what exactly is a tubeless tire - in a bicycle?

Question

i have to change my tire on my bike-- size 26 x 2.0 (what does 26 mean? what does 2.0 means?) and how do choose the best tires with possibility of no puncture on the road -- (i have a mountain bike) please advise
clearly -- thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I think everyone has done a good job explaining what the 26x2.0 means and what a tubless tire is. Similar to a car tire in that your filling up the tire itself and not putting air into an inner tube inside the tire. They do make these for mountain bikes and their uses are increasing because you can run lower air pressure in a tubless tire and not worry about pinch flats.

One thing about the 2.0 on the tire this is telling you the widest width you can easily put in the tire. Most tubes come in a range from 1.75-2.0. You can always put a smaller tire in the tube like a 26x1.5 tube inside your tire but try to avoid putting a larger tube in there as you can have issues when you reinstall the tire and then inflate it.

Now you can go out and purchase tubeless tires and rims. The thing is your going to pay for this. Your talking minimum, and I haven't priced tubless rims in a while, $250-300 for rims and around $100 for two tires. You can repair the tubless tire, this is more time consuming than repairing a normal inner tube and takes special tubeless patches to do so. Tubless tires also allow you to put a tube in if you want a quick fix and then mend the tire when you get home and have more time. Now compare this to a new tube for $5-7.

As for a puncture proof tire, well these don't exist. Talk to your local bike shop because there are tires/tubes and liners you can purchase that will make it less likely that you will get a flat but there is nothing that can promise that it will not flat. Just so you know this puncture resistance will not be cheap as your tube costs will go up to $10-15 per tube your liners are probably $10 each and better tires are going to be $30-50 per tire. In the long run though this would still be cheaper than buying a tubeless wheelset.

Answer 2

These are all excellent answers but you forgot one thing tubeless tires have to be glued to the rim that glue takes 48-72 hours to bond so if you use tubeless owning 5-6 wheels is not out of the question it's advisable because you can't change tire without gluing to the rim. Many of friends tried tubeless tires and got SAGGED on the ride back to the start. So talk to a bike tech he'll tell you it's not worth the hassle and expense to switch to tubeless.

Answer 3

As far as I know
26 x 2.0 means 26 inches around and 2 inches wide
Tubless tires are great if you don't want to ever deal with a flat tire. They are a little heavier and less forgiving than air inner tubes though. If you only ride on the street then this type of "inner tube" would be perfect. If you ride on and off road just carry an extra inner tube or patch kit with you when you ride.

Good Luck

Answer 4

The 26" refers to the size of the rim, the 2.00 to the width. Tubeless means your tire has no inner -tube...for a mountain bike I would suggest you use an inner -tube because they can be repaired.

hope this helps

Answer 5

tubeless tires are tires mounted on a special box rim designed only to handle tubeless tires. They don't make them for mountain bikes...only for high end racing rims for race bikes.

as for puncture resistance, the best combo is a kevlar tire like a Specialized Armadillo (puncture proof tire) http://bicycleuniverse.info/eqp/fixflat.html with a Mr. Tuffy Tire Liner

http://blbikeshop.com/itemdetails.cfm?id=5377

Answer 6

a tubeless tire is a tire that has no tube thus the word tubeless is used to describe them

Answer 7

26 x 2 is the measurments of your tire.... and what i suggest is you take your bike to a bike shop and get them to advise you on what tire to buy.. and if your still confused i suggest you sell the bike because cycling obviously isn't for you ;)