Some riders go their entire lives without a puncture. Others have been able to rely on getting their bikes towed, and never ever having had to deal with mending a flat out in the elements. Some have allways resorted to professionals getting the tires ooff and on the rims. Some have been able to rely on tubeless tires that can be easily plugged road side, without ever having had the need for an innertube or having to remove the tire road side. Some don't fit into any of these categories, seeing a tube as an absolute necessity - including me.

On tarmac, the punctures are usually caused by sharp pointy objects like nails and screws. With tubeless, the time the air takes to escape is often so slow that you can limp to civilization - maybe with the occational top-up on air. And one can usually allways get hold of a truck to put the bike on. Also, the punctures are usually easily plugged road side - with the rider being back on the road in 15-30 minutes.

In the sticks, flats are often caused by dented rims or tire walls or knobs getting tears - leaks that cannot easily be repaired. Also, in some of these places there is either no cell phone coverage, or a possibility for even a 4X4 pickup truck to get access to you (i.e. on a single track). Getting a flat in such instances and riding tubeless, and without a spare tube in the luggage - your day will turn really bad.

I have been on a couple of trips where between a group of 2-3 riders, flats occured allmost daily. In all truthfulness, these were not true adventure bikes (small spokeless wheels). They also had a split rim design (two halves bolted together) where changing an innertube was a peach. On my adventure bikes I have been so fortunate that I have never had to deal with a flat in the sticks. If I had to, I would have been prepped with extra tubes, patches, pumps (electric plus manual), proper tools, and the practice (no access to youtube in the sticks).

The last puncture I had on a large adventure bike was on tarmac. 12 hours into the ride, on the German Autobahn, doing 140 km/h in the dark - completely knackered, completely decensitised, and with a careless attitude - riding a tupe setup on rims meant for tubes, I started loosing air on my front wheel real quick as the air leaked out through the spokes. Had the puncture been even a fraction bigger, it could have gotten ugly real fast. Too knackered to repair it there and then, I opted to take it slow and pump up frequently - and limp on the last few kilometers. Becuase I was so close to my destination where I would take a ferry back home in the morning, where I also could continue limping back to my garage, I found that to be a great idea. It was stupid - and I conscider myself lucky for not getting into an accident - but this is what can happen from rider fatigue combined with time pressure. If I had been running tubelsss, I would have plugged it.

I have never had a tubeless set-up on a large adventure bike, but I see the appeal of being able to plug a simple puncture and be on my way. In addition, carrying a spare tube(s) for the adventures that takes me into the sticks - on the off chance that plugs won't cut it.

I have no experience with tubeless wheels excpet for crotch rockets that I have owned (never had a puncture on those). Running tubeless on tubeless rims, and carrying spare tubes on the bike - is it the best of two worlds? Are there any cons?

Anyhow, I see that some people convert existing tube rims to tubeless, by sealing the spokes. They do this even on rims that don't have the hump to prevent the seal to come off the rim, which true tubeless rims all have. There are many tales of great successes with this conversion: But, there also some not so good stories inbetween - the ones that after a whie start experiencing leaks from the spokes, etc. This makes me sceptical to how samrt it really is to carry out such a conversion in place of buying true tubeless rims. It makes me think that this is a hackjob that is unreliable and possibly even dangerous - especially conscidering that the wheels lack the hump that true tubelss rims have - the one that holds the bead in place.

Even though I sense that tubeless conversion may be a hack job, my experience on the Autobahn in germany still makes me conscider doing it anyway - and not for riding tubeless. I would still be riding with a tube at all times on such a conversion set up. The purpose would be to reduce the time it takes for air to escape in the event of a flat. If you get a puncture on a tube on a standard non-tubeless rim, the air escapes quickly. This can possibly lead to a dangerous situation. I am thinking that by doing the tubeless conversion on my existing rims, I could not only reduce the risk of an accident occuring from quick loss of air, but I could in many cases buy myself enough time to limp to a location where dealing with the flat would be far less cumbersome. If I also add *TPMS I would have monster insurance (see below if you don't know what TPMS is).

Ideally I am thinking I should swap out my wheels for true tubeless rims and ride tubeless with spare tube(s) in my luggage - but the prices I have come accross are prohibitively expensive. If someone knows of good alternatives to a Tenere 700 that does not break the bank - please let me know. Are the prices of Rally Raid typical?

Like I said - I have little knowledge on tubeless rims. Are there any cons of having them and carrying a spare tube, vs running a standard non-tubelss rim and tube (no conversion)?

Do any of you that have tubeless rims still opt for having tubes in a perfectly airtight tubeless tire when riding in the sticks, i.e. as a second layer of defence (from dented rims, ripped tires or torn off knobs)?

When riding with a tube in a tubeless, and having a puncture, will it work pretty much like a tubeless? Can you simply plug the tire, inflate and carry on, or will the tube need to come out? Are there for instance any consciderations in relation to the valve on a tubelss tire vs the valve on a tube?

Please enlighten and advice me. What are your thoughts?

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*TPMS: To those that do not know, TPMS(TirePressureMonitoringSystem) is a sensor that you can add to the inside of your wheels or screw on as a valve cap on the outside (done in seconds). On the handlebar you have a small display (bike powered or rechargeable) that shows you the air pressure and alerts you to any changes - some can pair with phones. It is reccommended that you check air pressure between every ride, and if on long days in the sticks (where there is a high probability of a flat) - to check more tahn once, when the tires are cold. But who does that? Who allows for wheels to cool, rummage through their luggage for their gauge, get down into the dirt to turn dirty wheels to line up for fiddling measurements, etc - that often? At home I can go weeks without taking measurements, because I just can't be bothered. I have also learnbed that eyeballing it, squeezing the tire with my foot or hand - doesn't even come close to ballpark in telling me if I am OK With TPMS the information would allways be there - letting you know how temperature changes and altitude changes has affected your pressure, or if you are having a leak.

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