Having finally got a road bike I’m faced with tubed tyres again. I remember using talc in the old days of tubes on the MTB as it was supposed to stop the tube sticking to the tyre and ride better (?)

Does that still apply, do you need to use it and do I need to go and speak nicely to the old biddy over the road and borrow her lavender ‘Fragrance of Pensioner’ talc?

If I’m fitting tubes at home then I’ll always use talc. Johnson’s baby for me and the bike.

lavender baby powder here – only the kids’/wife’s bikes though. tubeless on all mine.

I still do it when using tubes having had valves ripped off in the past when I haven’t.

In fact I carry a small travel size bottle of baby powder in my toolbox for this very reason, much to the mirth of my biking buddies*.

*until one of them rips a valve off ‘cos they didn’t powder their inner tube.

I’ve never used talc – for work or my own bikes. What difference is it supposed to make?

I always talc inner tubes and the insides of new tyres. Stops them sticking together. And it’s easier to change a tube when out.