These are super light and make clinchers feel significantly softer. They do have to be re-Inflated more regularly but its a small price to pay. Also, valve extenders are required if youre rolling deep-dish carbon rims.
Light weight and supple ride, and a removable core for extensions. It's all good!
Never used latex tubes before. They're a little harder to mount than butyl, but not much. They lose about 10psi of air pressure overnight. They can be patched with a regular patch (I spoke end caused a puncture). One developed a slow leak that I just couldn't find. I ended up putting an ounce of Orange Seal in the tube and it seems fine now. When matched with Vittoria Corsa tires they do seem to provide a smoother ride, but I have no way to quantify exactly how much smoother.
I got the larger size tube (28-32?) to fit my oversize tires and keep the tube from stretching too thin. Make sure the tube is all the way up in the tire before inflation to keep it from wanting to poke out of the tire when inflating to full pressure.
Seems sturdy and rides more comfortably than butyl.
I've used the Michelin, Challenge, and the Vittoria latex tubes and these are the best craftsmanship and quality out of all of them. No imperfections and consistent quality in every tube from Vittoria, the valve stems and valves are great as well.
Experienced no quality issues with these tubes riding about 150 miles a week for a year. The reputation of latex for catastrophic flats (tire repair required), is true when latex tubes are combined with the wrong tire, a low TPI tire. Slow leaks, where the tire can just be pumped up then repaired at the destination, occur with the right tire, a high TPI tire.
Love the ride quality of latex tubes, but having to pump up tires daily is a bit tedious.
2 out of 3 tubes flatted immediately, on 2 wheels and tires where I'd been running butyl tubes with no problem. Threw the third away since I felt I couldn't trust it, switched back to butyl.
I have been using latex tubes for a year now on three different bikes . 25 mm and 28 mm tires. Better ride by reducing harshness. Only one pinch flat in 4000 miles! Also- I have had no problems installing tubes. In my opinionGreat value for initially spending a few more dollars for latex tubes!
I put (2) new Vittoria Latex tubes on our tandem. Our tandem is all carbon, so it rides very smooth. I believe it rides a bit smoother, but it was hard to tell. Unfortunately, you must pump up the tires often as they loose approximately 10lbs per day
Less rolling resistance, less weight & better road feel, what's not to love.
Product is great!
I run a set of wheels with these tubes on a new bike and a set of the same wheels and tires with regular butyl tubes on my travel bike. The ride difference is noticeable. I found the tubes easy to work with, even when changing to new rubber. But I always use a bit of baby powder and I never use tire irons. Like all latex tubes they need air daily.
This tube works well. As with all latex tubes, be careful to not put too much pressure near the valve and make sure the tube isn't pinched when installing.
Drawback is they don't hold air very well. Every two -three days you'll have to pump them up, by then, you're going out for a ride right? High volume pump will save you strokes.
Use Vittoria tires and the latex work better for me with mounting, tires go on hard and tubes easier to install properly.
The knock before I switched to latex was they dont hold air pressure over a longer period, check my pressure before every ride and run 110psi....no big deal
Love them.
Compared to butyl tubes these are lighter, better riding, and have improved puncture resistance. They do tend to leak air faster that butyl, so you need to top-off air each ride.
They might cost a little more. But my ride seems a little smoother and the flats come less often. These tubes usually outlast my tires and I transfer them on to the new tire without any blowout issues like the standard tubes.
These may require you to pump them up before every ride, but thats just the nature of latex. They are light, have a great ride quality and do not puncture easily.
