TPU justification for tubulars
 

I read the TPU threads. $30 or $40 for a tube that saves you 40-60 grams over butyl.

They just had a special -- Vittoria Corsa tubular for $85 for a pair. A whole race tire with a lighter rim for the price of an inner tube.

No beef with TPU tubes. I'll probably get some. But for know I'm not going to feel too bad if I flat a tubular. It's cheaper than a day of golf.

It's not just the weight with TPU is the better ride and better rolling resistance. If you want to ride tubies go ahead if I were going to ride a bike with 25's I'd probably ride them too, just add a bit of tubeless sealant and you need to worry about flats

Ridenow TPU tubes are like $7 each.
The other advantage of TPU tubes is that they are easy to carry as spares. You can't say the same for your tubular tire now.

Tubulars = a good reccomendation for one's fast pavement bikes. I used sealant as a precaution, until a couple of stems got plugged. I probably stopped during first ride with valve stems at bottom on wheel. Anyway, I carry my sealant now. Makes for a longer stop to seal a flat, but never a valve stem concern. I very rarely flat.

Care to share where this sale is? I am sure you are not the only one who would go for it.

Pirelli’s top tubular, P Zero Race SL use TPU tubes inside. It’s the tubular supplied to all their sponsored World Tour teams when not on tubeless. At over $100 per tubular, way more expensive than running TPU innertubes, so I’m glad I run clinchers!

On yesterday's ride I had a flat and replaced the rubber tube with a RideNow TPU tube. I bought some to carry for times like that. I bought them on AliExpress for about the same cost as rubber tubes. When I got home I put another TPU tube in my seat bag. Hopefully I won't use it for a long time.

I just received 2 aerothanes in the mail and when I picked up the package I thought it was empty.....

This is the main reason I’m interested in TPU tubes ie emergency spare for my tubeless setup. They appear to be much less bulky than regular tubes.

Of course -- it's at Excel Sports. Someone pointed me to it in the Totally Tubular thread.

https://www.excelsports.com/vittoria...ad-tire-2-pack

I ordered a pair and they look great, arrived quickly.

That’s what big TPU companies and their media lackeys want you to think. They have ways of manipulating the images to make their old, warmed-over technology look smaller than butyl. Next thing you know, they’ll fade you into believing they’re more durable, have less rolling resistance, weigh less, and hold pressure better, too. They won’t stop until we’re all back in tubes! This battle between Big TPU and Big Tubeless is ruining cycling! Jan Heine for UCI President 2024!!!

Wonder what the weight savings for a 26x4.8 would be....

Seems to be the worst of both worlds. You don't get the puncture resistance of latex and you can't use sealant (I don't think) in case of a puncture.

I run my tubulars at a pretty high pressure (but nowhere near 175psi - the rated max). Vittoria (in clinchers) has always been my 'go to' tire. I was a little disappointed in the Vittoria Corsa tubulars, not as supple a feel as I was expecting. Mine are 25mm.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...7f11844ee5.jpg

What stops me buying one as an emergency spare is the very mixed reviews in terms of reliability out of the box, especially reports of fragile, leaky plastic valve stems. This season I have been riding without a spare tube. Relying on sealant and Dynaplugs. The idea of a very compact, lightweight tube still appeals as a last resort back-up, but not if there's a high chance it might fail out of the box. In that regard I have more confidence in a regular tube, but don't like the extra bulk.

Puncture resistance could certainly be better than latex, but pro racers don’t fix flats on the road anyway, so they’re almost certainly after the weight savings compared to a latex tubed tubular.

Never heard of those problems, and haven’t experienced it in any of the 6 TPU tubes I have in service or the 8 I’ve used.

I don’t use $8 China-direct TPU tubes, though.

I was reading reviews of Tubolito and Ridenow. They both appear to have potential issues with the valve stems. Also read somewhere about the valve stems not sealing well with my Silca mini-pump head. Enough bad user reviews to put me off for now.

Hmm, yeah, not heard of those as widespread problems, but I selected Aerothan, and have only used Aerothan, based on the fullness of their technical marketing presentation, which, because it was clear and specific in its explanations and claims, gave me confidence that it was a soundly conceived and well-engineered product. I was not impressed with Tubolito’s presentation, which as I recall was centered on lightweight, whereas Schwalbe claimed specific achievements in weight reduction as well, but also puncture resistance, cut resistance, rolling resistance and presented test results to back it up, with comps to butyl, latex, and a “plastic tube” indicated in orange, a thinly veiled reference to Tubolito, I assumed.

This is exactly what I have done, and why I’ve done it. 2 TPU tubes takes up the same or less space than 1 butyl tube, and weigh less.

Aerothans do seem to have a better reputation. When I was looking at options about a year ago they were impossible to find in stock here, so I eventually gave up. I should check them out again.

Thanks for that. I didn't get the Vittoria but they do have my go-to Cont Sprinter tire in a 2 pack. They usually sell for 80-90 here so basically 2 for 1 deal. Thanks !

How much do you weigh? Is this a track bike? The experience of decades says that if you need over 100 psi on the road then you should be on wider tires. Pumping to that pressure does not make you faster as suspension losses climb dramatically due to the super hard tire having essentially no compliance. Higher pressures mean less traction, faster tire wear, and reduced comfort for no benefit in rolling resistance. What's not to like?

I ride smooth roads, I guess.
Too much 'compliance' feels mushy - fine if you ride straight lines. Not fine if you descend at 30+mph on a twisty road, as I do on every ride from my home = ~95% of all my rides. YMMV

Also, just the other day I realized that Eclipse are in business; dunno if you've looked at those, but they use metal valve stems which may be of interest to you.

I'd thought Eclipse disappeared many years ago, but apparently not! I went back to look at BRR's TPU Crr test, and saw Eclipse had been added to the original test results sometime last year. They're pretty hard to find, but this E. Dubied place, somewhere in Germany, seem to be the main source, although I didn't look all that much:
https://edubied.com/products/eclipse-endurance-tube