Which inner tubes are best in terms of weight v durability?

[silvalis]

I also really like how the michellin valve doesnt unscrew with your pump head, like the conti valves do

Just tighten it? Schwalbe can do the same.

Or just buy michelins, which don't have a removable valve...

[pdlpsher1]

I like the Michelins for durability too. But the problem is that they are 77-78g a piece and offer very little rolling resistance and weight savings. The Supersonics are 50g. a piece even with a 60mm valve stem.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[RTSM]

I have been using the Tubolito S-Road tubes now for several months and found them to be quite good. They are very light as others had indicated and the S-roads seem (to me) to be very close to the ride with Latex. Initially I had to super glued the valve stems int the stem to prevent the leaking issues some have mentioned however on the latest set of tubes I purchased it looks like Tubolito is now super glueing the stems in which eliminates the leaking issue.
Note that over the last 8 months I had two punctures, one from a construction staple completely going through my tire and the second one was from a carpet tack. In both instances the Tubolito was leaking air but did not loose all the air at once nor completely rip as in with Latex tubes. In the staple incident I did a road-side replacement, however with the tack I was able to pump air in the tube several times to slowly ride home several miles. At this point with my experience, I am happy with the Tubolito's characteristics and durability for such a light and thin tube and carry several in my bag as they are very small when folded.

[bilwit]

Continental Supersonics tend to pinch flat way more easily than the normal "Race Light" version for me, so I just go with that most of the time. On the disc brake bike I happily use latex, though I've been using latex on a rim brake clincher wheelset recently--took the 30g weight penalty of velox tape for added peace of mind on those.

[Pokerface07]

OK - installed teh Tubolite S-Tubo tubes.

WOW. Unbelievabley light! Both wheels noticeably lighter afterwards.

I needed to install extenders so fiddled around with the valve cores. Put some PTFE tape on one of 2. One is holding air perfectly - the other went flat over night. (Installed PTFE tape on that one and now it;s perfect as well.)


WIll see how they hold up on the roads now but initial rides is good!

[Eraser92]

Does anyone have recommendations for tubes for 28mm tyres? Most of the lightweight options only go to 23 or 25mm.

I'm thinking of the tubolitos but I need other options as I don't want to pay £23-25 for every tube.

The tubes that came with my GP5000 tyres weigh 145g each!

[petromyzon]

If you are using disc brakes just get small latex tubes, they stretch fine.
If rim brakes, I've always just put normal sized butyl tubes in bigger tyres. A stretched Conti race light is not going to be any thinner than an unstretched Supersonic.
28c and up is a good size to start thinking about tubeless - large tubes are heavy.

[skyliner1004]

i've noticed absolutely no difference in flats with Conti Supersonics Conti Race Light, Conti Race, Generic Michelin, Generic Kenda in terms of getting a flat. There is a noticable difference in the weight of the wheel and spinning up to speed with the Supersonics vs generic tubes due to weight.

[froze]

There's two tubes I like, the first one I can find anywhere is the Specialized turbo Talic tube that weighs 76 grams, it also has one of the most robust presta stems, I have yet to have one fail.

The other tube is the Schwalbe inner tube, so far no problems with the stem, but these only weigh 65 grams, the thinner rubber use to worry me but with today's superior tires it isn't a problem anymore. These I haven't been able to find in a bike store which is too bad because Schwalbe is making great tires and tubes but bike shops are ignoring them near where I live. These are the black ones, they also make a bluish colored one those weigh 105 grams.

I use to use Conti tubes but their presta valves use to fail me after about a couple of dozen times topping air off, not sure if they corrected that issue over the past 10 years since I've used them.

[gurk700]

supersonics don't like co2 cartridges. beware. (5 times I inflate with co2 the tube cracked and flatted again. I once had 3 flats on one ride not cause of thorns etc but cause of using co2) if you don't carry pumps, you're screwed.

Tubolitos have been faultless for me. I can't say much about rolling resistance though as I can't measure it.

[pdlpsher1]

Tubolitos have been faultless for me. I can't say much about rolling resistance though as I can't measure it.

Which version do you use? The lighter S version is disk brake only.

