The War Against Punctures

Like all cyclists, I hate getting punctures. OK, there are probably some weird Puncture Fetishists out there but let's pretend for now that they don't exist. [shudder]

So, I've done my best to find a way to reduce the likelihood of getting them. I'm now on my second type of tyre and have fitted some interesting new inner tubes.

But what about tubeless? Well, I considered it but to be honest, the impact of a puncture which is too severe to be automatically sealed when out on the road in the middle of nowhere didn't sound nice. I've heard you get covered in sealant if you try to fit a tube to get you home and then affecting a repair is more or less impossible without a workshop and tools. So tubeless are out for bikepacking imho.

I also looked at and rejected the idea of "airless tyres". Tannus make a product. The tyres are solid and made out of a similar material to the soles of expensive trainers apparently. They might be OK for commuting but I read that they distort when cornering, which sounds decidedly unappealing (imagine doing a mountain descent!) and add rolling friction, which is the last thing I need on an already heavy bike.

Tannus also make an insert they call "armour". It might well work very well but for me the product was a total nightmare and after trying them I got a refund as I considered them to be not fit for purpose. See https://the-bikepacker.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-light-of-experience.html for the full and gory details.

So that brings us to present day. There are two elements to my anti-puncture strategy. Decent tyres and thermoplastic (TPU) inner tubes.

I have Continental Ride Tour tyres with Tubolito thermoplastic inner tubes. In fact I have two different Tubolito tubes fitted, an X-CX Gravel on the front and an X-Tubo-City/Tour on the rear. Why two different products? A good question. You have to be really, really careful fitting these tubes as they are quite easy to damage with tyre levers. I paid my local shop to do an extensive service of my touring bike a few weeks ago and asked them to fit two X-CX Gravel tubes as they were doing the work. One got damaged. I don't think the shop see thermoplastic tubes often. They discounted the cost of the service to account for the £25 inner tube that was damaged, so fair's fair. But I was unable to find any of this particular Tubolito product in stock anywhere so instead went for the alternative City/Tour tube. But what is it that's interesting about these tubes?

In both cases, these tubes come with a one year warranty against punctures. This is either a very good product or this is very brave marketing! Once again, time will tell.

The Continental Ride Tour tyre with distinctive orange Tubolito tube