Yes I stuck some on and inflated the tube which kept inflated for some time. However inflating TPU not inside a tyre distorts their shape and they no longer will fit in a tyre. P Blakney off BR says he has successfully repaired a tube and it’s stayed repaire.
Any long term TPU tube users on here
- Thread starter AlanW
- Start date
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VinSumRox
Über Member
- Location
- Scottish Borders
I bought a tubolito repair kit which is basically a suitable glue alcohol wipes ans some patches of the same tpu material as the tube. I have successfully patched Tubolito several times and the patches seem pretty robust.
I do feel they are more resistant to punctures and will sometimes have a very tiny hole which is hard to spot and makes it seem like that are permeable!
I like the tiny size of them to carry as spares.
I wasn't impressed with the cheap Ridenow ones as they are very thin and easily damaged when fitting them.
I do feel they are more resistant to punctures and will sometimes have a very tiny hole which is hard to spot and makes it seem like that are permeable!
I like the tiny size of them to carry as spares.
I wasn't impressed with the cheap Ridenow ones as they are very thin and easily damaged when fitting them.
accountdeleted
Active Member
Thanks @Webbo2, very useful feedback. I recognise P Blakney from BR, I wonder if he's migrated to here, too (I'm a recent BR refugee).
I am aware of permanent distortion of TPU tube when inflated on its own without being in situ (low yield point?). Just wanted to know if electrical tape repair hack is worth a try at a pinch but I'll get a purpose repair kit just in case.
I still have quite a few butyl tubes and loads of Rema patches and vulcanising glue so I'm not a full TPU convert yet.
So, given the TOU yield point, is it wise to get a TPU tube that's one size bigger than intended? For example, for a 28c tire get a TPU tube that's sized for 30-35c instead of a TPU sized for 23-28c (or even up to 30c)? Just curious.
I am aware of permanent distortion of TPU tube when inflated on its own without being in situ (low yield point?). Just wanted to know if electrical tape repair hack is worth a try at a pinch but I'll get a purpose repair kit just in case.
I still have quite a few butyl tubes and loads of Rema patches and vulcanising glue so I'm not a full TPU convert yet.
So, given the TOU yield point, is it wise to get a TPU tube that's one size bigger than intended? For example, for a 28c tire get a TPU tube that's sized for 30-35c instead of a TPU sized for 23-28c (or even up to 30c)? Just curious.
PedallingNowhereSlowly
Über Member
Now running two bikes on TPU tubes.
Still no problems.
Still no problems.
accountdeleted
Active Member
Bump.
Experience on repairing TPU tube. Had a thorn puncture back in the beginning of November. A little 2mm nick on the TPU tube. Sealed it with an electrical tape (two layers, crossing over).
Stayed air tight for ~350miles but lost all air overnight the other day. Inspected the tube and the electrical tape has completely crusted up and crumbled into pieces. ELECTRICAL TAPE REPAIR DOESN'T LAST.
Bought online a Tera-Aid / Tenacious Tape type polyurethane elastomer tape to cover it. Lets see how long this lasts.
Also bought Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue that needs moisture to activate) in anticipation of patching up with cut out TPU from old tube. But I figured the glue hardens too much when cured that I'm not convinced it'll work on a TPU tube.
TPU repair hack experiment continues (or I might just buy Pirelli repair kit...)
Experience on repairing TPU tube. Had a thorn puncture back in the beginning of November. A little 2mm nick on the TPU tube. Sealed it with an electrical tape (two layers, crossing over).
Stayed air tight for ~350miles but lost all air overnight the other day. Inspected the tube and the electrical tape has completely crusted up and crumbled into pieces. ELECTRICAL TAPE REPAIR DOESN'T LAST.
Bought online a Tera-Aid / Tenacious Tape type polyurethane elastomer tape to cover it. Lets see how long this lasts.
Also bought Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue that needs moisture to activate) in anticipation of patching up with cut out TPU from old tube. But I figured the glue hardens too much when cured that I'm not convinced it'll work on a TPU tube.
TPU repair hack experiment continues (or I might just buy Pirelli repair kit...)
