[Closed] Time to abandon the inner tube completely?

My experience is the same but you'll drag my inner tube out of my cold dead hands (and I haven't even had to use any worms over 5 years). I just wouldn't feel right without it.

I am completely in agreement with Gunz 👍

Had a blowout on landing a couple of months ago, couldn't reseal, so inner tube was useful then, but it was the first time i'd used one in a long long time, last time i used one was to give to someone on the trail, i usually carry 2 spare!

As soon as you leave the spare tube at home you will be at the furthest away part of your ride with a puncture that will not seal, then as you start to contemplate your walk home it will start raining.

I hope I never get a puncture and have to put a tube into my tyres, they were a **** to get on.

Last time I tried to use a tube the hole in the tyre was too big (it was completely flat in about 2 seconds after clipping a pointy rock at a fair pace) and I ended up with another flat after about 30 yards due to the tube poking through. Luckily it was on the final stage of a race and I managed to blag a lift back to the start/finish in a 4x4. I still carry a tube on most rides

pothead

Free Member

Last time I tried to use a tube the hole in the tyre was too big (it was completely flat in about 2 seconds after clipping a pointy rock at a fair pace)

Spare tube and a small piece of cut out toothpaste tube or similar to cover the hole with?

Tubolito, spendy, but think of it as insurance to avoid a walk or taxi ride back to the car... plus as Murphy's Law states, if you have one, you'll never need it, right?

If it is a Tubolito it probably won't actually work when you do need it.

I got so complacent with tubeless that I took nothing with me at all but I did get a flat one day and walked home. It pumped straight back up when home as must have sealed after most of air was out so just took a mini pump with me after that (which I never needed)

Spare tube and a small piece of cut out toothpaste tube or similar to cover the hole with?

Yeah I had similar thoughts at the time, although I was thinking more about a piece of old tyre sidewall instead of toothpaste tube but being in the middle of nowhere I had access to neither. I've since been told that a folded up fiver will work as well and I had one in the pack I was wearing at the time but the thought never entered my head. At least it wasn't raining

Spare tube and a small piece of cut out toothpaste tube or similar to cover the hole with?

Na, too much faff, moar anchovies is the answer, keep firing them in until the hole is plugged.

To quote another thread, inner tubes have no place on a MTB. 😃

https://thecycleclinic.co.uk/blogs/news/living-with-tubeless-tyres

TLDR: no tubes

Na, too much faff, moar anchovies is the answer, keep firing them in until the hole is plugged

I could get my thumbnail through the hole, after 25 miles and 4500ft of climbing for the 2nd day in a row I really couldn't be arsed by that point

inner tubes have no place on a MTB. 😃

Neither do flimsy single ply E Thirteen tyres on a rear wheel, should've known better, it was replaced with a DHR2 in DD casing the following week, no punctures since then but I think we both know what's gonna happen this morning now that I've posted this, and it's raining where I am 🤞

Lezyne 'classic' patch kit comes with a tyre boot in the box.

I've personally had course to use a tube once in 8+ years of tubeless. On the other hand I've lent/given one out on plenty of occasions to save others' rides.

For the last 20+ years I have never had to use a chainbreaker out on the trail/road,still not leaving home without one 🙂

I don't carry a tube on my fatty - it weights half a kilo and is bulky. I did on my normal sized mtb as it was convenient to carry

They make a good collar bone sling.

MrsP had a tubeless valve break off when we were half way down Bowderdale. No other damage to the wheel, still puzzles me how it happened, but I was glad to have a tube that day, and some pliers to get the remains of the broken valve out.

2 years ago I once dinged my rim such that I lost air and couldn't get a seal again. So a tube was useful in that situation. If I hadn't had one I might have resorted to bashing it with a rock, but that could have left the rim in a mess and more difficult to try and repair later.
I then later pinched that tube (my only one) near the top of the last descent of the day, which I had to walk down and then borrow another to get home.

The tube I strapped to my bike for the next day's ride is the one still attached to it, but I'll be leaving it there.

