TPU tubes better/equal to tubeless? on the road

, of all the road tubeless tyres that I have tried, Hutctinson Fusion 5 Performance were by far the most most fragile.

The Hutchinson’s aren’t really the problem, the problem is I have to ride  through a  busy city to get out in the countryside and the roads and cycle paths always have glass in them so a tyre slash is inevitable at some point, doesn’t matter what tubeless tyre I run they cant deal with that and I can’t be bothered to deal with the mess the tubeless sealant makes anymore

only exception is the Schwalbe Durano plus tyres on my work bike, even they are not totally immune to the glass and debris found on my commute

even they are not totally immune to the glass and debris found on my commute

That’s why I went Pirelli, at time of purchase I think they had a significantly deeper tread depth than other tyres on the market (fuzzy recollection but something like 1.6mm additional depth of rubber). Just extra rubber for the glass to try and get through!

Obviously you’d expect the rolling resistance/weight to suffer but in the context of a winter bike with mudguards they roll absolutely fine.

Well I finally got out on them this weekend and even though I was looking to notice a difference, I reckon they really are a little better than butyl.

For the same pressures they seemed to roll better, in as much as it felt marginally easier for me to get on top of and hold a taller gear chopping along on the flat.

Handling and acceleration wise the bike felt very marginally more sprightly to me, that might be more to do with taking ~100g off of the wheels.

The sound from the tyres is a little different now too they sound a little more ‘hollow’ if that’s the right term. And the front (a slightly wider higher tpi cotton jobbie) made a bit more of a ‘sucky’ type noise that I noticed more when down in the drops with more weight forward, I guess that indicates more tyre deformation perhaps?

No signs of lost air yet, the plastic valve stems do make me a bit nervous…

Better than tubeless? Dunno, better than butyl so far.

I might have to play with pressures a bit but I’m probably not going to ride the bike much till spring now, so far a good purchase though IMO.

I bought the RideNow TPU tubes over the summer.

I had to borrowing one off a club mate mid ride. My butyl tube I had in my saddle bag was a dud. He handed me this pink wonder! I was quizzed him “what the f is that!?” Got home and I ordered 4 of them from AliExpress, around £6 each.

I switched two of them for the butyl tubes I had in my tyres, and the other two went into my saddle bag.

Ran them for from June until October, at which point I hung the summer bike on the wall for winter.

They’ve been faultless for me. They feel like riding on latex tubes, and they sound distinctly different on the road to running butyl.

I believe you are not supposed to used co2 inflators with them though, just something to bear in mind.

I believe you are not supposed to used co2 inflators with them though, just something to bear in mind.

I’d not heard that one before, is it because of the plastic stem/Valve interface?

I can imagine the ‘Cryogenic’ effect you get when you discharge a CO2 canister might have a detrimental effect as different materials become brittle and contract at different rates…

Or is it something entirely different?

Thanks for the tip.

is it because of the plastic stem/Valve interface?

Yes. I think (but can’t fully remember now) that there was a notice inside the box with each tube stating not to use co2 as it can damage the stem. They are a separate plastic piece, bonded to the TPU.

I believe you are not supposed to used co2 inflators with them

That’s a no from me then.

It’s a cheap upgrade imo.

Better rolling resisitance, and weight savings for very little money – maybe 300g. A butyl tube is around 100g heavier; x2 for the ones in use and x1 for the one in your saddle bag.

Ah well, have taken the plunge and ordered 4x36g.

I questioned the point given I’m already on latex tubes, will be interesting to see if I notice approx 50g weight saving per wheel. Will at least offset the weight of the bigger tyres I’ve fitted, so my OCD is happy 😎

That’s a no from me then.

But aren’t you supposed to avoid CO2 with tubeless sealants too?

Anyway this issue might be a good case for getting one of those ‘CYCPLUS’ electronic tyre inflators (or similar) then.

I always have a mini-pump anyway, and only really use CO2 if I’m in a bit of a hurry and/or want to blast it up to a higher pressures than my puny arms can manage.

Can’t say I’d actually miss carrying Co2 TBH, just another item cluttering up my tool kit.

CO2 doesn’t play well with sealant.  It’s also a single use product so not only not good for emergencies but bad for the environment too!

My Mrs got 4 as she doesn’t want to deal with tubeless, so has non-tubeless GP5000s.  They should roll very nicely compared with TPU in.

My new bike came with butyl chonkers (150g each! On a ‘race’ bike!).  My usual tubes are 60g or so each but are usually only in my pocket as I run tubeless.  Tempted to get a couple of RideNow for space saving spares.

Anyone tried TPU tubes with a sealant in? Several companies  seem make a TPU compatible sealant and a brand called OVO gets good press (branded Nutrak on Freewheel).

If the sealant works then it would seem like a useful option when using handmade tyres with porous sidewalls that are a bit of a faff to seal… I’m tempted to try some TPU tubes in my Strada Pros which are waiting to be fitted but it is puncture resistance that I want…

Out of curiosity I tried some of the ride now tpu tubes on the singlespeed. The ‘gravel’ ones that are supposed to be for 700×28-47c. Absolutely fine with challlenge 36mm gravel grinders but both failed when seating the beads on 45c challenge getaways. One had 7 tiny punctures in, the other only 3. All of them along the rim bed. Both rims are tubeless taped and cleaned before I fitted the change of tyres. I can only presume from the pattern of punctures that the tpu tubes deformed slightly into the spoke holes under the tape and that was enough to cause small ruptures. I couldn’t tell any difference between tubeless and tpu.

Ordered some from AliExpress as I needed some new tubes for the road bike. Will report back in a month or so once I’ve tried them.

I ordered some of these:

https://www.tpubiketubes.com/products/nano-tpu-tube

Being shipped from Australia by the looks of it so may take a while to arrive…😂