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Tape, sealant and to a lesser extent tyres can be picked but most people can't just chop and change their rims so of course you're gonna have people having issues because some tyre doesn't work with some tape rim and sealant combo.
My first TL tyre was an experiment on a Light Bicycle rim that was always a pain to seat tubed tyres on. The tubeless Schwalbe Pro One went on with a hand pump, no sealant, like a fucking boss. I thought "what are all these dickheads on about with their stories of hosing the lounge with jizz, etc" and then I bought some used 650B wheels and they worked with the WTBs that were fitted but then I changed to other WTB tyres and would they stay sealed? Would they fuck. Had to retape them in the end. Then there was the Panaracer drama - front is fine. Rear is fine... oh wait no it's done 300k and then suddenly hosed all the sealant out. Different rims front and back you see? One rim was more sensitive to tape width. Once it was properly setup these two raced Badlands with no issue, but fuck me, they had 4 different people have a go at setting them up.
hippy-
Panaracer and WTB are old tubeless, they’re noticeably harder when compared to modern type (like Teravail which inflate and hold without sealant).
Would you like me to send you a modern 650b gravel tyres that easy to set up?
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they had 4 different people have a go at setting them up.
My first go at tubeless was a nightmare took ages to get working perfectly, experience really pays dividends here.
One thing people really overlook with tubeless is the pressure in the tyres, if you're expecting to run higher pressures just stick with tubes, because all that happens is once you get a puncture with all that pressure the sealant is just gonna jettison out of there not stick, bunch up and plug the hole, and possibly tear the hole even bigger.
edscoble
Dogs
i feel like 90% of people's problems with tubeless is not picking stuff that is known to work well.
schwalbe tubeless is pretty faultless. have used enve, hed, easton, and lightbicycle rims with no problems (with schwalbe. had trouble seating rene herse tires).
in like the last 2000 hours of riding i have had 1 flat that didn't seal, and that was an old furious fred with not enough sealant and a big hole. i've had a number of other punctures all of which sealed with enough air that i could get home without much trouble.
i agree that road tubeless is not a super clear win, but i ride rough roads, light dirt, etc on my road bike and i think tubeless is a clear benefit then. i can go to 50psi on 30mm tires without worrying about rim impacts, and get lots of grip and have never had a pinch.