Moving away from UST am I crazy??

[Macros]

Moving away from UST am I crazy??

I have been running UST for the last two years and have gone from “love them they are the only thing to run” to “hate them when they work they work well but when they don’t what a mess”

I have decided to sell my slick looking Mavic CrossMax because of the following:

1. Side wall punctures do not seal (I run a full bottle of slim in each tire)
2. Tires are expensive and I have a cupboard full of them with holes in the side wall
3. I run CrossMax with Slim (400g) and Hutchinson Python (1.3kg) and will save about 700g if I run Extralight with tire liners and slim tubes

Am I crazy??

[elendil]

No.

[alain]

No. you're not.

I did the same thing as you this year and have raced with DT wheels/Twister Supersonic and Vittoria Latex tubes. Sure, I need more air in the tyres and the grip is slightly worse than UST but for me riding non-UST was a cheaper and much lighter alternative.

I think we should not forget that there was a life before UST

[King Weel]

I dont think so. I did ride Crossmax SL with Pythons; loved them, had no punctures, but regarded them as very heavy, moreover, rolling weight counts double... I don't need the exra grip or puncture protection due to my relatively lightweight ('am a weightweenie without notice...) so I decided to run crossmax with Racing Ralph or Musquitos (don't know which are better in Holland) and use a lightweight inner tube or Eclipse.

[Smahatma]

No, you're not crazy because UST is not right for everyone. On my city bike, I use UST because I have a very aggressive urban style that involves jumping various city obstacles, cutting through parking lots and various offroad type situations. Back when I ran tubes, I would constantly get pinch flats, probably due to the jumping, but with my tubeless setup, I have not had any downtime at all due to tire issues (the thicker UST tire also helps slightly to avoid sharp object punctures).

[Adri]

I came back from UST as well. You still have to carry an innertube and you never puncture except when you really shouldn't (race) .
I kept my UST Xmax Mavics but run normal tyres and inner tubes on them. Works fine.
I have been thinking about using Stans or other latex sealant though..

And I like the Racing Ralphs a lot.. They're heaps better than Fast Freds, hell, they even give you traction in mud!

[mpap89]

i had ust and they are definetly lighter i can save about a lb just by switching to normal tires and stans no tubes

[Hoser]

I also moved from UST to back to tubes. Fixing a flat on a UST on the trail is hard, at least for me - getting a UST tire bead unseated out in the hills in a huge pain. I never run really low pressure, so I never see the performance benefits of UST.

Keep your Crossmax though so you keep your options open. I have Crossmax XL and run Michelin Comp S Lites (non-UST) with tubes for XC riding and they are very light, very easy to fix - tubes work fine in the Mavics, and you don't need rim tape. Also, I can go back to heavy UST tires when I go ride the lifts and do downhilling, so I don't tear up my somewhat fragile Comp S Lites.

Definitely, I agree, UST is not practical for everyone. More specifically, it's nice to use both depending on the ride. Again, keep the Mavics so you can experiment!