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Old 03-28-24, 02:41 PM
  #17  
mihlbach
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I have experience with Schwalbe, Pirelli and RideNow TPU varieties in MTB, gravel, and road sizes. In 4 years, I haven't had any notable problems with any brand of TPU tubes. I am mostly riding tubeless these days, but still have tubes in a few bikes. I go back and forth between tubeless and TPU, but will never go back to butyl.

TPU tubes are very thin, so careful installation is a must, but once installed they are better than butyl in every way. They are lighter, hold pressure longer, roll better, and, as far as I can tell, have similar puncture resistance. When punctured, the TPU tubes seem not to deflate as rapidly as butyl and on occasion I have gotten a puncture and not even noticed it until after I got home and noticed the tire was a bit low.

I have had good luck patching TPU tubes with the Tubolito patch kit and the Ridenow glueless patches. Swabbing with alcohol before applying the patch is key.

The cheap Ride Now tubes are just as good as the premium branded ones IMO. I'm not a huge fan of AliExpress, so I order mine in bulk from Panda Podium.
https://www.pandapodium.cc/product-c...s-tubes/tubes/

Last edited by mihlbach; 03-29-24 at 07:35 AM.
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