tubeless tires

I was at the local bike shop last Saturday and after spending some
time discussing bike computers we moved onto tires. The guy told me he
had just the tire for me but I'm going to put my thumb over the price
($79) while I talk about it. It was a tubeless tire. I have to admit I
was intrigued but the only way it would make sense for me is to buy a
new set of wheels for faster rides using these tires. I use the bike
for commuting and "training" - for what I don't know. Looking on the
web I see that a few teams are using these tires and that they are
relatively new. Anybody tried them? What do you think?

Steve G

On Thu, 13 Mar 2008 14:50:35 -0700 (PDT), steve
wrote:

I was at the local bike shop last Saturday and after spending some
time discussing bike computers we moved onto tires. The guy told me he
had just the tire for me but I'm going to put my thumb over the price
($79) while I talk about it. It was a tubeless tire. I have to admit I
was intrigued but the only way it would make sense for me is to buy a
new set of wheels for faster rides using these tires. I use the bike
for commuting and "training" - for what I don't know. Looking on the
web I see that a few teams are using these tires and that they are
relatively new. Anybody tried them? What do you think?

They're race tyres. If you don't race, you don't need them. They're a
bugger to repair out on the road, so you need a support car with spare
wheels. Actually, they're a bugger to repair, period. You probably
need sponsorship from a tyre company to use them. Their advantages on
a road bike are small to non-existent over good tubed tyres, and far
outweighed by the fact that the best (fastest) wheels are not tubeless
compatible.

This comment brought to you by a happy long term (since 2002) user of
UST tyres off road

Kinky Cowboy*

*Batteries not included
May contain traces of nuts
Your milage may vary

"steve" wrote in message
...
I was at the local bike shop last Saturday and after spending some
time discussing bike computers we moved onto tires. The guy told me he
had just the tire for me but I'm going to put my thumb over the price
($79) while I talk about it. It was a tubeless tire. I have to admit I
was intrigued but the only way it would make sense for me is to buy a
new set of wheels for faster rides using these tires. I use the bike
for commuting and "training" - for what I don't know. Looking on the
web I see that a few teams are using these tires and that they are
relatively new. Anybody tried them? What do you think?

Steve G

I am taking an entirely different approach for my commuting and "training"
bike tires. I have very thick and heavy Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires and
tubes filled Specialized Airlock sealant. I do not ever want to have flats
while commuting to and from work. It doesn't matter to me if it takes 31.4
minutes to get to work rather than 30.8 minutes. I expect these tires to
last thousands of miles. They have an excellent "training" benefit as well.
Because they weigh so much, I get more exercise on my daily commute. I
guess this is sort of like running with ankle weights. Your mileage may
vary.

BobT