I’m sitting on a pair of tubolights and can’t bring myself to install them. Do you notice a big improvement in ride quality and/or pinch flat protection? My biggest concern is not being able to do a trail side flat repair becuase I need special tools to remove a tire with an insert.
Anyone out there who’s raced with these and had to do a repair during a race? What was your experience?
I find the tyre pressure setting a bit of a pain with the Tubolight for sure. I have no problem getting air in. It’s getting it back out that’s the hassle.
I find the performance benefits outweigh the nuisance negative, though I’ve had to dial in my hand-ometer for setting rear pressure.
The Tubolight is easier to install than the CushCore.
Honestly, I’ve just changed a tyre in the driveway this afternoon and it took me a total of about 15min including wandering around finding the sealant etc
Once you’ve got the rhythm of it, it’s not that difficult or different to no insert. It’s infinitely more messy though.
I have not yet raced XC with mine, but at UCI Gravel Worlds I punctured my rear tire which had Tubolight insert. I just put a couple of dynaplugs in the hole and continued, but for sure it did take long because I couldn’t find the hole first.
I find the tyre pressure setting a bit of a pain with the Tubolight for sure. I have no problem getting air in. It’s getting it back out that’s the hassle.
With my setup, if found it super difficult to remove the insert. Far more difficult than pepis or DIY backer rods. So hard, I even started to question life choices…Perhaps if the rim is wider than 25mm and the tire is wider than 2.3 or 2.25, then it might be easier to remove…perhaps.
I run 2.4 Maxxis on 25mm wide Enve’s with Tubolight SL’s and have little issue removing a tire/insert combo with just 1 lever. It takes a bit longer than if there were no insert for sure and the insert sometimes gets a little chewed up by the lever but it is definitely not so bad that I’d not run inserts.
Cased a rock on the rear of my trail bike yesterday (no insert) and the rim/rock put 2 holes in the tire that wouldn’t seal. I think this particular scenario would’ve been saved by an insert (or more pressure) so inserts will be going in when I replace the tire.
this is the scenario I think they would work in too. I’ve ruined a few tires on pinch flats where the hole down by the bead won’t seal. I wonder if an insert would either stop that from happening entirely, or the insert would sit against that small hole near the bead and plug it anyways, allowing me to keep using the tire.
Brings this thread back to life with the new product released yesterday from Vittoria. Their Vittoria Air Liner Light makes some good claims. Ironically, I was adding sealant to my wheels and decided to check my current inserts (tubolight) over the weekend. The Tubolights had some gashes but were largely intact. When do most people change these out? They still seem pretty functional. I am debating trying the Vittorias as they seem to have similar weights. Any insider opinions on the comparison of these two products?
Did this happen? Intrigued at the idea of backer rod. I’ve got some left over from a concrete project. Seems better than throwing it out.
I was thinking of NMT conduit, some people call it ‘smurf tube’ because it’s usually available in blue. It’s durable, hard to crush, and obviously hollow, and available in many diameters.
For what it’s worth, I just did a Tubolight install, and then broke the bead to install sealant directly into the tire instead of through the valve.
No issues with the install or removal, almost didn’t need tire levers in my case. And, pretty quickly was getting a little sealant “spray” from the valve stem even though I installed the sealant on the “outside” of the insert which tells me it dispersed pretty well.
I don’t have experience yet with old / set up sealant. I’m probably going to make it a habit of pulling the tire, checking things / cleaning up old sealant, installing fresh sealant in the month before my big races this summer.
I’ve used the tubolight XC ones for a season. They’re definitely light, but they get shredded up over time. I went to do a sealant refresh and there were large tears in the insert. I’m guessing when the tire gets a little dry, the friction inside tears them. I have since replaced them with the rimpact XC ones, which are a bit heavier but seem much more durable and firm.
I bought one a few days ago to put in my rear tire.
I had a pinch flat last week while riding in Sedona and have been averaging 1-2 pinch flats per year. Enough I said - and bought the liner to see if it helps.
Been running the Tubolights on Gravel and XC bikes. Did notice when I took out the Tubolights there were some cuts but I put them back in. I have a new set that I have on hand which I had planned to put in as I prep bike for bigger events later this summer. I had been popping the bead initially to put in Silca Sealant, but have since switched to Orange Seal after seeing all the clumping with Silca. The Orange Seal I just inject through the Muc-Off valve (latest gen) and it seems to disperse just fine.
That being said, I couldn’t resist and also ordered a set of the Vittoria Air Liner Light inserts. I’ll probably put them in the next time I do a tire swap just to see if I notice any difference and also to see how they hold up. I suspect I won’t notice any difference between those and the TuboLights.
https://www.vittoria.com/ww/en/tire-inserts/mtb/air-liner-light-xc-trail
Looking at it, I can’t see any functional difference between it and the Tubolight EVO SL.
Whether it’s a different material I don’t know.
I’d be very cautious relying on their “run flat” claim. They sure won’t pay for your busted rim.
As far as when to replace. I’ve got a Pepi’s and Tubolight EVO SL that have both been going quite a while now. Both have “bite” marks in them but I don’t see a need to replace them yet while they’re still mostly in tact. Interestingly my CushCore XC in the trail wheels still looks incredibly unmarked. That’s ridden a lot harder too. Most likely it’s a combo of the foam material, but also the burlier tyres and more pressure on those wheels.
I have noticed the seam where the two ends of the Tubolight meet has gone a bit crusty. Again I won’t replace it until it looks like it’s going to separate.
Got some air liner lights coming in soon. Can’t wait to see what all the insert fuss is about!
Is there a typical starting point for how much lower to set your pressures? -4 psi from your normal tubeless pressure or anything like that?
I’m confused by inserts for XC… So people spend thousands on carbon rims to lighten the weight of rotating mass to only spend another $100 to put the weight saving back on to run low tire pressure?
Is running super low tire pressure really worth it? (I don’t know… I’m seriously asking those who run inserts}.
It may depend a little on what your starting PSI’s are, but I’ve dropped a couple of PSI with the inserts in place going from about 20psi to 18psi on the rear and 18psi - 16psi on the front. I know others are running a little lower so some trial and error to see how you like it.
Quite a bit written on it, but some of the XC inserts like the Vittoria Airliners and the Tubolights add very little weight. Benefits are lower rolling resistance from the lower pressure, better traction, and possibly reduced pinch flats. In situations where you do flat, you might be able to nurse the bike to the finish riding on the insert as it would still provide some protection to the rim.
The main downside is that it makes setup a little more complicated and if you do destroy a tire to the point that you need to put a tube in, it can be a pain dealing with the insert out on the trail. Hopefully though you are getting less flats with the insert so that may mitigate this a little.
I have installed an air liner light in my rear tire for pinch flat protection. as I get more experience riding with it, I may reduce my pressures by 1-2 psi also.
I rode a rocky MTB race last weekend in Grand Junction, CO. There were a few instances where I felt the rear wheel hit hard on a rock or ledge, and the liner “muffled” the impact. So seems to help.
It’s very light - at 50g. It was a bit of a pain to install, but added maybe only 5mins to the process.
Yeah I think it is. Plus a more stable tire, rim protection, and a bit of runflatability. All for 50g per.
Then again, it is possible it’s a fad. I mean, I don’t think it is but when you’re in the grips of a fad you never can see it.
Joe