by Bruce Lin January 28, 2025

Spend time in the Quintana Roo service tent at events and you’ll quickly see that punctures are the most common mechanical that athletes bring us. 99% of the time, athletes with punctures are running tubes, and the most common question they ask while we’re fixing their bike is whether they should switch to tubeless. 

Tubeless tires have taken over in the professional cycling world. All of QR’s pro athletes have gone tubeless, and so has most of their competition. Tubeless can give pros an extra edge, but is it worth it for “regular” athletes like you and me? 

In this post, I’ll cover:

  1. Tubeless Tire Pros
  2. Tubeless Tire Cons
  3. Tubeless Basics: How It Works and What You Need
  4. Tubeless Alternatives
  5. Are Quintana Roo Bikes Set Up Tubeless? 

Then you can decide for yourself! 

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Tubeless Tire Pros

Tubeless bike tire puncture sealedTubeless sealant (Silca Ultimate) kept my Vittoria Corsa Pro rolling after a piece of glass punctured the tread. The sealant filled a ~6mm hole with minimal air loss. 
  • Better puncture protection 

  • Faster puncture repairs (with tire plugs)

  • Reduced rolling resistance 

  • Reduced weight

  • Lower tire pressures

Puncture Protection

The most obvious benefit of tubeless is puncture protection. Tubeless tires rely on sealant to make the tire airtight, but it serves a secondary purpose of sealing punctures. Most sealant easily seals small pinholes (like those caused by goatheads) and many can effectively seal bigger punctures in the 5-7mm range. 

I ride and train in an area with plenty of goatheads, sharp gravel, and glass on the roads. Since switching to tubeless in 2018, I went from experiencing a puncture every couple of months (sometimes several in a single month!) to regularly going multiple seasons without a flat. 

Tubeless sealant has also saved races for me by sealing punctures so fast that I don’t even need to get off my bike. It is not foolproof, but tubeless tires with sealant are orders of magnitude more puncture-resistant than tubes. 

Puncture Repair

Best tubeless tire plug kits

I have a plug kit that's preloaded with the plug in case I ever have an issue. If you have to change a tube in a race, your race is probably done. I’ve only had one time in a race where I've had to plug a tire, but I only lost 30 seconds. I can make that up.  

An additional benefit is that tubeless tires allow you to use tire plugs—sticky little vulcanized pieces of rubber—if the sealant is struggling to seal a puncture. Jam a tire plug into the puncture, air up the tire if needed, and you’re back on the road in seconds. Compare this to the time required to remove your wheel and replace a tube. 

These days, I race and train with a small tire plug kit—e.g., the fancy Dynaplug Racer Pro or more affordable Genuine Innovations Tubeless Tackle Kit (pictured above)—and a CO2 inflator. It’s simple, lightweight, compact, fast, and 99.9% effective. This is the same tactic used by top pros, like Matt Hanson, at the biggest races

“I don't carry tubes, but I have a plug kit that's preloaded with the plug in case I ever have an issue,” Hanson explained. “If you have to change a tube in a race, your race is probably done. I’ve only had one time in a race where I've had to plug a tire, but I only lost 30 seconds. I can make that up.”   

Improved Performance

Matt Hanson Ironman Kona tubeless tires

QR's Matt Hanson took 10th at IRONMAN Kona with great training, prep, and strategy. A little speed boost from tubeless wheels and tires didn't hurt! 

Modern tubeless race tires perform better than traditional tubed clincher tires. Removing the innertube from the system reduces rolling resistance by eliminating frictional losses caused by the tube rubbing against the tire casing. Because tubeless tires use sealant to protect from punctures, tire manufacturers can also get away with using thinner and more supple casings, which reduce rolling resistance further. Check independent tire tests, and you’ll see that the fastest tires are all tubeless. 

Eliminating tubes can also reduce weight. I usually run about 1 oz/30 ml of sealant per tire which adds 20-40 grams. If you want to be extra safe by doubling that to 2 oz/60 ml, it’s still lighter than an average butyl tube which usually weighs well over 100 grams. While weight isn’t the most important metric in triathlon, reducing rotating weight is always a valuable marginal gain. 

Lower Pressures

Tubeless also allows for lower tire pressures. Pinch flats—where a rim strike cuts the tube or tire—are less likely with tubeless. This means you can use lower tire pressures than you can with a tubed setup. Lower tire pressures improve comfort, which is beneficial on long bike legs or training rides. It improves your traction and confidence in corners. Also, since roads are rarely perfectly smooth, lower pressures reduce rolling resistance by allowing tires to conform better to surface irregularities. 

