However, the boom in wider tyres for road and gravel has seen increased attention given to the technology and an increasing number of wheel brands are now pushing the uptake of tubeless technology. It was introduced for road use almost 15 years ago, but the initial uptake was slow. Tubeless was first introduced for mountain bikes over 20 years ago and has become the standard choice amongst enthusiast and competitive mountain bikers. As it is airtight, no inner tube is required to hold air like on a standard clincher system, and no glue is required to keep the tyre connected to the rim as per a tubular system. Much like on modern cars, a tubeless system on bicycles is an airtight system where the tyre is held on to the rim with little more than tight tolerances and air pressure. Tubeless in a nutshell What is tubeless? Mavic’s UST system is pictured here, but the cross-section of most other tubeless setups looks similar, at least in concept. (This is an updated version of an article first published in 2019.) This comes from almost two decades of experience in tubeless, going all the way back to Mavic’s original UST system for mountain bikes.
In this endless FAQ (it’s called that as it’s long and we’ll regularly update it), we skip the crap and share what we’ve found to be the best methods, the best parts to use, and the best ways to save you from feeling deflated. Whether the positives outweigh the negatives will be up to you, and this article is designed to arm you with all the knowledge you’ll ever need on the topic. Tubeless carries real compromises, including new knowledge and more maintenance than trusty tubes. However, tubeless isn’t just a matter of removing the tube and riding blissfully into the sunset. Those benefits are certainly more obvious with wider tyres, lower pressures and rougher surfaces, but even skinny road racing rubber can potentially gain from losing the inner tube. Regardless of your chosen cycling discipline, tubeless tyres have benefits to offer over standard tube-type setups.