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uberthumper · # 2 13-11-12, 13:39

You can fit a tubeless tyre to your rims, but the air will leak out through the spoke nipples. That's what the tube is there to stop.

There are various approaches to this, but they all involve sealing the spoke nipples in one way or another. A few people have done it DIY style with sealant and tape. The 'Tubliss' system uses a bicycle tube at very high pressure in the wheel well to seal it, then you put air in to the tyre itself through a second valve. Trelleborg have a similar system, but I think it's a bit less well thought out than the Tubliss one. Last time I checked you couldn't get the Tubliss system for a 17" wheel anyway, and they wouldn't guarantee it for road use. And they're expensive.

Tubeless tyres give you a quicker way of fixing straightforward punctures (say picking up a screw in the middle of the tread which leaves a single, neat hole). But there's plenty of ways of puncturing a tyre that a plug kit wouldn't fix, so for anything more out of the way than riding to work and back I'd want to have a tube (and the tools to fit it) as a backup anyway. The problem with having a tubeless setup normally plus an 'emergency tube' is that the stiffer tubeless tyre will be much harder to get off to fit the tube in.

In my opinion, the solution is simple - get better at fitting tubes. I fit my own tyres - not because it makes economic sense to do so (my local tyre fitter charges a pittance, and does it much quicker than I can) but because it keeps my hand in for when I do need to fix a puncture.

It's also worth noting, yet again, that I've only had two punctures in the last decade. Both riding over screws in populated areas. I've never had one riding on dirt.