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?
@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.
@voiceofunreason @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling
@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
@Pionir @wav3ydave @voiceofunreason @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling Yeah, Slime tubes were horrible things. Tried them before tubeless was a thing, early 2000s I think, and soon gave up thanks to perpetually clogging valves.
Edit: The ARE horrible things: I didn’t know they were still around. :-)
@pete @wav3ydave @voiceofunreason @adamrice @MrAndrewD @bicycling yeah. I made the mistake of getting a slime repair kit for the car (plug and gunk) but then it got recalled for containing toxic chemicals. I didn’t have the bike valve clog though, but just the though of trying to find a thorn in a tyre full of gunk is enough.
Oh and with tubeless, remember to take out all the multiple objects that successfully sealed before putting a tube in folks!