These performance gains combined with the puncture protection of tubeless tires make them a no-brainer for professionals and performance-oriented riders searching for every advantage on race day.  

Tubeless Tire Cons

Tubeless tires worth it for triathlon
  • Tougher installation 

  • More maintenance 

  • Increased expense

  • Potential mess 

Installation

Installation is often the biggest barrier to entry. Learning to insert and inflate a tube is pretty easy. Tubeless, however, has a much steeper learning curve. The toughest part is getting the beads of a tubeless tire seated on a rim. 

Seating a tubeless tire often requires a strong burst of air to inflate the tire quickly enough to force the beads against the rim walls. Bike shops generally use an air compressor. If you don’t have an air compressor, you can use a floor pump with a pressurized air canister or a CO2 inflator. 

Some tubeless tires can be particularly stubborn, requiring little installation tricks (see the video below). Some tires, however, can be a breeze. I’ve had tires that seat easily with a few lazy pumps from a standard floor pump. The ease of installation will depend on your specific wheel and tire combo, and it’s a bit of a lottery. 

Maintenance

Maintenance is the next biggest barrier. Tubeless sealant needs to be replenished as it dries up, otherwise your tire will stop holding air. Sealant lifespan depends on several factors—sealant brand, humidity, how much you ride, and more—so there’s a lot of variability. Some sealants (e.g., Silca) need to be topped up every 3 months while others (e.g., Stan’s NoTubes) could last a full season. 

Then there’s troubleshooting leaks. 9 times out of 10, if a tubeless setup isn’t holding air reliably, there’s a leak in the tubeless tape and it will need to be replaced. Retaping a rim isn’t hard, but it can be annoying, especially after you’ve gone through the trouble of installation. Tubeless tape generally gets damaged when removing and installing tires, and I usually have to retape my rims after ~3-4 tire changes. 

Some sealants, after sitting for an extended period, can coagulate into “boogers.” These are generally harmless, but they’re gross and I pick them out of my tire if I see any during sealant top-ups. Sealant can also clog your valve cores if you aren’t careful. I keep a bunch of spare valve cores around and just replace them whenever one gets clogged. 

Tubeless tires also need to be aired up a bit more often. I pump up my tires to my desired pressures before every ride anyway (and you probably should too) so that’s not a big deal. 

Cost

If your doesn’t have tubeless wheels or tires, they can be an expensive upgrade. Then there’s the cost of the additional tools you’ll likely need. If you’re not confident handling tubeless installation or maintenance yourself, then you also have to factor in the cost of having a shop or mechanic handle it for you. 

Mess

This is not my tri bike, but it shows the mess sealant can potentially cause. This orange sealant dried on my seattube and took a lot of elbow grease to clean off, plus my kit got stained. 

The mess that sealant can create is one of my least favorite things about tubeless. Even after years of practice, I still drip sealant all over my wheels, workbench, and garage floor whenever I set up a tire or top-up sealant. 

Sealant also leaks out during punctures. If you’re lucky, punctures seal quickly with minimal mess. If you’re less lucky, sealant sprays everywhere. You’ll get sealant on your bike and clothes, and some sealant brands can stain your clothing if it isn’t washed off quickly. 

Despite these downsides, I won’t go back to using tubes. I’m used to the installation and maintenance needs at this point, so I don’t consider it a hassle. Issues are rare, so for me, living with tubeless is worth it for the puncture protection and performance advantages.   

Tubeless Basics: How It Works and What You Need

To go tubeless, you need four basic components:

  • Tubeless-ready tires

  • Tubeless-ready wheels

  • Tubeless valves

  • Tubeless sealant

When we say “tubeless,” we’re generally referring to wheels and tires that are “tubeless-ready.” True tubeless systems—which were pioneered by Mavic with its UST (Universal Standard Tubeless) rims and compatible UST tires—don’t require sealant. The tire and rim are both airtight, similar to a car tire. Tubeless-ready systems require sealant to ensure the tire casing and the tire/rim bead interface are airtight. 

Tubeless-ready allows for tire casings that are lighter, more supple, and faster rolling, with the added benefit of extra puncture protection. Pretty much all modern tubeless tires and wheels are tubeless-ready, and the old UST standard has been phased out.

How To Install Tubeless Tires and Refresh Sealant

IGNORE the branding here (I’ll redo this video eventually), but this is a quick 3-minute demonstration of how I install my tubeless tires and inject sealant at home:

I cover a couple of the tricks I use if a tire is stubborn and won’t seat. Hopefully, it makes tubeless look less intimidating! 

