Tubeless, everyone's heard of it, most people have tried it. For a lot of people, going tubeless can seem a bit unnecessary. Tubes work just fine and have worked for years. Besides, buying the tubeless sealant, tape and the extra labour might not seem worth it. However, if you're looking to upgrade your ride, going tubeless can be a great way to do just that.
My first ride on the Cannondale CAADX 105 SE was with tubes. I didn't have any issues, the stock tires run a low enough pressure to not have to worry about needing any more traction and my riding ability made big difficult parts of the trail impossible anyway. I knew the stock WTB Riddler tires came tubeless ready and would be easy to set up. I just didn't see the need.
However, as things can happen in a bike shop, a slow saturday turned into a make-Marc's-bike-tubeless kind of day. I was a little apprehensive at first. I honestly don't get enough flats in a year to warrant going tubeless and to me, the costs did not outweigh the benefit. Still, we started upgrading, and within ten minutes we were done.
If your bike comes with tubeless ready wheels, you have tubeless tires and access to sealant, the amount of time it takes to make the conversion is next to none. The process itself was very simple. The days of weird goopy messes on the shop floor are gone. Since tubeless ready set ups come standard on many wheels, tires and even complete bikes piecing together a build kit is much simpler.
For riding in the dirt, tubeless makes sense. You get more traction, fewer pinch flats and can run at a much lower pressure. Instead of bouncing around at the max PSI, lowering your pressure gives you more comfort, more traction and more versatility. Lower pressure means more mud capability, more grip going up and down trails and overall more fun. The reason we ride in the mud is for fun, so why not maximize that?
If you do decide to make the move from tubes to tubeless, it is a good idea to keep a tube on hand when riding. Tubeless takes care of little issues like thorns, pinch flats and small tears, but the big stuff can still leave you on the side of the road with your bike upside down. A roadside repair on tubeless is a bit of a mess. Carrying a tube will always get you home, even in the most dire of circumstances.
For a fun bike, a weekend ripper or a day ride, tubeless is worth the work. Personally, on longer rides like tours and multi-day trips, I would stick with tubes (at least as a spare), but for anything else, why not?