Silca Latex Tubes up for sale!
https://silca.cc/...cts/latex-inner-tube

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They have 40mm stems too, which means they will be a little easier in a disc. I shall be ordering some of those.

I just ordered 2. Now I need to get some new training tires.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

Ditto... Two new Silca latex tubes on pre-order.

Yep, there you go. Thanks for the heads up :)

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Yep, it's official, SILCA latex tubes launch today!

To answer the speculation:

Yes, they are made by Vittoria. We found Vittoria to not only make the most consistent tube, but their latex has a higher temperature resistance than any other we've seen by 20-30F.

These tubes have removable valve cores and use the same ultra-high end valve cores we use in our tubeless stuff... these are the valve cores that are spec'd by all the pro teams for their tubulars and are prized by the Euro pro mechanics (most people have no idea that is even a thing, but it is!)

We are specifying a 42mm valve length, as that works in ALL disc wheels including older Zipp and Lightweight discs: no more using a dremel on your expensive disc.

Lastly, we are sized for 24-30mm which is much more representative of the actual tire sizes everybody is riding today. Note, if you are riding a 23mm tire on a 17+mm rim, it will measure 25mm or more, and falls within the spec.

We will be also be selling these pre-packaged with 40mm or 70mm valve extenders beginning early March.. This made sense to us so that you could purchase tubes and extenders based on variable depth wheels, disc, etc, and packing them together saves a few $$ compared to buying everything separate.

Any other questions, please let me know!
Josh

https://silca.cc/...cts/latex-inner-tube

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

Congrats on the launch Josh.

I'm curious about trying latex and these look interesting.

These may be dumb questions :):
- Sealant - would you recommend putting sealant in the latex tub for clinchers? I'm planning to use them on Zipp 808 firecrest carbon clinchers with 25m Conti Tyres GP 4000sii. Just for races, I thought sealant might help with any "small" issues.
- Rim tape - what do you recommend? I have Zipp rim tape already, do I need to add another layer for latex or replace my existing rim tape?

Thank you!

Silca makes great rim tape https://silca.cc/...um-tubeless-rim-tape

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

I'll bite.

Why would I buy these for $15 when I can buy the Vittoria ones for $8-9 (or better in bulk)? Is there an advantage to these outside of the shorter stem (the regular Vittoria ones seem to come with 51mm?).

ETA: not trying to be snarky, it's an honest question. I love your stuff!

I just made the purchase decision, so I can answer as a first-hand consumer. I bought them because I have a rear disc wheel, and the shorter 41mm stems are easier than Vittoria's 51mm stems. The best price I have found on Vittoria tubes has been around $13, so that is worth an extra $2 to me. I just bought two, to use on my rear wheel. As my supply pops over the next few years, I may standardize all my tubes on the shorter stems.

The shorter stem is a legit reason if you have that concern for sure.

Probikekit has the Vittorias for $10CAD right now which should be closer to $8USD - with 51mm stems of course. If the difference was only $13 vs $15 then it makes a lot more sense to me.

So why the combo with the threaded valve extenders?

Why not a combo with the RVC extensions?

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You beat me to it.

Maybe use 2 of them per tire?

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

TRI@THLETE:

Sealant works great in them, we recommend CafeLatex or OrangeSeal. The CafeLatex seems to have longer life, but the OrangeSeal seems to seal larger punctures a bit faster. We are actually using OrangeSeal with team Bora right now following some 6 months of testing and the results have been really promising.

For rim tape, we recommend using Tubeless tape with adhesive backing that is the full width of the tire well. We make a very high quality tape that we'd love for you to use, but the Stan's tape and ENVE road tape are also very good solutions. The SILCA tape is the thinnest of these options and with 2 wraps on a road wheel will reduce effective the bead seat diameter by around 0.5-1mm compared to other tapes which make tire installation much easier. The smoothness of the tape allows the tube to better settle in the rim and the adhesive backing keeps it from moving during install.

ZENMASTER:

The recommended price for Vittoria and SILCA latex are both $15 which allows retail bike shops to make a few $$ selling them. However, the ProBikeKit business model is about market share and upselling/cross-selling so they often sell items like this at or below their cost to try and drive other business. As a consumer that's a heck of a deal, they are literally selling those for less than wholesale cost of the item. As a business person and responsible member of this industry this situation breaks my heart as the strategy here is more about driving other sellers out of the market than anything else.

STEVEJ

We are now only providing our RVC extenders to wheel manufacturers who both bundle them with wheels and also resell them. Because they are so readily available we are focusing our inventory and sales on threaded extenders with SpeedShield which work on tubeless or standard. For these latex tubes, we found that the threaded extender with SpeedShield setup actually reduces stress on the tube at the base of the valve stem and increases tube life. Since latex tubes have to be inflated daily, the most common failure over time comes at the base of the valve stem which is stressed repeatedly pushing and pulling off the the chuck and SpeedShield greatly reduces this stress.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

Thanks for the reply Josh, much appreciated. I just wasn't sure if there was some other difference that I wasn't picking up on.

I've got a decent supply of tubes at the moment but I will certainly consider yours when I am looking again.

