jackcoke

I'm putting my first cross bike together and need to get some tubes. I use Continental tubes in my road bike but they don't seem to make anything in a 32mm width. I hate putting cheap tubes on a bike because they never seem to hold air. I threw away a bunch of Performance tubes once because they were such crap I wouldn't even consider giving them to the Goodwill. Any suggestions?

jhota

nope. i just buy whatever's cheapest. i'm going to kill it with a flat before i ever wear it out.

cachehiker

Michelins, but I have to special order or order them online. When I was looking for ultralight 70g tubes for the race wheels on the road bike, I ran into several comments like "nothing holds air like a Michelin". Their Aircomp ultralights actually maintain pressure as well as the heavier QPB tubes I run in the commuters. I may just throw some Airstops in the tour bike next time I take it out for a long weekend.

Also Vredestein. They seem like a very tough long lasting road tube for 100g. These are the ones I use in the training wheels for the road bike and when I've got 700x25-28c road tires mounted on the cross bike. I've never had a torn valve stem or anything of the sort. I don't believe I've ever seen them in a legit cyclocross size though. I would probably pick some up if I did.

Continental does make tubes in a 700x28-47 size.
https://www.bikemine.com/proddisplay.asp?prod=2087
I've had good luck with a few Conti's in the mountain bikes but there isn't anybody in town that stocks them and they don't "feel" quite as tough as the Vredesteins which are generally available at the nearest shop.

crossthreaded

I liked the Salsa tubes 700x28-32 (light), but they might not be made anymore. I ordered the Salsa tubes from the one shop Schw... online that advertised them and they shipped a different brand that cyclocrossworld sells. It seems with the popularity of cx that there would be more companies producing tubes. Maybe someone here can give us a rundown of tubes and where they can be found.

jackcoke

I ended up finding the Continentals at universalcycles.com. They are hiding in the road tube section. They also have the Salsa tubes listed but are out of stock.

p4nh4ndle

a tube is a tube is a tube. as long as it doesn't flat too easily or weigh more than my tire I'll use just about anything.