Has anyone tried these 4mm thick Q-tubes yet?

[e-beach]

If you have what do you think about them. If you haven't is 4mm just too much rubber?

All thoughts welcome.

http://www.bikebling.com/Q-Tubes-Th...-SV-Tube-p/q-tubes-tr26x1.9-fslash-2.1-sv.htm

Q-Tubes Thorn Resistant 26" x 1.9-2.125" SV Tube: 4mm wall thickness in the tread area and 2mm in the rim area. Butyl tube.

Key Information

Labeled Size: 26" x 1.9-2.125"
Valve: Schrader
ISO Diameter: 559 / 26" mtn/584 / 650b / 27.5"
ISO Width: 48 - 54 mm
Valve Length: Schrader
Tube Compound: Butyl
Valve Core: Removable
Valve Shaft: Smooth
Weight: 642g / 1.41537 lbs

 

[Ykick]

Kinda narrow for my tire preference and really 2-4mm thickness. But, the price ain't bad for thick tube. Last 2.5mm I bought cost around $12?

I only use these thick tubes on motor wheels with Slime as limp-home insurance. Thicker really doesn't help against a nail, staple or similar debris. It helps a little with pinch flats but the biggest improvement is that Slime seems to be more effective. They're quite heavy/bulky and I didn't like them on regular non-powered front wheel.

 

[dogman dan]

Thick is good where I live. Slime works better on thicker tubes. My tires are always full of thorn holes.

Got screwed the other day though, 16 penny nail bent into a perfect caltrop got my rear tire. Got the tire off the rim, motor rim still bolted on. Saw the huge hole, and removed the huge nail. Got out the patch kit, eventually got the slime cleaned off enough to patch it. Put the pump on and nothing..... WTF? Dismount the tire again, and this time I see the second hole the nail made on the top of the tube. 1/8 inch from the valve stem. Unpatchable..... @^$^#*($**%&*^(!!!!!

At least, happily, I was only a mile from home.

 

[cal3thousand]

Those things are going to be heavy

642g is nearly 1.5 pounds.

I would go with Maxxis DH tubes, which are thicker overall and use a tire liner to prevent tread punctures. This combo will be will yield the same, if not better, protection against tread area punctures while saving you about .5 pounds of rotational mass on each wheel.

Remember that rotational mass has an effect on everything from acceleration to handling to deceleration. And rotational mass at the circumference of a rim has a much more profound effect on it's inertia than if located at the hub.

 

[e-beach]

At least, happily, I was only a mile from home.

OOOoooohh....Sorry about that!!

e-bikes seem so romantic and freeing until one gets in to the dirty underbelly of it all. Flats on the motor wheel that have to come off.....non-English speaking drivers causing one to crash their bikes and such...

So let me ask you, would you consider using those Q-tubes on your bikes..front and back? motor and non-motor wheels?

 

[amberwolf]

While I agree with cal3thousand...

After all the stuff I've tried and failed with on tubes, i'd personally rather use better tires, like moped at the minimum, motorcycle woudl be better--the MC ones I could probably ride on even WITHOUT air. :lol:

But if I had to choose between the tubes I have now which are maybe 1.5mm at best, probably less, and these new ones, I'd check them out, with one condition:

The valve stems must be bonded properly to the rubber, and the rubber of the stem must be bonded to/molded with the tube itself properly and reinforced against high pressures. Failures here have destroyed more tubes in unpatchable ways than any other tube failure, both before and after my changeover to ebikes.


Oh--and Dogman: if ther'es already a hole on the outside, if you have a big enough patch, you can cut that hole wide enough to clean out the *inside* of the tube at the inner-rim hole, then patdch taht one, then patch the larger hole on the outside.

It may not last but it shoudl getcha home.

 

[dogman dan]

I've never thought of that, but in this case it was not just near the valve but touching it. An inside patch would have surely blocked the valve stem, but perhaps another nail or piece of wire could have made a hole to put air in. I carry a spare tube, but felt it would be easier to just limp home only one mile.

