Need some inner tubes for the commuter (700c) and wiggle have 6xLifeline tubes for £14.

Is this a purchase I’ll regret? When it comes to road kit i’m clueless. Just want a decent tube that will deal with the horrible roads I ride on each week.

Never come across the brand before. Are all road tubes similar? Can anyone suggest a better option?

No. Some are hosepipe and will suck energy, others (latex, continenal supersonic (50g!)) will feel light and fast. Any decent tube from a good manufacturer (Schwalbe, Continental, Michelin) will cost about £4-5, weigh about 100g and perform about the same. I’ve had good luck with the supersonics, on light wheels, but they are not cheap. I also love latex tubes, but they need pumping daily so aren’t really a commuting tube.

Cheers TiRed. Think I’ll give the Conti’s a go then. Guess you do get what you pay for in this respect.

Well the reviews say they are OK.

On the other hand, latex tubes are lovely though fragile.

Latex tubes will also have you reaching for the pump everyday – or twice a day if you want to ride to work and back. Any performance gains you might get will be more than outweighed by the performance loss due to lower pressure by the end of a sportive.

Personally I use Michelin Ultralight tubes, but they are a bit more fragile than full weight ones (Supersonics don’t seem worth the risk to me).

Latex tubes are lovely – but they aren’t worth the hassle for commuting. I’m about to pump mine up again for a club run. But the ride is sublime. For commuting, I’ve used Supersonics, and they haven’t punctured any more than other heavier tubes. Tyre choice is more important. So if you are running something heavy like Schwalbe Marathons, the Supersonics can be a good choice to keep overall weight down.

In the end, I keep a good stock of reasonable tubes (Michelin at the moment because they were cheap at Decathlon). At 80g each they are a good compromise. I’ve seen some dreadful heavy tubes come as stock on some bikes; 150g and very inflexible.

I’ve had nothing but trouble with conti tubes (Race 28 IIRC). The bit where the valve attaches to the tube has been complete crap in 4 separate tubes from two different batches bought from two different places. Really annoying.

Planet X 23c jobs are 86g and seem to be holding 75psi in my 28c GP4S OK.

£1.99 in the sale, not sure what now.

Maybe they’re sucking energy out of luck a big sucky thing, but I’m not sensitive enough to be able to tell.

I’ve got years-old Michelin ultralights with seemingly more patches than original rubber 😳 , a good compromise.

Latex tubes with a good clincher are very nice, they do sweat air though and when they puncture they go with a bang. Easier to trap them when you fit them as well. I use ’em for long training days, tubs for race day, not a lot of difference in ‘feel’ (that isn’t down to the rims).