Best tubeless road tyres 2023

Nov 19, 2023

Thinking about converting to tubeless or want to upgrade your current tyres? These are the best tubeless road tyres as reviewed by BikeRadar

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By Paul Norman

Published: July 26, 2022 at 6:00 pm

Tubeless tyre technology has been around for some time for mountain bikes, and most gravel bikes will be ready to be set up tubeless too, but it's a comparatively new option for road cyclists.

However, there are an increasing array of options and most of the major tyre brands will now have tubeless road rubber in their ranges. It's the same with wheels, with most wheelsets available tubeless-ready, and the makers of many old faithful models upgrading to offer tubeless compatibility.

So why should you set up your road bike tubeless and which tyres do we rate? Here's a run down of the very best tubeless road tyres as tested by the BikeRadar test team.

Since time immemorial, road bike riders have used tyres with separate inner tubes. And, since then, you’ve seen them standing by the roadside, bike wheel off, trying to patch up a pin-prick hole in that floppy black rubber ring.

Tubeless tyre technology does away with all (or at least most) of that. Instead of the air in your bike's tyre being held in the inner tube, a tubeless tyre makes an airtight seal with the wheel rim.

To do that, the tyre and the rim are made with closer tolerances than a tubed tyre and wheel, and the rim has a tubeless valve screwed into it to make an airtight connection.

The rim also has to be sealed to keep air in. Some are airtight by design, with no spoke holes in the rim bed, others achieve this using an adhesive rim tape applied to the rim bed.

To make sure air doesn't leak, liquid sealant is poured inside the tyre when fitting (or injected through the valve).

Tubeless sealant is designed to seal small gaps between the tyre and rim, and deals with the majority of smaller punctures, healing them as they happen.

Tubeless tyre technology is the norm in other tyres, such as those found on cars and most motorcycles. It's been slow to come to road bikes mainly due to the higher pressures used and the need to sort standards and tolerances.

The Continental GP5000 S TR replaced the GP5000 TL as the brand's top-end tubeless race tyre in late 2021.

In testing, we have found the tyre to be every bit as fast as the outgoing tyre (though we didn't find Continental's "20 per cent faster" claim to hold up to scrutiny) while now also being hookless compatible.

The tyre is also claimed to be more puncture-proof than the outgoing model.

If you want a great all-round tyre for fast riding, you’re very unlikely to be disappointed with these.

The Eagle F1's wet and dry grip and speed impressed, courtesy of its advanced graphene- and silica-infused compound. There's a Goodyear-specific R:Amor protection belt and a 120 TPI casing, and the weight is competitive at 310g for the 700 x 28mm size.

It's great over rough road surfaces too, thanks to its suppleness and the high air volume of the 28mm carcass. Tubeless setup was easy, seating without the need for tyre levers or tubeless inflators.

It's available in a wide range of sizes from 700 x 25mm up to 700 x 32mm, so you can optimise your grip and comfort levels as needed.

Over our 2,300km of testing, we came to love the 30mm WTB Exposure tyres for their supple ride quality and durability. They were easy to set up, too.

The Exposure is one of few tubeless tyre options that sits in the space between 28mm and 32mm-plus widths, offering a touch more comfort and control while still fitting comfortably in many newer frames.

Weight is 305g and there's enough grip for some light off-road action. There's a 36mm option available if your bike can handle the width, and you can choose from black or tan sidewalls.

If you want a wide and versatile tubeless road tyre, this is a great option, but if you’re after a narrower option you’ll need to look elsewhere.

The original Pro One was one of the first tubeless road tyres to be launched and this version – released in 2019 – is claimed to be faster, grippier and lighter than its predecessor.

Available for 700c wheels in 25mm, 28mm and 30mm widths, our test 28mm Pro Ones came in under Schwalbe's published 270g weight.

After 1,300km of testing, including a fair amount of light gravel, they’ve proved robust and puncture-free. They feel fast and can handle low pressures, although they’re a bit more pricey than some alternatives.

There's also a flagship tubeless 25mm Pro One TT variant, weighing in at around 205g, but that forgoes puncture protection.

Trek has been pushing the envelope on tyre widths, with its Domane endurance road bike clearing tyres up to 38mm.

This is reflected in its tyre range, with the R3 Hard-Case Lite TLR initially only available in a 32mm width, but with 25mm and 28mm options now added alongside it.

Despite the 32mm width of the tyres we tested, the Hard-Case Lite tyres are indeed light at under 320g, undercutting some top-rated 28s, but retain good sidewall support and stability.

They roll fast and grip well in the wet or dry, handling broken tarmac with aplomb.

