How do I keep my tubeless set-up safe?

Tubeless tyres are no cause for concern if you take a few simple precautions, finds Joe Baker

- Joe Baker

Tubeless set-ups are becoming increasingly common among road cyclists, following significant wheel and tyre technology advances in the last decade or so.

However, the tubeless safety debate was reignited back in the spring when Thomas De Gendt suffered a dramatic crash at the UAE Tour. Shocking images revealed a 28mm Vittoria Corsa Speed tyre had blown off the rim of his hookless Zipp 353 NSW front wheel while riding along a perfectly straight, smooth road.

After inspection Zipp shared images of the damaged rim showing it was the result of a big impact with road debris. However, while there’s no cause for alarm, user error can indeed render tubeless set-ups ineffective, unreliable and, in the worst cases, unsafe. So, we asked Gabriel Blythe, head mechanic at Summertown Cycles in Oxford and freelance ‘race wrench’, how to keep everything rolling as it should, rubber-side down. We also sought advice from Patrick Brown, design engineer at Hunt wheels.

Tubeless? Hookless? 

First, let’s recap the essential terms: A tubeless set-up is a wheel/tyre combination that does away with an inner tube. An airtight seal is created between the beads of the tyre and the rim, while sealant inserted into the tyre seals any small holes and punctures.