New Tires and Tubes
 

Yep, it's almost time for new tires. Tires, being as important as they are, it's best to have replacements on hand before they're needed. Tubes,... well, flats happen and you need spares.

I see lots of presta valve tubes for sale but they all have very long stems. 42mm is the smallest I see on Amazon but I don't need them that long. I would guess I need about 25mm. Does anyone still make short stems?

Who makes a good quality, low priced tube? My last tube, a Specialized brand which I installed today, was priced at $3.00. It had a short stem.

Let's move on to tires. My Challenge Parigi-Roubaix is starting to show the miles. The Challenge sells on Amazon for $70 each (in black and tan). Is there anything like it out on the market, maybe even better than it? I ride on mostly clean asphalt (no gravel or dirt).

What size tire are you looking for?

Until recently, I always thought of tubes as commodities. That changed when I ordered Schwalbe tubes. They seem to be well made and the valve body is threaded and has a nut even for a schrader valve. They are more money than rest, but I think they will be better in the long run. I hope you can find the correct size presta valves because I agree that it has become more difficult finding the standard size presta valves. I don't like look of the long presta valves in a standard rim. And there is no nut on these long presta valves?

Tires have so many variables for choices depending upon the following:
- type of riding your doing
- speed that you maintain
- price you want to pay
- your personal preferences.

I use 700c X 25mm up front (Criterium) and 700c X 28mm in the rear (Parigi-Roubaix).

Type of Riding - clean, smooth asphalt roads
Speed - slower than I use to be :-)
Price - ride quality is more important, hence, the Challenge tires ($60-$70 each)
Preferences - light, lively, tubular-like ride quality with the convenience of a clincher.

I could just replace what I have with new.

Alternatively, there are similarly sized tires by Rene Herse -

Chinook Pass: 700C X 28 mm
Cayuse Pass: 700C X 26 mm

Anyone ever use these Rene Herse tires? How were they? Did you have the standard or ultralight casing?

I like the Paris_Roubaix as well, but I bought mine from bike24, shipping was 20.00 but the tires were half price and at 3.00 a tube for Vittoria a few tubes saved me the 20.00 vs buying local. Shipping time has been a week to 10 days so not too bad. Tubes do come in a 32mm but I don't see them as readily available as they used to be with box section rims being on the way out and aero rims being fairly common.

If you appreciate good tires, try some latex tubes too. I switched one road bike to Silca latex tubes a month ago. I already liked the Conti Grand Prix Classic skinwalls but they're even better with latex tubes. Really tames the chipseal and bad pavement. Maybe a little quicker rolling as well. My aching neck really appreciates it. Wish I hadn't waited so long to try 'em.

I believe Q-tubes has 700C tubes with 32mm presta valves. JensonUSA might have them, or check on Ebay.
northwestbicycle.com has them advertised

Bad Lag -

Velo Orange has butyl tubes with 32 mm Presta valves with removable cores. I just bought some.https://velo-orange.com/collections/...cts/tubes-700c

I have used the Rene Herse (previously Compass) Chinook Pass standard casings for 2.3 years and am now using their 32mm Stampede Pass for the past 1.5 years. The 28s were great and I never had a flat. I wanted to try the 32s so I moved the 28s to my wife's bike. I use the lightest Continental 25mm tubes for both. No flats in either, and we ride on canal towpaths. They are my favorite tires, (the tan sidewall version) and the only ones I have tried that came close to the early 1980s Clement hand-made cotton clinchers in 27x1".

The near absence of feedback leads me to suspect not very many have used these tires or, perhaps, the tale has already been told in this thread.


I was reading up on latex tubes last night. I remember pumping my tubulars before every ride using my Silca frame pump. That was bad but not intolerable. The rapid destruction of the latex with possible failure of the latex did "scare" me a bit. They aren't inexpensive, either. All told, I was put off. Are they still worth a try despite all that?

Conti Supersonic butyl rubber tubes are only 50 g each and are reasonably priced. Tubolitos are light but super-expensive ($40/tube).

Does anyone have experience with both the Challenge and the Rene Herse? Are there any awesome alternatives to these two?

I use these sizes that are the largest that fit for each application: 28mm Chinook Pass EL with fenders on the Miyata, 32mm Stampede Pass EL on the Marinoni. (FWIW, I also have a set of 650Bx38mm Loop Loop Pass EL for the Marinoni for that configuration.) My wife’s bike has 32mm EL on her Indy Fab. They’re all Compass versions, since we haven’t needed new tires since the name change, and have a few new ones stashed away. Actual width is equal to or slightly greater than specified width on 23mm wide rims after they’ve been ridden for a few hundred miles.