Though it has been officially replaced by the aforementioned GP5000S TR, the original GP5000 TL is still widely available and is well worth considering if you can pick a pair up on the cheap.

Though you lose out on hookless compatibility and a claimed increase in puncture protection, the GP5000 TL is roughly as fast as the new tyre, so is unlikely to hold you back on fast rides.

The Sector was one of the first road tubeless tyres that really impressed us, and it remains a valid choice for its combination of decent on-road performance and off-road durability.

Created as a plush alternative to tubulars, the Sector is a great choice if you ride on potholed lanes or like to include gravel diversions on your road rides.

Despite its durability, the Sector isn't ridiculously heavy. Claimed weight for the 28mm is 295g and our test set actually came in around 15g under that figure.

The P Zero Race TLR tyres are easy to fit and offer wide compatibility with wheels from different manufacturers. They follow the latest ETRTO standards for tubeless, meaning they are compatible with hookless rims – though Pirelli states a maximum inflation pressure of 73psi on such rims.

The tyre's 120 TPI casing is claimed to add extra puncture protection and durability. Pirelli's SmartEvo compound was introduced with this tyre and is claimed to up traction and reduce rolling resistance relative to the brand's previous-generation tyres.

Our tester found good air retention that was up there with tubed tyres and that the rolling resistance was on a par with the best out there. Cornering was grippy and puncture protection good, and at 299g for a 700 x 28mm tyre, they impressed on the scales as well.

The S-Works Turbo 2Bliss Ready comes in a 28mm width and weighs 285g. As with the other tyres listed here, we were impressed by the tyre's supple feel and grip, while Specialized says the Gripton compound is best in class for its low rolling resistance.

The S-Works Turbo 2Bliss Ready is inexpensive for a tubeless tyre and compares well with tubeless tyres at twice the price.

Coming from Giant's performance component brand Cadex, the Race is its top performance road tyre. There's a single-layer 170 TPI casing to improve suppleness and reduce rolling resistance, and proprietary puncture protection and a rubber compound.

Tubeless setup was hassle-free, needing just a floor pump and a single tyre lever to ease the bead over the rim. They’re fully compatible with hookless rims too, and the tight seal led to minimal air loss over a week.

The Cadex Race copes well with rougher road surfaces and there's good support at lower pressures, as well as predictable handling. A shallow herringbone tread pattern adds some extra grip on gritty roads. The only downside is that at 331g for a 700 x 28mm tyre they’re not the lightest.

Hutchinson was one of the pioneers of road tubeless and that experience shows in its latest tyre's easy installation. We got our test set mounted without needing any tyre levers and the beads seated with just a track pump, but air retention was still good.

The Fusion 5 Performance uses the brand's 11Storm silica-rich rubber compound, which, according to Hutchinson, has been independently proven to be softer and gripper than its predecessor. There's a 127 TPI casing for good comfort over bumpy roads, though it's not the supplest or fastest tubeless tyre we’ve tested.

Our testing showed the tyre pressure needs to be monitored more closely though, because they don't like pressures below Hutchinson's 74psi recommended minimum for the 700 x 28mm size.

Maxxis says the Highroad HYPR K2 is its best road race tyre, with its HYPR rubber compound lowering rolling resistance and improving wet grip.

We weighed the 25mm tyre at 290g, although that's 80g more than the non-tubeless option. Fitting was easy with a track pump and the tyre sealed easily to the rim. It's also available as a 28mm tyre.

We found great straight-line speed and fast acceleration paired with progressive grip when cornering.

Being the first Vittoria Corsa to receive a nylon instead of cotton casing hasn't detracted from the N.EXT TLR's performance.

At a slightly lower price than the TLR GR.0, which tops the Corsa range, the N.EXT TLR is grippy, durable and reasonably fast. Yet it doesn't excel in any area.

The tyre should be straightforward to set up tubeless. A choice of six widths from 700 x 24c to 700 x 34c adds to the N.EXT TLR's versatility.

With a graphene-infused compound, Vittoria's Corsa tyres feel as fast as they come. You get a genuine sensation of low rolling resistance no matter how bad the surface, and there's great grip in the dry.

Tubeless set up is particularly easy and the tyres cope with a wide range of pressures.

On the downside, we found wear rates to be relatively high, with the tread cutting more easily than on others. Given this, they’re probably a better option for fast summer rides than long winter mile-munching, especially given the cost of replacements.

Supple: it's a word that's repeated time and again in reviews. Without a separate inner tube, the overall thickness of the casing is reduced, leading to a tyre that deforms more easily in response to road imperfections, leading to a more comfortable ride.

