TPU tubes sound really great, except for the price. They are about 30$ each. They are very light and you save more than 1g/dollar per tube compared to std butyl tubes, so it could be a bargain by that measure :-). Apparently they are also very easy to patch. (I haven't pulled the trigger yet, but may spring for 2 + spares if I do a grand randonnee someday.)
Tubeless is great for trail riding where low pressure tires give much better handling and you don't have to worry about pinch flats, but TPU tires apparently don't pinch flat readily, so you may be just as well off with TPU tubes without the mess of sealant etc. Of course sealant is great for patching thorn holes or those pesky steel belted radial tire wires that penetrate standard tubes fairly easily. TPU tubes are apparently more difficult to puncture, but I don't know how much more resistant they are. Toshi in Oakland On Fri, Mar 21, 2025 at 6:08 AM Dorothy C <[email protected]> wrote: > I haven’t tried these, but noticed them on the Rene Herse site yesterday > - TPU tubes. They might be a good solution for the mermaid bike if you > don’t want to deal with sealant issues, but don’t want to use the standard > butyl tubes either. They say they are a little thicker than the TPU tubes > available elsewhere, for easier installation and strength, and also state > they are suitable for rim brakes, another reason I had never considered > TPUs for my bikes. > Speaking of superstition around flats, I made a patch repair kit with > spare tube, tools, a Speedier tire lever and a cussin patch tin for each > of my bikes since Will’s newsletter discussion earlier last year, mostly > in Elf pouches, and haven’t had a repairable flat since. Only a valve tear > on the wheel of my Burley Nomad trailer, but that was discovered at home. I > too don’t usually get many flats, maybe three or four a year at most. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAGB59xyxT36mHTO5ddSMzSSr0MrUPJ%3DUrZ-kLBjUHxVyYHJUPw%40mail.gmail.com.