I can't imagine anything worse than slogging all the way up Helvellyn, dropping off the first rocky bit and slashing a tyre with sticks pass and seldom seen laid out before you to push your bike down.

I've been riding tubeless since 2003 when I ordered a lovely set of 819 UST rims on Hope hubs to go with my new first FS bike and haven't run tubes since on an MTB. I've also not done many rides longer than popping to the shops or local tea rooms without a tube in my bag/pocket/seat pack.

I can only recall three times I have put a tube in a tubeless tyre. Each time it has been a sidewall trashing tear that's required a "boot" (gel wrappers are a good emergency one by the way) and each time it would have been a long, boring and cold walk (and twice would have been in the dark for good measure). Only one of those rides was shortened. My bike time is too precious to risk a written off ride for the sake of a tube.

It's 200g or so for a tube how much of a weight weenie do you have to be to leave something like that behind and risk a wrecked ride?

Last time I tried to use one I had to remove over ten thorns before fitting. Obviously didnt get all the thorns so tubed tyre went flat straight away.

Yeah, only once used a tube in 7 yrs of tubeless, small flint in the sidewall wouldn't seal - this was before I knew about chovies. That's running tyres on the ~600g XC end of the spectrum. Likewise 4 yrs gravel and some winter road tubeless never needed to use a tube.

Just carry a tubolito now off road - horses for courses though really, depends how remote I'm going to get, weather etc. Just an hour in the evening I don't worry too much, trails are only a half hour walk away.

Tempted to carry undersized tubes though for the packing convenience. Has anyone ever tried a road tube (or maybe a 'gravel' tube anyway) in a 29er? Asking for trouble or enough to get you home?

Time to abandon the tube?

That’s what I’ve done with the fat bike. In its 5 years I’ve fixed a few punctures with worms and only had one I couldn’t fix.

Then I found the tyre was so hard to get off the rim that my only option was to walk to where my wife could collect me. That was 3 yrs ago and since then I’ve not bothered lugging the inner tube round.

But I have got better at twice yearly topping up the Satan’s and haven’t had any punctures in well over a year.
🤞

Never carry tubes, haven’t done for about 4 years.

one bike, the old singlespeed 26er, has tubes and one strapped to the seat rails. But that only goes up the shops these days.

Finally decided to go tubeless after my sixth puncture this year.
£15 per wheel plus new tyres (Mountain king Protection and X King)
Constant thorns and punctures just riding along the canal.
Previous tyres (Tough Tom) never had a puncture using tubes.
Used cheapo wire bead mountain kings and Maxxis Ardent in the past tubed with no problems.
But since using Racing Ralph and Ray I’ve had six this year.

I've only ever had to use it once, but it's been useful a few times to have it- used one to tie stuff to the bike to carry, given a bunch away to stranded people which is pretty nice.

I do think it's weird if people carry a tube but no tubeless puncture kit, though. But I figure if I'm carrying a kit, and the means to inflate a tyre, then it's no hardship to also carry a lightweight tube.

If you need to rely on a tube do remember the pliers to extract all the thorns that your sealant coped without you ever knowing.
Not that I’ve ever stuck a tube in and found them. Oh no, no, no.
At least when that absolutely didn’t happen I was just re-taping a rim after a new spoke and using the tube to compress the tape in place.

I'm firmly in the belief that the day I don't carry one is the day that I need one.

Plus, they can help out someone else who needs one, or be used as a sling, as others have said.

I still have one. I haven't used it in a decade though - that time, I got a big puncture that sprayed sealant but sealed, so I rode on and got another. And because there was not enough sealant, it didn't seal.

I rode over a Stanley knife blade recently which slashed my tyre. Because I was only a few miles from home I called out the cavalry, however if I'd been further away or on some hillside I'd have had to fix with a tube and some patch material.

branes,a 26" or even a 24" will fit around a 29er rim.I use a 24 because it fits inside the tiny saddle bad i use,small enough to use with a dropper.

I think you also have to take into account how assiduous you are topping up the sealant. Usually, the only time I get punctures that don't seal by themselves is when I've forgotten and the sealant has run out. Having a lightweight tube usually saves the day.

