zet

I will never use tubeless

So after a full month of waiting my Trek “pro” shop still hasn’t delivered the fancy new tubeless Bontrager Aelous wheel set that I bought for 1300 dollars. I’m now going to take them up immediately on their 30-day return policy “no questions asked” and I have had a lot of good, objective evidence to never use tubeless for anything.

First, it took them a week to order the wheel that they didn’t have.

Then, after they put on the tubeless tire the next morning they came in and it had exploded in the shop spewing sticky sealant all over the shop. I was just glad that happened there and not after I tried them out on a test ride and ended up dead.

Then, they ordered a new tire and I waited another week.

Then, while trying to put that new tire on they destroyed the carbon rim of a 700 dollar wheel and had to order a replacement. Again, glad they did it and not me. I would have been up shit creek if I had purchased them and needed to repair them later.

Now, after yet another week, they still haven’t attempted to put the tire on because no one in the shop wants to actually do it. All these “pros” are afraid of my job putting other “work” before my now month-long waiting.

I was going to enjoy having these wheels for Mt. Mitchell on the 22 and doesn’t look like they will even get to them before that.

I’m getting my fucking money back. I really dodged a bullet on this one. I’ll spend that money on a new bike eventually with a good tubular wheel set like the Specialized Aethos Elite instead.

I am so grateful for GPLama’s video about attempting to repair tubeless. It demonstrates just how fucking stupid the entire tubeless idea really is. Here are all the flaws:

Requires a compressor or CO2 cartridge to properly install.
Requires sticky sealant that has to be perfectly cleaned off before every install attempt.
Cannot be repaired on the road reasonably without a tube and removing the stem.
Repairs on the road have to be re-repaired back in the shop with compressor.
Beads are incredibly harder to work with because of higher pressure requirements.
Rims at greater risk of damage from harder beads (as Trek “pros” destroyed wheel).
Require higher pressures period to work and cannot do lower pressures at all.
Lower pressures are shown to promote better rolling resistance in modern studies.

Seriously, in five years we will laugh at the notion of even considering tubeless (like we do now about sew-ups).

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