TUBELESS for Bike Touring: Should you switch?

Should you go tubeless for your next bike tour? After riding thousands of kilometers without a single flat on my Schwalbe Marathons, I swore I would never ride on anything else. But, I eventually discovered that a tubeless setup offers certain benefits Schwalbes, and other tubed tires, don't. In this video I dig into the pros and cons of tubeless for bikepacking, and why I ultimately decided to make the switch.
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CHAPTERS
0:00 Tubes vs Tubeless for bike touring: Let's discuss!
0:38 What is tubeless?
1:33 Why people love tubeless
2:10 Why I said goodbye to Schwalbe Marathons
2:37 Pro 1: More puncture-protected options
3:12 Pro 2: Tire pressure for tough terrain
3:48 Pro 3: Weight savings
4:38 Con 1: The price of tubeless
5:17 Con 2: What you need to repair
5:38 Con 3: Can tubeless be fixed worldwide?
7:14 The tubeless tires I chose
7:33 Tip 1: How to avoid surprises on the road
8:01 Tip 2: How to maintain your sealant
8:25 Tip 3: Understand your tubeless setup
9:11 Tip 4: Stay curious!
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[@SheelaghDaly]

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[@toolaholicsanonymous]

Last year I rode 6,400 KM of the trans Canada trail from St. Johns Newfoundland to Wawa Ontario. I went with tubeless. I had zero flats but if I'd been running tubes I'd have had at least 50 flats in my rear tire alone. Mostly sidewall thorn punctures. Tubeless is definitely the way to go.

[@outlaweric]

I wondered about that "seating" of the tire. Thanks for the video. Hasn't changed my mind about it...yet! But more info is always good.

[@daveebert7747]

I've been running tubeless for about three years and love it. I've had decades and decades of experience with tubes and I'd never go back. Last fall I had to run tubes and I got 4 flats in 3 weeks compared to zero flats in three years for the tubeless.

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks for sharing your experiences Dave!

[@RoadDestination]

I'm waiting for the best of both worlds sealant in a tube🙂 No experience with tubeless, but I've seen other people struggle with them so I'm reluctant to switch as I'm pretty happy with the conventional setup. At least for short tours when I leave home with good tires. For longer tours where tire wear becomes an issue, though often low quality, even in rural Africa you generally are able to find traditional tires that allows you to move on, don't expect you to find much tubeless stuff. If you've to fly in the quality stuff anyway I'ld say it doesn't make much of a difference, but having to switch over to a tubed system for emergency repairs feels like a serious disadvantage to me.

[@tomsitzman3952]

I have never tried tubeless. Not a fan of any kind of gunk, I run Schwalbe Marathon plus with a heavy duty inner tube. They go forever and with the 4 or 5 cm of blue rubber under the outer black tread they are protected from thorns and sharp rocks. They also have very stiff sidewall. I can't remember the last time I had a flat. Might have been back in the 90's. Schwalbe are heavier and slower which is not a problem when my bike is loaded on a tour or ridding in city traffic. Touring 100 miles a day without a flat to repair is a lot more enjoyable than taking my panniers off to change a flat. The marathon tire as opposed to a lighter weight tire with gunk is the marathon tire does not get punctured so there is no need for plugs or sealant. Not better or worse, just two ways to solve stopping to fix flats on the road. I live by Occam's razer: The simplest solution is always the best solution.

[@SheelaghDaly]

Totally fair! Happy you've found a solution that works for you :) No flats since the 90s... that's clearly working!!

[@orangevw36]

THANK YOU for covering the fact that you can carry a tube and use it if the tubeless system fails. So many people are afraid of tubeless i guess because of the initial setup or not knowing how to use plugs and sealant. I switched years ago and have an unbelievable reduction in flats and problems. The fact that you can throw a tube in and carry on, and even add sealant to a tube is a no brainer. Schawlbe Marathons are great, but SO HEAVY. The rolling restance saved by going with lighter tires on an already loaded bike is also a no brainer. I’ve done both and will never go back to marathons. Continental Race King Protections are another grippy and tough option

[@SheelaghDaly]

Oooh thanks for the tip on the Continental Race King Protections. I'm testing out Vittoria Mezcals now but I'll keep those in mind!

