Today we're going to talk about a very important topic, that is tubular versus clincher versus tubeless, what does that mean and which is best choice for you?

Let's start with tubular.

This is the most original and oldest bicycle wheel and bicycle tire style, I have it here.

The difference is that if you can see how the tires are installed and the compatible tire types here, only tubular tires are compatible here. What is this type of tire? The tire and the tube are actually manufactured together. It almost looks like an inner tube, a bit like a doughnut shape, but it has tire treads on the outside. It's not like the standard bicycle wheels you may be really familiar with. You need to glue it to the tubular rim, okay? This is the difference.

The benefits of tubular wheels and tires are a pair.

One, it is usually lighter because we don't have the structure needed to hook ordinary tires on this rim, here is just this flat surface, it has no hooks for the bead. The rim can actually be lighter and harder on the fracture surface. This is a benefit.

The tire itself is actually lighter because the inner tube and tire are combined into one. The use of tubular tires can achieve lower rolling resistance, because the tire and the inner tube are not separated. When the tire and the inner tube are separated, sometimes the inner tube needs to move inside the tire, which will generate rolling resistance. Tubular tires cannot do this.

The disadvantage is one of the disadvantages of the tube, you have to glue them on. This is a great pain. Second, if you encounter a flat road while riding, you will need to carry another tube tire, which is a big old thing, you will have to re-bond, you will have to pull your tires off, You will have to re-attach it on the road. Usually, this is not what you want to do.

A clincher is really sort of the normal style of bike wheel, the standard bike wheel that you would be familiar with.

You're going to put an inner tube here and then you're going to have a tire on the outside. You're going to have those two parts, and the tire's going to hook here on this, and your inner tube's going to be on the inside, and you're going to inflate your inner tube, and that's this part here is the clincher.

What are the benefits of clincher?

One is that your tires will have many choices. This is the most popular and common tire type, and all manufacturers will provide you with a wide variety of tires.

Secondly, installation and maintenance are very easy.

I mean it is changing tires, as you usually know, nothing extreme or different.

Another benefit is that if you feel flat when you are out riding, just changing the tube is no big deal. The convenience is there, of course.

What are the disadvantages of the clincher?

Well, the downside of the clincher is weight, because usually when you have tires and inner tubes, there will be extra weight there.

There is a little extra weight on this bead hook, because in this case it needs to be a very strong piece of carbon. It is a bit heavy.

Another disadvantage is rolling resistance, which happens when your wheels roll and the part of the tire that touches the ground is basically compressed as it rolls.

Well, the way the tire is compressed is different from the way the inner tube is compressed. This makes the inner tube move a little bit inside the tire, a little bit squeezed, and is pulled very small inside the tire, which produces what we call rolling resistance, which makes Your bike is more difficult to roll forward and it is less efficient.

This ultimately means that it needs more watts of power to propel itself forward, and you cannot maintain such a high top speed. There are many ways to use open pliers to counter the rolling resistance, one is to use high tire pressure, or to use a very thin and flexible inner tube. You can do this, but usually high rolling resistance can be one of the disadvantages of open pliers. But use a good tube for yourself, that's no big deal.

Let's talk about the third type of wheel and tire, that is tubeless.

The wheels here are also tubeless compatible wheels. What does this mean and how is this possible? Well, the tubeless wheel and tire settings are very similar to the clincher. You install this tire on the top, but instead of installing the tube on the inside, you are going to use a tubeless liquid sealant, which is almost a bit like glue. You have to pour it inside. It will seal the edge of the tire on the rim with an airtight seal, and then you will be able to inflate the tire without an inner tube. Why would anyone want to do this? How is this also a clamp and tubeless? Basically the difference lies in the hook here, you may not be able to see it in the video, because this is a very, very small difference, but the hook shape of the tire hook here can be tubeless compatible, which means it will be compatible with The specific tubeless tire forms an airtight seal. You can't just use any old clinchers to do this.

But you bought yourself a tubeless tire, it can be installed correctly, you use a tubeless conversion kit, there is sealing tape around the spoke holes, you have liquid sealant and a special valve, you set it, you do that Converted, it allows you to run the tires without inner tubes.

This has some specific benefits.

One is the anti-snake bite puncture resistance, because the tubeless sealant fluid will puncture, reseal the small hole like a snake bite, or pinch it. These occur less frequently and may not be so frequent. You can run the tires at lower tire pressures without the risk of a tire blowout, which is one of the reasons. You can also run the tires at lower pressures and reduce rolling resistance.

Generally, if your tire pressure is low, use a clincher. Your inner tube has a clincher, and the rolling resistance will increase dramatically. If your tires have not been pumped up all the time, you will feel that the bike will feel very sluggish.

Since there is no tube on the tubeless tire, it is reduced. You can experience a lower rolling resistance than a clincher, which is very similar to the rolling resistance of a tube tire, or a super, ultra-high-end clincher with a very thin lite inner tube. It can be achieved with tubeless, yes, just right.

If they want to use low tire pressure on gravel roads, cross-country roads, and bicycle crossroads, many people will use tubeless tires, which is an important reason.

In terms of ease of use, you will perform the tubeless installation and conversion process at home before riding, which is a bit difficult.

However, if you are out riding and your tubeless system fails for whatever reason, all you can do is always carry an ordinary inner tube, you just pop out the ordinary inner tube and ride it as a tightener OK. That's really convenient.

All our rims and wheels, in DCH, are pliers and tubeless compatible. You basically get the best of these two worlds.

If you have purchased a clamp, then you can use it as a normal clamp with inner tube, and you can test tubeless riding whenever you want, and then experiment to see if you like the benefits.

These are the biggest differences.

Tubular, ride it if you're a racer and you know that you really, really want that, if you're just recreational don't do it.

Clincher, that's the normal one pretty much everybody's going to be happy with that.

Tubeless, well you get it as a benefit also on the clincher wheel, some day you might wanna convert to that, in general, what you're going to want to do, is go with the two-way, tubeless clincher wheel, if you're a normal rider that's going to give you a lot of options, really give you the best experience, that's what I would recommend.