what's the point...

of tubeless tires? i ask my self this question as i was building up my newest moots over the summer. well, i figure, new bike; let's try some new gear. i always love new forks on my mountain bikes, so that wasn't an issue. i spent sleepless nights thinking about hydraulic disc brakes. should i do it or not. i know that they are a pain in the arse to set up, and god forbid if anything happens. i just can't repair them at home. i believe in being as self-reliant as possible. things that i know that i will only need to worry about once in a great while, like bottom brackets, headsets, and things like that i'll "outsource." i was assured that hydraulic brakes have come a long way and i won't have the problems with them like when they first came out. so i went for them.

so i come to the point of tubeless tires. no worries about rims; they are able to run tubes and tubeless. what i know about the advantages of tubeless i am able to count on two fingers. one: less weight. well, i'll just take that piss before i ride, or stop eating the crap that i do. two: you are able to run the tires at a much lower tire pressure and not worry about pinch flats. sounds like a benefit. how often have i said "gee, if i could just lower my pressure just a little more i could get through this?" i do ride a lot during the winter, so i thought o.k.

major down side...i received a flat last saturday. it was the best kind of flat that you could receive. i noticed it when i got home. so it didn't effect my ride. well how do you take care of a flat on a tubeless tire? find the problem spot. patch the inside wall. did that. let it sit over night. put the tire back on the rim. are you getting this whole self-relianance thing? now comes time to air it up. i've got two manual pumps. manual pumps are slow. meaning that they don't fill the tire with a lot of air quickly. so as i'm trying to fill the tire, the air is just escaping out of the side of the tire where it meets the rim. great. so i grab my co2 pump. co2 is not cheap. its more expensive than using manual power. the co2 works. great. but do i want to waste the money on a co2 every time my tire goes completely flat? no.

conclusion...tubes rule. patch. fill. go. self-reliance.