inner tube advice
 

bought a continental vertical tyre 26x2.3 and a presta inner tube.

upon opening i find the tube is not like the others i have had in the past, its slimmer .


here are the measurements on the tube box

26" x 1 1/14 to 1 3/8

32 -37 x 590mm


i stuck it in anyway and inflated the tyre to about 45 psi, seems to be holding ok, wondered if i got the wrong tube? doesn't mention on the box if its for tour or anything, so im assuming its slimmer for weight reasons and still can be used with a mtb tyre of 2.30 girth.


if i have the wrong tube, any danger in riding thsi tomorrow for 60 miles? , the tyre now inflated seems solid enough


thanks alot.

The tube should be stretched more. That means less puncture protection. I am running 2.0-2.5 in my 2.0 tires. I have very few issues with punctures and I ride in areas with thorns.

ok to ride on though? i mean the tube wont split or go bang while im riding it?

thanks

Where are you riding (road, sand, ect)?

road and a bit of canal path tomorrow, i just need this to last for 1 day unitl i get the correct tube on friday, i have puncture repair with me, my worries are unrepairable damage to tube while im 60 miles from home.

thanks

I would think they would be fine, but you might want to pick up a spare. Even with a patch kit and correct tubes in the tires, I always carry extra tubes with me.

spent up on the tyre and tube today, wont get any more money until friday. well thanks for your time, ill risk it of course and i agree it should last just 1 ride at least. i usually have a coupl eof tubes with me also.

cheers

I run a 26x1.75 tube in a 26x2.2 tire with no issues

You can't afford an 8 dollar inner tube, but you can afford to risk being stranded 60 miles from home? Interesting.

But this is a 1¼" tube...for 590 mm wheels. And he has a 2.3" tire...for 559 mm wheels. Decimal sizes and fractional sizes are for different rims.

an update, i have been on that ride today with the inner tube fitted and it was fine, so im going to leave it in until there is a reason to change, ill be buying a 2.1 2.3 tube tomorrow though.

i think the only problem with using a smaller tube which was meant for the tyre is that it has to be high pressure otherwise the tube takes its original shape and thus creating a gap between the tube and tyre.


thanks all

keep running it .. this increased flats stuff is baloney .. if something punctures the tire.. the tube is going with it..

I use 26 x 1.5-1.9 tubes in my 29er mtb tires (29 x 2.1 to be exact). Takes a bit more effort to mount the tires, but the tubes work just fine once mounted. Saves me about 100g per wheel over a "29er" tube.

Feel the area of the tire at the valve area. Make sure that it doesn't feel like the tube is necked down in that area, i.e. the tire shouldn't feel any narrower there.

interesting. do you have to stretch the tube around the wheel?

Everything I've found, and the fact that there is more rubber in a bigger inner tube says otherwise. Used to get a bunch of pinch flats (around 2 per week) but no that I've switched to 2.0-2.5s I've had none. Puncture protection is probably a different, though, but more rubber should give you more protection, but thats probably like slightly rubbing brakes reducing efficiency. It might reduce efficiency in the lab, but in the real world, its almost unnoticeable. Still, I'll take the extra couple of grams for fewer pinch flats.

running the proper sized tube does offer more flat protectoin, the rubber isn't so stretched out, yes if you get like a nail or somthin in you rire it will flat no matter what, you also have a very small risk of just blowing out the tire if you hit it hard due to the shock and increased pressure do to decreased volume on impact, but you tube woudl have to be very close to just blowing out on its own.

running smaller then reccomended tubes is usually fine (exept the flat protection thing) however running a 1.25 in a 2.3 is pretty extreme, and I wouldn't do it unless i had no choice (as you did and you where fine so w/e) usually its people running a 2.0 in a 2.3 or w/e cause they changed tires or somthin but a 1.25 tube is just a tad wider than a road tire (also its on a 26" wheel)

one thing i've noticed when i've run tires that are to small in a road bike (usually if i run and 18-23mm race tube in a 28mm tire cause i don't normally run 28s) anyway when i do that it seems to leak air faster, and i've heard this from other people too, my understanding is that on a microscopic level air leaks through the rubber on all tubes, thats why you have to pump up your tires every week or so (or more often) with a too small tube the rubber is thinner so air leaks out faster and i had to pump up the tires more often. I've also noticed this on my mtn vs road bikes, the race lite tubes are thinner and i usually have to pump up b4 every ride to keep em at 120psi, on my mtn bike i pump em up idk like once ever 2 weeks or so, i also don't care about keeping a precise psi level on my mtn bike but w/e