bicycle repair Tip Weighing Tubeless MTB Tires - Before and After > Bicycle Repair Tips

 

What we’re going to do today is only going
to take a couple of minutes.
What I have here is a wheel off my brand new
Orange P7 RS.
The vast majority of people with this bike
will be running it tubeless, but of course
it ships with tubes.
During storage and shipping, sealant has the
opportunity to clump, so all manufacturers
to my knowledge ship tubeless ready bikes
this way.
The question is, how much weight do you save
by pulling those tubes out and pouring in
some sealant?
Well today, we’re going to weigh this wheel,
pull out the tubes, seal it up, and weigh
it again.
Very simple.
Set up stock with an inner tube, we’re coming
in at 2.655 Kilograms.
Let’s weigh it again just in case.
Time to rip these tubes out, throw in some
valve stems, and seal her up.
Now of course, I could make this calculation
by weighing the tube and the sealant, but
this is more fun, and probably more realistic.
Weight reduction is only a secondary benefit
of tubeless.
The reason I do it is because I tend to run
low tire pressure and get a lot of pinch flats.
Tubeless has virtually eliminated that problem.
Another harder to measure benefit of tubeless
is efficiency and ride quality.
Friction between the tube and the tire creates
heat, which is energy lost.
Without that extra rubber there, it just feels
better.
The benefits of going tubeless are so numerous
that some riders are religiously opposed to
inner tubes, but I’m not part of that crowd.
If you ride casually, or run higher pressure,
I think inner tubes are less of a hassle.
You can leave your bike in the shed for months
at a time and pump it right back up.
If your tire is less than perfect, it’ll
still hold air.
You can take it on and off with tire levers
without worrying about messing up the bead.
Finally, for a beginner just learning how
to work on a bike it’s easier to set up.
So to each his own.
All my mountain bikes are tubeless ready.
But today we’re just here to talk about
the weight savings, so let’s weigh this
sucker again and check our results.
2.51 Kilograms.
So that’s a weight reduction of 145 grams
per wheel.
That’s 290 grams or about 10 ounces or a
little over half a pound.
If you are one to count grams, then this would
be no brainer.
What do you guys think?
Is this more than you thought?
Less?
If it weren’t for flat protection do you
think going tubeless would be worth it purely
on the weight savings?
I want to know what you think.
Thanks for riding with me today and I’ll
see you next time.