Conti TKC80 tubed or tubeless?
 

Going to ride about 8500 miles in January 2008. 7500+ miles will be on tarmac. The remainder on varying types of sand and gravel.

A TKC80 rear should cope with about 5000 miles and the front should do the whole trip. I'll be riding at speeds up to 90/95 mph on the tarmac. Not heavily laden, but I'm told that overheating inner tubes could be a problem.

Tubeless are simpler. Both have reinforced casings. Inner tube puncture could be easier to fix (just replace) by the roadside.

So the question is tubed or tubeless? Your views and advice would be welcome.

Read THIS

I had read it, thanks. Kev's comments seem to be aimed more at the SM riders, but they are relevant to part of my question.
Cheers

If you are riding long distance on the dirt & running tubeles tyres, I would take a tube as a back up as you can't pump a tubeless tyre on the side of the road.

Kev, but... how easy is to actually remove a valve from a rim adapted to tubeless tyres? I understand they are fitted at pressure in the rims and not really easy to take out. Also if you need to fit a tube roadside you are going to need some strong tyre levers with enough leverage length to pry the tyre off the rims and capable of wedging it back in. To my knowledge people with tubeless tyres carry those tyre plugging kits consisting of that corkscrew tool and the rubber plugs + glue.

In my experience it's popping the bead that's the challange, all right if you're not solo, you can use your mates side stand but on yer todd it's a whole nasty, sweaty, swearing affair.

bead buddy

There are a few types of valves available today bolt on & pull through & don't really pose a problem when you get a puncture & normally are renewed when fitting a new tubeless tyre.

A skilled person can quite easily remove a tubeless tyre with tyre levers & protector blocks. When riding off road with tubeless or with a tube & you get a puncture with the uneven surface & extra load due to luggage, it is easy for the tyre to break the sealing beed from the rim & once that happens, you will need a compressor to pump up the tubeless tyres again. Rim locks on a tube wheel is best for the dirt, but no good for hi speed road use due to balance problems.

Tyre plugs are fast & easy to repair punctures for tubeless tyres as long as the entry point on the tread is not near the side wall of the tyre.

Heres something else you could look at, run flats http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4202393.html

For me I would run tubes for a long off road trip using Moose tubes http://www.pitposse.com/mohedutu.html the only thing with them is most of them are only rated to 80PMH. Some of the moose tubes can be twice as thick as a normal tube.

There is no hard rule here, there are pros & cons to tubeless verse tubes. It's all up to the rider & where they are riding.

Thanks for the input Chaps.
All things considered I'll run TKC80s with Michelin 4mm heavy duty tubes filled with Ultraseal (or similar). Should be pretty resilient agains pinch punctures when riding soft with low pressures, but capable of 80 mph on tarmac when inflated normally. May get a bit of wobble and weave, but I'll have to learn to live with that. Also taking a couple of puncture repair foam/slime canisters, a spare tube and a spare rear tyre.
Hoping for about 6000 miles from front and 3000 from rear.
Thanks

Sounds as if you have it all covered. Let us know how your ride gets on.