De Sisti
Guru
I've bought some from Ali Express. The only problem I had was when I tried to pump them up to the usual high pressure I used for my tryes (which was the maximum a manufacturer would recommend. This gives me peace-of-mind allowing for fewer pinch punctures). I did experience a couple of split tpu tubes, so have lowered them to 90psi. So far, and over 1500 miles at the lower pressure, no issues at all.
matticus
Guru
Interesting in Cyclist this month: some industry ex-spurt saying that TPU should replace road-tubeless.
(I forget the exact reasons, sorry!)
I think he said tubeless is perfect at very low pressures, and clinchers+butyl probably perfect for tarmac training tyres,
but for tarmac racing (and similar) TPU will one day Rule The World. He might also be a tubular fan (for racing), but I'm probably mixing up my opinion-pieces now ...
(I forget the exact reasons, sorry!)
I think he said tubeless is perfect at very low pressures, and clinchers+butyl probably perfect for tarmac training tyres,
but for tarmac racing (and similar) TPU will one day Rule The World. He might also be a tubular fan (for racing), but I'm probably mixing up my opinion-pieces now ...
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Difficulty in finding a puncture and patching bother me. Just feels like more plastic waste in waiting.
accountdeleted
Active Member
Right - Tera-Aid type tape didn't work either. Held air nicely for couple of days and after three days of rest, completely flat. Tested the tube in water, no air leak, but keeps going flat after couple of days. The repair tape got crusty like electrical tape. Hmm?
I had this TPU tube for ~2,600miles and compared to a brand new TPU tube (same brand), it feels thinner and fragile. Does TPU degrade over time?! Does it become porous and lose air over time when inflated?! The rear tube is holding up nicely (no puncture on that one, yet).
Because I'm not racing, it's not essential for me to have the benefits of weight saving and less rolling resistance. All in all, a tube that's not repairable is a waste (and I highly doubt TPU tube is accepted in household recycling bin or supermarket soft-plastic collection). Sooo... I think I'll be going back to the butyl inner tube. Worthwhile to feed my curiosity on TPU though.
100% agree with your opinion.
accountdeleted
Active Member
Well, what did I mention..."the rear tube is holding nicely." Got a flat on my way home! 
Little pesky thorn.
Attempted at Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue that needs water/moisture to activate) + patch from an old TPU tube (same brand). Seemed to hold air overnight so lets see how long this lasts...
If Gorrila glue doesn't do it, I shall be returning to butyl.
Little pesky thorn.Attempted at Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue that needs water/moisture to activate) + patch from an old TPU tube (same brand). Seemed to hold air overnight so lets see how long this lasts...
If Gorrila glue doesn't do it, I shall be returning to butyl.
OP
OP
AlanW
Legendary Member
- Location
- Not to sure?
I dabbled with tubeless tyre donkeys years ago and being honest I thought they were great. However, I had a fairly major blowout that saw me stranded miles from home that resulted in having to be picked up. So that was my relationship with tubeless well and truly over!
So I reverted back to my first love, which was Latex tubes and then had a look and experimented with TPU tubes. Hence the start of this thread a couple of years ago. My initial thoughts on TPU tubes were quite positive to be fair, but a number of things happened and pretty soon I was back to Latex tubes as my "go to" tube.
However, fast forward those couple of years and I have since reverted back to all tubeless on my bikes and certainly have no intentions of ever reverting back to tubes, be it TPU, Latex or butyl!
To me, the benefits of tubeless far outweigh the faff, albeit the minor faff in getting them set up.
I've also moved to 30mm tyres on my winter bike, so much lower pressures, typically around 45psi front and 50 psi rear and zero loss in performance but a much more comfortable ride....full stop!
But its fair to add that the tubeless technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the years and with puncture repair tools like the Dynaplug tool, making road side repairs so much easier and quicker.
Sealant to has also evolved with the likes of Silca v2 claiming to seal holes up to 7mm!!! It also lasts a longer than sealants of old used to, typically the life span of the tyre.
Of course, if like me you like to tinker and fiddle about, then I remove the tyres every three of four months, inspect, clean old sealant out, refit and apply the sealant you removed. On my summer bikes, before I put them away for the winter, both tyres off, old sealant removed, tyres cleaned and refitted but with no sealant added. That will be added in April/May time in time for the sun to shine.
Presta valves that have been around since the late 19th century are not really suitable for tubeless application as they typically suffer from blocking up with congealed sealant. Worse still if you utilise valve extenders. After all, the sealant just thinks its air loss so it will do its very best to seal it.
