Thread: TPU tubes
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Old 08-09-24 | 11:45 AM
  #10  
aliasfox
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Joined: Aug 2019
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From: SF Bay Area

Bikes: Lynskey R270 Disc, Bianchi Vigorelli

I had a bad experience with a RideNow - the plastic valve wouldn't hold a rideable pressure for 2hrs.

I have Bibike metal-valved TPU tubes in one of my bikes now, and despite my rear flatting on roadworks on my second ride, they seem to work alright. A Park glueless patch seems to have held well, and the rear tube holds air better than the front now.The front tube has a slow leak, but seems to take overnight for pressures to drop below rideable levels - so a 2-3hr ride seems ok.

I've switched to a Topeak Road Morph from CO2 to make up for TPU's incompatibility with the cold. Even with the (giant) Road Morph, the weight difference is almost a wash - 180g for the Road Morph (~190g with the frame mount), about 130-150g for two CO2 canisters and valve.

As a reference, I was switching out Continental Race tubes, which came in around 100-105g. The Bibike tubes weigh in at 35g on my scale, so by my math, 70g * 3 tubes - ~50g deficit for packing a pump = 160g saved riding weight.
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