Lol no. I’ve never had that problem. I have been using them for over a decade now.
I disagree. I used them for years without problem. I believe it’s overstated.
I ran latex tubes for over a year (so not super long) while riding in the Appalachian Mountains in VA. So long descents were just under 15 min. I don’t think I have a tendency to drag brakes but I do weigh ~185lbs, so no lightweight. The only issues/flats I ever had would have certainly happened no matter what tube I was running. e.g. hitting pot holes or cutting sidewalls on gravel.
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I had the exact thing happen in the same situation. Latex tube popped at the bottom of a long descent using carbon wheels and rim brakes. I was lucky in that I was almost completely stopped when it popped. I could see what appeared to be a black burn mark where the tube popped when I changed it So I took it as the tube overheating due to heavy breaking. I am much more careful in these situations now by alternating and feathering the brakes when possible. But on a route that has a lot of descending I don’t think its worth the risk to run latex tubes if you have carbon wheels with rim brakes. I also know that several wheel manufacturers recommend against it (ENVE being one).
Well it’s written somewhere by every manufacturer.
Michelin have it on their box for example : https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/comments/g015kt/why_cant_i_use_these_latex_inner_tubes_with/
Reason seem to be that carbon wheel will heat too much with too much braking making the inner tube explode. (Latex is much more sensitive than butyl to heat)
My Vittoria competition latex tubes don’t mention this anywhere
But If I have rim brakes, then a carbon clincher is a non issue, right?
I’ve been using them for decades on MTB, CX and Road and find them to be more reliable than butyl and even tubeless. If you take care in mounting them, Talc them very well (i use foot powder with talc(tough to find) and make sure the tire casing is clean. The rolling resistance is palpable, they are less prone to pinch flats because of their flexibility, run them at lower pressure and lighter…Back to the OP, i’ve never had a problem with them in carbon rims and have used really old 1st gen carbon rim-brake clinchers. Now i use them for road and CX (mostly race because of the cost) …The whole tubeless trend is here to say, I run tubeless in most of my MTB’s but really i find running tubes to be easier and more reliable. The whole “no more pinch flats bro” rhetoric is semi valid but really if you hit something that pinch flats you, especially in road or CX…your riding wrong and especially in road riding you should’nt’ve hit that bro.
Thanks! I didn’t know that… but how come does it happen? First time happened to me that’s why I didn’t mount them…
Edit @Brennus explained
Thanks all
Okay. I just installed the latex tubes. Installation went well. I have Pirelli Pzeros which are very easy to install and my wheels don’t have holes on the rims, so no issues with the rim tape. I have a century ride this weekend, with long descent (over one hour). I hope all goes well!
I know this is a bit of an old post, but you shouldn’t really be pumping up latex tubes outside of a rim and tire, its actually pretty common for this to happen since latex is hard to manufacture as consistent as we all expect and different areas will show this. placed in a rim and tire, the pressure will distribute evenly and you wont have any of the ballooning. I always make it a habit to apply a little bit of extra talc on the tire as well to try and minimize any rub as well. Have never had an issue with them. I checked my latex tubes the current ones in my tires have the same ballooning you’re experiencing, they’ve been in my bike for a year now and haven’t given me issues.
Only about 6 years here, but this has been my experience too.
Same here and latex tubes are great for your triceps, what with the daily inflation.
I had a latex tube “explode” once when riding. Replaced it with a spare butyl inner and when I got home I replaced it again with a new latex tube, just to have it “explode” again immediately after inflating.
That’s when I started to take a closer look at the tubes, the two damaged ones both had a nice big round hole, on the side of the rim. So I went to that place on the rim and found that it was exactly at the start/end of the rim tape and the tape had been pushed into one of the holes in the center of the rim. Leaving that hole exposed for the tube to expand into.
This happened after having switched to latex a month earlier. Latex is much more flexible than butyl (that is the entire point of latex having less resistance), so what happened is that the latex tube was able to keep pushing on that end point of the rim tape as it was close to the hole and pushed it right through the hole. The butyl tube which is more rigid was able to stay inflated over that hole without expanding into it.
So pay close attention to any holes in the rim and make sure the rim tape is properly covering it.
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I used latex tubes with very (VERY) tight tyres last summer, on taking them out they have what looks like a weakened ‘seam’ on both sides. I think this is due to the fact that the tyres were so tight they needed 90+ psi just to pop onto the bead, so the edge of it was cutting into the tube rather than sitting in the edge of the rim. I suspect I’ve damaged these tubes, and might just go tubeless next summer - but it’s something to bear in mind if you’ve got tight tyres maybe.