totalnewbie

Despite having a tubeless bike, my LBS recommends me to carry an extra tube since I am more familiar with the procedure (coming from regular clinchers) of fixing a flat on the road

My priority is to reduce bulkiness and not weight or ride quality (since I will not be riding on that anyway) and I am looking at either Tubolito or Aerothan. Prices and similar and weight difference is negligible. I am more concerned with how small they are so they don't take up much room in my saddle bag (will be carrying a CO2 bottle) Any tubeless riders out there who could make a recommendation (or informs me of your emergency tactics if different)

tempocyclist

Have you also got a tubeless plug kit to seal a hole that the sealant alone won't handle? This one with in-built C02 controller is good:

https://ride.lezyne.com/products/tubeless-co2-blaster



As for a tube, I carry a superlight butyl tube like a Conti supersonic. No experience with those TPU tubes sorry.

sean.hwy

I was on a group gravel ride when a guy did a little jump and crossed up his rear wheel and the tire came off the rim when he landed. He tried the Tubolito he had on him. It didn't work. Maybe it was the wrong size and meant for a road tire. dunno. Someone else gave him a normal tube to fix it.

indyfabz

I’ve never noticed one brand of tube being larger than another. Equal sizes, of course.

Why not just stick with what you did when riding clincher?

Koyote

This. Paying 5X as much money for a fussy, failure-prone tube, just to save a few grams, seems kind of silly.

chaadster

totalnewbie since you’re most concerned with reducing bulk, Tubolito is packed in a tighter roll than Aerothan because they leave the stem sticking out like, well, a stem! Depending on your pack space, I can see that being a potential source of frustration or working just fine; you’ll have to see. Also, you can get a superlight Tubolito S which is thinner and more compact than any Aerothan.

I carry Aerothan spares on my tubeless road bikes because when I’d had this same choice myself, I’d had the idea that Tubolitos stretched and didn’t return to shape for repacking and reuse, however I no longer think that’s true, and realize both brands lose their pretty packing form after inflation.

I also been running one bike full time tubed with Aerothan since they came out, and am very pleased with them in regular use, too.

totalnewbie

[QUOTE=tempocyclist;22456768]Have you also got a tubeless plug kit to seal a hole that the sealant alone won't handle? This one with in-built C02 controller is good:

i have never tried fixing a tubeless before (and my guess is that I won't get to practice until i really need it) that's why I was thinking bringing a tube is still a better choice (since at least I know how to do it)

totalnewbie

assuming both tubolito and aerothan lose their tightly packed forms once opened, do you think they still packed smaller than regular butyl tubes? (at their second and third and thereafter uses) if so, that could be the rationale for me to get one. I am not too concerned about the longevity if that is an issue since as soon as I get back home I am gonna pull the inner out and fix the tubeless the proper way.

GhostRider62

I started carrying a Conti Supersonic tube. Why? It is about 1/3 the volume of a regular tube and I discovered cleaning out some old stuff that I have them. It means the difference from having a saddle bag and putting it all into my rear pocket. I might check out these new plastic tubes.

cxwrench

You're going to carry a $38.00 tube as a spare? Seriously? That's just stupid.

ThermionicScott 

Those Conti Supersonic tubes sound a lot like the Schwalbe "XX Light" and "Extra Light" varieties I've been using. Very similar weights for the nominal sizes. I've had good luck with those so far.

Can't speak to the plastic tubes, but I ought to try them someday...

msu2001la

I have had two different conversations recently with other cyclists who both assumed no one carried spare tubes when riding on tubeless tires. In both cases, their desire to run tubeless was centered around this as a benefit. One person even compared them to run-flats on cars, where you'd still be able to ride it home.

I have definitely gotten fewer flats with tubeless, but I actually carry more stuff now than I did when I was running inner tubes. In addition to the same spare tube and CO2, I carry a second tire lever and a dynaplug kit. I also carry two CO2 cartridges where I used to carry one - as I worry that if the plug doesn't work, I'll need a second shot to inflate the tube.

indyfabz

Maybe if you are feather weight and can ride for dozens of miles on 60 psi in your rear 23c tire. I have had two punctures that would not seal above that pressure. I am 6' 2'' and about 208 at my fighting weight. I put tubes in both times.

OP: One thing you should know is that not all tubeless rim/tire combinations play nice when tubes are inserted. I was using one brand of tire (forget which one) and punctured my front tire. Sealant was dried out. (My fault.) I could not get the tire seated properly. There just was not enough room at the valve stem area. Caused a moderate wobble. Fortunately, it was only about 5 flat miles back to my car.

yaw

Where is the problem? You can pack two of these as spares, taking up the same space and weight as a single performance butyl tube. And spares don't stay spares forever. There are more things to consider than just the relative cost of a tube.

chaadster

Oh yeah, the TPU will always be smaller than comparable butyl. I didn’t mean to freak you out about the repacking thing, I was just thinking about how floppy and light my used Aerothan are, so what I did was go roll up my old 35c Aerothan and took some pics of frsh-out-the-box 28-30c Aerothan and 20-28c Specialized butyl (all 700c).



