The reason tires are required when selecting tubeless is there have been instances of tubeless failure/leaking and, while it is a small percentage, it’s still a bummer! The only way for us to know if there is a potential leak is to install tires and check the wheels before shipping them. Warp9’s new policy—and therefore ours— is that all tubeless wheels must be ordered WITH tires, otherwise, the warranty on tubeless repairs is void. The idea is to catch any issues before shipping them and they arrive on your doorstep flat creating a headache for us all. It is a huge inconvenience to our customers to have to return new wheels and wait on repairs! So, with this new policy we hope to make adding tubeless options to your wheels a much smoother and simpler process. Can we still sell you a set of tubeless wheels without tires? Sure, but you assume all subsequent shipping costs if it fails. Warp9 will repair the leak itself at no charge, but the shipping (both ways) would be your responsibility. Contact us is you still want to order without tires or for further details.
International customers: If you purchase the tubeless option with or without tires and there are any issues with leaking you will need to run tubes in the wheels. The shipping costs are simply too high to return for repairs, etc. When purchasing tubeless wheels internationally you are assuming the risk of any failure. Making a spoked wheel tubeless is not always 100% so if an issue does arise you will need to purchase tubes and have them installed locally at your own cost.