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Sorry, I know we did thermoplastic innertubes fairly recently, but I think that was in the context of carrying them as spares.
I figured I would rather use the fancy lightweight tubes IN my tyres and carry the nice dependable butyl tubes as spares, so are TPU tubes as easy/easier to live with than latex?
The main issue I've had with latex tubes (on the gravel bike, so bigger tyres) was due to failures around the valves which I put down to my being too hamfisted when pumping them up. I haven't had the same issue on the road bike.
Have never had any issues repairing latex tubes and sounds like TPU is similar?
It's for the Sunday best bike with non-tubeless GP5000s, mainly trying to offset the extra weight of going from 25mm to 28mm 😎
I've not used latex tubes for decades but I still remember why I stopped using the Air!B latex tubes. Their failure mode was to blow an 8" gash down the length of the tube for no apparent reason. Never looked at latex since.
No idea if they're any better now.
No idea if they’re any better now.
Yeah, I've used them for road, gravel and MTB and they've been pretty reliable in use, although I had a weird spate of failures near the valve stem on the gravel bike which put me off.
On the road bike they have been pretty easy to live with, maybe one puncture in three years.
I run latex tubes on my winter road bike and have done for several years. Rarely get any punctures at all, unlike my summer road bike which us tubeless and seems to endlessly have punctures which won't seal properly.
The only odd thing I noticed was on one of the rare occasions I did get a puncture, I went to pull out the latex inner tube by the area around the valve, but when I tried to pull it, half the inner tube just came away in my hand - it was like the latex has dried out and become super brittle and just crumbled in my fingers. That inner tube had been in there for 1-2 years probably without being touched. Not seen that since.
Of all the combos I've tried, latex tubes + GP5000 tyres seems to be the most reliable combination I've found.
The only odd thing I noticed was on one of the rare occasions I did get a puncture, I went to pull out the latex inner tube by the area around the valve, but when I tried to pull it, half the inner tube just came away in my hand – it was like the latex has dried out and become super brittle and just crumbled in my fingers. That inner tube had been in there for 1-2 years probably without being touched. Not seen that since.
Interesting! I think latex tubes are prone to chemical changes if exposed to other chemicals, my theory for the failures of the tubes on my gravel bike is that the tyres/rims had previously been used with latex sealant which I think reacts with the tube and weakens it, I had a couple of odd little holes develop in tubes which were nothing to do with foreign objects.
My road bike has one of those little valve hole protector patches which effectively seals the valve hole around the stem, so no water or similar would get in or out. Wonder if that's what caused yours to fail if too much salty winter water had seeped in past valve.
Continental supersonic butyl tubes - about 50g and less of the latex faff. Not zero, they still leak slowly just over days rather than hours. The valves still rip out.
Michelin ultralight buty - about 70g, significantly more robust than the continental tubes.
If I wasn't tubeless I'd only go back to the michelin tubes. They're the sweetspot between not being a faff and minimal weight penalty over tubeless.
Interesting... I had it in my head that lightweight butyl was almost MORE faff as it was less supple than latex (don't know about TPU) and thus more likely to puncture due to thorns/glass. I know my latex tubes deformed around some surprisingly large hawthorne spikes without puncturing!
The topping up of tubes isn't really a faff for me, I would do it anyway as sometimes don't ride the bike for a week or two.
I'm surprised you see tubes as a weight penalty, every time I've done the maths (assuming a minimum 60ml of sealant) I've been convinced that non-tubeless tyres and lightweight tubes was the lighter setup. Certainly is in my case (Fulcrum Racing 3 + GP5000 non-tubeless).
and less of the latex faff
Latex is zero faff.
I’m surprised you see tubes as a weight penalty, every time I’ve done the maths (assuming a minimum 60ml of sealant) I’ve been convinced that non-tubeless tyres and lightweight tubes was the lighter setup. Certainly is in my case (Fulcrum Racing 3 + GP5000 non-tubeless).
I don't get punctures on tubeless (happy to accept that other people either ride in different areas or on different tyres, but Hutchinson and Schwalbe with Stans Race seem to work round here). My clubmate is seemingly on his umpteenth trashed GP5000 and refuses to try tubeless as apparently it's unreliable 🤷♀️
+/-50g I'd just opt for boring reliability. And that's despite my wheels weighing 1250g inc QR's (without tyres).
Spare tubes are always full fat versions though. At home with a track pump fragile tubes are fine. Ripping a valve stem out of your only good tube at the side of the road after just changing the tube is less fine.
+/-50g I’d just opt for boring reliability.
Yeah, that's the crux of my original question I guess, the baseline for reliability in this instance being my stock latex tubes, just wondering if the weight saving of going TPU would sacrifice said reliability.
Spare tubes are always full fat versions though. At home with a track pump fragile tubes are fine. Ripping a valve stem out of your only good tube at the side of the road after just changing the tube is less fine.
100%. I also like the fact that if I subsequently puncture the replacement butyl, it's much more easily patched at the road side.
I have TPU tubes in my saddle bag as spares as I'm tubeless.
ridenow tpu from aliexpress.