I run a set of wheels with these tubes on a new bike and a set of the same wheels and tires with regular butyl tubes on my travel bike. The ride difference is noticeable. I found the tubes easy to work with, even when changing to new rubber. But I always use a bit of baby powder and I never use tire irons. Like all latex tubes they need air daily.
This tube works well. As with all latex tubes, be careful to not put too much pressure near the valve and make sure the tube isn't pinched when installing.
Drawback is they don't hold air very well. Every two -three days you'll have to pump them up, by then, you're going out for a ride right? High volume pump will save you strokes.
Use Vittoria tires and the latex work better for me with mounting, tires go on hard and tubes easier to install properly.
The knock before I switched to latex was they dont hold air pressure over a longer period, check my pressure before every ride and run 110psi....no big deal
Love the ride quality of latex tubes, but having to pump up tires daily is a bit tedious.
They might cost a little more. But my ride seems a little smoother and the flats come less often. These tubes usually outlast my tires and I transfer them on to the new tire without any blowout issues like the standard tubes.
These may require you to pump them up before every ride, but thats just the nature of latex. They are light, have a great ride quality and do not puncture easily.
These are very brittle and soft. For some reason when I pumped them to 70 pst the valve popped. So make sure you are extra careful when filling these.
2 out of 3 tubes flatted immediately, on 2 wheels and tires where I'd been running butyl tubes with no problem. Threw the third away since I felt I couldn't trust it, switched back to butyl.
These are the only tubes I'll use for racing and training - with the exception of regular butyl tubes as a spare.
forget about shaving grams, these shave watts.
Easy to patch.
A little tricky to install, so I just carry a butyl spare.
removable core for aero wheels.
I run these tubes with Vittoria Open Corsa CX on 50mm Campag Bora - marvelous combination. You do have to pump a bit before every ride, but worth it.
Great tubes. I use them on my back up wheels when not using my tubulars. Can run at fairly low pressure with no pinch flats with better roll feel than a butyl tube. I would recommend you use baby powder when installing these since I have heard of latex tears over time since the tubes can stick or adhere to the tire rubber if they are not coated in powder.
Only but these because they were on sale. Otherwise I use AirComp butyl tubes. I definitely feel a slight difference with these when racing with my Michelin Pro 4 tires. They definitely need to be topped off every day.
I was attempting to to set my bike up to be as efficient as possible. Combined these with Continental Grand Prix 4000 S II 700c Road Tires. Smooth and fast. Set some personal bests. Couldn't be happier. They do lose air over night and must be pumped up each time . . . but as long as you are aware and willing to put up with this inconvenience . . . they work great.
Less rolling resistance, less weight & better road feel, what's not to love.
Much lighter than traditional tubes, and so far no problems after 500 miles. Need pumping before each ride as advertised losing about 15 psi overnight, but do not get completely flat even after a week of no riding. I used baby powder instead of talc before putting them in, and although my rims were insanely tight for the tires I used (1.5 hours of frustration and hard work with bloody blisters on both thumbs to mount two wheels which usually takes me about 20 minutes and no sweat) I did not have any flats in the process.
Love them.
Compared to butyl tubes these are lighter, better riding, and have improved puncture resistance. They do tend to leak air faster that butyl, so you need to top-off air each ride.
They feel amazing. No issues, works like butyl but buttery smooth.
