I have had a lot more experience with the UST Crossmax tubeless wheels now and I am more sold on them than ever – to the point that I don’t want to ride on anything else. Because they are different and to minimise any unforeseen problems I decided to change to more conventional wheels (the earlier tubed Crossmax) for my New Zealand trips and I started to use them for local rides prior to the tours to get used to them.

Unfortunately I found that I had become "tubeless dependant"- my riding style had adapted too much to the extra traction of the tubeless. Now with 50+ psi tubed wheels, I was skittering around corners (dangerously with the front wheel, on occasion) and not making it up previously easy technical climbs.

I promptly went back to the squishy 30 – 35 psi tubeless wheels after a Saturday morning ride and will leave them on for NZ - and everywhere.

No doubt I could adapt back to 50-60psi tyres but I feel more confident with the added safety margin of the extra grip of tubeless. The saving grace if you do puncture, or damage the rim tubeless seal, is that they will accept any tyres or tubes just like other wheels (but you do lose the traction benefit).

My updated advice re puncture- fixing on tubeless tyres. Because of the special soft rubber lining used on tubeless tyres, they do need a different approach to fixing holes in the tyre. I have had three punctures to date – but fixed six holes. The problem has been that the methods I described earlier have failed in the long term. The previously suggested silicone rubber fix breaks down with time and usage – the silicone tends to unravel from the inside of the tyre. The other method I tried similarly failed over time – the urethane bond patch cracks.

Current successful fix. Still sand the area thoroughly and clean with acetone or something similar. Still use Selleys Urethane bond but this time use it thinly to glue a conventional tube patch on the inside of the tyre. You have to leave the tyre and patch to dry and cure overnight (check it periodically in the earlier stages to make sure that the patch has seated down into the glue) I squeeze the glue into the hole from both sides before patching. If it was say, a 6 mm tear, you would need to use a more substantial patch – something rubberised and with reinforcing fabric in it eg. piece of tyre sidewall. If all fails – buy a new tyre.