Tubeless Cyclosross Tyres?? Do they work? Are they worth the effort??

 Cyclocross is hard enough as it is without having to worry about tyre issues. I want to get rid of  (or get to the bottom off ) any of those worrying thoughts and perceptions of tubeless in cyclocross. Are there tyres that can perform like a tubular tyre and at a fraction of the cost??

      So a few weeks ago, i emailed Schwalbe UK asking if their cyclocross tyre, the racing ralph would work well with stans ZTR alpha 340 rims as tubeless tyres. I only asked as their mtb tubeless 'UST" compatible tyres all have writing on the tyre saying the are and on the packaging. But not on the CX stuff.

Early last week Tim Ward - (Schwalbe UK) Got back to me and gave me some great information that thoroughly answered my question. I thought that this would be very useful to share with everyone, so here is the main part of it:

       
         'Running cross tyres as tubeless is an interesting question and one that several people are looking at currently including myself. I was running Rocket Ron 700 x 35C on the standard Easton wheels that are on my CUBE cross bike. It took a while to get them up and sealed (you’ll definitely need a compressor) but I could really feel the difference in the way they rode; much like a tub. The main problem with them is because of the smaller air volume compared to and MTB tyre there’s a much higher risk of burping the air out (which I did twice) and I found there was a very critical minimum pressure of about 1.8 to 2.0 bar below which it was easy to burp them. You can only really find this out with trial and error as it will depend on rider weight and rim set-up etc. Be careful if you’re using the Stans rubber rim strips as these can push the bead up a bit too high on the crook lip and cause the tyre to blow off better to use the yellow adhesive tape; but again the rubber strips might be OK with your rims – it’s all trial and error I’m afraid.

You’ll find it a lot easier to get an initial seal if you use our Easy Fit solution on the bead of the tyre first as this will help create and air seal and help the bead seat evenly around the rim. Kevin at BETD Gold Tech in Newcastle under Lyme is also experimenting at the moment and another good person to talk to. The next step that we’re looking at is to glue the beads onto the rim with tub cement (something some downhill riders are trying) to stop burping at lower pressures.

Generally speaking the sidewalls should be up to the job but you may find that the tyres don’t last as long as they might running them with tubes in. As long as the pressure is OK it shouldn't be too much of a problem and I found that without the tube in you can run them at a higher pressure for a given amount of compliance compared to running with a tube.

In summary and conclusion I’d say it was worth experimenting with if you’re so inclined. But the emphasis is on ‘experimenting’; if you’re worried about losing race position because you lose air out the tyre then maybe think again about it – I didn’t start one race last year as I lost the air out of both tyres on the warm up lap! So it’s important to state that Schwalbe cross tyres are not as yet recommended for use in a tubeless set-up and at present this is not seen as a proprietary method of use and there are no guarantees from Schwalbe in this regard; just so there’s no misunderstanding if you lose a race!'

Just got another email from Tim Ward- (Schwalbe UK)

Racing Ralph (allround fast rolling tyre)

  



 ' As for the difference between Ron and Ralph it's very much down to the course and the conditions. I think for most of the season in typical UK conditions the Ron, which is more suited to muddier conditions, will be the better choice. However, if we have a dry autumn some of the early season races could be on very dry hard courses in which case the Ralph will definitely roll quicker. In mixed conditions where it's not too muddy there's some merit in running a Ron on the front and Ralph on the back as is very typical with cross country mountain bikers.

 

Rocket Ron (wetter weather tyre with tread desiged to shed mud)
This is the current 2012 Model. 2013 model to be released later this year!

The new 2013 Rocket Ron will be even more effective in the mud as it will be a bit narrower at 700 x 33C to meet the new UCI regs and have a slightly revised tread pattern. It will be available in an EVO spec folding clincher with PaceStar triple compound and also now finally in a tub version with the same 700 x 33C size.'







I am looking forward to experimenting with different tyres and
pressure. Im currently waiting for my stans rims to be built up onto

Vredestein Premiato

hope pro3s. I want to put most of my testing on these wheels with the
Racing ralphs and Rocket Rons as this is what i will currently want to be racing.
in the mean time, i would really like to try out some other tyres and run them at silly pressures on
my training wheels that i don't care for so i can really give them a good hammering. Then i can see what each tyres positives and negatives are. i have some 30c vredestrien tyres that i will give it a go with for now.




