TPU tubes for #cycling - Yay or Nay? Sources?
Anyone using TPU tubes? Would you recommend them?
I note online Chinese vendors (Temu/Ali) are about half the price of my local bike store for them. Anyone have experience with purchasing/brands for Chinese TPU tubes?
Use 'em, love 'em, but not on the commute bike. The air pressure holds longer in thick butyl and the weight doesn’t matter much for me there.
I use them, and have for a few years. For me the jury is still out.
Pros: Lighter, much lighter. Makes my steering feel lighter.
Smaller, which is great in a saddle bag.
Cons: I have several that developed pinhole leaks at higher pressure. They don’t leak fast enough to affect a ride, but the next day, they’ll definitely be down a good bit. I don’t know why this bugs me, but it does (I think I get nervous about trusting it). But I have some that are in my previous bike that are holding air fine for weeks, so it’s not an age thing. Or even a brand thing. Just seems to be luck of the draw.
Patching them - I haven’t tried often, but I haven’t had it work, even with the included patches some come with.
Cost, obviously. I got lucky and scored some on Amazon haul, getting 6 for like $8, with shipping. Extremely long stems, too, though I don’t have deep wheels. But the usual cost is much higher.
I keep buying them because I don’t want to go back, but I’m not 100% sold that the cost is worth it, either.
@MrAndrewD @bicycling I carry RideNows as emergency spares, but my tires are set up tubeless. I’ve had to press one into service once. It was fine.
They’re delicate in some ways. I carry my spares inside a latex glove (which I’ll want anyhow), and you can’t let them get pinched when mounting them.
Note that if you use an electrical inflator, you need to use a tube with a metal valve (RideNow does offer these) or a hose between the air and valve, because the heat is bad for plastic valves.
@adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling same for me: brilliant as a backup to tubeless because they’re tiny and you rarely need them. The ride feel of them is definitely superior to a butyl tube on a road bike, and of course they’re loads lighter: on the “spend money to save weight” spready they’re a good buy. The main issue with them is repairability: you *can* repair them but you can’t easily do it out on the road like you can with butyl tubes. the flip side of that is that two spares take up no space
@wav3ydave @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling I carry them. But have never used them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@pete @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling i have, twice i think. pretty bad luck both times
@wav3ydave @pete @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling
I scrolled through all the replies and didn’t see it mentioned yet, but I may have missed it:
Rene Herse now sells TPU specific sealant:
https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/equipment/tools/rene-herse-tpu-tube-sealant/
@voiceofunreason @pete @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling yeah i’ve not tried that yet but it’s a good idea if it works
@wav3ydave Oh, interesting! I’m struggling with a road bike’s tubeless setup at the mo, and was thinking of giving up and sticking a tube in. Maybe TPU and this is what I’ve been looking for.
@pete @wav3ydave @voiceofunreason @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling
I used Slime tubes for a couple of years until it failed. I thought I had a minor puncture that sealed because it went down a coupe of times on the commute but then stabilised
I then did the King Alfred’s Way and it let go half way around. When I took the tyre off I saw the split and it was a mess. Sealant everywhere.
I binned off the other one and won’t be using again. Bloody nightmare imho & enough to put me off tubeless too
I’ve been happily using whatever TPU tubes are cheapest from AliExpress for about 3 years now.
I’ve had one failed out of the box: Gustavo brand had the valve only bonded on half the circumference, and their “support” was basically “sucked in!”
The supplied patches are a bit more of a grab bag of effectiveness - they’ve all held for the post-puncture ride home, but some have failed the next day. I’ve found that a roll of TPU tape, sold for patching inflatable swimming pools, is thicker and stronger and can be trusted much longer.
The other gotcha is that punctures can be really, really, teensy tiny! About 50% have required patiently submerging the tube in the bath and waiting for a solitary bubble to emerge. You can’t inflate TPU tubes above s couple of PSI if they aren’t inside a tyre, so you can’t get a healthy high pressure stream of bubbles from a tiny puncture.
Overall, happy with TPU, love being able to easily carry multiples. As with anything, a bit of a learning curve.
