Anyone running TPU inner tubes yet?

[jim haseltine]

Last summer I tried some TPU 'Race Formula' brand tubes - made in China by an anonymous company. As I (knock on wood) usually don't puncture much I thought I'd take a chance. The following are extracts from something I wrote elsewhere about them.
Fitting:
Add a bit of air to round out the tube and you get something that looks and feels a lot like those plastic air sacks that are used for packing fragile objects. The TPU is so slippery that it's not easy to get the tube inside the tyre as each time you get part in place a bit further around the rim decides to pop out.
I replaced the one spare butyl tube that I normally carry with two TPUs and there was still enough space in my tool kit for at least one more and not only that but the bike (and kit) were some 300 grams lighter than it was.
300 grams might not be much but the bike was down to 9.9kg - at my age, weight and lack of fitness I need every marginal gain I can get.
First impressions:
Noisy. Lots of road noise, like a deep rumble. Took about 10 miles before I managed to ignore it.
Bike felt surprisingly lively, rolling resistance seemed to have dropped considerably and the overall ride seemed smoother than previously - especially across some roads that are in pretty awful condition.
Next time I went for the bike - a flat tyre.
Right - tube out, let's have a look.
Immediate concern was visible stretching/distortion of the tube close to the valve seat.

I checked the rear tube, similar distortion.
And where did the air go? It leaked out of a bad seal between the valve seat and the valve stem.

Fitted two new TPU tubes.
Couple of rides later I had a rapid loss of pressure from the rear tyre - not a blow out but it went down in maybe 10 seconds, fault appeared to be a perforation at similar distortion near the valve.
Fitted another TPU tube.
Moved the bike a couple of days later to find a flat rear tyre and lying on the floor was this

The thought crossed my mind that it could have happened on the road - like in a fast bend or on a descent.
I went back to butyl but have recently taken another risk and fitted some of those pink RideNow tubes to my summer bike following some advice from another rider as to fitting technique (which just happens to be almost word-for-word the fitting advice on the RideNow instruction leaflet). If they give me the same issues I'll go back to butyl permanently.

 

[bikeworkshop]

I think this illustrates why it's not worth trying new quality products from an unknown source.
They aren't interested in reputation over quality control, it's just a business opportunity.

My aerothans didn't distort, rumble or blow the valves. They felt really nice, smooth, and knocked significant weight off lightweight wheels fitted with high quality lightweight tyres.
(It's not worth fitting them in crappy tyres on crappy wheels obvs).

But my combination of thorns everywhere near home and smashed glass everywhere near work just offered up too many opportunities for the Puncture Demon.

 

[Splatter Paint]

I run latex tubes on one of my bike. They feel pretty good but need pumping up every day. If you look at the Aerocoach data a decent latex tube and quality tyre offers similar rolling resistance to tubeless.

 

[wynne]

I've run latex tubes with great success. Not sure i could feel a great difference, but they were light and did seem to puncture less.
I ran a Tubolito (which i think is a high end TPU tube). Very light, very expensive but very puncture prone and not easily reapairable. Like the man said: "snake oil".

I'm entirely tubeless these days. Think i have a couple of NOS latex 700c x 25mm tubes kicking around. I'd be happy to sell them for not much if you're interested.

 

[Fatal Swan]

I've had two phases in recent years when I tried to switch to the orange Tubolito tubes on a road bike, I've just removed my last one. Essentially similar experiences. They are light, and if you already run very light wheels and light tyres, you can feel that reduction in weight when you hold the wheels in your hand and they do roll a little faster on the road. In principle the idea is great and I want to love them because they are fast and light, but I just couldn't put up with them because:

expense - they were £25-£30 each, especially given that they are...
unfixable - I twice bought the special repair patches and none out of three fixes on standard small punctures worked, despite closely following the instructions/video
More prone to punctures than butyl
Delicate - punctured one just installing it carefully on a rim
unreliable in general (more than one failed at the valve)
always needed reinflating - they all suffered from this much more than regular inner tubes

I may try latex tubes or finally bite the bullet with tubeless...

 

[7Speed]

Last summer I tried some TPU 'Race Formula' brand tubes - made in China by an anonymous company. As I (knock on wood) usually don't puncture much I thought I'd take a chance. The following are extracts from something I wrote elsewhere about them.
Fitting:
Add a bit of air to round out the tube and you get something that looks and feels a lot like those plastic air sacks that are used for packing fragile objects. The TPU is so slippery that it's not easy toget the tube inside the tyre as each time you get part in place a bit further around the rim decides to pop out.
I replaced the one spare butyl tube that I normally carry with two TPUs and there was still enough space in my tool kit for at least one more and not only that but the bike (and kit) were some 300 grams lighter than it was.
300 grams might not be much but the bike was down to 9.9kg - at my age, weight and lack of fitness I need every marginal gain I can get.
First impressions:
Noisy. Lots of road noise, like a deep rumble. Took about 10 miles before I managed to ignore it.
Bike felt surprisingly lively, rolling resistance seemed to have dropped considerably and the overall ride seemed smoother than previously - especially across some roads that are in pretty awful condition.
Next time I went for the bike - a flat tyre.
Right - tube out, let's have a look.
Immediate concern was visible stretching/distortion of the tube close to the valve seat.

I checked the rear tube, similar distortion.
And where did the air go? It leaked out of a bad seal between the valve seat and the valve stem.

Fitted two new TPU tubes.
Couple of rides later I had a rapid loss of pressure from the rear tyre - not a blow out but it went down in maybe 10 seconds, fault appeared to be a perforation at similar distortion near the valve.
Fitted another TPU tube.
Moved the bike a couple of days later to find a flat rear tyre and lying on the floor was this

The thought crossed my mind that it could have happened on the road - like in a fast bend or on a descent.
I went back to butyl but have recently taken another risk and fitted some of those pink RideNow tubes to my summer bike following some advice from another rider as to fitting technique (which just happens to be almost word-for-word the fitting advice on the RideNow instruction leaflet). If they give me the same issues I'll go back to butyl permanently.

Similar to my experience - failure around the valve bond with decent Tubolitos

 

[Imlach]

100 grams weight saving

 

[novocaine]

100 grams weight saving

not even the weight of 1 small stubby bottle of beer.

 

[Nob]

Yep been running these pink Ridenow tubes & quite liking them. Definitely a more responsive set of wheels with these in on my GP5000 tyres. Only difference youll just need to add a little air after 3-4days I have found having used these for 6months. Just be careful when mounting them & have them slightly inflated so they don’t get crimped or pinched.

 

[bikeworkshop]

100g might be irrelevant on some heritage klunker, or a brompton() but on my ti go anywhere bike its noticeable.
Tubeless on the other hand is heavier due to sidewall thickness and the gloop.
(many quality tyres are tubeless only nowdays though, so your favourite tyre weight could be up)
It also doesn't give fewer punctures, (despite what the owners say) but can repair quite a few of them without anything other than some more air.
The main benefit is you can run significantly lower pressure, so in turn you can have more grip or comfort - and they should roll better because you've done away with the friction between tyre and tube.
The main disadvantage is that you can't really fix them out and about (except with a tube)
Some are almost impossible to get on and off the rim - many won't seal without a blast of air, or nitrous oxide if that's all you can get hold of() and some won't actually seal at all.

Most tubeless setups we see have already had a tube fitted after a puncture or a hard to repair hole or cut. Practicality often leaves us with the butyl tube.