SEACOAST BY BIKE

In this episode, the Great Balkini gets a blowout on a lonely Maine road on a freezing day. Things are looking bad. Could this be curtains for our hero? Enter a new technology that has been a long time coming. Read on.

Biking in a Tubeless Democracy

ABOUT the Great Balkini 

Fear of flats

The prospect of fixing a flat on the road intimidates many riders. The bike industry knows that flats haunt riders and a solution would be a godsend. So where is it? Over the years, the alternative focus was solid tire products, but those didn’t make a ripple. Rubber/plastic polymers all ride like bricks and always will.

Rolling on air is a luxury we take for granted, but the embedded tube technology is outdated. There are lots of reasons but the safety of tubeless tires is the most compelling.

In cars it was 1954 -- an astounding 51 years after its 1903 patent date -- before the first tubeless tire was offered as a luxury car option. They were heralded as a safety revolution, offering slow leaks instead of blowouts and smoother, more easily controllable stops. The rest is automotive history; tubeless tires are now the embedded technology.

Tubes should also be a thing of the past in road bikes. But taking the tube out of the bicycle changes everything.

Shimano and Hutchinson have collaborated to build the better mousetrap. They are the first to bring this significantly improved technology to the high-end road market. Their product is positioned to serve a small niche who are willing to spend north of $1000 to upgrade their ride. It would be a shame, however, if only this upscale clientele enjoys this product.

Inside the revolution

Here’s how it works in a nutshell. There is no rim strip; the spoke holes are sealed. In order to hold air, the tire with its carbon beads attaches far more securely to the rim. When punctured they leak slowly and sometimes stabilize at a much lower pressure, but it’s still enough to ride on.

Tubeless is the stuff of dreams. It’s a giant security blanket for all riders, but especially those starting out in the sport. In a wannabee green society, tubeless is the breakthrough that could capture a growing riding public.

My experience with tubeless has made me a convert for life. After 5000 perfect miles on three sets of tires, the inevitable happened. It was not a polite puncture, but a potentially deadly blowout. Superlatives cannot express my joy, so I’ll just tell the story.

Saved by a tubeless tire

It’s a 30-degree late November day and I’m six miles from home doing a wind-aided 20 mph and reveling in the black velvet luxury of a freshly repaved section of Betty Welch Road. I ride this road a lot. Sweet.

I’m doing my best David Ortiz imitation, eyes to the sky thanking the Pavement Angel when this lone brown chunk with its pointy side up is suddenly under my front wheel. Bang! Blowout! Mea culpa. That’s Latin for idiot.

Unlike a normal tire that would most likely separate itself from the rim at that speed, there is no dramatics here, just a smooth stable stop. Thanks for that, but my gratitude while heartfelt is short lived.

The gash in the sidewall, through which I can poke my pinky, reveals there’s no way that inserting a tube is going to work without a sleeve. My hands, fingers, the wheel I’m holding, and everything around me are all freezing.

I may be an idiot, but I’m no dummy. Bike riders pride themselves on self-reliance, so in cold weather I wisely ride in loops close to home. In the off chance I’m forced to walk, someone I know is likely to happen along. It’s one of the charms of small town life. Very little traffic is another advantage, but at this blow-out moment -- not exactly a blessing.

Thankfully, the sun is out. I’m warm enough for now. Hoofing it feels just plain dumb. Moments ago I was flying. Now I’m pushing the most elegant, efficient, invention humankind has ever devised. Since the front tire is still firmly attached to the rim -- I get back on, click in, and begin pedaling. On level surfaces the tubeless ride is predictably harsh, but remarkably stable at 10-12 mph. Going uphill, sitting way back with almost no weight on the front wheel is surprisingly smooth and easier than riding the flats.

Road camber is the real danger. It’s treacherous on the flats where, even at low speed, the slightest amount pulls the tire to one side and leaves little doubt it isn’t long for the rim. At downhill speed 15 feels like 50 and my gut is telling me the slightest encounter with camber and the tire will be off the rim before I know it. I stick to the extreme right where the road is level but peppered with debris. It’s like rolling through a minefield.

What I learned that day

The Hutchinson/Shimano tubeless road tire system is far too significant an advance to be the property of a few. They have unearthed the Holy Grail and they don’t know what to do with it.

Will they follow the path of the auto industry that denied the public access to a better, safer product for decades? These days we take tubeless for granted in cars. It’s time cyclists did the same.