# Light weight inner tube - which to choose?



## Lien Sdrawde (10 Sep 2013)

Hi again - thanks for peoples continued help with making decisions. It is paying off nicely for me :-)

I am keen to get some light weight inner tubes - the following get good reviews http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental...m_medium=base&utm_campaign=uk&kpid=5360325738

but on the blurb it says they are 100g ! - my decathlon tubes are about the same - does it mean per pair? 

I have shimano 501 rims so presume a long stem is not needed

Any other recommendations would be appreciated also. Cheers, Neil


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## screenman (10 Sep 2013)

Have you thought about going Latex, or tubeless?


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## Hacienda71 (10 Sep 2013)

On a vfm basis You can't beat the PlanetX own brand lightweight tubes. They won't be lighter than latex but are substantially lighter than some of the so called lightweight Michelin tubes I have been sold for 3x the price of the Planet X ones by a couple of LBS's


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## Deleted member 23692 (10 Sep 2013)

Hacienda71 said:


> On a vfm basis You can't beat the PlanetX own brand lightweight tubes. They won't be lighter than latex but are substantially lighter than some of the so called lightweight Michelin tubes I have been sold for 3x the price of the Planet X ones by a couple of LBS's


This

I went halves with a friend and got 11, which work out cheaper than getting 10


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## accountantpete (11 Sep 2013)

Those you linked to were Race 26 - you need Race 28 (700 x 23/25).

Continental Vittoria or Michelin are the ones I use. I don't normally like cheapies but I might try the PX ones at that price.

Here's a low down on the weights from our friends at Weight Weenies

http://weightweenies.starbike.com/listings/components.php?type=innertubes


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## Lien Sdrawde (11 Sep 2013)

Gosh, those weight weenies are serious players! Thanks for the link. I've found the following which are red hot fav at the moment.

http://www.ribblecycles.co.uk/sp/ro...-panaracer-r-air-lightweight-tube/panatube150


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## Dusty Bin (11 Sep 2013)

accountantpete said:


> Those you linked to were Race 26 - you need Race 28 (700 x 23/25).



No, the link is to the road tube, and there is an option to select either 650 or 700.


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## mattobrien (12 Sep 2013)

I use Conti Supersonic inner tubes: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-supersonic-road-inner-tube/

A claimed 45 grams / tube and they fold up very small to fit in my very small saddle bag. They are butyl tubes so will hold the air in them better than latex tubes and are similar in weight. I do appreciate that butyl and latex will have different ride characteristics though.


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## Lien Sdrawde (12 Sep 2013)

mattobrien said:


> I use Conti Supersonic inner tubes: http://www.wiggle.co.uk/continental-supersonic-road-inner-tube/
> 
> A claimed 45 grams / tube and they fold up very small to fit in my very small saddle bag. They are butyl tubes so will hold the air in them better than latex tubes and are similar in weight. I do appreciate that butyl and latex will have different ride characteristics though.



Hi. Can you check the weight of yours as the blurb says that they weigh 100g. :confused:


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## mattobrien (13 Sep 2013)

Lien Sdrawde said:


> Hi. Can you check the weight of yours as the blurb says that they weigh 100g. :confused:


Will do. Give me a hour or so, as I'm on the school run today.


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## mattobrien (13 Sep 2013)

Lien Sdrawde said:


> Hi. Can you check the weight of yours as the blurb says that they weigh 100g. :confused:


I have put an inner tube on the kitchen scales and it was coming in at c. 50 grams. Sorry I can't be more accurate, but the increments are 20 grams on the scales. 

I have got these inners on my bike, so have managed to shed 100 grams of rotating mass (from the combined two tubes v.s standard tubes) for not very much money. They are paired with Michelin Pro 4 Comps, which weigh in at c. 180 grams, so a little lighter than most tyres too. The Pro 4 Comp Ltd are a claimed 160 grams, but I was happy to spend 20 grams on at least a little puncture protection. So with those tyres another 40 grams saved (vs. already pretty light tyres).

The other benefit of the Conti tubes is that they are tiny, approx. half the size of a standard tube, so I can fit one in my saddle bag, which is also tiny. If I put a standard tube in my saddle bag I wouldn't be able to fit in much else that I needed, such as tool, CO2 canisters, regulator, tyre levers, patches, tyre boot, chain link, spare rear light, latex gloves...


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## Lien Sdrawde (13 Sep 2013)

mattobrien said:


> I have put an inner tube on the kitchen scales and it was coming in at c. 50 grams. Sorry I can't be more accurate, but the increments are 20 grams on the scales.
> 
> I have got these inners on my bike, so have managed to shed 100 grams of rotating mass (from the combined two tubes v.s standard tubes) for not very much money. They are paired with Michelin Pro 4 Comps, which weigh in at c. 180 grams, so a little lighter than most tyres too. The Pro 4 Comp Ltd are a claimed 160 grams, but I was happy to spend 20 grams on at least a little puncture protection. So with those tyres another 40 grams saved (vs. already pretty light tyres).
> 
> The other benefit of the Conti tubes is that they are tiny, approx. half the size of a standard tube, so I can fit one in my saddle bag, which is also tiny. If I put a standard tube in my saddle bag I wouldn't be able to fit in much else that I needed, such as tool, CO2 canisters, regulator, tyre levers, patches, tyre boot, chain link, spare rear light, latex gloves...



Great stuff. Many thanks for taking the time to do that. 4x Conti tubes on order. Cheers, Neil


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## e-rider (13 Sep 2013)

There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.

I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!


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## Dusty Bin (13 Sep 2013)

e-rider said:


> There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.
> 
> I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!



My club are all on supersonics, pretty much - no major issues to report. What mattobrien said earlier is correct - the tubes are lighter because they are physically smaller, which means the butyl is stretching more to achieve the same volume. Whether that makes them more likely to split is a possibility, I suppose.


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## Rob3rt (13 Sep 2013)

e-rider said:


> There are plebnty of reviews that say Conti Supersonics like to explode for no reason or that they split very easily - has anyone on here used them a lot and can say differently.
> 
> I was keen to try some until I read these reviews!



Never split one, had one develop a slow puncture near the valve, but nothing exciting to report. Decent lightweight inner tubes IMO. Would be worth considering some Latex inners though.



Hacienda71 said:


> On a vfm basis You can't beat the PlanetX own brand lightweight tubes. They won't be lighter than latex but are substantially lighter than some of the so called lightweight Michelin tubes I have been sold for 3x the price of the Planet X ones by a couple of LBS's



How much do they weigh? PX don't say!


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## Cycloslalomeur (13 Sep 2013)

http://www.vaneyckstore.be/nl/banden-tubes/423-vredestein-binnenband-latex-50mm.html

If memory serves, the short valve stem version weighs 45 grammes.


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## Cycloslalomeur (13 Sep 2013)

I've ridden many thousands of miles on Supersonic tubes and can report that they're well pukka.


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## mattobrien (13 Sep 2013)

No problems from the Supersonic tubes here, I have covered just over a thousand miles on them.

When fitting them I have been making sure they are properly seated in the rims before getting the second part of the tyre over the rim as I could see that they would be more fragile / susceptible to pinch punctures. No problems while fitting or punctures.


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