Light weight inner tube - which to choose?

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Hi again - thanks for peoples continued help with making decisions. It is paying off nicely for me :-)

I am keen to get some light weight inner tubes - the following get good reviews http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental...m_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360325738

but on the blurb it says they are 100g ! - my decathlon tubes are about the same - does it mean per pair? :wacko:

I have shimano 501 rims so presume a long stem is not needed

Any other recommendations would be appreciated also. Cheers, Neil
 

screenman

Legendary Member
Have you thought about going Latex, or tubeless?
 
OP
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Lien Sdrawde

Lien Sdrawde

Über Member
I use Conti Supersonic inner tubes: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-supersonic-road-inner-tube/

A claimed 45 grams / tube and they fold up very small to fit in my very small saddle bag. They are butyl tubes so will hold the air in them better than latex tubes and are similar in weight. I do appreciate that butyl and latex will have different ride characteristics though.

Hi. Can you check the weight of yours as the blurb says that they weigh 100g. :confused:
 

mattobrien

Guru
Location
Sunny Suffolk
Hi. Can you check the weight of yours as the blurb says that they weigh 100g. :confused:
I have put an inner tube on the kitchen scales and it was coming in at c. 50 grams. Sorry I can't be more accurate, but the increments are 20 grams on the scales.

I have got these inners on my bike, so have managed to shed 100 grams of rotating mass (from the combined two tubes v.s standard tubes) for not very much money. They are paired with Michelin Pro 4 Comps, which weigh in at c. 180 grams, so a little lighter than most tyres too. The Pro 4 Comp Ltd are a claimed 160 grams, but I was happy to spend 20 grams on at least a little puncture protection. So with those tyres another 40 grams saved (vs. already pretty light tyres).

The other benefit of the Conti tubes is that they are tiny, approx. half the size of a standard tube, so I can fit one in my saddle bag, which is also tiny. If I put a standard tube in my saddle bag I wouldn't be able to fit in much else that I needed, such as tool, CO2 canisters, regulator, tyre levers, patches, tyre boot, chain link, spare rear light, latex gloves...
 
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OP
Lien Sdrawde

Lien Sdrawde

Über Member
I have put an inner tube on the kitchen scales and it was coming in at c. 50 grams. Sorry I can't be more accurate, but the increments are 20 grams on the scales.

I have got these inners on my bike, so have managed to shed 100 grams of rotating mass (from the combined two tubes v.s standard tubes) for not very much money. They are paired with Michelin Pro 4 Comps, which weigh in at c. 180 grams, so a little lighter than most tyres too. The Pro 4 Comp Ltd are a claimed 160 grams, but I was happy to spend 20 grams on at least a little puncture protection. So with those tyres another 40 grams saved (vs. already pretty light tyres).

The other benefit of the Conti tubes is that they are tiny, approx. half the size of a standard tube, so I can fit one in my saddle bag, which is also tiny. If I put a standard tube in my saddle bag I wouldn't be able to fit in much else that I needed, such as tool, CO2 canisters, regulator, tyre levers, patches, tyre boot, chain link, spare rear light, latex gloves...

Great stuff. Many thanks for taking the time to do that. 4x Conti tubes on order. Cheers, Neil
 

e-rider

crappy member
Location
South West
There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.

I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!
 
There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.

I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!

My club are all on supersonics, pretty much - no major issues to report. What mattobrien said earlier is correct - the tubes are lighter because they are physically smaller, which means the butyl is stretching more to achieve the same volume. Whether that makes them more likely to split is a possibility, I suppose.
 

Rob3rt

Man or Moose!
Location
Manchester
There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.

I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!

Never split one, had one develop a slow puncture near the valve, but nothing exciting to report. Decent lightweight inner tubes IMO. Would be worth considering some Latex inners though.

On a vfm basis You can't beat the PlanetX own brand lightweight tubes. They won't be lighter than latex but are substantially lighter than some of the so called lightweight Michelin tubes I have been sold for 3x the price of the Planet X ones by a couple of LBS's

How much do they weigh? PX don't say!
 
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