Butyl or latex tubes? Opinions please.

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brucew
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by brucew

Inner tubes.


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Frankie - B
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by Frankie - B

moved to road, please use the search function. This topic has been discussed quite a lot.
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MJB
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by MJB

My subjective opinion using Vittoria and Michelin latex tubes and maybe dozen brands of butyl tubes in road tyres.....


Latex tubes pinch out very easily (from experience) they must be fitted fastidiously and precisely otherwise the chances of a pinch flat are very high.

Butyl tubes are a lot more robust and forgiving when it comes to rapid fitment and inflation for that fast getaway.

The point of latex tubes is to gain a smoother ride and maybe save a micro amount of weight. Using latex tubes in heavy road tyres like CG Pave or Gatorskins etc is pointless in my experience. I got the best seat of the pants results from using latex in thin racing tyres like Michelin Pro3, Vittoria SC Corsa and the older Schwalbe R.1 - fitted to those tyres I felt the ride quality was better (back to back rides with the thinnest butyl tubes I could find which were Michelin I think)

If you ride over typically rough, lumpy, pockmarked road surfaces like I do and you are looking for a more comfortable clincher tyre ride and want to use wider tyres with lower pressures to get that comfort factor - I found the latex tubes pinch flat way too easily at the prsesures I needed to get the ride feeling I wanted (80kg rider, 25mm tyres 80psi rear 70 psi front and I know how to fit a latex tube with due care) I pinched out in the rear twice and the front once from riding at those pressures over the same loop of road each time - not good enough.

I switched to tubular tyres with latex tube inners in my search for comfort - they work much better at the significantly lower pressures I demand without pinch flatting.

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by hambini

conti supersonic tubes (butyl) for me. Almost as light as latex but not porous. Only 58g
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ryanw
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by ryanw

hambini wrote:conti supersonic tubes (butyl) for me. Almost as light as latex but not porous. Only 58g



Just fitted these today in my Zipps. Mine are the 60mm valve models and weighed 53g each.
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F45
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by F45

Don't buy latex for weight. The light tubes like Vredstein are too unreliable.

Get an 80 gram Vittoria, fill it with sealant, and ride it for a year. It gives a better ride than butyl and seals punctures better. I think it's worth it. Never had a problem with installation.

Hexsense
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by Hexsense

F45 wrote:Don't buy latex for weight. The light tubes like Vredstein are too unreliable.

Get an 80 gram Vittoria, fill it with sealant, and ride it for a year. It gives a better ride than butyl and seals punctures better. I think it's worth it. Never had a problem with installation.

does the sealant make it hold air better too?
i like the idea of riding latex but i didn't because i normally ride twice a day. Morning and evening with only access to pump before the morning ride. So normal Latex leakage would result in low tire pressure in the evening ride for me.

3Pio
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by 3Pio

I switched to Latex year and half ago. I dont mind pumping the tires before every ride, and for long ride i pump them a bit more.

Im using Vittoria Latex Tubes, which are actual weight 68-69 gm (i measured them). Yes, u need to be more carefull with instalation, but once installed properly i never had a puncture, and not using sealent (except when my Continental Force sidewall was cut, and that happened twice, so i dont use Attack/Force anymore because of that).

I uste them with Continental Attack/Force, Vittoria Corsa G+ and now with Continental GrandPrix 4Season, and i can feel the difference compared with regular butyl (more suple, more comfort , some nice feeling....)

Also i read that using latex for downhill with a lot of braking on summer day could be dangerous, but last summer i have plenty of rides in 40 degrees celsius, with a lot of braking and never had an issue.

There is no point of using latex tubes with some low tpi tires.Another negative is that if u have a punctre u cant repair it (i'll probably try puting sealent and try to repair that way :) )

RussellS
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by RussellS

F45 wrote:Get an 80 gram Vittoria, fill it with sealant, and ride it for a year. It gives a better ride than butyl and seals punctures better.


Seems to me if you fill a latex tube with 2-3-4-5-6 ounces of sealant before you flat, you will lose the mystical, magical feel they are supposedly known for.

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by bm0p700f

Neither bin them all use tubeless.

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F45
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by F45

@Hexsense: I don't think the sealant makes a difference in air loss. I just measured my rear tire that has a Vittoria latex tube. I filled it to 70psi 26 hours ago. It is now at 55psi, 0.58 psi/hr. The Vredsteins in my other wheelset lose air faster than that but I don't have numbers at this time.

@Russel S: there is no loss in "feel" using sealant. It gets distributed evenly so there is only a thin coat where the tire is compressed anyway.

Just weighed a new Vittoria tube @ 87g. This is the one Ribble is currently selling. 700x25/28.

3Pio
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by 3Pio

There is two versions of Vittoria Latex tubes.

One is 700x25-28 and other one is 700x19-24

Im using the 19-24 version (tried with 22mm, 23mm and 25mm), and no problems at all. for 25mm tires no need to go with 25-28 version.

19-24 is 68-69 gm (based on measuring 4 samples ). Another positive for Vittoria Latex compared to some off others (Michelin for example), is removable core.

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CummoY
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by CummoY

Nobody seems to have said one quite important point. Look into using talcum powder in the tire before running latex, it helps to keeps the tube from adhering to the tire wall/carbon rim when warm and allows the tube to move around as it needs.
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TonyM
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by TonyM

CummoY wrote:Nobody seems to have said one quite important point. Look into using talcum powder in the tire before running latex, it helps to keeps the tube from adhering to the tire wall/carbon rim when warm and allows the tube to move around as it needs.


+1

And checking at least once a year if the tube still did not sticked to the tire or moved too much so that the valve is not in the correct position.



BTW, I use latex for 25 years now. Only good results. Smooth, less puncture than butyl, etc....just go for good latex like vittoria etc...

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kervelo
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by kervelo

I only use latex tubes in my tyres: Michelin an Vittoria. They are so smooth.

The exception is my bad weather / winter bike, where I use butyl tubes with conti revo seal to prevent punctures.

Also, the emergency kit in my pocket contains only butyl tubes, because they are easier to change road side.

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