General Question

buster's avatar

Which is better for a mountain bike? Tubed or tubeless tires? Any experiences ?

Asked by buster (10274points) April 10th, 2009

Im thinking of getting some new tires for my bike. I kind of thought a bike tire was a bike tire but after looking around noticed there are a lot of differences.

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10 Answers

The_Compassionate_Heretic's avatar

Never tried the tubeless but I think the main difference would be weight.

global_nomad's avatar

Well, I have a bike that’s not exactly a mountain bike—it’s a Schwinn—and one day as I was riding it, my back tire just sort of popped. I guess I must have hit something although I was unaware of it (and you’d seriously think a Schwinn could withstand some stuff a little better than that. Especially considering I just got it this year). Anyways, I think my tires were tubed because they had what looked like, well, a tube in them. So yeah, that’s all I have to say. I don’t really what the differences between the two are, besides the obvious tubed or not, or which one’s better, but that was my experience.

buster's avatar

@ SeventhSense Huh?

HeNkiSdaBro's avatar

I also wanna know! awaiting the responses on this one!

SeventhSense's avatar

@SeventhSense
More environmentally sound? J/K :)

SeventhSense's avatar

In all actuality I didn’t realize they were making tubeless tires again. The first bicycles actually were made from wood. The whole discomfort behind solid rubber tires years ago was that they were called “boneshakers” because you felt every vibration. So I guess it depends on the composite. But an air filled tire can be adjusted so although it can break it is more adaptable to the rider. But like I mentioned I don’t know about the new “space age” materials.

HeNkiSdaBro's avatar

also heard about kevlar tyres…. Anyone heard of these?

HeNkiSdaBro's avatar

Have a look at these ones… http://bit.ly/vtuM6

RosauraCaswell's avatar

For mountain bike either it may be Electric mountain bike or any gasoline bike the tire should be tubbed or tubeless. And the difference between tubbed tire and tubeless tire. The clincher and tube setup was once standard. But tubeless options offer better performance for most applications you can ran them at lower pressures i.e., with no tube, pinch flats are minimized that makes it to use lower tire pressures for better traction.Tubeless tires require a compatible rim or rim strip, and they weigh more than their tube-type counter parts. The only drawback with the tubeless tires are patching a tube is generally much more easier than tubeless. To avoid repairs butyl liner used in many tubeless tires means that some punctures become only slow leaks. From this i can say Tubeless tires are better compared to tubbed tires for mountain bikes.

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