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tubeless in bruichladdich part three

you get used to stuff; listening to runrig for a several years will probably inure anyone to either headaches or dandruff (just kidding). similarly, riding the highways and byeways of the principality for well over 25 years, having experienced every wind direction it is possible to endure and having innocuously gathered the skill of handling galeforce crosswinds, brings me to the point where i really don't think as much about cycling in the wind as do others.

having lived adjacent to an international airport throughout the majority of my childhood, on reaching the cloistered corridors of art college, a building not too far from the flight path of aberdeen airport, for a while, i seemed to be the only one who didn't notice aeroplanes flying overhead. and while on my way to debbie's last friday afternoon, i was joined by a visiting cyclist who complimented me on the joys of cycling on islay, but commented on the ever present wind. something of a common situation amongst non-local cyclists, i was eager to point out that, on friday, we were only experiencing a strong breeze and that if he would care to return in december or january, we'd be more than happy to show him islay when it was windy.

yes, you are correct; that statement smacks of arrogance and condescension, but in reality, unless the atlantic gusts are in danger of separating rider from bicycle, members of the velo club are not in the habit of commenting. there is an omnipresent wind over here. several years ago, i kept notional records of the daily windspeed at noon; averaging those numbers over the course of a year gave a windspeed midway between 28 - 29mph. that's just the way it is and in common with listening to runrig's recorded output, you get used to it.

either that, or you find another hobby that preferably takes place indoors.

my early days of riding the colnago master fitted with wheelsmith's ascent tubeless-ready wheelset and shod with a pair of schwalbe pro-one tubeless tyres were fraught with concerns over what, for me at least, was a grand step into the unknown. having fitted the tyres myself, i was more than well aware that they remained on the wheelsmith rims courtesy of air pressure. what would happen if that air pressure decided it needed to be elsewhere at any given moment? yes, i carried spare inner tubes to which i could easily resort, but would rapid deflation result in the tyre heading in a different direction than yours truly?

the contradictory part of the equation was what i had agreed with myself would be the nature of the reviewing process. i chose to ride those roads that are only brought out for special occasions, roads that could really give a pair of wheels and tyres a hard time. rather obviously, i fervently hoped that the two components would remain best friends with each other, despite my best efforts to induce the opposite. but given that these are not the main arteries of islay life and any mechanical malfeasance would take place quite some distance from civilisation, should i have carried some form of tyre patch? is such an animal an actual thing? (the answer to that question turns out to be 'yes').

by the second outing, i must admit i was feeling a smidgeon more confident, purely on the basis that things seemed to be going rather swimmingly on the tyre/wheel interface front, but there was still this nagging thought that, so far, everything had gone way too smoothly for a technology that threatened to remainder that which we'd all been using for the last oh so many decades. ultimately the whole point of the exercise had been to investigate whether adoption of tubeless wheels and tyres was a valid option and not purely on pristine tarmac, but unless that became the sole aspect of consideration, attempting to do so was never going to work.

well, we're now several weeks into the tubeless regime and just like my naturally acquired ignorance of the wind, the most recent ride paid scant heed to the nature of the wheels and tyres and almost everything on how they behaved as wheels and tyres.

perhaps the most noticeable aspect of running this setup is that of rolling resistance. i have, for once, been paying attention when the road goes downwards and noted that several of my compatriots pedal feverishly on the descent, while lazy me generally takes the opportunity for a rest till we get to the bottom. despite my lethargy, i was scarcely losing any ground to my thrashing companions. it's an observation that has also made itself occasionally known on the flat. if we can assume that this is definitely a demonstration of reduced rolling resistance, i'm quite happy to sign up for that.

but the schwalbe tyres are only one half of the equation; a light pair of wheels (1450g) such as the wheelsmith ascents, offer a psychological advantage from the get go, but it's one that becomes reality when the road heads upwards. i'd imagine that's why derek gave them their name. but light rotating weight also confers superior acceleration; it's simple physics: for any given energy input, it will be easier to accelerate a lower mass. where these wheels score most is in their beautifully intangible, hand-built resilience, offering a surety of steering at every speed i'm capable of achieving. but with no drop off in performance even during my laughably unimpressive sprinting, i'm confident that those with greater drive and power output would experience the same at even greater speeds.

schwalbe pro-one tyres: wheelsmith ascent wheelset

to a certain extent, the wheelsmiths and the schwalbes have thrust tubeless advancement upon me from a great height. i'm pretty sure my innate conservativeness would have kept me on tyres and tubes until well into my dotage, casting careless aspersions upon tubelessness from a position of ignorance. while many of you will be sniggering loudly at both my temerity and incredulity over matters that have been a part of your velocipedinal lives for many months, i'm sure there are just as many who have erred on the side of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' train of thought.

if that's the case, the inner tube brigade are still far better served with tyre variations than the tubeless early adopters. the only way that's going to change notably is if more riders opt for the latter. fortunately, tubeless-ready wheelsets such as the ascent from wheelsmith can be fitted with tubeless as well as standard tyres and tubes, so if it doesn't work for you, there's no real expensive damage done.

meanwhile, on the basis of my wheelsmith/schwalbe experiment, i'm a happy convert.

wheelsmith ascent tubeless ready wheelset | schwalbe pro-one tubeless tyres

monday 17 april 2017