We Test Hookless, Part II — On the Rollers

When we published our original feature on putting hookless to the test:

the inbox and comment section lit up. Readers wanted to know not just if a hookless tire could hold static pressure in a freezer chamber — but how it behaved under real-world dynamic load.

So we went back to the lab — or, in this case, our studio on a Wahoo KICKR ROLLR. Keep in mind this is the continuation of a lot of tests we will continue to run.

As a reminder, these tests are NOT designed to prove anything one way or another. They are not designed to tell you to do anything one way or another. They sure aren’t any way, shape, or form some sort of example of why you should do anything expect follow the instructions from manufacturers. With that disclaimer out of the way…

The Setup

For this follow-up, we used the exact same wheel and tire combinations from our first test: hookless rims from CADEX, Zipp, and ENVE. We did skip the hooked Reserve wheel, as we all know those are fine at this level of PSI. For tires, by request we added the popular Continental GrandPrix 5000 TT TR and eliminated some redundant wheel/tire combos. As you can imagine, this means we didn’t check every single tire on every single wheel.

Each tire setup was mounted dry (no sealant), checked for bead seating, and inflated to 95–98 PSI — roughly what the average, old school rider would pump a tire to, assuming they are flying blind to hookless.

We should also note that we are using the same tires through each test, meaning they’re being inflated and deflated multiple times. We wanted to better test the life cycle of a tire and see if repeated use might impact results.

The goal of this test: simulate some sort of quick dynamic stresses.

Each wheel/tire combo was mounted on the rear wheel and placed on our Wahoo KICKR ROLLR.

The three-minute test included distinct repeatable phases:

• 60 Seconds spin
• 10 Seconds of bouncing up and down
• 50 Seconds Spin
• 10 Seconds bouncing up and down
• 50 Seconds of spin

You can see how that protocol went here:

Here are all of the various combinations that we tested:

The Results

Across all of the wheel and tire pairings, none of the hookless systems we tested failed or showed visible bead creep during our short test. Even with the deliberate heavy bouncing inputs during testing, pressures stayed within ±3 PSI of starting values with zero sealant.

The takeaway: besides the above Im not really sure and we know the following it was a very short test that say, the hookless systems handled short-duration, dynamic stress without issue. The interface between tire bead and rim shelf remained secure, and no loss of integrity was detected — even under deliberate rider-induced impact.

What It Means?

Well, we know this test doesn’t replicate a full descent over cobbles or the kind of abuse a road rider or gravel rider might see, and it doesn’t introduce sealant and to isn’t meant to be the “whole enchilada.” But it does start to bridge the gap between our lab inflation tests and some real-world dynamics. It reinforces what our first test suggested: we think that the “danger” with hookless isn’t inherent to the design or at least at this point in the hookless game — it’s in misuse. When tire fit, pressure, and rim specs are respected, modern hookless road systems can perform safely and predictably.

As always, the biggest risk is human error: over-inflating beyond limits, mismatching unapproved tire and wheel combinations, or assuming every 28 mm label means the same thing. This is the biggest issue we see in the hookless game. Lack of knowledge leads to mistakes and mistakes could lead to road rash.

Next Steps

We’ll continue this series with who currently is doing a good job at education. Some companies are doing better than others..and I have my thoughts on that coming soon. We also have been pushing hard at ZIPP to “show us the data” so we see what we can get from them.

AGAIN.. We don’t think hookless is the best choice for all situations. We also don’t think it’s a bad choice either. It is in fact simply just a choice.

For more Quick Links and information, please visit our hookless information page.