All Things Bikes and Tacos! (...and every vehicle imaginable)

It is well to consider when newly purchasing or considering various bikes:

For rear tire width, you are usually limited by the gaps in the frame at the seatstays/chainstays, not necessarily by the rim, much less the fork, lol.
No cmc available here so choose wisely. <<laughing-rolling head emoji>>

Lots of dropper discussion a few pages back.
TL/DR: you really should get one, you will find riding with one tremendously enjoyable.

When considering what travel class/type of bike to get- broduro vs downcountry vs triple crown sleds-, take stock of the type of riding and analyze the type of trails you will likely want to ride in your area. Then Buy a Hardtail!

Older/lower end bikes tend to be harder to upgrade later should that be a concern.
OTOH the used market is hot hot hot, as you will know/learn as a buyer, particularly in the older entry level/lower end market.

Going tubeless is vastly overrated.
Messy. Expensive. Overly complicated. Minimal at best purported gains.
I mean you have to pour a bunch of sealant in there every few months, so are inner tubes really the source of such a great weight- rotational or otherwise?
Honestly I cannot remember the last time I flatted on rocks or sticks and it was not operator error (e.g. pinch flat).
For that type of reason, you will want a way to reinflate a de-beaded tire on the trail. Not exactly straight forward on tubeless if you run out of CO2.
I find a spare tube or patch kit and mini pump pretty failsafe*. But only until the pump runs out of Earth's atmosphere.

*I have run out of spare tubes (but not patches also). I also had a cheap pump fail so while a grain of salt may be in order with my 'failsafe' claim, it arguably user error if one knowingly carries around cheap tools!

 

Tubeless is such a leap forward compared to tubes. It's not about weight, it's about durability and reliability, though they are marginally lighter. Get a thorn in a tube, game over. Pinch flat, game over. Tubeless seals itself for small punctures and is impossible to pinch flat. Larger holes that won't seal can be plugged without unmounting the tire or a tube can be installed into a tubeless tire to limp back to the trailhead or elsewhere. It might be in my head but tubeless seem to be more compliant, too. Maybe it's because the tire pressures can be lower without the risks that come with lower pressures when using inner tubes.

I rode tubes for 20 years on my mountain bikes and had some of the same thoughts as you when tubeless came out, along with the reliability and sealing issues that were apparent when tubeless was still an immature idea, but about 10 years ago I switched and it's nothing but better in every way. On a quality tire I don't even air up as often as I did with tubes and instead of getting a flat every few hundred miles I get a flat, well, almost never. I've burped a couple times but after a quick air up it's good to go. Now that I think about it, it's probably been almost 10k miles since I've had a full on flat and that was a sidewall tear from a rock that would have taken out any tire, tubes or otherwise.

That said, if I'm riding further away than I care to hike, I carry a tube, pump and tools so that I can inflate a tie that losses it's air for whatever reason because like you said, getting a tubeless bead to seat with a hand pump or even CO2 is unlikely to happen on the trail.

If tubeless was such a hassle for no gain, the fad would have passed long ago. The same "complicated", "minimal or no gains", etc argument was made about full suspension bikes and disc brakes when they were new. Sure, they had issues when they were new, just like tubeless, but once they matured they were a huge advantage.

 

Ok, respect for the differing experience . Sounds like we've both dialed in our style.
Not flatting is part of becoming an experienced rider (knowing proper tire pressure for our weight and tire size, for example). And it's not too thorny in where I ride, luckily.

To be fair, suspension was really bad in the early days but has improved vastly since.
Disk brakes were alway superior to rim brakes, and steadily gotten better. But weight weenies and a cultural bias against braking slowed their adoption across the industry.

Ok, so like all tires are tubeless compatible these days so maybe that's changed.
But isn't a tubeless set up just a 'special' stem, extra tape and the goop?
Same as day 1, no? Enlighten me!

Punctures aside, I don't think there was a noticeable difference in my tubed bikes vs my one set up tubeless. I have to run my tires (2.4 and 2.35) @~28-35psi. They start to get too mushy in the corners below that.
Mushiness aside, running pressures as low as tubeless allows would put me at risk of surviving a pinch flat but damaging my rim!
Whiiiiiiizzzzzzz--KANK!

 

I used to ride close to 30 psi on a 2.3 tire tubed, now I'm riding about 24 front 25 rear 29x2.6 with a 31mm rim on a hardtail and I'm 215lbs. I can go as low as 22/23 before I start rolling the carcass over the rim when really railing corners. The rim width makes a huge difference in supporting the tire and allowing lower pressures.

Disc brakes were definitely not always superior to rim brakes. I remember mid 90s working at my LBS the early rock shox branded discs (I think they were made by formula or some other motorcycle brake manufacturer) and they were so bad. When they worked they were just ok. Any amount of dirt or anything plus a little heat and the pistons would get stuck in the bore. There were others that were unreliable or just plain not effective around the same time and after. It only took a few years and they all got better quickly.

