i got a number of each last week. what i notice: michelins are bigger. fatter. to those who ride these, what’s your preference? assuming i ride 23mm to 25mm tires, do i prefer the michelin fatties, or the vittorias?
i also notice that vittorias come with removable cores and michelins don’t. it seems to me the removable cores make it easier to put in sealant. if that’s true, then why would michelin choose to have theirs made with cores that aren’t removable?
I use Vitoria. Latex tubes require care when putting them in. The ‘‘bigger fatter’’ ones will just be more trouble. Removable core; big plus for sealant and for valve extenders.
I’ve used both, didn’t notice a harder time installing the Michelins. I also notice the Michelines are “fatter”, but ride wise they feel the same. I use them with the Conti Attack/Force combo so 22/24 mm tires.
Don’t use either brand. The tubes will fail within about two years from their manufacturing date. And forgot to add that Michelin Latex tubes are no longer date stamped, but two years use is about all that can be expected of them.
Don’t use either brand. The tubes will fail within about two years from their manufacturing date.
You use tubes longer than a year? This isn’t meant to be snarky. It just never occurred to me that people would do that.
i also notice that vittorias come with removable cores and michelins don’t. it seems to me the removable cores make it easier to put in sealant. if that’s true, then why would michelin choose to have theirs made with cores that aren’t removable?
I think using sealant in road tubes is still very much a niche thing. Not much of a market driver. But I think Michelin should make their cores removeable if just because it gives you more choice in extenders.
Don’t use either brand. The tubes will fail within about two years from their manufacturing date.
You use tubes longer than a year? This isn’t meant to be snarky. It just never occurred to me that people would do that.The Bontrager latex tubes in my old racing, now training wheels were installed over 3 years now. On the FLO 60/90 wheelset I picked up almost 2 years ago that came with tires and latex tubes, I haven’t replaced the tubes, they are older than that though. No biggie.
I use Bontrager tubes in two bikes and so far no troubles. My Kestrel mtb has had Bontrager tires and tubes for 3 years and they seem to be reliable.
While we’re discussing latex tubes I feel compelled to relate my negative experience with Vredestein Race tubes. They’re beige colored and very thin. They lose about 2 PSI per hour or about twice what the Vittorias and Michelins do. On top of that, 3 of the 4 tubes I’ve owned failed at the union after a very short time. The 4th one was retired immediately after the 3rd failed. Even if the joint failures hadn’t occurred the quick loss of pressure makes them less than ideal for a long ride such as an IM bike.
YMMV,
Hugh
i got a number of each last week. what i notice: michelins are bigger. fatter. to those who ride these, what’s your preference? assuming i ride 23mm to 25mm tires, do i prefer the michelin fatties, or the vittorias?
i also notice that vittorias come with removable cores and michelins don’t. it seems to me the removable cores make it easier to put in sealant. if that’s true, then why would michelin choose to have theirs made with cores that aren’t removable?
I’m not a fan of the Michelin tubes for the reason you state above (non-removable cores) which not only make it nearly impossible to add sealant, but don’t allow you to use extenders which move the core to the top. Additionally, it’s been my experience that the latex material used in the Michelin tubes dries out and cracks, whereas other tubes are much more “long lasting”. The Michelin latex material also seems to not be quite as elastic as others, and will form holes where others will end up with something more akin to a “slit” when punctured.
I stick with Vittoria, Bontrager (made by Vittoria, I believe) and Challenge tubes for latex.
I’ve used Vittoria, Michelin, Challenge and Vredstein. My go to latex tubes are the Vittorias. They don’t seem to vary from batch to batch and have been very reliable for me. As others have mentioned, the ability to remove the valve cores for extenders or sealant is a big plus.
The one area where they are deficient is they only come in the 51mm valve length which can be a little tight in the Zipp disc wheel cutouts. After I blew one of these in T1 at a big race last year from pushing the valve stem down (and not one short valve stem tube to be found in all of T1!) to top it off, I switched to a short stem Michelin latex tube for disc duty.
The disc tube is the only Michelin latex tube I’m running. Years ago I tried several of their tubes and found them defective right out of the box. My recollection is that they used to have RVC options and later shifted to non-RVC exclusively. With their recent focus on speedier tires perhaps they’ll revisit their latex tube offerings?
