sure about the eco part of the sealant, but have used the sealant on my lawn mower, trailer etc fixed those tires right up!!!

time wise, i don't find swapping tires with tubes or sealant to be much different...
flag reverend27
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 16:26 Quote
Let it dry take the palm of your hand or a dry towel and you can rub it off.
Do it just like if you where rubbing the palms of your hands together but rub the inside of the tire.

I learned this i was first using a towel and realized my palm works better.

Also first make sure you dont have anything stuck in the tire cause that would hurt bad.
flag gafoto
Posted: Mar 18, 2020 at 20:03 Quote
I weigh 250lbs, ride like an idiot and will flat a tube every other ride. Went tubeless and never went back.
flag seanondemand
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 10:12 Quote
Tubeless can be a bit of a mess when you're maintaining it (although you really don't need to go as far as you did, just gotta clean out the Stan-imals every once in a while) but it's SO worth that tradeoff.
flag johnpierro13
O+
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 11:41 Quote
Still running tubes, never made the switch to tubeless purely because I've heard it can be a finicky process. I run Maxxis DH casing up front and DD casing out back and rarely have to deal with flats (maybe 1-2/year). Don't know that I'd see much benefit lowering the pressures because even with tubes I have to run the pressure high enough that I'm not having the sidewall roll over on hard corners. That said, Ontario riding isn't exactly known for its rocky terrain, which likely plays into my lack of flats. Maybe I'm missing out, idk
flag Falcon991
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 15:58 Quote
I've been having massive trouble getting my tubeless setup to hold air so I'm running tubes now. I like tubeless. I want to go tubeless. Tubes are lame. Sadly, something in my wheel tape, sealant, or presta valve game is so far off that the wheels both leak like sieves when trying to air up. I've done it over and over and over again with no luck.

Last weekend I was so pissed I wanted to carry my wheel into the LBS and scream, "$100,000,000 to the first person who can make this hold air!" But then again, we all know that I don't have that kind of money. Nor will this wheel ever hold tubeless air, but I digress.

Anyway, I'm running tubes and carrying self-adhesive patches these days. Yay.
flag Ohiomtbwannab
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 17:15 Quote
Still tubes here. Love that I can carry a tiny little patch kit and not even remove the rear wheel when I get a flat. Just slap a patch on, air up and I'm pedaling again. Patching is far to easy for me to even want to go tubless. Maybe if I raced and a pinch flat would ruin my weekend....but a pinch flat is barely anymore of a setback than stopping to eat a cliff bar. The entire mtb industry is making a huge todo over something that is a fix for a non issue imo.
flag richulr
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 18:17 Quote
I went back to tubes. I burped several times tubeless, and got several flats when I thought the sealant would stop it from happening. Since going back to tubes, Ive had a lot less troubles.
flag eshew
Posted: Mar 19, 2020 at 19:15 Quote
I run tubes in my dh bike & my 1983 Ritchey. Couldn't pay me to run tubes in my other bikes. The pnw is pretty forgiving when it comes to tubeless.
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