I always put a new tire on the front and move the old front to the rear. Then that rear tire lasts 3000-3500 miles. At our typical annual mileage these days, that means that we’re effectively buying one new tire, total, each year, so they don’t seem expensive either. We’ve been using them, or the Grand Bois predecessors, for about 18 years/~35,000 miles, so I must like ‘em! It does seem like the fatter ones last longer, too.

If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the 32mm Stampede Pass. It’s been a very long time, but these remind me of the Clement Campionato del Mondo training tubulars of long ago racing days.

I believe that Andy_K uses Challenge Parigi Roubaix tires on some of his bikes.

Just bought a Sunlite tube (700x25-30 with 32mm presta valve) on ebay for $7.39 total.

32mm seems to be the shortest stem available these days. I really dislike the look of long stems on my vintage rims and continue to use tubes that are decades old with multiple patches just because they have short stems. When I have installed long stem tubes out of necessity, I tell my self that no-one can see them when I'm riding.

I’ve run both, and like them both a lot. The issue with Challenge is that they can be really hard to mount, which doesn’t inspire confidence for fixing a flat on the road. An alternative I highly recommend are the smooth tread Panaracer Gravel Kings. I’ve run the 38mm and the 32mm versions, currently have the 32s on a bike I’m riding a lot. They’re often available for very good prices.

You dont need to replicate the different widths (25 and 28) with the new tires. If you want the best I would go with either continental gp5000s in 25 or vittoria Corsa g+ or 2.0s, also in 25.

I'm a big believer in Conti Gatorskins, either 25 or 28s. I have Panaracer Pasela 28s on my vintage bikes, love the look and ride, but they are a pain to mount when new. I just put a pair of Conti GP 5000s (25c) on my modern carbon bike, and maybe it's in my head, but they just seem faster and better rolling. I had a flat 4 miles out on the new GP 5000, which was due to a faulty stick on patch. I used a patched spare when I mounted the new tire. Bad idea. When I mounted them, the 5000s did seem awfully thin in the tread area compared to the Gators, which should make them lighter and faster, but durability? Still to come. I have vintage rims of thin height, as well as modern rims of 41 and 55mm. Rather than buy all kinds of tubes, I just go with the long ones, or keep patching the shorter valved ones. Long stems on shallow rims don't bother me as long as they hold air. The smooth side valve stems used to bother me until I replaced the pump head seal on my pump. All good now.

I'm another cheerleader for the Compass/Rene Herse tires (Chinook Pass and Stampede Pass - both standard and extra light). Switching from Gatorskins to these was a revelation. They are soooo smooth and inspire confidence in the corners. I have Panaracer Gravelkings on another bike. They are not bad and a lot cheaper but nowhere near the ride quality of Rene Herse. Another good tire is the Soma Supple Vitesse, which appears to be an exact copy of the Rene Herse, albeit with a slightly different tread pattern. Note that all the tires I've named are made by Panaracer.

On my 72 Italvega Super Speciale with sloping crown, there is tons of clearance vertically so being a bit heavier, I opted for the Bon Jon Pass 700C x 35 Extralight, all Compass for now. Rode 4 tires over the last 3 years, 3 Eroicas. The last pair have 1500+ miles on them and they still look very good, only 1 flat in the last 3 years. At first I used the Schwalbe tubes but I wasn't terribly impressed with them and the removable core actually caught me the night before my first Eroica while transferring a presta adapter. I've used some fairly generic tubes from Performance before they closed so still have a number of them. My LBS helped me mount them on my Mavic MA-3 rims with relative ease. They also put Stan's sealant into them and so far, so good. They ride very nicely at 45 front/52 rear and that was ratcheting down on pressure from originally 60/65 when I started with them. Glides over rough surfaces, corners well, low rolling resistance, still gives a very nice ride. Only downsides are taller vertically so pedal overlap, need to deflate or remove one brake pad to fit into Campagnolo Record side pulls, increased standover, plus higher gearing if that is an issue - on Eroica climbs, probably lose 1 tooth equivalent on the back. I recommend them highly but they aren't inexpensive as you know but sometimes you do get what you pay for. I've had no problems with the tan sidewalls other than needing to clean them periodically.

I also have a pair of the 700C x 32 Stampede Pass Extralight that I will also use with a later Super Speciale / Superlight frame with flat crown and less clearance. I'm at the point in my life where a few bucks here or there is not an issue if I get the qualities out of the tires or parts I want. For those on a budget, the standard casing is a good place to start. Hope that helps.