You can run tubeless tyres at lower pressures, typically dropping 5 to 10psi from what you’d run with a tubed setup. That's because there's no risk of pinch flats if you run over a rock or other bump in the road. The ability to run lower pressures further improves comfort, too.

As well as avoiding pinch flats, the sealant in a tubeless tyre protects against smaller punctures, often sealing the hole with minimal loss of pressure in the tyre. So hunting for those pin-prick holes in your tyre is a thing of the past.

But even the best tubeless sealants don't always sort out larger holes or sidewall damage, so it's still advisable to carry a spare tube and a pump, or a tubeless repair kit, just in case.

If your tyre does get a cut that the sealant can't fix, we’ve got a guide on how to repair a tubeless tyre.

The movement of an inner tube against the tyre's casing causes significant friction, making tubed tyres slower as well as less comfortable. Butyl inner tubes have the most friction against the tyre; although you can reduce it by fitting latex inner tubes instead, it's still a factor.

With no inner tube at all, and assuming all else is equal, tubeless is usually faster as well as more comfortable to ride.

Because you’ve done away with the inner tube, you can save a fair chunk of weight with a tubeless setup in some cases. That's particularly true with the usual butyl tubes; the weight-saving with latex tubes is less, although latex tubes make up for that by being more fragile and leakier.

That saving is countered by the need to add 40ml to 60ml of sealant to your tyre to get a seal and benefit from puncture protection. Also, tubeless-ready tyres are typically heavier than their tubed brethren because they need to be airtight and usually have a heavier-duty bead for safety reasons.

As modern road bikes offer ever-increasing tyre clearances, many tubeless tyres are available in widths above the standard 25mm. With larger air volumes, you can take in even rougher terrain, heading onto gravel trails to up your repertoire of available rides.

There are a few things to watch out for if you’re thinking about going tubeless.

We talked above about the tight design tolerances needed for tubeless to work at road bike tyre pressures. Many tubeless tyres can be set up on a wheel just using a track pump, but as tubeless standards for the road are still in flux, some combinations of wheel and tyre just won't seat while others are excessively tight. You may need to use a tubeless-specific pump with an oversized air chamber, or a separate booster to seat a tyre.

The former is a pump where you pressurise a reservoir, then release the air into the tyre. That pushes more air into the tyre at higher pressure and faster, seating the tyre on the rim.

For more, read our detailed guide on how to set up road tubeless tyres.

Once set up, you can often still get slow leaks from a tubeless tyre, due to incomplete sealing to the rim. Spinning the wheel can help distribute the sealant and stop the leak, but, if that doesn't work, a quick ride up and down the road will often do the trick.

You may need to top up the sealant too, if you’ve lost a significant amount.

The sealant in a tubeless tyre tends to dry out and set over time, so you need to keep an eye on whether there's any liquid sealant still in there. If there isn't, your tyre may not stay inflated if you get a puncture.

You need to monitor its level every month or so and keep it topped up. That usually means popping a tyre bead off the rim so you can see how much liquid sealant is left, adding more sealant if necessary and reseating the tyre. Or you can remove the valve core and squirt sealant through it.

Both can be slightly messy but Milkit has a system that lets you suck the liquid sealant out of the tyre, measure its volume, top it up and re-add it to the tyre. It's a bit pricey but makes maintenance easier.

Tubeless sealant will often fix flats without you even noticing – we’ve had quite large thorn-induced punctures that would have otherwise stopped us in our tracks that have sealed up without us realising, and with a negligible drop in tyre pressure.

But some holes are too large for the sealant. Sidewall damage is often the cause.

You’ll either get a persistent leak or the plug of sealant will blow out if you have anything above minimal air pressure in your tyre. You might want to carry tyre levers, a pump and a spare tube to swap in if that happens.

Some sealants work better than others: take a look at our test of six popular choices.

Thinking about switching to tubeless tyres but confused by some of the jargon? Here's our guide to the key tyre terms you need to know.

Paul has been writing about bike tech and reviewing all things cycling for almost a decade. He had a five-year stint at Cycling Weekly and has also written for titles including CyclingNews, Cyclist and BikePerfect, as well as being a regular contributor to BikeRadar. Tech-wise, he's covered everything from rim width to the latest cycling computers. He reviewed some of the first electric bikes for Cycling Weekly and has covered their development into the sophisticated machines they are today, on the way becoming an expert on all things electric. Paul was into gravel before it was even invented, riding a cyclocross bike across the South Downs and along muddy paths through the Chilterns. He dabbled in cross-country mountain biking too. He's most proud of having covered the length of the South Downs Way on a crosser and fulfilling his long-time ambition to climb Monte Grappa on a road bike

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