I know nothing of Roadie-ville but recently bought some road tyres to stick on my CX bike. Bought some Specialized tubes and fitted them last night. A couple of hours later I heard Pfffft coming from the kitchen. Back tyre flat! Another two punctures today and a 25 mile lift home from my wife! A quick google suggested these tubes aren’t up to much so what do you folks recommend?

And do you need a roadie specific repair kit as one of the Leyzne patches had a hole blown right through it after a repair!

threaded schwalbe (careful on fleabay for fakes) or continental…. nice reliable tubes and they come with removable cores so can be cut down and used as tubless valves when they are beyond fixing.

I’d recommend tubeless, more faff to set up but less inconvenienced spouses

There is nothing wrong with Specialized tubes, used (and sold) them for years. You’ve probably bought shit tyres.

Whatever tubes are cheap, never had an issue. Punctures are due to tyres.

(I have had 3 rear punctures this week, I need a new tyre, tubeless though, only one didnt seal and needed a worm thingy)

I’d recommend tubeless, more faff to set up but less inconvenienced spouses

How do you find tubeless on say 25’s at high pressure. I run tubeless on winter bike with 32’s at around 60psi and find pressure drops to about 30psi before it seals, not really a problem on wider tyres but my summer bike only takes 25’s and that wouldn’t work.

Vittoria latex. Lower RR, more comfortable, fewer punctures.

There is nothing wrong with Specialized tubes, used (and sold) them for years. You’ve probably bought shit tyres.

Are you sure it was a puncture? I have some Spesh tubes with screw in valve cores, screw on pumps seem to unscrew them and cause leaking.

There is nothing wrong with Specialized tubes, used (and sold) them for years. You’ve probably bought shit tyres.

Continental GP 5000’s. No idea if they are shit but I don’t think they would’ve caused the tube to go pop while sitting in my kitchen.

I had a tube go bang whilst parked at work, the tyre had been pinching the tube. Must have been like that for 6months!!!

Tubeless for me.
But when riding tubes, latex is the preferred material, but I’ll stoop to conti supersonics as I have loads gathering dust.
That said, agree with the above, very likely your tyres rather than tubes.
I take a CO2 cartridge with me, if the tyre loses pressure due to a Nick then I top it up.
I’ve never needed to top up mid ride due to just losing pressure. I tend to do 70 to 100 mile rides. I top top up the pressure before every ride.

Specialized tubes are totally fine. Better than most, in fact.

I’m curious if they’re pinch flats?

It is far easier to pinch the tube on a road bike if you’re using tyre levers to install. Generally the tube won’t make much difference to puncture resistance, the tyre is the most important part but GP5000s are pretty decent.

Having said that I was getting a few punctures on my GP4000’s so switched to one of the puncture protection Continental tyres and subsequently haven’t had a puncture in years

Continental GP 5000’s. No idea if they are shit but I don’t think they would’ve caused the tube to go pop while sitting in my kitchen.

Are GP5000s famously tight to fit? I’d put money on knicking the tube with tyre levers or getting the tube trapped between tyre and rim, it happens to the best of us unless your tyre and tube fitting game is A+

Basically, I won’t touch tyre levers when fitting a tyre, more trouble than they’re worth. Lots of talc inside, start fitting the tyre furthest from the valve, be sure you’ve got all the ‘slack’ at the tightest spot (by squeezing the tyre into the central well all the way around) and if needs be lubricate bead with alcoholic hand gel.

Once you’ve got all that down, then buy some fancy latex tubes, noticeably nicer than normal tubes, and at least as robust if you can get them fitted without any mishaps.

I’m curious if they’re pinch flats?

The first puncture today was a pinch flat.

What pressures are you running? Are you a big unit? Maybe you’ve got them too low. Potholes? Some of the roads are dreadful at the moment.  Those are good tyres – might be bad luck, or a combination of the factors mentioned.

The first puncture today was a pinch flat.

I don’t recall ever having pinch flatter on the road, more pressure needed?

Gp5000’s ought to be ok. I’m on the gp4000’s and have barely had a puncture in the last few years of commuting / cycling for fitness. Prior to that with Schwalbe Luganos / Michelin Lithions/ various other cheap tyres it was a a bit of a lottery. No fancy inner tubes used at all – just normal (non-latex) ones.

If you’ve pinch punctured whilst out cycling you have probably either got your pressure too low or have hit a ridge / pot hole in the road I’d think. Only time I pinch punctured was when I wasn’t concentration and veered off the left of the road a bit and hit my thre on a sharp ridge where a drive met the road. I tend to run 90 psi with tubes on 25c Gp4000’s and Mason x Hunt wheels (19mm inner I think).

In terms of the puncture at home – where was the hole in the tube? Maybe you caught the inner tube between the tyre and rim or tyre lever and rim etc? Any tyre onto my current Hunt rims is a battle regardless of size – I try to avoid levers if I can. If I do need a lever for the final bit I try really hard not to catch the tube. Once mounted up I go round the whole tyre to make sure the tube is inside the tyre and not caught before inflating it any further.

What pressures are you running? Are you a big unit?

About 95psi and 80kg.

In terms of the puncture at home – where was the hole in the tube?

The hole was facing the rim roughly in line with a spoke hole so I don’t think it was pinched on installing. Nothing rough/ sharp when I checked. This is the puncture I’m more concerned about as there doesn’t appear to be a reason for it.

Cheers

Sounds like you need new rim tape

I was wondering about rim tape until I read this:

The hole was facing the rim roughly in line with a spoke hole

Which rocketed rim tape to the top of the list of things I’d check.