$15 seems reasonable for a latex tube. Regular Specialized Butyl tubes are now like $8 anyway.

The two differentiators between us and the Vittoria, is that our tube is slightly larger accommodating up to 30mm tires and uses a 42mm valve stem instead of 51. So while it's made by Vittoria, it is not exactly the same.

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http://www.SILCA.cc
Check out my podcast, inside stories from more than 20 years of product and tech innovation from inside the Pro Peloton and Pro Triathlon worlds!
http://www.marginalgainspodcast.cc

None of the stock photos show the valve stem on your new Silca tube Josh, but I'm assuming it isn't externally threaded, similar to the standard Vittoria valve stems.

If it was threaded it could offer that same benefit for fixing the valve stem in a disc cutout against the pressure of pushing on a pump head. Along the lines of using the extender and rubber Speedshield with something similar for fixing the valve stems against the bottom of a disc cutout. Maybe a small inverted cone shaped spacer that presses into foam with a thin valve extension nut? Or a tee flange tube fitting that is pressed in permanently and offers a solid surface for the valve extension nut?

I have been running the shorter valve Michelin latex because the extra space helps, but airing up race mornings in the dark takes a extra care. Pressing down too much against an almost fully inflated latex tube can easily cause a tube failure. This is my biggest worry when pumping up a Zipp disc with latex tubes. I've had this happen:( Deflating before pushing on the pump head is a safe option if a floor pump is available.

Anyway, something to consider moving forward!

I'm very pleased with Vittoria tubes. No reason for me so far to use another brand.

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Cannondale Slice 08
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Silca tubes are made by Vittoria

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

I will never buy non threaded valve extenders again, because threaded ones work for tubeless use while unthreaded don’t. I have now learned this (obvious) lesson twice when going to do a deep wheeled road tubeless setup...there I am with my big bag of every length of valve extender on earth, including a dozen of those RVC ones you get with the old rim braking wheels, and none of them work for the tubeless task at hand.

Besides that, Josh is on here telling everyone to use tubeless tape, which I sort of agree with, but his RVC extenders are, in my experience, nearly impossible to push through tubeless tape and through the valve hole without the little rubber jawn getting all scrunched up...so then you have to remove it, defeating the entire purpose of that extender. I hate that product for this reason and for the reason that if you don’t use butyl tubes anymore for any purpose ever, which I don’t know why you would, then none of the extenders are the right length in the hole (with Vittoria latex).

Josh has explained why this is but to me this new solution of coming out with a slightly different length latex tube valve is coming at the problem from the wrong angle. Why not give us this tube with 80mm and 100mm valve lengths? Nobody wants to use extenders. Dealing with extenders is just another unnecessary piece of kit complexity and an unnecessary point of failure for race day.

So that leaves me two reasons to buy this product:

a) it’s the only option on the market that (ostensibly) provides a discount, via the bundle, on the kind of valve extender I increasingly need to use for tubeless setup. I just bought a bunch of these so that all the short tubeless valves I have can actually be used with modern wheels.

b) This “optimized for wider tires” claim. Somebody is going to have to have to help me understand how a tube made for 24 to 30mm does anything for me. Yes my tires inflate to 26ish on Zipp and 27ish on Enve and on the HED Vanquish or Enve 4.5 AR it's more like 29-30, but I still don’t get the optimized thing. Is there really a material difference in longevity of the tube optimized for 24-30mm (Silca) vs. 25-28mm (Vittoria classic)? I don’t believe it.

Somebody should make 80mm and 100mm valve lengths on these tubes. Big missed opportunity for Silca in my opinion, and there is no problem this new offering solves for me unless there's a mega discount on those threaded extenders.

I think you mean "every business model".

How can I reconcile the following two statements?





Do you also require exclusive or 'most favored nation' retailing of your extenders by your wheel partners? Last I checked I couldn't buy non Silca valve extenders from Enve.

Sounds like your business model is all about market share and cross selling...

Can someone show me a study the backs up the theory that latex tubes are actually faster. I'm not being a smart-ass here I just have never truly right up on it.

What's tubeless??? ;)

But yes you make many good points. I wondered about the valve length many many years ago. There used to be many threads/posts on here about valve extender issues. I never understood why people were using extenders when they could get a 100mm valve stem in a butyl tube. But that was before I figured out latex. That said.... yes I agree 100% that someone needs to create a longer valve stem in a latex tube. Though I believe one of the main drivers for a shorter vittoria latex tube valve stem has everything to do with disc wheels. We need both short and long IMO.

I have struggled with the rubber piece on the RVC extenders too when mounting it on a front 808 with silca rim tape. I've taken the extender off the tube and put the piece back on only for it come back off again when mounting the tube. Frustrating to say the least for someone with OCD.

My only issue with the threaded extenders is the length. I want more options for length (specifically ~45-60 mm). Running a silca latex tube (42 mm) plus a 70 mm threaded valve extender on a rear enve 7.8 or zipp 808 just looks like crap. Or a enve 7.8 front with a 70mm valve extender which is even worse (since a 40 mm won't work). But that's just me.

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