Weight Weenies

Vittoria ultralites for all training wheels, any lighter butyl tube is too prone to punctures for me + it's easy to get ultralites mail order for $2.50/tube - which is about half the price of el cheapo budget tubes at any lbs up in our neck of the woods.

My race tubulars are obviously lightweight latex... personally I wouldn't ride a lightweight latex tube in anything other than a race because flatting is just too much of a PITA for me, as is pumping tires every day.

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rg255 wrote:I've had bad experience with Specialized inner tubes, had three valves (the screw valve tip in the top of the presta valve bent/snapped out) never had this problem with Conti's (they're not the lightest around but they are seemingly reliable - had one on about 3 years without a single flat or fault). They are the only two manufacturers available to me locally although I did notice someone stocking Michelin the other day.

As a mechanic for many years, I can definitely confirm the frequent problems with Specialized's ultra light weight butyl tubes. They were frequently bad right out of the box....about 1 in 10 tubes had holes in them that would let all the air out in about 2-3 days. They held on inflation. But they were simply too thin.

Carbon rims have a hard time dissipating heat. A latex inner tube is known to pop when used in Carbon Clinchers, probably because they are so flexible.
If you live in the flats, you can get away with carbon clinchers and latex inner tubes, because you don't brake for longer periods of time, like in a decent.
hence, less heat build up.

Oh, and I use Michelin latex in my alloy clinchers and Challenge latex in my carbon clinchers.

schwalbe ultralight, 65grams declared..i use this about 8 months, no pun


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Fyi, for those looking for the Panaracer R'Air tubes, Ribble has them for about $11 each. Expensive, but less than I've seen them other places.

savechief wrote:Fyi, for those looking for the Panaracer R'Air tubes, Ribble has them for about $11 each. Expensive, but less than I've seen them other places.

They are just butyl tubes... I'm not seeing it.

I bought Vittoria latex from Ribble for $8 each.

Schwalbe SV20. 65grams and accepts 25C tires.
With Continental GrandPrix 24C tires, I got only one puncture and it was from inside the rim. A really really small hole. I don't know what caused it, but it was totally flat after 3 days of not riding.
Self adhesive Zefal patch was great to fix it.

I am carrying regular heavy inner tubes with me during ride.

I also have 2 extra Specialized Turbo Ultralight tubes, 65gram ones again, pre-talced.
If I will have a few more punctures, I will try them.

edit: I am riding 23mm wide wheels and 24mm wide tire. 25mm wide measured.

Continental race lights for me, different valve stem lengths for front and rear work well.