Inner Tube Quality

2door

2door

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Staff member
I had a tube failure today. A friend, fellow MBer came for Thanksgiving dinner and we went for a ride. He was using one of my bikes and had a blowout on the rear. He didn't hit anything, no damage to the tire but there's a long slice or rip in the tube. Looks like the rubber just failed.
The tubes are Forte brand, inflated properly and with a little over 900 miles on them.
Anyone have any opinion on the quality of Forte tubes? This is the first problem I've had with them and I've put a lot of miles on them on four bikes. Just a fluke? Or are they cheapo tubes? They were purchased at Performance Cycles and they sell a lot of them. I'm going to take the tube to them tomorrow and ask about their quality.
Tom
 
2door said:
I had a tube failure today. A friend, fellow MBer came for Thanksgiving dinner and we went for a ride. He was using one of my bikes and had a blowout on the rear. He didn't hit anything, no damage to the tire but there's a long slice or rip in the tube. Looks like the rubber just failed.
The tubes are Forte brand, inflated properly and with a little over 900 miles on them.
Anyone have any opinion on the quality of Forte tubes? This is the first problem I've had with them and I've put a lot of miles on them on four bikes. Just a fluke? Or are they cheapo tubes? They were purchased at Performance Cycles and they sell a lot of them. I'm going to take the tube to them tomorrow and ask about their quality.
Tom
Click to expand...

They are of fairly cheap quality as I have found (as are many others). I have had that happen before and it wasn't a snake-bite but similar in nature and just failure of the tube.

On my race bike I'm running Intense DH tubes now. They are expensive but they look like motorcycle tubes....seriously.

dnut
 
2door said:
...They were purchased at Performance Cycles and they sell a lot of them...
Click to expand...

That should be a clue as to their quality, no?
I mean, if the tubes were of a good quality, they would only need to sell a few, and not lots.

I use these tubes:


I ride in areas where there is glass, nails, nut and bolts and other debris, and these tubes have never let me down.
 
rohmell said:
That should be a clue as to their quality, no?
I mean, if the tubes were of a good quality, they would only need to sell a few, and not lots...
Click to expand...

Well... I s'pose that would depend - if it's just Tom buying lots of replacements or there's lots of different folks buying just a pair, no? ;)
 
Good timing for this subject. I was just thinking about trying to find high quality tubes. I don't really like the idea of gunk in my tubes. So...here I go looking! BTW, the tubes I have the guy got out of a large box full of tubes wrapped with a rubber band. Picture "cheap" written all over it!

Terry
 
No go on the bike shop replacing the tube. They said it was just normal wear. Normal wear? The tire isn't damaged. Whatever. I went to the bike shop owned by a neighbor and bought an $11.00 Sun, Thorn Proof tube. This thing is so thick it feels like a tire. It's probably twice the thickness of the Forte thorn proof tube that failed. Let's see if I can put 900 miles on it without a flat.
Tom
 
2Door thats what I've been running up here in FC. (Friendliest cyclying city inCO My butt). They sweep/shovel EVERYTHING (Snow, sand, tree branches, broken glass, etc etc) into the bike lane. Since I have gone to the "cheap" tubes (Pyramid/Sun) in the thorn-proof version I haven't had any problems. One thing about Performance Bike shop, back in the 80's when I road raced I tried their answer to Vittoria sew-ups and the set didn't even make thru one race, have avoided them ever since.
 
Again Tom and to others reading this, the only tube to impress me ever are the Intense DH tubes. They are holding up to my 212cc engine and look like motorcycle innertubes......$13 each.

dnut
 
I'm one of those lucky people who rarely gets flats, (I hope I don't jinx myself by saying that); so I always use the stock tubes. But when I build a bike from scratch I use Sunlite thornproofs. After reading this I looked into 'jumping/DH' tubes & they're only a couple of bux more, so I think I'm gonna start using those! :)
 
I was using the standard Giant inner-tubes and have collected enough punctured ones to build a small raft. Despite nylon liners inside tires.

I just switched to a Avenir thorn resistant on my back wheel. $15 as opposed to $5 but so far, so good.

I am considering:

1) slime The guys at the bike shop hate it for some reason.
2) Kevlar tires. $45 each but if they last a long time it would be worth it.

I learned the hard way that a worn down tire will protect the tube less.
 
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I got a set of heay duty tubes from danscomp and they've survived everythin (tacoed rim, ect). People throw stuff at you in the bike lane here, like a gameof frogger or something
 
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