Tubeless vs. tubes: What are the pros and cons for trail riding?

[Flowrider]

Having a chat the other day while riding.

My mates got tubeless, my tyres have tubes.

I thought I'd ask the forum what you think are the advantages and disadvantages.

[GirishH]

Tubeless conversions aren't ideal for my 26 x 4" fatbike. Sourcing tubes and tires is already a challenge, and tubeless options are even less available, especially in remote areas. For example, I could not get a spare tire when I tried to carry one before embarking on my South America bike packing trip.

The cost of tubeless rims and tires is also a deterrent. For now, I prefer the simplicity and wider availability of tubes, carrying spares and patches as needed.

What are your reasons, @Flowrider?

[Flowrider]

I've never really given it much thought, so I thought I'd post here and, judging on the feedback, change to tubeless or stay with what I got.

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You sound like you're on an amazing adventure @GirishH !

[ReapThaWhirlwind]

I think that tubeless are especially beneficial for quick, or short-term competitive use.

They offer excellent qualities for these scenarios, such as saving weight, enhancing puncture protection, and maximizing air pressure optimization (which reduces rolling resistance).

I don't like their application in enduro settings, or endurance based riding, including obsessive hobbying. Tubeless setups are very high maintenance and high risk, and I think the seasoned shops do a lot of fabricating that they shouldn't do towards the reliability of tubeless setups. They are fully equipped and skilled to maintenance their gear, and they will often overhaul their wheelsets before complications would occur. This is certainly the ideal with all types of machines, but the reality is that most riders are not this inclined or equipped, and what they will experience instead is catastrophic failure. This has certainly the truth that has shown itself across the internet. So, it's misleading to over promote and downplay the caveats of tubeless riding as many do.

They do have some great benefits, but I can't express enough how finite the application is.

[GirishH]

Those are my exact thoughts.

While riding a couple of days ago, I got a flat tire. The passersby were kind enough to bring me a tray of water to help locate the hole, but I struggled for nearly half an hour without success. Eventually, I pumped some air into the tire and rode to a roadside bicycle shop in the middle of a tea estate. Most locals use gearless bicycles for their daily commutes, so there are plenty of such shops around. The mechanic was experienced enough to find and fix the leak.

That moment, I couldn't help but wonder what I would have done if my tubeless tire had issues. I can't even find tubes for my bicycle in this area, so I don't have any hope for a tire or other accessories for my bicycle. I am not even sure, if there are tubeless rims, tired for fatbikes..

This experience reinforced the idea that the more generic and universal my needs are, the better off I'm.

(02-16-2025, 07:07 PM)ReapThaWhirlwind Wrote:  I think that tubeless are especially beneficial for quick, or short-term competitive use.

They offer excellent qualities for these scenarios, such as saving weight, enhancing puncture protection, and maximizing air pressure optimization (which reduces rolling resistance).

I don't like their application in enduro settings, or endurance based riding, including obsessive hobbying. Tubeless setups are very high maintenance and high risk, and I think the seasoned shops do a lot of fabricating that they shouldn't do towards the reliability of tubeless setups. They are fully equipped and skilled to maintenance their gear, and they will often overhaul their wheelsets before complications would occur. This is certainly the ideal with all types of machines, but the reality is that most riders are not this inclined or equipped, and what they will experience instead is catastrophic failure. This has certainly the truth that has shown itself across the internet. So, it's misleading to over promote and downplay the caveats of tubeless riding as many do.

They do have some great benefits, but I can't express enough how finite the application is.

[SPINMAN]

The idea of changing or patching a tube in the deep woods in mud or snow is not appealing. My off road trails were full of thorns. I often got home with little dots of green on my tires. That meant several flats on every ride of I had tubes. Tubeless and Slime in my neck of the woods. If it's just dry dirt trails I may have a different opinion.

[enkei]

A lot depends on what you ride, where, and when.

Tubeless for road bikes is fraught with complications such as hookless rims, tire/rim compatibility, tire pressure limitations. I reckon TPU or latex tubes are a better option for most road riding, as long as you have disc brakes. If you have rim brakes you have to be a little wary of TPU tubes, at least in theory.

For applications like MTB and gravel, tubeless is almost a no-brainer. The only caveat is that if you regularly change tires (e.g. swap between 32c and 40c for different terrains/rides) tubeless is a lot more hassle than tubes.