My Vittoria latex tubes always have weird bumps in them after they have been mounted for a while.
Should i be worried about reinstalling these tubes regarding potential safety concerns?
They are no older than 6 months.
My Vittoria latex tubes always have weird bumps in them after they have been mounted for a while.
Should i be worried about reinstalling these tubes regarding potential safety concerns?
They are no older than 6 months.
Those bumps are from the dimples in your rim strip/tape that covers the spoke holes of your rim. This is interesting, and may indicate that your rim strip/tape is stretched and could be worth inspection and maybe replacement.
I’ve not heard or seen anyone with a failure from this shape change, but it may be leading to slight thickness changes in the latex from the extra stretch.
Thank you for the response Chad. What you say makes perfect sense to me. It’s just that this happened on 2 different wheelsets (Winspace Hyper, Aerocoach Titan) now with different preinstalled rim tapes.
Then a totally guess on my part is that you are fine, considering those brands likely have plenty of others using latex tubes.
This has always happened to mine across different rims. It does have to do with rim tape and spoke holes but it’s not a problem. Reinstall and they’re fine. I have some latex tubes that I’ve been using for years without issue.
I always get this sort of bumping and I think it’s because that portion of the tube is expanding into the well of the rim/tyre interface. It’s made worse by the tube sticking to the inside of the tyre rather than moving round evenly as the tube expands. I’ve never really bothered using talc with mine but I think it could help.
As far as safety is concerned - that part of the tube has never failed for me and is very well protected down in the well.
Mike
Just dropping in to say #teamlatex
I’m #TeamGaveUpOnLatex.
I was getting more flats than usual, my tubes were stretching out like the OPs tubes, and I was getting tired of having to pump up tires every single ride.
Yup…and would just add that this is a good visual of why latex tubes ride so well. They are much more supple and can better conform to road irregularities. A butyle tube doesn’t get marks like this because they aren’t as supple.
So look at it as a positive!
Great point!
Thank you for the feedback guys. I’m a big fan of the latex tubes for their sublte feel and imo good puncture protection.
Good to know i won’t have discard after every tire change
Thanks for the topic. I run latex but haven’t needed to change a tube yet, other than a tire destroying flat that I got in the very first ride 3 years ago . So now I know to safely ignore it.
I see the bumps as normal, as it’s happened on both the vittoria and challenge latex tubes i’ve run.
I am not so sure it is specifically from the spoke hole drillings though, I think it is more a consequence of the OD of the tube having to expand to a bigger diameter than the ID of the tube when inflated (tire tread area being bigger in diameter than the spoke bed of the rim.
Happens to every latex tube I have ever removed.