Hey Jim, thanks for the great post and all the info. This discussion has certainly helped me a lot too. Liam and Josh have put up a lot of useful sutff of the pros
and cons of this whole tubeless thing. I'm going to need therapy after this chat is over....in form of a good long ride in the woods.
I gotta say I was really turned off this whole tubeless thing, when faced with the prospect of adding more Stans every 3 months, stripping the tires off and trashing them after a single season because they were eaten away from the inside, trying to fix a flat trailside with messy goop all over my bike and myself whilst being eaten by mosquitos the size of hummingbirds (we grow 'em big here in the north woods). I've got three other performance bikes in the family to keep maintained and tuned, never mind a business to run and active teenage girls to keep happy -- I don't have the time or the patience for this sort of thing.
But....Jim uncovered some products that (apparently) actually last longer than 3 months. Hurrah! So this prompted me to contact Bontrager regarding my wheels, which are "tubeless ready", but not true tubeless, to find out what it is I actually need to do to run tubeless with minimum fuss and aggravation. Their response was that I still need sealant, but only to seal the bead, not the rim strip or valve seat. This is good news, since the trails around here have almost no sharp rocks or thorns, I am therefore not concerned about flatting out, so do not feel I need sealant for puncture sealing. If I do get a flat, I carry a tube to get me home.
So here's what I think I can do (Liam, Josh, feel free to bust on this):
-- buy UST tires that don't need sealant to make them airtight
-- seal the bead with Hutchinson or Geax sealant, which lasts 2 years (supposedly), only needs about 30ml added at the start to do the job, and apparently is a cinch to clean up when the tire eventually does come off
-- go riding, and don't worry about the tires until they wear out 2 years later from all the miles I've ridden
Sound good, guys? I am optimistic that this will be doable.
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