Road bike tyre and rim compatibility seemed to be settling down, but the recent launch of new clincher-specific tyres from major brands has me worried.
It looks as if we’re heading back into murky waters, where the potential for mismatched tyres and rims could have dangerous consequences.
Yet again, the cycling industry appears to be underestimating the risks to riders posed by poor communication and a lack of awareness surrounding hookless rims and tyre compatibility.
Let’s take a look at how we got to where we are now and what could be done to improve things.
The state of play in road bike rims and tyres
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of road bike wheels with hookless rims, which rely on tubeless technology to function safely.
Hookless rims lack traditional bead hooks and are therefore only compatible with tubeless tyres, which have strong, inflexible beads designed to offer an interference fit on the rim under pressure.
As a result, the widespread availability of clincher tyres posed a potentially serious safety issue to riders unaware of such nuances.
As hookless rims quickly increased in abundance from around 2020 onwards, riders suddenly needed to ensure they had the right tyres for their rims, or risk extremely dangerous tyre blow-offs from incompatible combinations.
Tyre brands consequently scrambled to ensure they had hookless-compatible models in the following years.
Clincher tyres remained available (typically in the form of old or cheaper models), but the tide of new releases has turned decisively in favour of tubeless road bike tyres.
It felt as if things were finally getting simple again – all new performance road bike tyres would be tubeless and compatible with hooked or hookless rims.
Whether you wanted to run those tyres with tubeless valves and sealant or simply carry on using inner tubes was a personal – and risk-free – choice.
The argument that this situation was forcing knowledgeable clincher devotees into using heavier, sub-optimal tubeless tyres with their beloved inner tubes is a fair one. But, in the words of the Sandford Neighbourhood Watch Alliance, it was worth it for “the greater good”.
But with new clincher tyres being added back into the mix, such as the recently launched Continental Grand Prix and Pirelli P Zero Race RS, things are starting to look more complicated again.
Communication is key
A big part of the problem is these new clincher tyres come with almost identical names, packaging and appearance to equivalent tubeless-ready versions. The only notable difference on the Continental Grand Prix and Pirelli P Zero Race RS clinchers is the lack of ‘TR’ or ‘TLR’ branding.
The fine print on Pirelli’s packaging does make it clear the tyres are not compatible with hookless rims. However, this assumes a rider is aware of the minuscule details of the rim construction on their bikes – and I don’t think that’s a safe assumption to make.
As a result, it’s too easy to imagine a rider browsing a local or online bike shop and ending up with the wrong tyres for their rims. And when the potential consequences of an incompatible combination are so severe, that just isn’t acceptable.
Not every rider or cycling enthusiast takes a forensic approach to their bikes, nor should they have to.
When discussing this subject in the office, for example, Cycling Plus deputy editor, John Whitney – who has been riding road bikes for over a decade – admitted to not being fully au fait with all of these details.
If, like John, you just want to ride your bike and not worry about the technical details of your rims and tyres, then you should be able to.
Of course, riders who aren’t keeping up to date with the vanguard of road bike tech are less likely to have hookless rims, so it could be argued it’s less of an issue in reality than in theory.
But one accident is one too many, and as hookless rims become increasingly abundant on both aftermarket wheelsets and complete bikes, this issue will only grow in size.
How do we solve this problem?
Of course, the onus doesn’t fall only on tyre brands. It’s wheel brands that created the hookless problem.
We need manufacturers of bike wheels and tyres to come together and agree on clearer labelling and communication.
Clincher tyres should not be branded similarly to tubeless ones, and hookless rims should be labelled more clearly with information and warnings about compatibility.
Giant, to its credit, added warning stickers to its hookless rims in 2021, but the message could be more explicit.
Instead of vaguely warning riders to “Only use tyres supplied or approved by Giant for best and reliable performance of your WheelSystem”, it should clearly state that clincher tyres cannot be used on such rims under any circumstance.
Unfortunately, it’s not possible to say something like “only use tubeless tyres”. That’s because while hookless rims are only compatible with tubeless tyres, not all tubeless tyres are compatible with hookless rims.
Is that sentence confusing? Yes. But hopefully it illustrates how baffling this whole situation can be.
It would also be preferable if such warnings didn’t come in the form of removable stickers, which are likely to peel off over time (or be immediately removed upon receipt because riders don’t like how they look).
And if such warnings don’t exist on hookless rims from other manufacturers, they should.
In the absence of a return to hooked rims being the de facto road bike standard (that’s not going to happen any time soon, regrettably), clearer differentiation between clincher and tubeless tyres, and better labelling of hookless rims, is key to avoiding any confusion, and, ultimately, keeping riders safe.
