why should i get tubeless?

Things I have heard that may or may not be true... 1. tubeless will be lighter A. Not always. Certain tube/tire combos can be lighter than a stand-alone tubeless tire. The tubeless tire will however be optimized differently for stresses and/or air containment. 2. tubeless will almost eliminate flats (which I do not get a lot of now) A. Tubeless will not in itself eliminate flats. It does allow you to add more robust sealants more conveniently(I am a fan of farm implement sealant since it doesn't dry out). 3. tubeless are not as strong (i fluctuate my weight between when I am fat around 205, and when i am in shape around 185-190) A. Tubeless tires are just as strong. Sometimes the casing rubber can degrade faster depending on the compounds used, but the belting plies are not made inferior. 4. rolling resistance will be decreased due to tubeless A. Significantly. In the case of my UST equipped mountain bike on a 20 mile commute route I was able to shave 11 minutes off by switching. Same rims, same tires. Only difference was going to tubeless with sealant. The difference in road tires is likely less due to higher tire pressure/less sole flex, but the difference is still in favor of tubeless. 5. better tires associated with tubeless will help a lot. A. Always. As with any system there are good and lesser models. Some brands like Panaracer have a natural rubber compound which grips very well and holds air well but will degrade in UV light faster than other compounds. Some brands will lighten on how much material they make it with, which results in a lighter feel but at the price of a little more risk of puncture. Lighter is not always better depending on the context.

Tubeless tires have not been proven to be faster, they feel faster because their smoother; however using tubeless off road could be faster because you can use lower air pressure and thus be able to go over rough terrain better while having a smoother more comfortable ride, but on the street no way are they better if this were true pro road racers would be using them like crazy. Flat wise, the only flats you eliminate is the pinch flat, any other flat to the tire will effect both types of tires equally, and you can put sealants in tube tires too if you want that argument about preventing flats. Also inflating a tubeless when installing can be a pain, you need either a compressor or CO2, a standard pump won't work, thus CO2 becomes a regular expense. Weight wise their their actually heavier, yup even without the tube because you have to use special rim strips and the sealant for tubeless, more on that later. And the sealant actually softens the tire over time if you use Stans and standard tires, which means the standard tire won't last as long. And finally tubeless tires generally cost more then regular tires.

Example; The Hutchinson Atom Comp tubeless tire is $60 on sale not including the sealant and rim strip, the tire itself weighs 270 grams without the goo, with the goo you add about 60 grams; the regular tube Hutch. Atom comp cost $25 on sale plus tube and rim strip if needed and the regular Atom weighs 190 grams plus 65 to 90 grams for the tube. You can run tubeless (not the Stans) without sealant but most tubeless tires recommend the sealant. By the way, tubeless rim tape weighs about 35 grams more then regular rim tape. So if you add 270 for a tubeless tire, plus 60 for the goo, and 50 for the rim strip your at 380 grams vs 190 for tube tire, plus 90 for the tube (you can get lighter tubes), plus 15 for the rim strip and your at 295...almost 100 grams lighter, even if you don't run the goo you would still be 35 grams heavier per tire.

Cost wise again you have $60 for the tubeless tire vs $25; $3 for small bottle of sealant vs $10 for a tube; $22 for a rim strip vs $5 for a tube rim strip; so your cost for tubeless is about $85 for one tire vs about $40 for a tube tire.

You still need to prepared for flats by carrying spare tube or two, patch kit, and maybe a small bottle of sealant, along with several, not just two, CO2 carts.

I think the decision boils down to what kind of riding you do the most of? If your riding mostly off road then tubeless has it's advantages, if mostly on the road then don't bother going tubeless.