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Old 05-28-14 | 03:35 PM
  #30  
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WalksOn2Wheels
Vain, But Lacking Talent
 
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 5,510
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From: Denton, TX

Bikes: Trek Domane 5.9 DA 9000, Trek Crockett Pink Frosting w/105 5700

Just wanted to throw in some random tube comments here.

Unless you're buying heavy duty or lightweight tubes, the standard tubes found branded as bell, schwinn, kenda, bontrager, specialized, etc. are all pretty much the exact same. I would trust any walmart tube (as much as I hate walmart), especially if shrink wrapped, if that was all that was available to me.

I would also suggest better tires if you're getting lots of flats. Last summer, I was getting upwards of 200+ miles a week on a regular basis and only had a couple of flats. I was running Continental GP4000s tires, which have a puncture protection in the tread area, but not the sidewalls like the gatorskins. The newer GP4000s II comes in a 28 width, and my 25 tires look like 28's, so I would imagine the 28's might run large depending on the rim. My "old man" bike has 32 Panaracer Pasela PT tires and I've had one flat in about 1K miles and that was due to a super aggressive chunk of glass.

On the topic of self sealing tubes: The slime branded ones are not great in my opinion because I kind of hate slime for bicycle tires. It was originally marketed as an emergency fix for car tire punctures. It's heavy, thick and nasty and it doesn't make sense to me in road tubes at all. Maybe MTB, but even then it's a mess when they go bad. Bontrager (I work at a Trek dealer) has been selling some self sealing tubes which boast a much thinner substance that seems to be much more suited to cyclists. We normally sell them in the MTB sizes, so I can't vouch for any road applications.

Last summer, tubes were in short supply and we ended up getting some road tubes with removable valve cores. I bought some and had the idea to put an ounce of MTB tubeless sealant in them. It did pretty well and I even saw goatheads sticking out of my front tire once and didn't flat. However, I did pump my tires up one morning, not to the max pressure, but it was a super hot day and as I was coming to the bottom of a fast slope to stop at an intersection, my front tire did give a mighty loud pop and make a mess. I kind of wonder if the sealant plus the heat (warm temps combined with braking heat) contributed to the explosion, but the tire might have also been sitting in the sun while I was at school. I forget.
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