Whats your favorite inner tube ?
 

I need to get some more tubes for my road bike. What tubes do you like ?

Michelin AirStop. They have smooth valves that don't ruin my Silca pump.

I don't have a favorite tube. But after Bicycle Quarterly found thin latex tubes to be measurably faster than butyl, I want to find some... https://www.renehersecycles.com/bq-tire-test-results/

Keeping in mind the absurd cost, I'm also curious how those super-light plastic (?) Tubolitos perform.

For mountain biking and commuting I use the cheapest regular old 26" tubes. For now, I like the Schwalbe Extralight tubes when I'm more concerned about weight/performance. SV14, for example.

I have settled on continental race lite, for me great combo of weight and resistance. I have 1750 miles on 28mm conti GP5000 with these tubes and no flats (course I just jinxed my self)

I tried latex tubes with Vittoria corsa G great ride, but it was like wrestling snake to install and had a huge blow out, knocking tire off he rim....was going slow but as speed it would have hurt really really bad.

I tried some of the light butyl tubes from https://biketubebrand.com/roadbiketubes but did not have a lot of luck....but I blame that more on the Vittoria Corsa G tires.....amazing ride and handling, but I got 8 flats in 600 miles. so I ditched them for the Contis

Whatever (nib bin) costs the least on ebay with 32mm presta stems.

I still use the Bell inner tubes I can get a several of the big box discount stores near me. Slightly heavier than the Continental that I have in my front tire, but I find that it doesn't lose as much pressure between rides as the Continental does. Both butyl.

I really don't think brands make a difference though. If you are looking for butyl tubes, then get what you can get for the price you want to pay. Or for the convenience of how you shop for them.

For butyl, my go to is regular Continental Race. However, I mostly use latex, either Vittoria or Challenge. IME, the butyl Continental is easier to patch due to the way the seams are. Latex is really easy to patch as they are seamless. They do require more care when installing, and inflation before every ride, at least everyday if riding more than once a day.

I'm quite biased towards Schwalbe.

I've had the lowest number of problems with them, they've always worked fine with (Rema Tip-Top) patches and glue, hold up air pretty well, and can last for a decade easily. :)

The standard ones - no extra thick, or extra thin/light/latex etc.

Vittoria latex. I get them for $9 each.

I had a run of bad luck last summer, and needed to pick up some more. (Really bad time to need bike parts!). The cheapest I could find turned out to be Continental. Aside from the flats associated with wearing out two more tires (!) they've turned out to be decent. I especially like the minimal seams, making patching easier. I may buy more when I can't patch them any more, hopefully not before 2025!

Whichever is appropriately sized and holds air

what did I say about jinxing myself???? got my first flat with this combo today,,,,hit something that shoved the rear wheel sideways, then slow leak. Sealant fought a valiant battle but failed.

As far as what I'd like in tubes... A rolled cylinder with no welds, seams, sprues, etc. Except perhaps whatever is needed at one joint to make it a circle.

Yet, every tube I've found in the last 30 years or so has so may seams and bumps that it is a major hassle to patch. Shave or sand it down and patch?

Fortunately I haven't had to buy many bike parts since COVID hit.

I think I did get some 20/451 tubes on E-Bay.

However,

Look at the prices at the UK distributors. Ribble, Wiggle, Chain Reaction, Merlin.

I'm seeing LifeLine tubes for about $2.99 to $3.49 depending on the size. Wiggle used to give a 25% bulk discount on tubes if one bought more than 10, but I don't see that now.

Pay attention to the shipping minimums. So, if you can get some tubes, cassettes, tires, chains, etc... then you get free shipping. Pad your order with a few tubes.

They also have had good deals on Continental tubes in the past.

Unfortunately Shimano and SRAM have tried to make a mess out of the UK distribution. But, I suppose that is OK if those brands don't want to sell to me.

As a fellow long-time bike business guy, that's what I get, too. Almost every bike store everywhere buys the cheapest available tubes in bulk, with vanishingly low failure rates for their mechanics doing in-store tube replacements.

I'm not sure if they have bulk packaged tubes hidden away somewhere. But, many aren't selling the boxed tubes behind the register for the "cheapest possible".

A couple of years ago I was paying $2 for tubes from Wiggle. $5 for tubes from the local department store, and $8 for tubes from the local bike shop. They all rode the same.

But, I agree, there isn't enough difference between brands to make a big fuss, unless something special is needed.

The rubber kind...

On the serious note I am good with Conti or Schwalbe but I have used Specialized no problems and QBP tubes (which were Kenda I believe) so long as they work and aren't just cheap crap I am good. Good tires and decent tubes and proper inflation and I worry less about flats.

I found some Continental Race 700 x 25-32 with 42mm presta valve on Amazon. These are butyl, I may get these. I would like to find a little shorter presta valve like 32mm but don't see them anywhere.

Yes, the 32mm seem to be a dying breed. I just found some larger tubes on Amazon for my winter bike. They're Sunlite and I haven't needed them yet so can't give a review, but I see they have 28-35 available in 32mm. Is that close enough or do you need 25?:

Sunlite 700 x whatever presta 32mm

The last batch of Continental Race 700c for 25 tubes I purchased from Chain Reaction had some quality issues with valve cores and wall thickness uniformity.
I had a couple explode while testing at low pressure which never happened over the past 15 yrs.

Next purchase will be non Conti !

none of them.

Tubeless.

I try to stuff in a conti or schwa that's on the larger size for the purpose. Otherwise, it's whatever I can find in the time of need.

Thanks for the info. I am replacing my 700x25's with 28's, the 28-35 will do and I get the 32MM presta valve. Good price too.
I can't find it on the Amazon listing but I assume they are butyl rubber ?

I dunno about a favorite but ideally for me: lightweight, long enough valve stem for my rims, removable core (for sealant), threaded valve to fit my thread-on pump chuck.

Yup, butyl.

I second that; I generally use the 52 mm version for my 25 mm deep alloy wheels.

But Michelin AirStop does not seem to be available with a 60 mm long Presta valve (for 40 mm deep wheels).

Does anyone have experience with Pirelli RoadTube?

Pirelli RoadTUBE Presta Valve Tube | Competitive Cyclist