Inner Tube Recommendations

[youcansellerz]

Hello everyone, I'm in need of a bit of help if you can.

Need to purchase some spare inner tubes for my Conti GT 4000S II tires (700c x 25).

What do you recommend? Any to avoid?

How many do you keep on hand?

I plan on keeping 2 in the saddle bag. Do you also keep extra at home?

thanks

 

[Mengtian]

I use Forte (700 x 23) and they seem to hold up fine. I do about 250 to 300 miles a week and have had 3 flats in a year. And one flat was not the tubes fault..my tire had worn through and I did not notice it.

 

[namestakensuck]

Schwalbe maybe? Anything from panaracer, continental, Vittoria, and maybe caffelatex if you want latex. Their sealant works well with latex tubes from what I gather.

Keeps as many as you an afford to keep, and orange seal makes goat heads and other thorns hang their heads in shame. It will prevent small puncture flats very well.

 

[Totalarmordestine]

I tend to go cheap on tubes. Spend money on tires, save money on tubes.
I haven't found anything better or worse from one tube to another. (Although I bought a bike that had unthreaded presta valves and I thought those looked pretty slick. Didn't really perform any different, but looked cool.)

 

[9lines]

Have you tried the Continental Race inner tyre tubes (700c * 25)? I usually use them since they are strong and durable. They are also not expensive as compared to my budget. Just try them out if you have not used them before.

 

[tarverten]

I buy tubes when they're on sale. I probably have one to two dozen. When I have a flat, I just put in a new tube, and put the old tube in the pile of "tubes to be patched". Then once a year or so I'll spend a cold and/or rainy afternoon patching tubes. I haven't noticed a difference in quality (or weight) of tubes; I have noticed a difference in valve stem length

 

[blastguardgear]

I have not bought a tube in years, my friends who can't be bothered to patch give me their flats. I don't think the brand makes much difference. I like the smooth stems. I carry one spare and some no glue patches.

 

[Mengtian]

Tubes are so inexpensive I have never patched one to reuse..guess I don't trust my own handiwork I do carry a couple of no glue patches in case I have two flats on one ride and one spare tube!

 

[thepieeatingjay]

I've never paid a much attention to tubes, and haven't noticed quality or performance differences, which is not to say they don't exist, of course.

I do try to stick to name brand in hopes of better quality, so that may be a factor, and since last year, I've kept stock of Panaracer R'Air tubes, primarily because they're extremely compact in the saddlebag, but also because they are light. They may confer performance benefits when fitted, but I can't tell. I've only had one flat with them, and the leakdown was very slow.

If I didn't worry about space or weight, I'd not give any thought to tubes, honestly.

 

[shadowsupernature]

I personally use michelin aircomp a1 tubes and i have yet to flat with one. If avoid REI Novara tubes. Those fail regularly around the valve stem. I only carry one tube. No need for two. Just carry a small patch kit and one tube.

 

[Froze]

All the major brands are good, Michelin, Vittoria, Continental, and Specialized. No experience with Schwalbe and horrible experience with Forte. I use Specialized mostly because I can get them locally fairly inexpensive.

Latex is a different critter, Michelin is probably the best latex tube from my experience but also from my experience you don't gain anything in flat protection, it's easy to tear so you have to be gentle installing it, expensive, but has a smoother ride, suppose to use a few less watts but so few you can't feel it being faster, it's best to use round 1" cut sections from another latex tube to make patches and then use a very thin layer of tubular glue on both the patch and the tube and press the patch on.

 

[kylerlittle]

I have 4, just for back up.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Quote by Froze:
"...and horrible experience with Forte."

Same same.

Some Forte tubes made it through life to the first puncture and some did not. Overall, just meh.