cyccommute 

I have tried the RideNow tubes in the last 6 months and haven’t been impressed. I’ve punctured 2 tubes after installing them in an older tire that was using a butyl tube without issues. Upon very close inspection of the tire, I found extremely short (and difficult to find) burrs in the tire that punctured the much thinner polyurethane. I repaired both with stick on patches provided by RideNow and neither would hold air for more than about an hour. I removed the patches and reinstalled them thinking that I had done something wrong but the reapplied patch didn’t hold either. I flatted 4 times in rapid succession with these tubes. A change in tire helped although the old tire was not worn out.

I did get one of the Tubolito patch kits which worked better but are far more involved than butyl tube patches. They have to cure under clamping for at least 30 minutes which means that they are not suitable for on-road repair. I’ve also flatted a few times since then on extremely small punctures. I’m not sure how these are going to work when goathead season really gets going.

One other caveat I learned the hard way: get tubes that closely match the size of your tire. I put a 23-28mm TPU tube in a 35mm tire and the tube flatted on the interior edge because the tube stretched too far. TPU is not stretchy at all. It will not expand to fill the space if you use a too small tube on a too wide tire.

Fredo76

To clarify, by "seem to work well", I meant that I have used the Park patches successfully, twice. I've ridden on each several times, and they seem as effective as butyl patches on butyl tubes, but I've only used them for a few months.

santa fe 2926 

Saw Rene Herse is going to have the TPU tubes. Looks like they are made by E Dubie. Here’s my take on TPU. After several riding buddies got into them, I ordered some inexpensive ones off Amazon, the lime green ones. Two blew out in less than 25 miles at the joining seam. Then I ordered some Areothans, from bikeinn with patch kit. They went 35 or so miles between flats. The patches seem to work, though. Then I tried some Nano’s from Australia. Put some of the E. Dubie sealant in them. Again, 35 miles and both flatted. The front one got me home with two stops to pump up. The rear flatted hard and quick on whatever. After a couple of weeks the front one gave up, and went flat. Here in Oklahoma, (as everywhere else), glass, fine wire from car tires, and in the fall goat heads, all cause the flats. Same tires, bikes, and routes as butyl, but constant flats on the TPU’s. My riding partners not having the same problems. I’m careful on mounting, just 5-8 psi, and use only a Kool Stop tire jack for beading. I have 2 of the E. Dubie 25-35 tubes, I have yet to try them. Back to Butyl’s, one flat in last 250 miles. Go figure. One thought on patching the ‘clear’ ones. At home when you find the hole, put a small circle around it with a ball point pen. Then flip the tube over, flattened, and make a larger circle around the marked hole. Now flip the tune back, clean with alcohol, and you can see where to put the patch, using the mark from the other side of the tube. May the force be with you.
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chaadster

I have patched Aerothan with regular Lezyne self adhesive patches without any problems, and they seem to work indefinitely. I do prep patch area with 90% isopropyl alcohol wipedown before applying.

The Chemist

I run RideNow TPU tubes (24g) in my road bike and aside from one pinch flat which was caused by me not monitoring tire pressure frequently enough, I've had zero issues with them in over 2200km of riding. If that continues, I'll be happy to continue using them, but if they start to cause problems I'll probably switch to lightweight butyl tubes instead. I like TPU tubes mostly for their compact size, which makes carrying spares easy.

macstuff 

I use TPU in two of my bikes. Tubolitos in one and Pirelli P-zero in the other.
I had to patch a tubolito at the seam in the tube but their patch kit worked. The seam leaked, it wasn't a puncture. They lose air like a butyl tube and need a pump once a week. They're made in Asia somewhere, I dont remember...
The P-Zeros have had no issues and after two months haven't lost any air that I can tell.
The cost is the issue. I just bought retail to start off with and thought Id look for a cheaper source if I liked them. The Pirellis are $40ea retail but If I can cut that down, I'll put them in all my lite bikes. I think they had made in Austria on them.
I haven't tried any other brands yet but I may if this thread reveals any good reviews. Right now I'm good with the Pirellis. 35 grams per tube is a big weight savings over a butyl tube.

Fredo76

Also FWIW, I did not use any alcohol when patching, but did use the little piece of sandpaper that comes with the Park kit. It's good sandpaper, fairly stiff and doesn't shed sand. I roughed up an area large enough for all the edges of the patch to stay within. I didn't pump them up enough to 'test' the patches (why tempt fate?), just a couple of strokes to give the tube volume for poking it back into the tire. Both were goathead (pinhole) punctures.

staehpj1

It sounds like they are very fussy about getting every bit of thorn or whatever from previous punctures out of the tire. That makes me rethink my thoughts of using them as an emergency spare with a tubeless setup which would likely have the remnants of multiple thorn flats.

cyccommute 

That "fussiness" makes me question their supposed superiority towards flats.