Teach me to ride the bike past the metal recycling place. Shit falls off trailers in that area all day.

I run so much slime in my tires anyway, I wouldn't be concerned about the weight. and yeah, you do feel it. My attitude towards tubes has come to my choice being to get tubes with a good brand name from a bike shop that sells a lot of them. Fresh rubber seems to matter a lot, particularly around the stem. So no more old stale tubes from Wallmart. Getting tubes online should work fine too, from a place that sells volume, like nasbar, chain reaction cycles, etc.

But as far as thickness of tube goes, regular thick tubes work fine for the short thorns like goatheads. But staples, panel nails, etc just screw you. No tire liner was going to stand that caltrop I rode over last weekend. Enough slime, and you might get away with pulling a nail, and pumping it back up. At times, I've had to just stop and pump a tire every mile or less, but I still get there in the end. One option would be to just carry some slime, or patches, or both. Then you could avoid all that weight in the tire and just run a liner or a regular thick tube.

 

[shock]

I use the Giant thorn proof tubes, which are 2.1mm/4.1mm, and cost about the same at my LBS. I would recommend them, seemed to handle better than the standard tubes on my ebike. Seems like they are more sturdy and don;t get "pushed around" as much when cornering , going over obstacles, etc.

 

[cal3thousand]

Ironically as hell, I got a flat last night on my commute home. Half way into it as dusk was approaching .

It was right in the tread area too, where the strip should have protected it. At least I get to send it back to them for a new tube and strip. Btw, this tube was a regular Avenir tube that I bought in a pinch while putting the bike together. Going to thicker tubes, but they won't be 4mm

 

[amberwolf]

I At least I get to send it back to them for a new tube and strip.

They require you send them back now? They didn't when I had my one and only failure of a strip (with roofing nails), a few years ago.

 

[e-beach]

Going to thicker tubes, but they won't be 4mm

I hear Mr. Tuffy has an tube called Fat Bottoms that have a five year flat-proof guarantee. I say I hear about it because I can't find one for sale, in my size, in stock, anywhere. So I called Mr Tuffy because the area code is the same as mine, 310. The man on the phone says "Oh! The woman you need to talk to is not in at the moment and she will be back in 10 minutes." So I gave him my number and he said she would give me a call. Did she call back? Noooooo.

Anyway here is the link: http://www.mrtuffy.com/fat-bottoms.html

So what are you going with?

 

[cal3thousand]

Going to thicker tubes, but they won't be 4mm

I hear Mr. Tuffy has an tube called Fat Bottoms that have a five year flat-proof guarantee. I say I hear about it because I can't find one for sale, in my size, in stock, anywhere. So I called Mr Tuffy because the area code is the same as mine, 310. The man on the phone says "Oh! The woman you need to talk to is not in at the moment and she will be back in 10 minutes." So I gave him my number and he said she would give me a call. Did she call back? Noooooo.

Anyway here is the link: http://www.mrtuffy.com/fat-bottoms.html

So what are you going with?

Funny thing, the Mr. Tuffy liner looks EXACTLY like the STOP Flats2 liners. Even the plastic packaging looks the same. Only difference seems to be the paper part of the packaging.

Not cool that they didn't call you back BTW. Especially for a fellow 310er!

 

[grindz145]

That kevlar panaracer shit looks pretty awesome to me I'm going with that next time

 

[e-beach]

That kevlar panaracer shit looks pretty awesome to me I'm going with that next time

Ok...do you mean this one? Because at 26 x 1.75 the tires look kind of narrow to me. I suppose a narrower tire in the city could be ok if it really stops the punctures.

RIBMO PT

RiBMo is the newest addition to our urban tire line. Aside from a plethora of sizes, the news on RiBMo is PT puncture resistance technology. PT delivers 3x the puncture resistance of Kevlar® belted technologies.
http://www.panaracer.com/urban.php#

 

[dnmun]

the new 5304 i bot has those kevlar liners inside some maxis hookworms. he was religious about them, he never had a flat after that, not even staples would get through.