Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the Tubolito road cycling inner tubes.
If there's one thing every cyclist hates it's gain a flat tire during a ride.
Unless you have a tubeless setup high quality inner tubes are critical to avoiding getting flat.
The Tubolito tubes are an evolution of the traditional butyl rubber inner tube and claimed to
be lighter stronger and more compact. Now you can see packaging wise really sleek simple cardboard
with the inner tube sandwich in between and a little rubber band to hold it in place. You can
see the little instruction manual tucked in here. We have two variations the super light S-Tubo and
the standard Tubo Road. I'll go ahead and take these out of the little packaging we'll go over the specs.
Retail price is $34.90 for the standard road variation and then 37.90 for the super light
variation so significantly more expensive than a standard tube which is usually six
dollars or up to ten dollars. They're available in a number of valve lengths from 42, 60 as well as 80 mm.
Construction wise they use a proprietary thermoplastic elastomer construction with this
characteristic orange coloring. They're extremely compact you can see especially the S-Tubo version
and even the standard version are quarter the size of a traditional tube. They're claimed to be
twice as strong as well so more puncture better puncture resistance and better rolling resistance
all for a higher price. They're also made in europe which means they have higher quality control.
Now let's take a look at the weight of these inner tubes that's really the biggest advantage
of these is just how lightweight they are. So we take off the little plastic ring for the
super light version that comes in at 22 grams and that includes the little gasket here which is a
replacement for the retainer nut and the valve cap. If we look at the standard Tubo road that
comes in at 40 grams so they're quite light but again that's with the a little retaining gasket and cap.
Just for comparison here's the Vittoria run inner tube you can see how large it is
and that on the scale is 108 so you're saving quite a bit of weight although you can ride with latex
inner tubes but you give up some puncture resistance.
Now right out of the box it's really impressive how small and compact these inner tubes are
combined with the characteristic orange coloring that really sets these apart from other tubes on
the market. The variations we have here are 60 millimeter valves so you can see they're quite
long, non-threaded and these aren't replaceable the mountain bike versions have a removable valve core
for tubeless applications. Now what's really cool about these is the TPU material that
really sets it apart and you can see when you start to open it up super thin
and it's opaque aside from the orange coloring. Now instead of a traditional retainer knot and
a threaded valve you have a simple rubber gasket here that you can just roll down it's a really
simple and a basic dust cap with a standard presta valve head. Putting these side by side
with a standard inner tube it's just impressive that how small these can be. If you ever had
done a longer ride you know that carrying multiple tubes can take up a lot of space and with the Tubolite
tubes you pay quite a premium but that means you can actually pack two or three of these instead
of one tube which means for longer rides you can be more protected just in case you get flats. It's
also really impressive that they claim a better puncture resistance than a standard tube so not
only is it lighter and thinner but because of the material properties you can avoid flats
and in your hand it feels like a rubbery construction that's quite thin
and easy to flex as well. Now it's only available in orange so if you're a stylish cyclist and don't
want orange valve sticking out that's one negative of these. To patch these tubes you actually have
to use the Flix kit from Tubolite that is a little bit more costly than a standard vulcanizing
rubber patch but it's designed specifically for these tubes so it's definitely give or take. It's
really expensive and if you're someone does a lot of riding paying almost 35 dollars for a tube
it's a little bit ridiculous but in the longer term the better puncture resistance can really
bring you ahead and the fact that you can pack these so easily means you can carry multiple
on a ride instead of having to get a flat and begging another cyclist for a patch or a tube.
The other thing I wanted to show with these tubes is just how well they pack. So here i have a
Topeak Burrito pack which is a mid-sized saddle bag
and i'll show you how i can actually fit three tubes instead of one. If I
open this up it has three compartment design and you can see now I'm carrying one standard tube
which is quite large.
It takes a lot of space there's no way i could fit two of them in here
so what i do is i just shove this one in
and then i take the Tubolite I can just pack them on the top
and now you can see if i get a flat I actually have two more backups.
Just carrying one it's pretty easy to puncture that on your first
installation so having the backup even on shorter rides is really nice to have.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the Tubolite road tubes. What we like about them
are their compact sizes, they're about the quarter the size of a traditional rubber
tube so they're a lot easier to pack and take up a lot less spac.
They're also more durable than traditional tubes which is a nice improvement and
also available in a variety of lengths so you can definitely find the right one for your wheel set.
Some of the cons for them the fact that they're very expensive. At over 35 dollars that makes every
flat cost quite a bit of money and especially if you do a lot of riding. It doesn't really make
sense to ride with these exclusively. They also require specific Flix Kit patch kit
so if you do buy one of these tubes you do need to buy the patch kit as well. Lastly, they're only
available in that orange coloring which means the valve stem is also orange. Taking everything
into account would give the tubo road tubes a 7.8 out of 10. These are really expensive but their
compact size and unique construction makes them the perfect spare tube so while we won't replace
all our standard inner tubes it really makes a lot of sense to buy a couple of these and
stash them in your saddlebag. Thanks for watching this review and don't forget to like and subscribe.
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