Tubes - all the same?

crumliniano

I got my first puncture in a long time on Saturday. When I changed tubes I noticed that the tube I was putting in seemed heavier/bulkier than the one I was taking out. I've never paid much attention to inner tubes before. The lighter ones I got when I bought the wheels and are Vittoria ultralight. The heavier ones are Continental Race 28's.

I realise that doing something about the weight of my own "rubber tyre" would be much more effective/productive but just out of curiosity is there anything to be said for one brand or model of tube over another?

I should point out that I don't have a sensative scales to weigh them - the continentals just seem to be made of thicker rubber.
Not sure if it has any bearing on it but I'm using them with GP4000's on Zonda's.

On another note - do people bother repairing tubes for re-use?

blorg

I have used both Vittoria Ultralite and Conti Race 28s and like both. There actually isn't much in the weight difference between them, maybe 10g at most. The Conti is rated for a tyre up to 25, the Vittoria only 23 although I have used Vittorias in 25 without any issues. Generally I think the tyre is the issue with puncture resistance and the tube doesn't matter so much. With those tubes anyway, with crazy light tubes (like the Conti Supersonic or Vittoria Evo) I believe they are easy to damage when installing.

I buy tubes in bulk and don't tend to bother repairing them, the exception would be if I use a tube and puncture again, I then repair it out of necessity.

doozerie

Latex tubes tend to be pretty light in comparison to regular (butyl) tubes. They are claimed to have less rolling resistance than butyl tubes - some people swear by them though while others seem to swear at them. Latex is more porous so the air in tyres need to be be topped up regularly apparently, and they may be more tricky to patch up too (not sure though). I don't know if they are as, or even more, robust than butyl tubes though - I have one latex tube which I bought out of curiosity but I have ended up just carrying it as a spare as it folds down to a convenient small size.

On the road I always swap in a spare tube, but I repair the punctured tube when I get home. Tubes can last years this way, even with several punctures, and the presence of patches makes no perceptible difference to the feeling of the bike to me. So it saves money, not to mention the fact that I hate sending anything to landfill when I can avoid it - there is enough rubbish in the world already without adding to it unnecessarily.

Lumen

Continental Race 28 Inner Tube - Short Valve
Weight - 99g 36mm valve

Continental Race 28 Light Inner Tube - Short Valve
Weight - 77g 36mm valve

Continental Supersonic Inner Tube
Weight - 52g 42mm valve

I've started buying the Light version (using Goldilocks reasoning). Aside from the weight, they're smaller in the pocket than the standard version.