I was testing the Vredstrain tyres at 2.0 ,  2.5 and 3 bar last night on my practice course running them tubed. (i weigh 66kg if that helps give a better idea. I imagine much heavier people will have very different results) I have a section on the course which is really tough on wheels, strength wise, but
they might not be enough of a challenge for pinch flats. including quick transitions from a mud bank across paths and jumping down the other side, tight off camber turns, and 1-2 foot drops onto a lose open turn into a double jump that just so happend to be there!

I was hoping to pinch flat or something so i know the limit but
nothing and this was all mainly done on 2.0 bar, i knew any higher
pressure would cope. i did notice that it wasn't very stable on hard
cornering at this pressure and i felt the tyre rolling over. This Might be when
i would expect to lose air running tubeless.  I would like to try tubeless setups
to see if i do lose air and how much. But if i cant turn hard and feel stableish at these
pressures then i probably wouldn't run them that low, unless its not a very
fast course. but i do like the idea of the tub cement locking/sealing the tyre bead onto the rim.
But surely this is now getting into tub territory as this would need multiple wheelsets.
Still cheaper i guess.


I have the Racing ralphs already sat on my desk but not going to use them until they are
on my new wheelset. But i do look forward to try some other tyres and find out which tyre runs best with tubeless setup.

Over time i will try my very best to test every CX tyre out there for tubeless and was hoping that if my
blog starts to do well, suppliers will give me tyres to test and review.  

Untill then i will need to get some training in and make do with what i already have.

The weird and crazy world of Cyclocross

Iv realised whilst speaking to people lately that they have absolutely no idea what cyclocross is. I try to explain that its like road riding, but off road, fast pace and a fair bit of running with the bike. I can understand  that it might be difficult to imagine it if you haven't seen it before so here it is.. I made sure there were bails in the video because I think its hilarious. Some pretty sweet looking courses in the videos with awesome features. I especially like the bmx/ dirt jump looking sections.enjoy!

Training week 1

So the past week has been a bit of a introduction to training. I went out 3 times on my bike and did about 90 miles. The first ride was a bit rubbish and made me realise I'm going to have to put in a lot of effort in the coming weeks. But it was ok as it was my first road ride or first long period of aerobic excersize for well over a year. And when I put it like that, I could be doing a lot worse.

Here is what my routes have been so far. On my 2nd and 3rd ride I tried to use the 'map my ride' app for the I phone but unfortunately I have been a complete noob! My phone ran out of battery on ride 2. And ride 3, I thought I had pressed record to only find out when I got home that I had only pressed the settings option.... :/
I mapped the routes out the best I could on google maps.

Pretty Simple 20 mile route, not many hard climbs.,but the wind was pretty strong. this took me about 1h 15mins

This is one of the hardest rides of done in recent memory. Its very hilly and about 35-40 miles and i really tried to push up the hills. im not sure how long this took because im not 100% on the time i left but was about 2h 30mins.

This 17ish mile route is just easy. all slightly up hill on the way out and downhill on the way back. This took
an hour as i was just doing an easy recovery ride as the route the day before kinda hurt.

On days When I haven't been on my bike I have been at the gym working on the guns.
Up until now I have been going to the gym 5 times a week but with a totally different goal. I wanted to get bigger muscles, gain some weight and lose the belly that I had accumulated from being in a desk job. The problem that i had got into, as im sure many do with a desk job, is you get so caught up burning your eyes and brain out looking at a screen all day that once you finish work, all you want to do is get home switch off and watch a film or play on the ps3. Well thats how it was for me anyway.

But gone are those days of being a lazy slob.... And so have the days of wanting to become muscle bound and look like Arnie! Well that was never the plan but I did gain 4kg and my body fat percentage dropped quite a bit and i was very happy with my progress. And now i feel like i am better prepared as i have a good base strength..but what do i know.

So now my new goal is to become fit enough to actually race throughout a cyclo cross series, hopefully peaking around the time of the Champs. Rather than just being fit enough to participate. I'm not really about the participation of things, I like to win. Little to no point in doing things unless you want to win I think. The bad thing about that, is that I feel I am going to have to get used to being thrashed for a while... Safe in the knowledge that I'm letting them win untill champs time :)

Ok iv gone on a fair bit now. But i guess it is my first training post so i have to give a bit of an intoduction. I have also probably given away my race plan but only time will tell if it is my plan or not.??

The Ride (bike #1)

Redline CX

Here it is! This is my cross bike #1. I have two cross bikes, i will take a pic of the other one at a later date.

this is my favourite of the two mainly because its lighter and rides better, but also because it has the better components on it. I was lucky enough to have been given this bike from my Bro out in California as it was his old bike and didn't need it any more. Cheers Mark!