What Additional Tools Do You Need?

Must have:

  • Air source: compressor, pump, or CO2

Nice to have:

  • Tubeless sealant injector

  • Valve core removal tool

  • Spare valve cores

  • Spare tubeless tape

If you’re installing tubeless tires at home, you can get away without an air compressor. But air compressors do make seating tubeless tires during installation much, much easier. Floor pumps designed to hold compressed air for tubeless installation work well, but sometimes, a basic compressor is actually cheaper. Personally, I like to use CO2 inflators to seat tires because I have so many. If you do use CO2 on a tubeless set-up though, be sure to let all the CO2 out and pump the tire back up with “regular” air to keep the sealant fresh

I also recommend keeping a bottle of sealant, a valve core removal tool, and a sealant injector syringe around. Even if you aren’t a confident mechanic, topping up sealant at home by injecting it through the valve is fairly easy to learn (see below), and it’ll save you a lot of money.

Tubeless Alternatives

You don’t HAVE to go tubeless. 

If the extra hassle or cost of going tubeless doesn’t appeal to you, then stick with tubes! Beyond puncture protection, the performance gains that tubeless tires provide are relatively marginal—in the realm of 1-5 watts. This might matter for pros fighting for every second, but it won’t make or break a race for us mere mortals (unless you puncture).  

Also, unless a wheel or tire manufacturer explicitly recommends against tubes (be sure to check), most of the latest tubeless-ready wheels and tires still work with tubes. If you’re going to run tubes, TPU or latex tubes can be an easy upgrade. Both reduce weight and rolling resistance compared to cheaper butyl tubes. 

TPU vs. Butyl bike tire tube test

Check out BRR's TPU/Latex tube test. Photo: Bicyclerollingresistance.com

TPU tubes are the latest and greatest in tube technology. They come close to matching the rolling resistance gains of tubeless. They are quite expensive, and I’ve had some bad luck with TPU tubes breaking at the valve, but your mileage may vary. There are plenty of serious racers who swear by TPU tubes.   

If I had to go back to using tubes, I’d choose latex. It’s much cheaper than TPU, and I’ve had fewer issues with it. They weigh more than TPU but have slightly lower rolling resistance. The biggest drawback is that they lose air pressure very quickly, so you have to pump them up before every ride, but I already do that anyway. If you have doubts that latex tubes are race-worthy, there are still World Tour cycling teams (e.g. Soudal Quick-Step) racing on them!

Are Quintana Roo Bikes Set Up Tubeless?

Quintana Roo V-PRi tubeless triathlon bike

We ship all of our flagship V-PRi models with Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tires set up tubeless with Stan’s NoTubes sealant. If you choose to upgrade any bike to ENVE or Zipp hookless wheels, those will also be shipped tubeless with the same tires and sealant. 

The V-PR and X-PR come stock with tubes. If you would like these models to be set up tubeless before they’re shipped, you can request it with our team. We will need to upgrade the bike with Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR tires and charge a $95 fee for the tires and installation. (MSRP for the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR is $98.95 per tire—so I consider this a good deal!)

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Bruce Lin

Bruce Lin



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View our size charts to see what frame size is best for you. After purchasing a new QR bicycle, our team will reach out to you to confirm your order and sizing information to be sure you have selected the optimum frame size.


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If you're not transferring measurements from a similar triathlon specific bike, to get completely "dialed in" for maximum performance, we recommend you see a reputable professional bike fitter that can fit you to your new Quintana Roo.

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On the border of two sizes?
The right size may depend on certain body measurements and your riding style. Feel free to contact us at any time regarding sizing questions - our product specialists are experienced with finding riders the right fit by cross-referencing your information with our QR Rider Fit database.
Measure for Maximum Performance
If you're not transferring measurements from a similar triathlon specific bike, to get completely "dialed in" for maximum performance, we recommend you see a reputable professional bike fitter that can fit you to your new Quintana Roo.

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On the border of two sizes?
The right size may depend on certain body measurements and your riding style. Feel free to contact us at any time regarding sizing questions - our product specialists are experienced with finding riders the right fit by cross-referencing your information with our QR Rider Fit database.
Measure for Maximum Performance
If you're not transferring measurements from a similar road bike, to get completely "dialed in" for maximum performance, we recommend you see a reputable professional bike fitter that can fit you to your new Quintana Roo.