I've been running tubeless for nearly a decade now and have almost always carried a tube with me. They usually end up being used my a riding buddy but twice I've had them rot in the bottom of my pack they were that old! Only needed to call upon it's use myself three times, the third one needed a bit of cut up toothpaste tube to bridge the slit in the sidewall. The other two times were both on rides where I thought like the OP and decided to no longer carry one. the first time was at the end of a day at BPW and the second was halfway round the long loop at Nant Yr Arian and I faced a long walk back to the car. Thankfully one of the locals spotted me walking back in the village and offered me a tube so I got lucky then!

Ever since I've always carried a tube as a good luck charm.

I always carry one, but most of my favourite trails are an hours ride away so a slashed sidewall (as is common on the North Downs) would be a bit of a downer for getting home.

Last time I had one I had to take the inset out aswell, wonder if I could have left it in and just put the tube on top?

Tubolito I'd never heard of til this thread. The reason you favour them is simply their light weight, right? It's about time I bought a tube so might get one.

I've run tubeless over 12 years and nearly always carried a tube. I haven't used one on my own bike in at least the last half of that time but I've given a few away. Majority of my mountain biking is now within about 6 or 7 miles from home so I'm beginning not to bother for those rides nowadays, figuring I can get home somehow and there are probably other ride ending failures I might get which aren't much less likely. But for some riding I'd want to continue to be that bit more self-sufficient.

On the gravel bike, which I use 50% as a road bike, I always have a tube in the saddle bag and have not yet had to use one since going tubeless. Maybe I could ditch that but the kit just sits in the pack so I don't see much to be gained, plus I'm nearly always solo. In fact, it's just occurred to me I haven't used an anchovy on that either in about 4,000km. Now I've written that I'm doomed aren't I?

I carry a tube and use it least once a year on the MTB, and needed one a couple of months ago on a gravel bike ride, too.

I forgot a spare tube on a ride at the end of March and had to call my wife to come pick me up. If you will recall, at that point, leaving the house in the car to drive into the Peak District was most definitely frowned upon. She wasn't happy!

@higgo - you legend! I'd never thought about using an inner tube as a sling. But i was just thinking about which first aid items to pack in my frame bag.

fasthaggis
For the last 20+ years I have never had to use a chainbreaker out on the trail/road,still not leaving home without one

yep went out for ride just after a knee op and wasn't really supposed to smashed rear mech and for years had carried an unused chainbreaker but somehow it got swopped into another bag...waived riders down but no one had one walked about 5km...now have only multitools with chainbreakers

had a glass cut recently and lost too much of not enough stan's thought I'd "pop" in a tube...45mins of wrestling to get the tyre off...then stupidity and rushing guaranteed pinching the tube...glue dried up...self sealing patches either too old or hate stan's but no tube would have meant no way home other than phoning for help....and don't forget your phone! this weekend 1hr from home with enough change for 1 call and had no address for place staying...think I'll be buying a phone card might be good as an emergency boot!

I just hang them on trees now

Phone card? I think it's a time machine you have, not a bike!

Just take a phone.

I actually had a wee look at the spare tube in my wee pack recently, it was all cracked and perished, wouldn't have been much use! That's how long it's lay in there unused.

For the first time in memory, I didn't take a quicklink with me this morning as I'd used it on a mate's bike after he mangled his derailleur and I was too lazy to dig through the spare parts box to get a new one out. So, 20 yards down the descent, I get a stick in my derailleur which exploded into pieces. Only a mile from work, fortunately, but you know the same thing will happen if you don't take a tube with you.

but you know the same thing will happen if you don’t take a tube with you.

I often ride 15-20 miles on my local trails with no pack, tools never mind a tube, yet to have the walk of shame!

I often ride 15-20 miles on my local trails with no pack, tools never mind a tube, yet to have the walk of shame!

Consider the Gods of fate invoked...

I expect a long walk in your future 🙂

Tubolito I’d never heard of til this thread. The reason you favour them is simply their light weight, right? It’s about time I bought a tube so might get one.

