Quote:
Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*
My two pence worth...
There is no doubt that a SMALL puncture is much easier to fix on a tubeless tyre. Effortless....
And if I were road riding in western countries (where spares and repairs are easy) then I'd go for tubeless all day long..
However, there are CONSIDERABLE drawbacks to tubeless wheels on a motorcycle when over-landing.
If you split a tyre on a tubeless wheel you are also screwed. You aren't repairing that one. No amount of slime and wedges are going to help you. I put a 2" gash in my rear tyre in Ethiopia. With a tube, I was able to ride another 60 miles to a town where I patched the tyre and carried on another 200 miles before I could replace it. If I did that with a tubeless tyre, Id probably still be on that remote village road now or hundreds of pounds worse off trying to get a tyre shipped in.
|
We had a bad cut in a tubeless tyre in Malawi. Don't know what caused it but debris on the road is more common in Africa. We fitted a tube but had no means of plugging or patching the gash in the tyre so the tube lasted about 5 miles. Eventually we were left with no alternative but to ride on the flat back the way we'd come. We spent some time trying to source a 17" tyre in Malawi and in the end had to order one from Johannesburg and get it flown in.
I currently have tubeless tyres on the bike but no plans to go far. If I use the bike for another extended trip I will definitely fit tubed tyres. I will also carry some means of patching the inside of the tyre so that in the event of a cut there will be something to protect the new tube. I'd rather have the means to keep going in any event even if it means that I don't have quite the same convenience for repairing small pin holes.
One other point: The tyre that split was a Metzeler Sahara tubeless (T/L), it was a sod to get off the rim and back on and difficult to seat even with a lot of pressure. The tyre that was supplied from SA was a Metzeler Sahara tubed type (TT). They said that they didn't have the T/L type available in SA. This was much easier to get onto the rim and seated perfectly on the first attempt.
|