Mountain Bike Tyres – Inner Tube or Tubeless?

Where you use your bike the most determines what sort of tyres you need. Mountain bikes can be used on many types of ground and for disciplines that need different skill sets as much as different tyres. Get the right mountain bike tyres and they will improve your riding and increase your safety.

Tyres either come with a standard inner tube to keep them inflated or they are tubeless, so the question to answer is which one do you go for? 

Most tubeless tyres have a thick side-wall that locks into a specific sealed-bed rim. These tyres can handle rough ground well so they are perfect for downhill, but the disadvantage is that they are more expensive.

The benefits of an airtight seal and a puncture resistant, low pressure, stable performance are outweighed by the high cost. You will also need a clean tyre and rim, as well as a big pump to then inflate it.

On a trail clean conditions are not usually available if a tyre needs replacing. Abd even having a large pump you’ll more than often have to make do with an inner tube until you get home to repair the tyre. Also a big hole might mean the tyre is completely written off, eventhough a small hole might be repairable.

Tubeless tyres are heavier also, so if you are looking for quick start times and riding speeds choose a lighter tyre. Tyres with inner tubes are usually lighter and offer greater flexibility. You can get them in more designs and tread styles, so getting the one you want might be easier also.

You can now buy kits to convert a tyre with an inner tube to a tubeless tyre. These mix a latex-based filler liquid and a rubber rim strip to seal the inside of the tyre and the rim. You may have to top the filler off on occasion but the cost is still loads less than buying a thick wall tubeless tyre.

You still get most of the benefits of a tubeless tyre but with a much broader range of rims and treads to choose from, and only the cost of the kit and latex top ups. They are also lighter although the same repair problems on the trail apply unfortunately.

Whichever sort of tyre you pick it is important to replace your tyres fairly often. A blow out on the trail can cost you a competition or even cause injury. With careful selection and maintenance your tyres will make a huge difference to your riding.