Finally caved and went tubeless on my gravel bike

I spent like 2 years running tubes on my Kona Rove because I didn't want to deal with sealant mess. Then last month I did a 40 mile ride on the C&O Canal towpath near DC and got 3 flats in 15 miles. My buddy let me try his tubeless setup and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had that moment where stubbornness just wasn't worth it anymore?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby2902d ago

Three flats in 15 miles would make me reconsider my life choices too. My holdout moment was getting a goathead thorn through the sidewall of a brand new tube 2 miles into a ride, then stepping in a puddle while fixing it and soaking my one dry sock. Stood there dripping with sealant on my hands thinking "this is fine, this is my life now." Finally switched after that and honestly the sealant mess is way less annoying than littering trails with tube wrappers and feeling like a clown every time I pass a spiky patch of gravel. My first tubeless ride I hit a sharp rock and heard the sealant start bubbling and felt like a wizard or something.

mila_sullivan2d ago

Oh man, I feel this in my bones. I resisted tubeless for years because I didn't want to deal with the gooey mess and the initial setup hassle. Finally switched last spring after a ride where I patched two tubes on the side of a gravel road in the rain and then flatted again a mile later. I was so mad I just sat there for a solid five minutes staring at the sky. Now I hardly ever think about flats, and when I do get one the sealant just does its thing. That first time I rode over some sharp rocks and heard that little hiss and then nothing happened, I felt like a real dummy for waiting so long.