Fillmore valves cure that problem yet are still compatible with all Presta type pumps, so another advance in technology.
The biggest downside is if you just happen to try and marry a slightly undersized tubeless tyre to a slightly oversized wheel, the Pirelli and Hunt combination immediately spring to mind!
For sure that is a truly evil combination and will certainly test your patience. But on the plus side, once you eventually get the tyres on, you are assured of a certain no leak seal, so every cloud I guess........
From my own personal experience, but the tubeless tyres also seem to last a lot longer, maybe due to the lower pressures, I really don't know?
So I reverted back to my first love, which was Latex tubes and then had a look and experimented with TPU tubes. Hence the start of this thread a couple of years ago. My initial thoughts on TPU tubes were quite positive to be fair, but a number of things happened and pretty soon I was back to Latex tubes as my "go to" tube.
However, fast forward those couple of years and I have since reverted back to all tubeless on my bikes and certainly have no intentions of ever reverting back to tubes, be it TPU, Latex or butyl!
To me, the benefits of tubeless far outweigh the faff, albeit the minor faff in getting them set up.
I've also moved to 30mm tyres on my winter bike, so much lower pressures, typically around 45psi front and 50 psi rear and zero loss in performance but a much more comfortable ride....full stop!
But its fair to add that the tubeless technology has come on in leaps and bounds over the years and with puncture repair tools like the Dynaplug tool, making road side repairs so much easier and quicker.
Sealant to has also evolved with the likes of Silca v2 claiming to seal holes up to 7mm!!! It also lasts a longer than sealants of old used to, typically the life span of the tyre.
Of course, if like me you like to tinker and fiddle about, then I remove the tyres every three of four months, inspect, clean old sealant out, refit and apply the sealant you removed. On my summer bikes, before I put them away for the winter, both tyres off, old sealant removed, tyres cleaned and refitted but with no sealant added. That will be added in April/May time in time for the sun to shine.
Presta valves that have been around since the late 19th century are not really suitable for tubeless application as they typically suffer from blocking up with congealed sealant. Worse still if you utilise valve extenders. After all, the sealant just thinks its air loss so it will do its very best to seal it.
Fillmore valves cure that problem yet are still compatible with all Presta type pumps, so another advance in technology.
The biggest downside is if you just happen to try and marry a slightly undersized tubeless tyre to a slightly oversized wheel, the Pirelli and Hunt combination immediately spring to mind!
For sure that is a truly evil combination and will certainly test your patience. But on the plus side, once you eventually get the tyres on, you are assured of a certain no leak seal, so every cloud I guess........
From my own personal experience, but the tubeless tyres also seem to last a lot longer, maybe due to the lower pressures, I really don't know?
froze
Veteran
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
I had 3 or 4 Tubilito tubes split at the seam, the bike shop kept giving me new ones but eventually they just refunded my money and stopped selling them. I then decided to try RideNow from AliExpress and never had any problems with them. I only use them on my touring bike and carry two spares. For my regular/main road bike I use latex tubes because I use cotton belted tires which combined give the bike a very nice ride. All my other bikes use ultralight butyl tubes because they're not used regularly.
accountdeleted
Active Member
Well, what did I mention..."the rear tube is holding nicely." Got a flat on my way home!
Attempted at Gorilla glue (polyurethane glue that needs water/moisture to activate) + patch from an old TPU tube (same brand). Seemed to hold air overnight so lets see how long this lasts...
If Gorrila glue doesn't do it, I shall be returning to butyl.
Update - the air is holding with Gorrila glue (polyurethane glue - water activation version) after 290miles so I'm seeing this as a good repair hack.
One observation is that this repair was done on a brand new TPU tube (which happened to have a pin prick out of the package!). I attempted another repair on a tube that's had ~2,600miles (7-8months over spring & summer); the same repair hack didn't work on this despite attempting three times (pumped the tube to 5psi on its own but deflates completely overnight).
I'm somewhat wondering that TPU tubes wear out with use over time and the repairability reduces with it... does TPU (plastic) tube perish over time noticeably compared to bytul (rubber) tube?!
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Hack repair to a high pressure tube. What could possibly go wrong ?
No thanks.
No thanks.
