dglevy

I bought a pack of 4 Continental tubes on Amazon. I'm wondering... I thought Conti tubes were made in Germany? See attached pics. Do these look legit? They just came in a clear plastic bag, no box...

79pmooney

I just came across an old tube of mine. Continental, made in Taiwan. The days of making anything other than perhaps the finest line of tubulars in Europe are long gone. (But at least, Continental has now gone "continental". My Continental tube was made on an island.

Ben

AnkleWork

Every Conti tube I ever bought came with a yellow valve cap.

canklecat

Those fonts look identical to a couple of old CST tubes I have -- same use of serif and sans serif, italics, etc. But with the CST logo rather than Continental. And these tubes have shorter brass colored stems. Maybe Continental licenses another manufacturer to make some tubes.

I just opened a box for a Continental Race Light tube. Totally different fonts and logo. Made in Taiwan. Black cap on the valve stem.

I have several Continental tires. Country manufacturers range from Germany to Indonesia to Taiwan to China. Conti seems to still make their top shelf tires in Germany.

CliffordK

Ok, I bought a bunch of Conti tubes from Merlin 6 months ago. Black Butyl Rubber.

Cross 28, (25/35) boxed, "Made in China" printed on box and tubes. White lettering. Black cap. Stepped nut.

Race 28, (18/25) bagged, "Made in China" printed on tubes. White lettering. Black Cap. Stepped nut.

I thought I had a couple of Conti tubes of unknown age/providence with yellow lettering, and a bit more texture to the tubes. I'll see if I can find one.

jimc101

Apart from the cap (which is probably from the seller buying in bulk/OEM rather than boxed retail packaging), why do you think they are not the real thing?

Would go back and look at the Amazon description, as they will probably be described as loose, for the being made in, almost everything is made in CN/nearer the supply of rubber.

If you don't want them, send them back, and go to a LBS and buy retail boxed ones for more.

ChinookTx

I have some Race 28 that look just like that. Boxed, bought from the LBS, with black caps. They look legit to me!

Iride01 

Continental is headquartered in Germany. Doesn't mean they make their stuff in Germany.

dglevy

Thanks for the posts, y'all--very helpful!

Thanks for the info. Interesting that CST is using identical lettering. It may well be that Conti has contracted out some of the mfr to CST. Do the CSTs have removable valve cores, like the Contis? Just wondering.

Thanks for your post ! This is the most reassuring post. If yours were boxed and purchased at a LBS, they are probably authentic.

What's a 'stepped nut'? Is that the sort of nut that I showed in my photo? I looked at some pictures of 'stepped nut' online, and it looks like that would be a nut that has two or more different diameters to it (i.e. not just a simple cylinder, in this case). If that's what a stepped nut is, then my tubes have stepped nuts. Thanks for the info .

CliffordK and jimc101 both mentioned tubes that were in bags rather than boxes, I guess this is normal practice, that Conti sells in bulk to dealers rather than boxing them all first.

All in all, I feel a LOT more confident that these tubes are genuine. My main concern was that they were made in China, and bagged, not boxed. But, apparently, both of those are not a problem--Conti has contracted the mfr to multiple factories all over Asia and Conti sells them in bulk to dealers. And, finally, ChinookTx compared them to boxed tubes purchased at a LBS and found them identical.

So, thanks again to everyone who posted. I love this website!

fietsbob

Rubber trees don't grow well in the northern climates , they are tropical plants..

CliffordK

I think that little step to the nut is specific to Continental. My interpretation is that if you have a rim drilled for Schrader, you can turn the small diameter part of the nut towards the rim to help fill the oversized valve hole.

But, in general, it doesn't do much.

As far as tires, I think the tan sidewall cross-hatch tires (gators, gator hardshell, 4S, 4000, etc) tires are all made in Europe.

However, the black sidewall tires such as the Continental Sport tires are Asian imports.

I still have to find a Continental Tube with yellow writing, and a little rougher surface, but I'd guess those would be European made, but may well be discontinued.

I can understand your dismay, expecting a European manufactured product, and receiving something that may well be made in the same factory as Kenda, and every other brand tube.

I wonder what they sell in Germany.

fietsbob

Schwalbe has them too .... centers the stem in a schrader sized rim hole...

Iride01 

So what if it is made in the same factory? Even here in the USA there are factories that make products for other completely separate companies to sell under their own name. The factory doing so frequently makes the products to the individual specification of each different company. So they really can't be considered the same products just because they came from the same source. Quality is maintained or not maintained by the specifications made by the company that is contracting with the actual factory making the product.

ThermionicScott 

My favorite tubes are made in... Indonesia. I don't care where the factory is, or if the workers look like me. I'll happily pay for good tubes.

dedhed

I suspect most tubes come out of a barrel of oil now days

dglevy

Thanks for the additional info

I'm not actually dismayed about the factories being Asia, I was just concerned about counterfeiting. I bought some 'Eveready' button batteries on Amazon and it turned out they weren't fresh retail batteries and probably weren't Eveready either. (One of the many reasons I call the company Scamazon...)

I always wondered why some of those nuts are stepped and some aren't. Now I know why, thanks. (I had that situation with my commuter bike, didn't know I could just used a stepped nut, bought some small aluminum spacers to adapt schrader rims to presta tubes instead--they worked fine.)

davidad

I thought that the Conti tubes came with the removable Presta valve.

fietsbob

maybe if you specify your dealer order them.. thru regular distribution

Thus, not so prone to faux sources, as thru Amazon .. as you say..






...

canklecat

Nope, at least not the CST tubes I have. The core is not removable. At least it's not designed for a core removal tool. It might be possible to remove the core using pliers, or to file the threads flat to accommodate a core tool. I might try that on an old CST tube that's been patched too many times. (I tend to reuse tubes until they have about half a dozen patches.)

dglevy

I had at least one Conti tube before these bagged ones. I'm pretty sure I bought it at a LBS and it had a removable valve core just like these ones*. All you need to remove it is needle nose pliers to unscrew it; the thread are shaved off on the sides so it's easy to grip.

*I remember very clearly b/c I didn't know about removable cores at the time and thought I had gotten a flat when, in fact, the core had merely become slightly unscrewed--which I only figured out after removing the tube from the tire and putting it under water to find the 'puncture'...

canklecat

Yeah, I had a persistent leak in a new Schrader tube that turned out to be due to a loose valve core. Now I check 'em first before using. One of my mini-pumps includes a Presta valve core tool.

Supposedly screw-on air pump chucks can loosen valve cores, but so far I haven't had that problem.

rollalongnow

Indeed. Their site will tell you which products are made in Germany. Only their top products are still made in Germany. I think my tubes said Taiwan. I use “Top Contact IIs” for tires and they are made in Germany.

lexicooper914

Yes, I am a genius