[@whizler]

Great video and argument for tubeless touring! I did have a question though. What is that lovely candle in the background? 😄

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks so much! Haha that one was a gift so I'm not sure where it's from - but it's Aloe & Bergamot :)

[@dimrub]

I've seen a nice video with a trick of how to seat a tire using just a small pump - I seem to remember the trick is to pull the tire on the bead manually as much as possible before attempting to inflate, haven't tried it myself. But I guess the CO2 route is easier - and since one needs to buy gas for a stove, one can also usually buy CO2 at the same place. As for the additional stuff to carry, yes, you'd carry a tube just in case - but just one instead of multiple, and you'll carry a plug kit which is smaller than a patch kit (mine is tiny), and it seems a bit of an overkill to carry the sealant - where would you bike in order not to meet a single bike shop that has sealant - for half a year?

[@Hyunjincho84]

튜블리스 타이어의 장점이 많지만, 한 가지 튜블리스 전용 림이 아닌 경우, 깊게 찔리거나 타이어레버 조직서투름에 따른 림테이프가 손상 시에 대처 방법이 어렵습니다. (튜블리스레디 전용 림테이프가 필요) 물론 그 경우에 튜브를 쓰면 되지만, 이 역시도 림홀에 붙은 테이프가 손상되면 튜브도 터질 수 있으므로 별도의 림 끈(튜브용)을 하나 추가하는 것을 추천합니다.

[@harryrowland4734]

A regular frame fit pump works fine with road or gravel tubeless tyres,.

[@harryrowland4734]

@@doublewhopper67 I do this for a living mate,I do know what I'm talking about. I think you're confusing setting up tubeless maybe, but you're not going to be doing that at the roadside. I can easily seat a gravel or mountain bike tubeless tyre and tube with a mini pump, but a famefit is easier.

[@markthomasson5077]

Can you not use a schraeder to presta adapter then use a gas station pump if you have problems.

[@ucanskixc568]

We ride Fatbikes and do bikepacking within 1000km of where we live. I went from tubes to tubeless back to tubes where I live in Alberta Canada. Tubeless liquid took just as much as the weight of a tube. Tubeless liquid seeps out and more has to have more put back in, especially in the spring after being low air pressure all winter. If you want to break the bead it can be very difficult, especially as a senior when the bead dries out. The bead also makes it difficult to add air with just a hand pump or foot pump once the bead is broken. Fat tires do soak a lot of small rocks etc. Some fatbike tires cannot go tubeless as I found out with wifey's bike and $80 later from the bike shop. I continued with my tubeless set but I to give up after 3 years. Too much hassle and extra expense in my experience. I have also talked to others who tried tubeless and went back to tubes Just my 2 cents worth.

[@feedfacedeadbeef]

Tubeless vs tubes has been discussed to death. But your perspective is unique. /s 👏

[@SheelaghDaly]

Thanks so much, I appreciate that! :)

[@socaljoe]

Really Good explanation and great points. The only thing I would mention is I’ve had great success with “seating” the tire with only a floor pump on my MTB and touring tires. I think I may have had to use a compressor on occasion but that was the exception. Tubeless on a road bike tire is another matter. My theory is the bigger the tire & lower pressure required the easier it is to seat. The other thing is tubeless tires generally have thinner sidewalls that provide a suppler ride with the lower pressure. The downside is they can be more prone to sidewall gashes if you’re in the wrong environment and generally tubeless doesn’t work a sidewall hole/gash. Thank you for the video!

[@SheelaghDaly]

Great points! And thank you for sharing your experience seating wider tires with a regular pump - that’s great to hear!

[@marcinkwiatkowski9926]

I have tubeless on my gravel bike and the tyres were very tough to put on the wheel. I really hope I never have a critical failure when I'd have to do it on the side of the road. I genuinly think I'd either splurge for a cab ride or just start crying.

