brbbiking wrote:
Thanks for the detailed explanation! I was about to buy some latex tubes, and noticed this warning on Competitive Cyclists page. Were you talking about carbon clinchers in your reply? "Despite the removable valve cores, we strongly recommend against using latex tubes with carbon clincher wheels—a sentiment shared by most major wheel, tube, and tire manufacturers. Since the carbon braking surface heats up more than alloy, it can cause latex tubes to burst and fail. If you're running carbon clinchers, go with butyl tubes."
I use my TT bike to do a lot of climbing, so end up doing a lot of braking while descending. Am I better off using the latex tubes only for flatter events/routes, or should I be okay if using enough rim tape? (Not looking for any guarantees here, just wanting to hear from those with experience with this.)
I have been using latex tubes in my carbon clinchers for years without any issue. Granted I have never had to do any hard braking with them, but even when I needed to come to a stop from a high speed I am careful to modulate my braking effort.
I would consider switching to butyl for some particular race where I know there are going to be hard turns coming off steep downhills or something like that but otherwise, I don't see the need.