Shimano Dura Ace Wheels and Hutchinson Fusion 2 Tubeless Road Tires
By James Sharp

For the most part, bicycles haven't changed very much in 50 years. There have, however, been improvements in many areas, driven mostly by the off road crowd: disc brakes and suspension come to mind while from the road side of things we got clip-less pedals. There have been other improvements, but to me, those are the biggest. There has also been quite a bit of cross-pollination -- I use clip-less pedals both on and off the road, and my 'cross bike has disc brakes. Now, tubeless tires aren't limited to mountain bikes but are available to the road set as well. Thanks to Shimano and Hutchinson -- two companies that have been doing the tubeless thing off road for quite some time -- there is a wheelset and tires available. We've been able to ride them for quite a few miles, and... well... read on.

There are two parts to this tubeless equation; the wheel -- specifically the rim -- and the tire. If either of them doesn't live up to it's promise, then the road tubeless fails. Let's take a look at the individual parts to this puzzle first, then we'll look at how they work together.

Hutchinson Fusion 2 Road Tubeless Tires
Shimano WH-7801-SL Dura Ace Wheels
Putting it all Together

Fusion 2 Road Tubeless
Hutchinson's Fusion 2 Road Tubeless shares quite a bit with it's tube-type counterpart, the Fusion. Both feature Hutchinson's triple compound tread, made up of Shore A 65-55-50 durometers. The tubeless version is a little heavier -- 295g vs. 210g -- but you don't have the tube, so the weight isn't as big of a difference as it looks -- tubes can weigh as much as 115g, so running the tubeless tire can end up saving you weight. The casing is 127tpi, and has a Kevlar layer for puncture resistance. The bead is made of carbon fiber, and is foldable.

The bead is one area that required quite a bit of work on Hutchinson's part. Why? Well, on mountain bike tires, the beads are aramid (Kevlar) but the tire is limited to 60psi. Car and motorcycle tires use steel wire for the beads, but they are heavy and are powered by an engine. If you made tubeless road tires out of Kevlar and pumped the tire up to 120psi, the bead would stretch and the tire would blow off the rim. Not a pleasant thought at 50mph heading into a corner, is it? So, they came up with carbon fiber beads. The result is a bead that doesn't stretch, is foldable, and is very light. Perfect.

The tire rides very similar to the standard Fusion tire -- good grip, lively feel, better tread life than we experienced before, and very good puncture resistance -- with one difference, the air pressure is lower than what you'd normally use on a skinny road tire. For my weight (165) I used 92-95psi. That's about 5psi lower than I'd use with a standard tire, and even my normal 97-100psi is considered low for a 23c tire. Consequently, the Fusion Road Tubeless soaks up road imperfections, smoothing out the ride. The Fusion 2 Road Tubeless tire sells for $65.

Shimano WH-7801-SL Dura Ace
These are Shimano's flagship clincher wheels and it shows. The rims are made of Scandium and the rear is offset for more even spoke tension. There are 16 bladed spokes on the 670g front wheel and 20 spokes on the 890g rear wheel (neither weight is with skewers or the 5g valve stem). The front wheel is radial laced and the rear is radial on the drive side and straight pull 2 cross on the non-drive side. The freehub is 10-speed only and made of aluminum.

At 1560g for the set, the Dura Ace wheels won't win any weight-weenie shootout, but they don't feel heavy at all. They spin up quickly and the semi-aero build slices through the air easily. Because the rims aren't terribly tall -- 24mm in front, and offset 24mm out back -- they aren't susceptible to being blown around in cross winds, despite the bladed spokes. partly because they aren't featherweights, and partly because they are semi-aero, the wheels hold their speed well. This is especially nice for holding speed in rolling hills, or on flatter terrain.

Our test wheels came true and round and have stayed that way throughout the test, despite repeated abuse -- including some less than graceful bunny hops and railroad crossings taken at speed. If there were tubeless cyclocross tires available -- tire manufacturers, I'm looking at YOU -- these wheels would hold up to the abuse, just fine. The brake track was also smooth, no pulsing in the brakes -- exactly what I'd expect out of a wheelset of this caliber.

The wheels came with spoke wrenches, a magnet for computers, skewers and wheel bags, and retail for $980.

Putting it all Together
Individually, the tires and the wheels are of high quality and do their jobs with aplomb. Putting them together is very easy, too. But, before you mount the tires, be sure to install the valve

The rubber bit above the knurled nut goes on the inside of the rim. On the outside sits the plastic spacer on the right, then the o-ring under the knurled nut, then the nut.

Installed it looks like this:

You install the tire pretty much like you would any road tire, without the tube, of course. One difference, though, you really do not want to use tire levers -- there are warnings attached to the rim stating that you can damage the bead of the tire to the point that it leaks air if you do. You shouldn't need them, but try to resist the temptation. I installed these without a hitch by hand alone.

Once installed, I soaped up the bead so that it would slide easier into the rim hook. This is not only recommended, but helps the tire seat easier and faster.

Once the tire is nice and soapy, I inflated the tire, using a floor pump, to 125psi. The beads started popping into place at about 20-25psi, much sooner than I expected. After I checked to see that the tire was seated properly, I deflated the tire to 95psi. That is the recommended pressure for my weight.

The question often comes up of what do you do if you get a flat? The easiest response is "put a tube in there" and that works just fine. Hutchinson makes patches (Rep'Air Road Tubeless) that are made specifically for tubeless tires, as does Rema. Hutchinson also has a propelled sealant (Fast'Air) that will inflate the tire and seal up to a 1mm hole at the same time.

Summary: How is the completed package? Is it worth it? Is this the future? The whole wheel/tire combo is fantastic. The wheels are very nice -- fast and smooth -- and the tires stick to the ground and soak up minor road imperfections, staving off punctures without feeling like truck tires. They are easy to put on, easy to take off and in the event of a blow out the tire won't come off of the rim. I think that it is the future -- can you imagine buying a car tire with tubes? -- but it might be slow to catch on. Right now there is one wheelset, this one, and one tire, again this one, that works without tubes. Hutchinson does have plans to roll out at least one other tire in the next year -- making the total 2 -- but Shimano isn't trickling the tubeless technology down... yet. I love it. I shudder at the thought of running tubes in my mountain bike -- and now my road bike, too, and I hope that other manufacturers will get on board and we'll have more options for other tubeless tires for the road as well. Until then, the one wheelset is worth the price, and you can't go wrong with the one tire, either.

James Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com; more of his ramblings and a look at upcoming reviews can be found at his blog -- Lactic Acid Threshold.

For more information, contact:
Shimano
www.shimano.com
Hutchinson Tires
E-mail: marketing.cycle@hutchinson.fr
www.hutchinsontires.com