For me its more space saving than weight. I have very small frame bags on my bikes so with a Tubolito I can get a tube, repair kit, pump and some darts in a frame bag and just forget about them. I just pray I never get a puncture because the things are bloody expensive.

I often ride 15-20 miles on my local trails with no pack, tools never mind a tube, yet to have the walk of shame!

Heres a question though do you ride solo or with mates? If so are you gonna be that guy who never has anything but is always borrowing stuff from others?

I just pray I never get a puncture because the things are bloody expensive.

Also add to your prayers that you have one that actually works when you need it. I tried Tubolito last year, 3 tubes - 2 faulty.

Heres a question though do you ride solo or with mates?

I do the same and always ride solo as don't have any mates (see aspergers thread!) I tend to ride 25 mile loops at most so worst case is 12 miles away. I tend to walk or ride back (on a puncture for example) if under 5 miles but when my chain snapped 2 years ago I was 10 miles out so phoned my wife to come and get me.
In the last 20 years of cycling I have had to phone to be collected once and had to ride home on a puncture about 5 times.

I often ride 15-20 miles on my local trails with no pack, tools never mind a tube, yet to have the walk of shame!

That's life on the edge right there 🙂 🙂 🙂

Depends where you ride I suppose. I have used an inner tube twice in the last year. Both were cuts that were too big to seal or fix with a bacon strip, first time a piece or flint and the second a big chunk of metal.

A tyre boot and the tube saved me a pretty long walk back to the car.

The biggest issue is getting rid of the thorns in the tyre that have sealed over the weeks or months since you last did it. This weekend I changed an 8 month old tyre for something better in the mud and pulled 14 odd thorns out.

Last puncture I had ripped the tyre, took two tyre boots to fix it as the first one wasn't big enough and the inner tube escaped around it.

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On Saturday, I spotted a tubeless valve on a track in the middle of nowhere.

Someone obviously had to dispense with it and put a tube in.

I'd suggest that you don't need an emergency tube if you stay within walking distance of a bail out point, but otherwise you need an answer for a deflated tubeless tyre.

Consider the Gods of fate invoked…

I expect a long walk in your future 🙂

I've posted that many times before, touch wood*.

*I recall having the walk of shame once, but it was on a cross bike, so it was probably karma for not being on a proper bike, so I've never done it again. 🙂

Heres a question though do you ride solo or with mates?

You'll notice I said I often do this, not always though. If riding with mates I generally chuck on the bumbag, as much for them as it is for me tbh.

I’m firmly in the belief that the day I don’t carry one is the day that I need one.

^^Same here, sod's law dictates that the day you forget it is the day you'll need a tube.^^

While I accept it's a last line of defence after sealant and anchovies, a tube is potentially a ride saver.

In fact the last time I used one (admittedly several years ago) it was precisely because I'd failed to top up sealant, had forgotten to bring an anchovy/tool but the spare tube was still taped to the frame, and did it's (temporary) job when needed. So I'll not be leaving the spare tube behind any time soon.

Dont leave the house without one when its my precious window of time to ride.

Plus it works well as phone protection in the bootybag.

Nobeerinthefridge

Phone card? I think it’s a time machine you have, not a bike!

Just take a phone.

problem was i left the phone by front door and realised an hour from home heading for a weekend rental with the address on my phone...old age i guess...though old enough to recall how to use a payphone...though nothing changes the first one swallowed my money and buzzed at me but being a bit more modern a message popped up asking if I wanted to report a fault! phone card it will be

sidewall glass cut today - intermittent sealed / unsealed a few pump stops....squirmed my way home

I have one taped the frame of my mountain bikes and in the saddle bag for road bike.
Have used them a couple of times. They're cheap and if taped on the bike are just "there"

Further to my not taking anything approach for local rides, as others do I keep on top of the stans condition, and my tyres are both north of 1kg, so it's a balance of risk that I'm happy with.

ive just recieved one of those aerothan tubes

https://schwalbe.com/aerothan/en

and its too wide to fit in my swat box!!!!

still its half the size of a standard tube so it means i can fit it in without a swap pouch and still get it out. Although it says not to come into contact with sealant im hoping it would get me home if needed.