Without much fanfare surrounding it, we found the Deaneasy designed, Tufo produced Tube+ kit secreted over at the Tufo stand. It’s a bit like Schwalbe’s Procore in that it has a high pressure inner chamber that protects the rim from impacts, while allowing the outer tubeless tyre to run at very low PSIs if desired. Unlike Procore, this system resembles a tubeless tyre rather than an inner tube+outer tyre, hence the production expertise from Tufo.
Deaneasy have actually been putting videos of tubular tyre based prototypes on youtube for years (such as this 0PSI test from 2011), but now have gone into production with these kits. They only seem to be available in Italy at the moment, but we’ll ask about wider distribution. More information is at deaneasy.it, but the basics are that it’s available in 26, 27.5 and 29er versions, at present for rim widths of 21 – 24mm. The inner chamber is rated for pressures up to 12 bar, which is probably why it’s only guaranteed when used with aluminium rims. They don’t seem to list any list weights, but have claimed it’s lighter than Procore.
The kit includes tubes, valves, and airguides.Tufo made a variant of their normal tubular tyres to be lighter, and also to not twist the valve to the outside when inflated.Neatly boxed up.Different sizes.Sealant remnants: Model’s ownThe valve might not be the most elegant looking, but it’s very straightforward in use.You will have to drill the valve holes in your rims a bit bigger to accommodate these, but they don’t require any extra holes.Airguide for the tyre.The red valve inflates/deflates the outer tyre.An adhesive for securing the valve to the rim. Seems pretty committing…Standard presta valve for the inner chamber.Not to be used without a tyre.
David started mountain biking in the 90’s, by which he means “Ineptly jumping a Saracen Kili Racer off anything available in a nearby industrial estate”. After growing up and living in some extremely flat places, David moved to Yorkshire specifically for the mountain biking. This felt like a horrible mistake at first, because the hills are so steep, but you get used to them pretty quickly.
Previously, David trifled with road and BMX, but mountain bikes always won. He’s most at peace battering down a rough trail, quietly fixing everything that does to a bike, or trying to figure out if that one click of compression damping has made things marginally better or worse. The inept jumping continues to this day.
@danposs86 Didn’t mean to seem casual about that, it’ll definitely be an obstacle to lots of people and makes installation quite a bit more complex than Procore.
As far as I can tell, Deaneasy are only selling it through authorised dealers who do the drilling and gluing, which is probably why it’s currently only in Italy.
I like how you casually skipped over how you have to drill out the hole in your rim to fit this.
Only just gone tubeless, so maybe another 10 years before I catch on to this.
Drilling rims is nothing new, routinely do this just in case I need to fit a schraeder valved inner tube.
@danposs86 Didn’t mean to seem casual about that, it’ll definitely be an obstacle to lots of people and makes installation quite a bit more complex than Procore.
As far as I can tell, Deaneasy are only selling it through authorised dealers who do the drilling and gluing, which is probably why it’s currently only in Italy.