That was me. It was however on the steep section of the Angliru but I'd already had 4 uneventful days including the Lagos de Covadonga and the Alto del Gamoniteiro. Also no issues in the UK in 18 months. Summary, the Angliru is an extreme test but high temp blow outs can happen.
TPU inner tubes- any experience?
- Thread starter Pinno718
- Start date
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Got ya, thanks for clarifying. Heading over to Italy later this year, not sure whether to go for the TPU's in the tyres, or whether to just take them as spares, and stick with the butyl ones that are in there.
We won't have time to do anything too involved, as it's a family holiday, so I'll probably go TPU - want to see how the Ride now ones fair - plus I don't think there will be any crazy descents.....
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Personal choice. I'm happy to use them in the UK but for European trips I am packing butyl from here on in, mostly because my objectives on those trips are the high mountains. Zoncolan is the headline act this year.
Hacienda71
Mancunian in self imposed exile in leafy Cheshire
- Location
- Wilmslow, Cheshire
I just rode the C2C from Whitehaven to Tynemouth at the weekend. Had TPU tubes in and two spares and a tpu patch kit at the start. I ended up with begged and borrowed butyl in both wheels by the time I got to Tynemouth. I had a front puncture going down a 25% gradient with a t junction at the end in the Pennines. It happened right at the bottom of the hill and if I had been going faster it would have been a really issue along with other punctures. Definitely not for me in future on a rim braked bike when riding in the hills. Might be anecdotal, but not something I am willing to risk. They might be ok on discs, but I am going to stick to butyl for the moment
Sorry to hear of your experience - what make of TPU is probably key here, and also what tyre width?
What kind of psi are you running - from a FB page comments, it tended to be those who ran them at around the 100psi mark who had numerous issues.
The Schwalbe ones I have fitted say they are extremely heat resistant and suitable for Rim brakes.
Allegedly the other ones I have fitted (Pirelli) are the same, although those are on a disc brake bike anyway.
I've covered just under 1400km so far between the two bikes with no issues so far.
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fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
Never blown a butyl tube and that includes long descents off road with a fully loaded CX bike with the brakes on full. Nor have I done it on the road bikes. These fancy tubes are good for competition but not regular riding. I used to run my best race bike on latex.
I've never blown a tube either, and I've ridden butyl, latex and now tpu.
I'm not convinced the TPU tubes are for competition, most in competition will be tubeless anyway won't they?
Mine are just used for regular riding.
*Disclaimer, my gf chose her gravel bike with tubeless, but I don't run any myself.
The benefits I have seen include:
- Lighter (For sure)
- More fairy resistant (Allegedly and I've not experienced anything to disprove this, though I appreciate it is wholly subjective)
- Smaller footprint (yep)
- Easier to recycle (likely - see below)
- Lower rolling resistance than butyl (believe that is proven) but maybe not quite as low as latex.
My two best bikes also used to run latex, but being my two best bikes, it meant they didn't get ridden 'that' regularly, and so were frequently completely flat, which damaged the tyre sidewalls - with these TPU tubes, I can pump them up before putting them away for the winter, and likely just need to top them up once before they come out again - I'll check this theory this coming winter, and measure what pressure they have after 3 months - the Pirellis are outstanding, be interesting to see how they compare with the Schwalbe, and if I have some Ridenows in by then, it can be a 3 way comparison.
If the Ridenow experiment is successful, I can see my moving every tubed bike in the household (within reason - kids bikes are probably exempt) to TPU tubes, even my gravel bike. I still have a reasonable stock of butyl ones, but my bro still uses them, so they would not go to waste.
EDIT to add recyclability thing:
- TPU Recycling:
TPU is a thermoplastic, meaning it can be melted down and reformed into new products. This makes it relatively straightforward to recycle TPU tubes and use the material for various applications.
- Butyl Recycling:
Butyl tubes, while recyclable, are often more challenging to recycle effectively. Some manufacturers do recycle butyl tubes into new tubes and other products, but a significant portion still ends up in landfills.
- Environmental Impact:
TPU's recyclability and the potential for repurposing contribute to a smaller environmental footprint compared to butyl tubes, which are more likely to end up in landfills.
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My experience of Ridenows stored over the winter is that they maintain a decent amount of pressure but not full.
Maybe down from 100psi to 50 psi over 4 months.
That's pretty much what I am hoping for, 50 is plenty to stop the tyre wall being flattened. Do you whack them up to 100psi so they have more room to lose pressure if that makes sense, or do you run at 100psi normally?
The Pirellis hold air as if their life depends on it, so will be interesting to see how all 3 brands fair - I'm guessing all good bikes will be put away for the winter around the end of September, so I'll mark it in my calendar when I do, together with the pressures in each (I have a digital gauge thing) and then can check on a monthly basis, and then come and bore you all with the figures, and if you're lucky, perhaps even a graph or two! 🤓
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25mm tyres and a heavy rider (pushing 80kgs) so 100psi is normal for me.