[@SheelaghDaly]

Awww haha yeah they can be tough! I do find generally after going on and off a couple times they ease up a bit. Still, here's hoping for no critical failures!! 🙏

[@Charlie-sr6dv]

❤

[@StarEssences]

Tubeless to me is MESSY to deal with. When changing an innertube of a bicycle tire a lot of people lack the tools to change their tire with ease and less energy consumption. There is your patch kit (which is a must), a frame pump (but for me, only for to slightly fill the innertube to insert into tire with more ease and to help prevent pinch flats from occurring), then when filling up the tire...a compact, lightweight air compressor (which there are plenty of these). It takes me about (if you know what you are doing) no more than around five minutes to change a bike tire for a woman.

[@rainbowhiker]

Humm... Think tubes are still the way to go. For me, it's simpler, known tec, and lighter. Thanks though. In certain place, like stickery areas, it could really be helpful. I thought this video was going to be about solid tires. Ever tried them?

[@markmartello]

The Park Tools youtube channel has great videos on setting up tubeless

[@SheelaghDaly]

Yes, definitely! So detailed and helpful :)

[@johngrossbohlin7582]

Ah yes... tires, tubes, and pumps... the Achilles heel of multi-month touring! After about 14,000 km of touring, and well over 100,000 km of cycling overall, I'm sticking with my Marathons and Marathon Mondial 700C tires. Case in point, on my last tour I encountered a woman riding tubeless who had to put in tubes due to tubeless system failure. She then couldn't get the tires to seat with her compact pump. We were in an area with very limited services.... The tires were crooked and rode horribly. Having worked as a tech in a bicycle shop in the past, I used every trick in the book to get the tires to seat with the compact pumps we had. After they were almost seated I alternately bounced the sidewalls off a picnic table top and pressed with my thumbs to get them home. That worked but it was not something I'd care to repeat... time consuming and very tough on my thumbs! A patch kit and an extra tube accompany me and my Schwalbes... though I only recall one flat while using them and it was due to a problem stem! Before the Schwalbes it was a different story... I felt 7 flats during a 5,000 km trip was tolerable "in the old days." 😉 Also, I'd think the extra supplies needed to support the tubeless system would offset much of the weight advantage of the tubeless tires themselves over the Marathons... and take up more room. No? I'd be curious to hear other's long term experiences on multi-month tours. My trips have included road, canalway, rail trail, gravel, and single track from places as diverse as the FL Keys and Everglades, to the Appalachians, Rockies and Cascades.

[@Foxtrottangoabc]

In uk I've watched many utuber cyclists struggle with tubeless when they go bad , often unable to get the tyres on the rims . And the mess it makes 😅. I've had some success with slime tubes but that seems abit hit and miss . I've yet to go over to the dark side 😅 but do plan on setting up some wheels with tubeless to see how it goes as I can see some advantages , mainly for shorter racy rides. But tyres , correct rim size , good condition rim tape all make a big difference in reducing tube punctures

[@albarin0]

Interesting information but music and sound effects got in the way and added nothing.

[@MCohen90]

I was also hesitant to switch but now I'll never go back to tubes!

[@pgreenx]

Same here. Really no downside considering you can and have to carry spare tubes anyway.

[@the-portuguese-guy]

Tubeless for touring / bikepacking ? First is better know how much weght the tire support, and on second place is better have a support car behind, tubeless = problems and more problems, is a product born from marketing a way of life, on the reality not work, its a way for expend money and at final you need carry a tube...,😅, for Competition? yes i agree because if have problems you have support car, for daily life touring ? no.

[@dennisw8026]

I see zero reason for me to switch from Marathons

[@rodmilankov8966]

This is a typical example how demand is artificially created by manufacturers pushing new and more profitable technology in order to replace one that has worked forever and a day. Too lazy to fix a puncture, but ready to replace the sealant every 6 months at a higher place? Go for it!