For skinny clincher tires (23-28mm) on nice pavement, my hands down favorite are Veloflex Master tires.

for clincher in the high end my vote is the conti GP5000 you can get them at good prices at probikekit.

I've been tempted to try latex tubes, but the stories I read convinced me otherwise. And I am not anywhere near being ready to try tubeless, either.

@Slightspeed, your impression matches that of others with the GP5000 tire. Some say it's faster than the GP4000. I have the GP4000S-II tire, and it's comfy and very fast. Some say the 5000 is more puncture prone which is easy to believe. I have had only one puncture with my 4000 tires. My bias in general is in favor of tires made by Panaracer which includes the René Herse tires, but I'm pretty impressed with these Continental tires.

I realize some tubes are better than others, but I really don't care. I just buy cheap tubes.

I switched one road bike to latex tubes a month ago. Totally worth it for my purposes. After 600 miles I'm wondering what took me so long.

Main improvement is ride quality on chipseal and rough pavement. Due to chronic pain from a C1-C2 injury, this is a big deal for me. With latex tubes in my 700x25 tires (Conti Grand Prix Classic skinwalls, pretty nice handmade tires for the money), my road bike is now more comfortable than my upright hybrid with 700x42 tires. The hybrid *was* my most comfortable bike, but compared with latex tubes the hybrid feels a bit too bouncy rather than compliant. Not bad. Just not as good.

It may roll a bit quicker but due to the heat I've been riding mostly zone 2/3, no intervals or FTP sessions. It *feels* a bit quicker but I'd need to check during a cool morning or nighttime ride. I'm mostly riding a steel road bike with way too much junk on it -- two 24 oz water bottles, seat bag with two spare tubes and multi-tool, video cameras front and rear -- so I'm not setting any personal speed records until I remove some of that stuff or finish reassembling my carbon fiber bikes (an ongoing pandemic project that I've basically neglected).

Installation was easy too. I bought Silca latex tubes, the kind with smooth plastic covered valve stems, and followed Silca's video demo. The tricky part is making sure the gummy, sticky latex tube doesn't get trapped between the tire bead and rim. The video recommends powdering the tube but the tubes I bought came powdered. Much easier to handle.

It also helps to use tires that are fairly easy to mount. I can mount the Conti GP Classics with my hands. I need a Kool Stop bead jack for the Conti Ultra Sport II, so those wouldn't be good candidates for latex tubes -- too easy to pinch the tubes.

Installing was no more difficult than most tubes, but I'm usually very cautious and deliberate so it usually takes me about 15 minutes anyway.

Only drawback I can think of is it's not easy to patch latex tubes on the road. So I'm still carrying spare butyl tubes, usually Conti's very thin, lightweight Race 28 Light, which worked really well for me on my carbon bike all last year -- no puncture flats with those tubes and the same tires.

Latex tubes are pricey at around $15 each, but worth it for me for the improved comfort.

I used to ride latex tubes back in the day but they were just a big PITA. I also used to ride 700x19 tires. Not anymore. I just put a pair of GP5000s on my bike, 28 in front and 25 in the rear as that is what would fit. So far they are great riding tires. I'd been riding GP4000 23s front and rear for the longest time. I feel more secure in corners with these new tires. I put Schwalbe tubes in them too, but I got one flat and swapped in a spare. When I patched the flat my next door neighbor was in the middle of fixing his own flat when it went BOOOOM. I asked him what size it was and it was a 700x32 tire and my tube was rated up to 32. Now I'm short a tube.

What I described above is, for me, the optimal tire arrangement. It took me a couple of decades to get there but I got there and I still use it - 25 front, 28 rear. This works for me as I am a pretty big guy (may even qualify for the lower end of the "Clydsdale" spectrum).

I had an idea while reading these posts. I could get both or, more accurately, get all three. I could buy latex for its ride quality; Tubolito for the weight reduction and Continental Supersonics for the benefits of butyl at the lightest possible weight.

I could do that, however, I suspect it would shake out like this. All three lightweight tubes would puncture too frequently for me. The daily inflation of the latex would prove to be a pain. I suspect I'd end up going back to normal weight butyl after having spent $200 just on tubes that don't work for me.

I could be totally wrong. If any of these noticeably improved the ride quality, I'd be happy. It might be the suppleness of the latex. It might be the lightness and improved "feel" of the ultralight Tubolitos. It might be that perfect blend of lightness and practicality of the Conti Supersonics.

Then, we have to talk about tires. :)