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Currently running Schwalbe Racing Ralph rear and Racing Ray on my 29er Hardtail. Use it for blasting along the canal and roads during the summer and on the trails in winter.
However I've had 4 punctures since fitting the last September 3 on the Ralph and one on the Ray all caused by thorns. I've never gone timeless and dont plan to. Never had any on the original Tough Tom's.
Thinking of going back to Maxxis or Continental tyres as I never puncture once when I used them in the past.
After something reasonably fast rolling for canal and road but something that wont punt me off in winter slop. Rear slide I dont mind.
Any ideas?
Why not tubeless?
Too much faff. My full suss is tubed and it's not had a puncture since I've had it. Running Magic Mary and Hans Dampf Addix on that currently.
Two obvious options:
1. Go tubeless.
2. Fit a Magic Mary and Hans Dampf.
Too much faff.
This is a myth! It isn't too much faff, it really isn't. Certainly it's a lot less faff than fixing punctures on the side of the trail in the depths of winter!
You're running lightweight XC tyres that are designed to be run tubeless as their only real defence against punctures, and you're running them with tubes in and picking up punctures... Changing brand won't make much difference, changing to more durable tyres with a puncture resistance belt will do, but will also add a huge amount of weight and be detrimental to performance.
My full suss is tubed and it’s not had a puncture since I’ve had it. Running Magic Mary and Hans Dampf Addix on that currently.
MUCH heavier duty tyres... Still designed to be run tubeless, but there's a lot more rubber in them than the Ray/Ralph so naturally more puncture resistance anyway. But a stubborn thorn would easily get through either if it wanted to.
I had a customer that used to ride the local canals eevery night, week in week out, and never did any maintenance himself. When his tubeless Hans Dampf started going down on him, he brought it in to me to fix at my shop. Lo and behold, it was going down because it had finally run dry... I pulled 38 separate thorns out of said tyre, each of which would have been a trailside fix had he not been running tubeless! Tyre back on, more sealant inside, inflated and span, and off he went to do another million miles of canal bashing picking up countless thorns until the sealant runs out again...
Go tubeless!
Or put sealant in the tubes. I used to ride past a scrap metal recycling yard on my commute a few years back. Ran tubes with latex sealant in them. Didn't get a proper puncture for a couple of years, but would just add a bit more sealant every six months. Finally, one tyre stopped holding air. It was pretty worn, so I figured I'd replace it anyway and pulled it apart. The tyre was just full of tiny shards of metal and the tube was like a pin cushion. The sealant just kept sealing it up until it finally dried out.
“Go tubeless!”
This!
Is it easy to go tubeless and do I have to buy new tyres now that they have had thorn slices in them? Both Hardtail Marin Bobcat Trail 5 and Cube are tubeless compatible rims apperantly.
What stuff do I need to do it? I have a track pump but it’s only a cheapo one from decathlon.
Plenty of utube videos. I use gorilla tape and never have any problems. You'll need some tubeless valves too.
You just need tubeless tape, tubeless valves and sealant. You can use Gorilla tape of the right width but the Stans tape works very well and stays stuck down for years and years. A lot of tyre and rim pairings will go up with just a pump, but sod’s law decrees that won’t happen if you’re sceptical! 😉
The sealant will seal any holes that aren’t huge, it’s just bigger cuts and rips that need patching or a new tyre.
This is the bike I’m using https://www.marinbikes.com/gb/bike-archive/bikes/2019-bobcat-trail-4-1
And say I bought this https://www.merlincycles.com/stans-mtb-tubeless-kit-128048.html
What diameter tape would I need? And do I need new tyres again or will my current ones be ok they are tubeless ready also just a few tiny thorn holes.
There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to tape width, you can either go a bit wider than the internal width of your rim so the tape covers the entire width of the rim bed (in your case 29mm rim = approx 32mm tape) or you can go much narrower so the edge of the tape is well away from the tyre bead. Personally I'm in the former camp and have had no problems in years, therefore the kits are no good and you'd have to buy the sealant, tape and valves separately, but I've no doubt someone else will come along from the other camp shortly and say buy the narrower kit. Also, it's worth buying a valve core remover so you can take it out and attach the pump directly to the stem to get maximum airflow to seat the beads.
As for the thorn holes in the tyres, the sealant will soon sort them out. No need to buy new unless they're badly split.