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Road Tubeless

oldborn

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May 14, 2010
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titan_90 said:
I would like some opinions on Road Tubeless tires, wheels and the system in general, the good and bad etc. Also, are Stan's ZTR Alpha 340 rims and good?

I wrote it somewhere else. Good feeling like tubulars, hutchinson fusion and zonda combo doing well although tyres not for training very soft (2000km max), very pain in the *** when mounted, air leaking (every 2nd day you should inflate), expensive for my taste (40 euro per tyre), never had a a flat, milk inside. Carry a spare inner, and solid levers. I am just in doubt to buy another one, cos rolling feeling (8 bars feels like 13bars)
Hope this help.
 
Skip the Stans rims and mount them on whatever you have. I have put them on Reynolds Attack, ASsault. Mavic Cosmic Carbon SL, DT Swiss, Hed Ardennes, Hed Bastogne, Zipp 404's. No problem. Everyone I have done it for loves them. They ride awesome, hook up in corner fantastic, no flats, don't leak with Stan's sealant in them.
Highly recommend. I use them exclusively for training.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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Thanks for the responses. I asked about the rims because I am going to have a new set of wheels built and seen that the Stans rims where 100grams lighter then the DT Swiss rims I was going to get. I am wondering if they are super flexy and feel like wet noodles because of the weight reduction.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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titan_90 said:
Thanks for the responses. I asked about the rims because I am going to have a new set of wheels built and seen that the Stans rims where 100grams lighter then the DT Swiss rims I was going to get. I am wondering if they are super flexy and feel like wet noodles because of the weight reduction.

I've built up a couple sets of Stan's, both used for CX and gravel racing. No good, too light, poor quality, "wet noodles" was a common term used to describe the ride. The only thing worth buying from Stan's is the sealant, and that was uttered by relatively lightweight riders.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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A word on road tubeless, they (mostly Hutchinson) have been trying to get it on the road for over a decade now and have made very little progress, tubulars are just way more favorable for racing in every aspect, weight, ride quality at high pressures, safety, tire choice,,, everything.
 
titan_90 said:
I would like some opinions on Road Tubeless tires, wheels and the system in general, the good and bad etc. Also, are Stan's ZTR Alpha 340 rims any good?

First the rims. A few tests on these and they are really light and make for a pretty 'soft' wheelset. Not recommended unless you are in the buck-25 range of rider weight and probably not even then.

If you put goop, like Stans or Cafeelatex in them, yes you get fewer flats but put the same thing in tubes of clichers and tubulars and get same flat protection. Ride a nice clincher, 25mm width, at lower pressure and get a similar ride to tubeless w/o all the drama of rims, tape, one type tire, goop.

But the best ride is tubular. Strongest rims for the weight, better ride, safer, more comfy and no gluing them on isn't a big deal, less so that prepping a set of Stans 340s for tubeless.
 
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RDV4ROUBAIX said:
I've built up a couple sets of Stan's, both used for CX and gravel racing. No good, too light, poor quality, "wet noodles" was a common term used to describe the ride. The only thing worth buying from Stan's is the sealant, and that was uttered by relatively lightweight riders.

Bustedknuckle said:
First the rims. A few tests on these and they are really light and make for a pretty 'soft' wheelset. Not recommended unless you are in the buck-25 range of rider weight and probably not even then.

If you put goop, like Stans or Cafeelatex in them, yes you get fewer flats but put the same thing in tubes of clichers and tubulars and get same flat protection. Ride a nice clincher, 25mm width, at lower pressure and get a similar ride to tubeless w/o all the drama of rims, tape, one type tire, goop.

But the best ride is tubular. Strongest rims for the weight, better ride, safer, more comfy and no gluing them on isn't a big deal, less so that prepping a set of Stans 340s for tubeless.

Thanks for the replies. You two confirmed my suspicions about the rims, I will avoid them.
 
veganrob said:
Running the Hutchinson last year tubeless for cross got burping. They said it was the bead not strong enough and corrected it. I have the new tires so we'll see. Tubi still best though.

Hutch's first iteration was a carbon bead but same size as the kevlar, didn't stretch AT ALL and couldn't mount the tires. Second was slightly bigger carbon bead to help the burp problem...tubie the best. Clement said to have a tubeless tubular, made by Tufo but with more supple sidewalls..to eliminate the very rare tubie pinch flat in cross. Gonna be expensive tho.