Tubeless setup is mostly the same but wheel manufacturers and tubeless parts suppliers (often the one and the same) make things like rim strips that just plain work. The "goop", or sealant and it's called, is just latex dissolved and suspended in a carrier liquid. It's more like water than "goop". One thing that has changed since the early days is tools to setup tubeless. Syringe injectors that go through the valve stem make injecting (and removing) sealant a cinch and mess free while allowing precise measuring of quantity.

I'm not going to try to say you're wrong for not going tubeless, etc, but I guarantee if you tried a proper tubeless setup you would spend less time overall messing with your tires (I only mess with them when I change tires) and would get a better, more reliable and more compliant ride.

 

If your budget will allow or you could find a way to stretch it, that is a solid deal. Really good bike to start back with and quality enough to grow into as you get more experience and skills. Very worth while to upgrade as things wear out or if you just want better components. Plus tires are nice on a hardtail to start with and if you find you are really digging MTB again you can throw on a set of 29er wheels and really up the game a bit.

 

I don’t think tubeless vs tubes is really a debate. Tubeless is superior in many ways with little to no downside. I’d probably stop shy of saying it’s a game changer (though it is for some areas and situations) but it’s a solid improvement with really no downside.

 

I'm gonna hafta hand you the one about the very earliest disc brakes, which were heavy and weak. Busted.

I had a shop set up my new Litespeed, and they refused to put inner tubes in it, lol. My other bikes are tubed. So I ride both.
So I am saying tire pressure is similar in all my bikes- it is as low as I can go before I 'start rolling the carcass' or casing my rim... Doesn't matter if there is sealant or an inner tube in there- it's the actual air pressure doing the hard work between the tire and rim. So again, not sure how tubeless is working better for me when the pressures are more or less the same.
Is there some special secret to the 'set up' beside holding the desired air pressure?

OTOH I never have had an 'unreliable' tube. Nor have I had to adjust any tube. I have never had a tube slowly wear out and have to be periodically refreshed. No special syringe required for applying an inner tube. Going tubeless to fix problems that don't exist with tubes is silly.
I don't have to carry an extra container of liquid or disposable canisters of cg when I ride. Just a patch kit or add a spare tube if I want to be lazy on the trail.
And I am still waiting for someone to (re)install a tire without a tube, trailside. (brake cleaner and a match anyone?)

Now the unspoken elephant in the room is riding style. I have no style. I am ~175lbs geared up and 0lbs of finesse. I am hard on my wheels- I plow through the chunder, case landings, gleefully scrub speed/course correct with the sides of ruts, and the like. And I must have a firm response in the corners. I never run sub 20psi, therefore I don't reap reward from tubeless.

 

Look, you can't just say something is better and leave it at that.
You have to back it up with evidence, cite personal experience, or say 'It is known' first.
Sheesh!

 

Outside of the mountains, this is basically the best place to ride in NC and these Melvins got it shut down.


https://www.wral.com/lee-county-closes-mountain-biking-courses-after-injuries-mount/19631299/

 

Seriously lame!
The deep-Nanny State strikes again...

 

yeah, that situation annoys the hell out of me. Wondering how dumbed-down it will be when it opens back up. I don't think they'll mess with the XC trails, but the jump lines will probably all be small rollers when they're done. Very lame.

 

#rocklessrockgarden

 

I mean there is a reason that it is the industry standard for both recreational and professional mountain biking. I don't have to explain why disk brakes are better than rim brakes either because it is an accepted fact across the industry, and anyone who has used both extensively would agree. I literally don't know anyone who has used a modern tubeless and decided to go back to tubes. There is really no legitimate downside to tubeless and only upsides. So IMO the burden of proof is on you when you are trying to make a claim that goes against common knowledge.

 

This shifty bastard was hiding in the woods and tried to take off on my bike while we were taking a break and freeing up my buddy's rear wheel that was caked with mud......................probably because it is tubeless and has disc brakes.



the stuff you run across out on the trail in the middle of nowhere........

 

Anyone know if a tailgate pad that doesn’t cover the backup camera on 3rd gens?

 

Any that have a flap you can fold up/under

Fox, EVOC, Dakine, Raceface...basically all of them.

https://shop.ridefox.com/products/overland-tailgate-pad

https://www.dakine.com/products/pickup-pad-dlx-s20?variant=29226835378256

https://www.evocusa.com/products/pickup-tailgate-pad-2015

https://www.raceface.com/products/t2-tailgate-pad

 

I got my buddy to buy that same bike last year and I’ve been trying to buy it off of him since. Very solid platform and a frame that has endless upgrade opportunities. That being said don’t break the bank. The Coop 1.1 is still a solid bike. Even if you end up upgrading at the end of the year to something better you’ll probably keep it around for your buddies to join you. It’s a contagious sport!

 

First time posting here. This is my 2018 Kona Wo, just curious if anyone else has had this issue on any bike before? Mostly city commuting year round in Canada

 

I have not had that happen but...by the looks of rust and corrosion it appears to have been an unnoticed crack for awhile. That is not a "just happened while I was riding along" kind of break. Not implying anything just responding to the info presented...

 

As I’m going down for ankle surgery, wanted a place to throw the 1up rack and their wall mount wasn’t priced bad at all. 3 lag bolts and it’s done. 10 minutes!

@Bannerman