Curious if anyone here still uses CO2 cartridges anymore. I’ve always used a hand pump; I have a mini electric pump but am too afraid to reach back there and find it dead for whatever reason when I need it.
I used to use CO2 sometimes, but that was in the 100psi days, and now my current-gen HED Vanquish wheels are 60psi max. Plus, add TPU tubes not potentially dealing well with fast CO2 flow, and I’m sticking to my hand pump.
I’m sure some folks here who are still riding rim brake bikes at 100psi will still swear by CO2, but I’m more interested in people with disc brakes, and the modern type wheels that are fatter and lower psi, like HED 60psi max.
I still rock co2 on my road bike but I run latex tubes on hooked rims so there is less risk of the things you are mentioning. It just always has worked for me. I keep an electric inflator and plugs in my gravel kit for tubeless.
But TPU is making a huge move as one’s backup tube, and CO2 isn’t so great for that - although I suspect with the inflators that can slow-deliver CO2, it will probably still work.
TPU just takes up so much less room, it’s hard to not use TPU (and use a butyl or latex) as your backup. I can fit 3 TPUs in the space of 1 butyl.
Wow that’s impressive. My tt bike with latex tubes pinch flats at 60 psi the moment I hit a rock which is actually super annoying. My 100 psi tubes and tires were def more resistant to pinch flats. Unfortunately I’m going fast on the tt bike so it can be hard to see that rock especially during hours of riding.
I like the reliability and control of hand pumping. I can get a little air in the tube to give it shape and no battery worries even if I double flat on a long ride (hasn’t happened yet.) it’s slow and annoying but super reliable. I love the electric pumps for air travel though and are amazing for your t1 bag at Ironman events to top off your latex in the am.
100% tubeless. Trinity TT bike, TCX, Propel. Back pocket hand pump I haven’t haven’t called home in years. A few tubeless plugs, couple backup tubes, still works.
One disc brake on the cross bike and two rim brake.
I was running latex tubes on my old TT bike. No flats in 10 years on that bike. I just gave it to a friend and got a new bike with tubeless. I mostly rode my old bike ~85 PSI on mostly good roads. New bike is will run 70 - 80 PSI tubeless, depending on conditions.
I have a baby electric pump I use for race morning top off. Tomorrow I am doing a shakeout ride on the new bike, so I will throw the baby electric in my shirt.
I’m much more comfortable with a butyl tube that I can just forget in my flat kit about over a TPU one that will spontaneously have a leak at the valve stem/tube junction
Amazingly, I’ve never gotten those valve stem leaks with TPU, although I’ve seen it reported not uncommonly. It’s possible the newer versions are better, maybe. The thing with TPU as well - the tubes are so small you can carry 3 in the space of one butyl, and likely even stick a 4th in a small pocket or spot somewhere so you’ll never be out of a spare.
I swear though, even though it’s just my n=1 experience, is that I get more pinch flats with TPU and latex vs butyl. I basically never get pinch flats with butyl, even when I hit large rocks unexpectedly, whereas with TPU and even latex, I kinda know that if it’s a hit of a certain size, I’m going to flat imminently, and sure enough it happens. I was about to throw out all my butyl spares and go all-TPU but I now put butyls on my road bike with Gatorskin tires since I hate flatting. (But my TT bike still has latex and all my on-ride backups are TPU now.)
Why on earth would any rational person carry 3, let alone 4 spare tubes?
Yes, they are small and very light.
Well don’t run your tyres at 60psi then - are they 32mm wide and you weigh 60kg?
On reliability of battery/rechargable mini pumps “battery worries”, I assume your bikes don’t have electronic shifting either. Or are those batteries ‘special’?
Hah butyl’s are slow and heavy as f but gotta hand it to them - for training the added weight and added tube wall thickness pinch flats are near impossible!
I think changing a flat would cost one far more time than using faster tubes would, no?
I’m not a weight weenie or obsessed with splitting hairs for optimization. If it works well, that’s enough for me. I honestly can’t even remember the last time I’ve had a flat. It’s been years.
Butyl is so freaking slow compared to latex that if you’re racing with butyl, you are leaving real watts on the table.
Butyl for training is fine - as I mentioned above I think I actually prefer it. Stronger, few/no pinch flats, makes you stronger since you feel slower, but on race day, anything but butyl tubes. You will actually notice the difference.
