Mattyb13

Looking for opinions on and, experiences with Tubolito tubes? Covid boredom has me looking for some budget friendly upgrades that I could actually feel in the performance of my bike. I see these tubes at my LBS, and I have done a bunch of research. Im intrigued but Opinions are all over. I ride 100% road. No gravel. Roughly 125 miles a week. 26mm S-Works Turbo tires with Zipp tubes currently. Im not unhappy with my setup at all. Works great. Just curious if the Tubolito product will be a fun upgrade. Thanks.

colnago62

Are they latex? If they are not latex, they probably won’t make a dramatic difference good or bad.

Mattyb13

Nope, not latex. Ultra light thermoplastic. https://www.tubolito.com/en/

woodcraft

I stopped to help with a flat tire a couple of days ago- it turned out to be a friend fixing his second flat.

That tube also punctured, so he had to borrow a tube from his riding buddy- which was a Turbolito.

He carries it as a spare because it rolls up so small and is also light.

The orange valve stem looks kind of cool, & the whole business is a bit like a condom.

Iride01 

If you have data from previous rides, then buy it and after a dozen or so of the same rides you should be able to compare and decide if they are for you or not.

If it's significant then let us know. We'll appreciate the work you did for testing them out with some amount of objectivity if it's supported by data.

Be sure to use the same tires for before and after.

rubiksoval

Better than a $1 a gram!

Unless you pinch it putting it in...

AlmostTrick

I've used them for almost two years on my road bike. (maybe 3-4000 miles) Compass/Rene Herse 28mm tires. No flats.

Early on I had a valve blow out while inflating. Probably caused by flexing the pump head too much while clamping on or removing. Tublito did replace the tube for free. The plastic valve stem is the only weak spot I can see. Since then I've been more careful and have had zero problems.

I can't tell if they improve the ride comfort over standard tubes... my supple $$$ tires rode great with them too!

Unlike latex they actually hold steady pressure for days, which I really appreciate.

I do like that they are much lighter and the spare much smaller. (even compared to latex) Also that they are trick. Even the orange stem works for me. I will continue to use, but only on certain bikes.

Sy Reene

FWIW, Tubolito-ish alternatives seem to include the newish Schwalbe Aerothan, and the Revoloop tubes.

tomato coupe

They don’t seem to be very “budget friendly”.

Daerkon

I decided to run tubolito tubes this summer as I like to try out new products, particularly if there is a materials science aspect behind them. I was originally hunting for Revoloops, but found those hard to get, and Tubolito seems to now be more widely available. Prior to this I was running Panaracer Rair tubes, which are already very light, and marketed as a latex-butyl composition. I found the Panaracer tubes to be convenient in that they pack very small, and have a decent lifespan. I put in around 150 +/- miles per week, and usually get a couple of flats a month. With the Tubolito's I did not find that they flat any more than the Panaracer tubes. In regards to dealing with the flats, I actually would carry a spare Panaracer tube (because I was not yet comfortable with the reliability of the Tubolito's). What I found interesting is that the Tubolito's are actually simple and effective to patch with the Tubo Flix kit. I was never happy with patching butyl tubes so would just toss those and replace. One of my Tubolito's has now got 3 patches on it, and is still working great. This is an important point for me as they are almost 3 times as expensive as a butyl tube, and this ability to effectively and easily patch changes the value perspective.

With regards to weight and ride quality, yes they are lighter, I don't think I can tell any difference personally, and also can't definitively say that there is an improvement in ride quality. However, they are cool, effective, and for my type of riding and road conditions work well.

Ogsarg

No experience with these but in my work I deal with lots of special purpose plastics, elastomers, etc. so wanted to look into the material these are made of. I frequently hear claims of magical properties of this or that plastic and it's usually total BS. In this case, there may be a real benefit to using this material.

Looks to be a very good from an elastomeric standpoint and the addition of other materials can increase the strength considerably. Like most materials in this category there are many formulations with different fillers for different purposes and you don't know which one is used in the product but the base material in itself looks to have some properties that would be beneficial as a tube.

I might give these a try but I'm planning to go tubeless when my tires need replacement.

Material info here.....
Thermoplastic Polyurethane

Rides4Beer

I've read about a lot of people having issues with them, doesn't seem worth the trouble to me to save a few grams.

They don't improve rolling resistance, which is what would be noticeable, for that you want latex tubes. Yes, you have to pump them up everyday, but that's really not that hard, just becomes part of the pre-ride routine. I have over 10,000 miles on a set of Silca latex tubes with zero issues (they're made by Vittoria).