35c Aerothan (used) vs 28c Specialized regular butyl (new)



New 30c Aerothan vs used 35c Aerothan

Camilo

For my 700c 35mm tires I have always just carried one of my lightweight, skinny regular road bike tubes, maybe for 700cx25? I can't compare to the tubes pictured above, but they are reasonably small when devoid of any air and folded tightly and don't cost a lot. I also have used those tubes for years for the same size tires running tubed. I've never had a problem using such small tubes in large tires.

Sy Reene

For tubeless, before you get to the tube, you want a bead jack, tire boot, extra sealant, some plugs, a CO2 cartridge and a valve-head for that. Then you can worry about the room needed to fit the tube.

DaveSSS 

I don't use a seat bag. I have two CO2 cartridges, a tiny inflator head, a standard tube and a few other tiny items in a zip lock bag, that fits in a jersey pocket. An ultralight tube wouldn't be an advantage. I carry two fulcrum tire tools. There's something wrong if a bead jack is needed for a used tire. No extra sealant necessary if you plan to install a tube.

WhyFi

Is this what you carry?

GhostRider62

I used to carry a bead jack back about 5-6 years ago for some tires on some rims.

I just mounted some of the new GP5000S TR and they were an absolute b1tch to mount. I have been wondering how I would handle a real flat in the wild, so, I am going to drain out the sealant and dismount the tire to practice with just tire irons.

biker128pedal

What wheels. Enquiring minds want to know. Want to go tubeless when my regular GP5000 tire wear out.

RNAV

[QUOTE=totalnewbie;22457014]I've been riding road tubeless going on 8 years; haven't carried a spare tube in 5 years and have never been stranded in those 5 years. I have, however, had punctures that sealant alone wouldn't seal. Here's my advice:

Don't bother carrying a spare tube. Why? Because if you bring a spare tube you have to commit to being able to install said tube on the side of the road, which means you've got to bring a lot more crap with you (tire levers, potentially a bead jack, likely some latex gloves so you don't get sealant all over you, etc.). And even if you do bring all that stuff with you, nearly all tubeless tires are a challenging to dismount/mount in a shop scenario, and even more so on the side of the road. Most are impossible to dismount/mount by hand, and the vast majority are at best extremely difficult even with portable tools. All you will really achieve is unnecessarily weighing yourself down and pissing yourself off, even if you manage to be one of the few who can successfully install a tube into a tubeless tire on the side of the road. There are smarter options.

What I do: I run Stan's sealant, carry a CO2 cartridge w/ regulator, a tubeless plug kit, and a lightweight multitool. That's it (well, plus my phone and food) -- no bulging jersey pockets, no saddle bag loaded with tubes and tools. This setup has never left me stranded. The sealant will seal 90-95% of punctures before you can even pull over to stop. If it's still leaking, rotate the puncture to the bottom to allow the sealant to pool. If it doesn't stop leaking after about 15 seconds, I plug it. That fixes 98% of punctures. If it's a very large puncture, I'll use multiple plugs. That fixes 99% of punctures. If, after all that, I'm still leaking . . . I call it a day and gently ride home, where I'll use a tubeless tire patch kit to patch the puncture. These are the products I use based on experience with other products. I've not had particularly great experiences with the bacon-style tubeless plugs, nor have I had enjoyable experiences with dynaplug. The Stan's Dart has been the easiest plug to insert across the spectrum of small to large punctures. I run Stans sealant only because the Darts are supposedly designed to work with Stan's sealant . . . I haven't yet tried the Darts with other sealants.

One other thing I'm going to do is install Vittoria air liners. As I mentioned, my above process has never left me stranded, and I've had plenty of punctures. If, however, I do run into a 1% situation where I've got a massive gash (i.e. something so big that even a tube wouldn't fix), the air liner would let me get home. It's a 24g weight penalty for a lot of benefit, and recent rolling resistance tests show there is no measurable difference in rolling resistance between the same tire with or without an airliner.

Bottom line: get airliners, run sealant, carry a plug kit and some CO2. That's all you'll ever need.

rm -rf

My bag. I don't do tubeless. But this shows how small a Michelin Aircomp extra light butyl tube is.

I reroll it to a length that goes from front to back of my small PI saddle bag. It's wrapped in heavy 4 mil plastic to avoid scuffing the rolled edges. I've seen two cyclists get flats off their saddle bag spare tube, where it was worn thin from being in the saddle bag for a year or more. If it's been inflated, I first roll into a tight circle to expel all the air, close the valve, then refold to this shape.

PI bag (maybe 20 years old!) Dollar bill for scale. I can't find a new saddle bag this small, with this narrow shape. Everything fits quite easily in here.

Contents, from the top:

Continental levers, with the hooked end cut off! (hooks are useless anyway)
CO2 + inflator, both with sections of inner tube as covers.
L wrenches wrapped up
Cash for ride stops
The tube wrapped up. Inside the wrapper,I use "rubber bands" that are sections of an old tube around the spare tube. (the view is from the narrower side, but it's wide side is no bigger than the width of the red remote.)
Car remote

GhostRider62

I just ordered dynaplug micro pro model. Should I mount an old tubeless tire and puncture it to practice using the dynaplug? Or are they easy first time? Can it be done in the dark and in the rain? My usual flats are like that. LOL

sloppy12

No its easy. Yes you can without a issue do it in the dark and rain. Rain might actually make it just a tad easier to stick the plug in.