Thoughts On Type Of Tires For Long Way Round

< Tube or Tubeless? >

I thought I have made up my mind about the choice of tires for the trip, but little did I know that I knew nothing about tires.

The tire changing on Jill (both front and rear) has given me some real experience and knowledge (however little that could be) in changing tires. I have always thought it would be a straightforward, like how one would go to the gas station, opens the fuel tank cap, pumps and pays then off you go. But no, things surely didn't work that way.

This was taken when changing the rear tire on Jill. I bought a bike jack which I didn't when doing the front tire. Lesson #1: a bike with center stand is certainly a bonus on the LWR trip. 

 Then I went on and dismantle all that I had to. Nothing special here for I have been expecting the work after consulting the service manual. One thing caught me by surprise was how I had to use a steel rod to poke the rear axle out. Didn't think it would come to that. All in all everything was fine.

Dropping the bead was easy this time as I know where to put the levers on this time. As shown in the photo.

 Managed to swap the tire on as well, without too much of a drama. Really experience is the only thing that counts, as I remember one of my bike buddies said.

 But here's the thing. The photo on the left shows the side of a perfectly raised bead. On the right side, you can see that the bead was not equally raised along the sphere.

From another angle, I suppose everyone can tell that this tire might get the rider killed.

OK so much for the background information. This is a tubeless tire. To raise the bead I needed to get to the gas station and use the big capacity air compressor. For obvious reasons I couldn't get keep using their compressor so I had to go and get help, then come back and found out that it wasn't OK, then do some adjustments and go back again...

All this is very tiring and not very confidence inspiring.

And this is the issue - how do I change a tire if need be on the LWR trip without something that would create so much air pressure? I suppose there isn't any in the midst of Siberia.

There are people who says bead could be raised even with a hand pump. And I know by theory it should and could work. I tried that at home after two trips to the gas station. Maybe I need more practice, maybe my method was wrong, but it sure didn't work as I hoped it would be. (the pump did work though)

With a tube tire, I know for a fact that no air compressor is needed. (I haven't done any tire swapping but I have seen it in person in the past.) However, a tube tire tends to loose its pressure way faster than a tubeless tire in case of puncture, which could be very harmful for the rider.

I don't know. I think I still have plenty of time to think about this before I have to make a judgment call.

Cheers,
CK