Clincher or tubeless?
Clincher or tubeless?
The other choice you’ll have is whether to buy a tubeless-ready wheelset or stick with standard clinchers.
It’s not an either/or scenario, because tubeless ready wheels will still accept clincher tyres with inner tubes but fit tends to be a lot tighter and can make getting the tyres on a real war of attrition. Tighter fit also increases the chances of inadvertently pinching the tube during installation which, as everyone whose ever done it knows, is both highly inconvenient and downright infuriating.
There are, however, a few benefits of road tubeless systems. The first is that you can’t pinch flat as there’s no inner tube to flat, which is a big bonus, especially when riding in areas where the road’s rough or there are large numbers of potholes. Plus, road tubeless tyres are filled with sealant so that when something (a flint or thorn, for example) does penetrate the rubber, the sealant fills up the gap with (fingers crossed) only minimal pressure loss and you can keep on going.
Another bonus is pressure. Because there’s no inner tube to potentially pinch, road tubeless systems can be run at lower pressures than standard clinchers which means a more comfortable ride. It can also increase traction. There’s also an possible improvement in rolling resistance that comes as a result of being able to ditch inner tubes.
On the downside, there’s still a far smaller choice of tyres if you go tubeless, so you’ll likely be wedding yourself to one of a comparatively a few options. Similarly, if you do flat and the sealant can’t solve it, you’re still going to have to be carrying a inner tube and pump to get you back home, so it’s not exactly reducing the number of things you’ll have to carry on a ride, either.