From Tubolito

S-Tubo Road:
- If it has to go fast again. The 24-gram lightweight and extremely compact S-Tubo-Road 700C impresses with its extremely low rolling resistance, which puts butyl tubes in the shade and is even compared to latex products at an advantage. With a 75% smaller pack size and robustness than standard hoses, the S-Tubo-Road 700C is the ideal choice as a replacement hose and in the battle for bests and personal records. Only suitable for road bikes with disc brakes and not for rim brakes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pokerface07]

Which version do you use? The lighter S version is disk brake only.

From Tubolito

S-Tubo Road:
- If it has to go fast again. The 24-gram lightweight and extremely compact S-Tubo-Road 700C impresses with its extremely low rolling resistance, which puts butyl tubes in the shade and is even compared to latex products at an advantage. With a 75% smaller pack size and robustness than standard hoses, the S-Tubo-Road 700C is the ideal choice as a replacement hose and in the battle for bests and personal records. Only suitable for road bikes with disc brakes and not for rim brakes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Interesting. I'm using hte S-Tubo but fortunately I have a disc brake wheel. Missed that part! Will be sure not to put them in my rim brake bike!

[gurk700]

Tubolitos have been faultless for me. I can't say much about rolling resistance though as I can't measure it.

Which version do you use? The lighter S version is disk brake only.

From Tubolito

S-Tubo Road:
- If it has to go fast again. The 24-gram lightweight and extremely compact S-Tubo-Road 700C impresses with its extremely low rolling resistance, which puts butyl tubes in the shade and is even compared to latex products at an advantage. With a 75% smaller pack size and robustness than standard hoses, the S-Tubo-Road 700C is the ideal choice as a replacement hose and in the battle for bests and personal records. Only suitable for road bikes with disc brakes and not for rim brakes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

700c 18-28 60mm presta.
I'm not on disc brakes so I'm guessing not those.

In any case, had no troubles with my tubolitos. 1 flat in months and that would've flatted with any inner tube (sharp thin metal piece going directly into tire)

[froze]

Tubolitos are freaking expensive, I don't get flats now so what advantage are those tubes? I haven't had a flat in 6 to 7 months with butyl tubes. I'm not going to pay more than three times as much for a tube unless they can prove they'll last through 12 sets of tires or longer! As the new thing to do is to brag about it requiring less watts to run...like a 1/2 to maybe 1 watt...news flash, you can't even detect that! In addition to that expense of the tube you have to buy their patches at $15 for the kit.

All of this snake oil marketing about aero this lightweight that is pure NONSENSE! Did you know that since 1981 the average speed of the TDF has only gone up 1 1/2 to 2 Km (which is about 1.2 mph faster) per hour to 2019? And that's with far better aeroness, lighter bikes and wheels, stiffer bikes and wheels for more power, better training, better diet, and better doping! http://bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdfstats.html (for fun look at the average speed for 1971 and the early 60's) So now someone is going to tell me about the huge gain I'm going to get from using expensive tubes? LOL!!! People will buy into anything. If I bought all the stuff that claims they save 2 to 8 watts on various parts I would be saving roughly 150 watts on my bike...ok, next please.

[gurk700]

Tubolitos are freaking expensive, I don't get flats now so what advantage are those tubes? I haven't had a flat in 6 to 7 months with butyl tubes. I'm not going to pay more than three times as much for a tube unless they can prove they'll last through 12 sets of tires or longer! As the new thing to do is to brag about it requiring less watts to run...like a 1/2 to maybe 1 watt...news flash, you can't even detect that! In addition to that expense of the tube you have to buy their patches at $15 for the kit.

All of this snake oil marketing about aero this lightweight that is pure NONSENSE! Did you know that since 1981 the average speed of the TDF has only gone up 1 1/2 to 2 Km (which is about 1.2 mph faster) per hour to 2019? And that's with far better aeroness, lighter bikes and wheels, stiffer bikes and wheels for more power, better training, better diet, and better doping! http://bikeraceinfo.com/tdf/tdfstats.html (for fun look at the average speed for 1971 and the early 60's) So now someone is going to tell me about the huge gain I'm going to get from using expensive tubes? LOL!!! People will buy into anything. If I bought all the stuff that claims they save 2 to 8 watts on various parts I would be saving roughly 150 watts on my bike...ok, next please.

Think you're missing the point. This is weight weenies and tubolitos weigh a fraction of regular tubes.
If you don't prioritize weight, they are not for you.
No need to get upset. If a few grams isn't worth it to you, save your money.