tubeless wheels.

I'm currently running my Easton ea50 wheels tubeless with vittoria XM pro cross folding tyres and they are great so far (touches wood).

Though I now feel like my bike needs a nicer wheelset.

Is it worth going tubeless again as I do not race my Cx bike, its just purly for fun, trails, adventures and some touring this year maybe.

Ive never fixed a tubless flat, never set the tyres (they came that way) so It may be a pain?

Is the weight saving worth the pains of tubeless??

also, can any rim be made tubeless? and can a tubeless rim be used with a tube?

Thanks.

The answer to your last question is yes. AFAIK, a recommended fix for a puncture in tubeless tyre when you are out and about is to stick a tube in it.

For your other questions, sorry, I have no idea.

Yes, Yes, Yes/No*, Yes**, Yes

* for off road applications it's less about the weight and more about the ability to run lower pressures that would put a tubed clincher in danger of pinching. The weight thing is a small bonus.

** but it's an even greater pain

So it's worry going tubeless again then by the sounds of if.

I moved my CX bike to tubeless last spring... have not looked back. I have used XN and XG as tubeless and also the tieless specific XG TNT and WTB Crosswolf on Stans 340, HED + and Pacenti SL 25 rims... have not had any issue with any of them. The only puncture that did not seal was courtesy of an inch long shard of glass which made its way inside the tyre... I found it inside the rim

It's good for dicking about in the woods but for racing I've had mixed results. I'm going back to tubulars for the races that require super low pressures.

The OP doesn't race with that bike, so tubeless is spot on.
Tubulars are an expensive habit for those who like to take their cyclocross a bit too seriously. They are the first step, the second is having a pit crew and a couple of spare bikes. I always found a bit hilarious that one needs 3 bikes to race for 40 minutes, but hey ho... :-)

Here we go again....

I've converted to tubeless this season and have been very happy with the switch. I've had one catastrophic failure where a stone tore the sidewall and left an inch long gash in the tyre, that sealant was never going to fix but that's it.

I do like the ability to run lower pressures than clinchers too, as it affords much more grip in most conditions. I've also raced a fair bit on them and have been happy with the performance and convenience and haven't had a single burp (which is a common-ish problem).

I have been using tubeless specific rims though, Stan's Iron Cross.

HED + have you got them tubeless on the road as well?

Yeah I agree - in my original reply to the OP I suggested that yea, tubeless is for him.

I get tubs at about the same cost as clinchers. I've never busted one. This year I've busted three tubeless clinchers, one of which ended a race one lap in. Possibly bad luck, but in my experience at 20psi under my 60kg bulk (!) they aren't as robust as tubulars. I could run them at 25psi, but I might as well have a tube in the them, then.

And when you are spending a day of time and some money on transport, it makes sense to maximise your chances of finishing. Although I'm sure AndyP will simply suggest I up my skills game, you can't legislate against hitting a hidden obsticle burried in the mud which smashes your tire against the rim and pinches the sidewall open.

Tubeless are super-useful for the early part of the season though where 30psi is a sensible pressure, or on less technical grass courses like those in the central league. And for training, too.

Yep..
the article is a bit dated now, but the impressions haven't changed

http://whosatthewheel.com/2014/12/27/300-km-on-schwalbe-one-tubeless/

I have a pair of those in order in fat 28mm

Thank you.

I don't think I've ever said you should up your skills game. Given how much offroading you've done I'd have thought your handling skills were well above average.

I just find it curious how you've had such bad luck with punctures and cuts this season. You're aren't exactly a heavyweight for a start.

I have never owned CX tubulars, but I do own a few road tubulars. Although I do enjoy riding them and I don't mind the gluing process, I always found the cost prohibitive. Even the cheapest decent tubular out there will retail at 35 pounds on offer and offers are what they are... sometimes they only have 21 mm on offer, or they only have them in yellow, so when you find the size you want in black, you need to stock up. Then of course you need to invest in at least 4 tyres, making an initial 140 quid investment at best. Then you can learn to repair a puncture yourself, but my attempts were always quite poor, so that's another 20 quid for a repair.... or I could use sealant, but the tubs on offer happen to have latex inners, which lose pressure every two days and once filled with sealant they need to be under pressure... and there's me pumping up the tyres twice a week on a bike that I barely use. If I could buy something like Conti Competition that have butyl inners at 30 pounds or so, it would make things a lot simpler, but I can't... so I have to stick with the Vittoria CX, which are nice but have all the drawbacks as above... and one day they might even stop selling them at 35 quid and might go back to their 50+ quid retail price... and here's me stuck with a pair of "bumpy" Vittoria Rally...

Why do tubs with sealant need to remain at pressure? Do they stick to themselves?

I'm toying with the idea of ghetto-tubeless for my cx bike, but I'm wondering if a larger tyre such as a 40mm and a latex tube might allow me to get away with the pressure I want.

30psi front and ~35-40psi rear is what rides well and I think will be ok for racing even in the dry but if I ride mtb trails then rocks (and pinch flats on the front) are never far away.

I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts.

there is that possibility

I use 32 mm at 30 PSI, so I don't see any problem at all

So what you're saying is "stop riding into rocks"? ;-)

Tubeless on the road then - anyone riding like that?
Just saw review of Shwalbe One tubeless that was pretty favourable, but it was on Road.cc so take it with a pinch of salt I guess.
The dread of changing tubes on my Pacenti SL23s is the biggest thing that's making me consider tubeless. Does one get a better feel too?

Tubeless on the road then - anyone riding like that?

Not as compelling for road as it is for MTB. Advantage is you may puncture less. Feel is pretty much the same in the my experience - it's still a clincher.

Hmm. Well it'd represent a saving on tubes, and there'd be less weight.

Yep

Schwalbe Ones on Pacenti rims. You may need to use a double wrap of tubeless rim tape. The pressure is much higher than other tubeless applications. Mine were working fine (after rear tyre finally seated) until the SRAM tubeless rim tape folded on itself. Will try a double wrap of pacentis own tape later this week.