Many people will think that this is just a road bike. If you look closer, you will notice a few differences. Cross bikes are to be ridden mainly off road so, this requires a few subtle differences over a road bike.

The first and most visual thing that sets it apart is the brakes. This has canti-lever brakes whereas road bikes have smaller more aerodynamic calliper brakes. The only reason for having these bigger brakes is to allow for  better mud clearance. i.e. stop mud gathering at the brakes making it almost impossible for the wheels to turn.

   Another difference is the frame strength, due to the off-road demands, the frame is overbuilt, mainly around the head tube on this frame, just to stop it from snapping or bending.

The frame seat and chain stays are also a little wider to also allow for better mud clearance.

My bike currently has a road setup, with road slick tyres and a bigger chainring. this is purely to achieve higher speeds and make it a bit easier. For the cross season i will put a smaller chain ring on and put on some nobbly off road tyres. I'll go into that more a bit nearer the time.

This is a pic i took today but it is not how it will stay. I have a few upgrades planned which should come fairly shortly. I will post pictures of each new thing. It weighs about 21.5lbs at the moment and i will be looking to get rid of some of that weight.

Heres a list of the bike and components:

 - Redline CX Frame and fork

 - Alex hubs on Alex AT450 rims (soon to be replaced, and stored as spare wheels)

 - Dura Ace 7700 Groupset ( Rear Mech currently not on it but will put that on soon)

 - Shimano LX brakes

 - Time Atac pedals i think. ( i use these on road but will change to crank bros 'egg beaters' for off road)

 - Profile Design stem and bar

 - Easton EC70 seat post

 - Selle italia Flite saddle

and thats pretty much it. I dont know what tyres, cant see anything written on them from the sofa and im not moving. 

Hopefully you'll stick around and follow my progress and find out how much bike weight i can drop, if at all. and also at what cost! Also i will post some pics of bike #2 very soon which i want to get rid of some weight at little cost.

You Stay Classy readers....

Welcome to my bike blog

So this is my very first post. First things first. A welcome is in order. And thank you for taking your time reading what I have to say.

Let me introduce and tell you a bit about myself.

My name is Matthew noble and I am currently 22years old. I live in Plymouth , UK and have been cycling since I was about 2. Over that time I have raced xc, dh, bmx, cyclo cross and road. I have managed to become southwest champ in dh, cyclo cross and was close with bmx. I have never orientated myself as a type of rider ie rodie, downhiller. I like to think of myself as a cyclist who respects and enjoys every aspect of the sport. I find it very funny how people can have such a hatred or disregard for another type of cyclist. For instance a downhiller calling a roadie a fag because he wears Lycra....it does make a good laugh though! Despite me being a Lycra loving roadie at times.

I also work for an upcoming online bike company Koo-bikes.com. Worth a look if you've never heard of it. They are the only bike shop that weighs every single bike product, in house, on very accurate scales, to give riders more knowledge about the product. And if your anything like me, I want to ride the lightest stuff. Especially if Im trying to shed some bike weight.
I guess me working for the shop will make it easier to get hold of new products and review them and stuff. So it benefits the readers also. That's you by the way!

Ok why am I doing this when I could be out there riding. Well it's simple really. Firstly, There is only so much riding one man can do and what better than spending your spare time writing about bikes.
Secondly, I have started to weight train a lot recently and I have decided to put my fitness to the test and race the upcoming southwest cyclocross series and thought why not blog my progress.

Not many people know much about cyclo cross and there doesn't seem to be that many sites out there that gives it that much attention. Unless I'm missing something and haven't found one yet.

So I want to show what it takes to prepare for a season. What sort of bike you need, how much training I do (I have a full time job, so there will be levels of commitment and a limit to how much I can do) what I do to prepare for a race. What I think about before, during a race and after. And of course what I eat.

Over time I will blog about almost every single bike related thought I have, from dh riding right through the spectrum of cycling to fixies! Cus they are kool!
This is a list of what to expect:
- Southwest cyclo cross
- Training: hours- miles -diet
- Bike build: my bikes. Pic of new stuff and why I choose it over other kit.
- Race day bike pics ~ other peoples bikes
- Relevant info: news, races, websites.

Feel free to subscribe to my blog. It would also be very cool if people wanted to send me pics of there cx bikes for me to post them on here. And feel free to share my blog on fb or whatever.
The pic is a little giveaway of what is my number 1 cross bike. Guess if you can.

I'm off for a ride!