I was trying to put a photo of the new Compass tires’ bead here, but it’s hard to photograph the difference… What is important is this: our upcoming Compass 26″ x 2.3″, 650B x 48 mm and 700C x 35 mm tires will be tubeless compatible!
You’ll just need to use a tubeless-compatible rim, the right rim tape, and put sealant into the tire. The new Compass tires feature a new bead shape that can be used with either inner tubes or set up tubeless.
The new bead shape is designed to provide a better interlock with the rim. This reduces the risk of the tire coming off the rim. Even so, tubeless setups put bigger stresses on the tire, and when set up tubeless, tire pressure is limited to 60 psi (4.1 bar). For the wide tires, this is no problem, as you don’t need to run them at high pressures.
Of course, many of our customers already have set up the existing Compass tires tubeless. However, we cannot recommend this, since the bead shape isn’t optimized for tubeless installation. If you try it, use your discretion…
With the new tires, these concerns no longer will exist. It’s an exciting development, but we are also glad that for the majority of us, who continue to use tubes, the new bead works just like the old one.