The Challenger latex tubes seem to vary a lot in quality from batch to batch or it may be that many are sold after sitting on the shelf for a long time.
I’ve had some good Vredstein latex tubes, but I’m not sure if those were the current iteration or a past version. Again, they seem to vary. I think Jordan used these tubes in the past and may have some history on them.
I’ve never seen a Bonty latex tube that wasn’t listed for over $20 and I guarantee my Trek dealer doesn’t stock them…
The Vittoria’s are the way to go…second by the Bonty’s which are made by Vittoria/Lyon. Their only downfall is the (stupid IMO) 51mm valve stem length which makes them pretty much wrong for everything… They can be nearly impossible with disc wheels and pretty much guarantee that you have too much valve exposed on any deep wheel as all the valve extenders are really designed around 37-42mm valves.
On an upside, they have removable valve cores, have the highest Tg of any of the latex tubes and therefore are the most heat resistant, and also age better than the others from what I’ve seen. The Michelin would be my second choice.
The Ultralight Vredestein’s are interesting and do well on the test drum, but have very little heat tolerance in the raw material which is exacerbated by the thin/light design. These are what we were using with Tony Martin some years back (based on their good lab results) when he double flatted during a Tour TT…essentially he melted both tubes under one hard braking effort…not worth it!
While we’re discussing latex tubes I feel compelled to relate my negative experience with Vredestein Race tubes. They’re beige colored and very thin. They lose about 2 PSI per hour or about twice what the Vittorias and Michelins do. On top of that, 3 of the 4 tubes I’ve owned failed at the union after a very short time. The 4th one was retired immediately after the 3rd failed. Even if the joint failures hadn’t occurred the quick loss of pressure makes them less than ideal for a long ride such as an IM bike.
YMMV,
Hugh
I also feel compelled to comment on Vredestein latex tubes, because I’ve installed them on 3 sets of tires without any issues. I purchased about a dozen just to have as backups, and I’ve inspected them after reading comments here on slowtwitch, but I have not found any quality issues. In fact, after a rather abusive installation on one set of tires they have lasted over a year of training without sealant. I inflate before every ride as a matter of habit anyway.
I like that their 50mm is more like 38mm with removable core, which is about the perfect length for my wheels & extensions.
I used Challenge latex initially for many years but I had somes failures and then switched to a mix of Vittoria and Vred. I liked Vred with the short stem and weighed in at 50grams but a I had a couple of issues with the newer wider rims that made getting tires that much more challenging and I had a Vred failure. As a result I am mostly Vittoria now again, but did order some Michelin’s because of the short stem and I thought I would give them a try. The Vittoria definitely are the most durable but the 51mm stem is annoying. I don’t have a lot of experience with Michelin mainly because I don’t like the fact that they are not RVC.
Vittoria latex with orange seal in all of my road and cx clincher wheels. I get 6-8 months out of them before they need replacing. Luckily we have a smoking team deal - less $than a butyl tube. Life is too short to run crappy tires/tubes!
I’ve used both. The Michelins tend to fail round the stem after a while. Also have had the nut on the presta valve break after a while several times too. Since no removable core its to the trash bin. I’ve been on the Vittoria’s over over a year now and not one single flat compared to 4 or 5 per year was typical with the Michelin’s. I average about 7,000 to 8,000 per year.
If you have them use them but if spending your money to buy go with the Vittoria.
Vittoria latex with orange seal in all of my road and cx clincher wheels. I get 6-8 months out of them before they need replacing. Luckily we have a smoking team deal - less $than a butyl tube. Life is too short to run crappy tires/tubes!
Depends how much riding you do and on what kind of roads! My view is that life is too short to be constantly replacing tires, pumping up latex tubes which go flat every night, repairing punctures, and occasionally having to get an Uber XL home when it all goes wrong.
The nice tires and latex only comes out for race day and warm-ups for me…
Not to hijack (ok I’m hijacking…) but what tube/extender combo would work for a 45mm rim? I’ve tried Vittoria and Vredstein and after removing the valve core the top of the valve stem ends up right at the edge of my HED Jet 4 rims. Very annoying because I can’t put anything on the valve stem to silence the rattle due to how tight the valve stem hole is on the rim itself. I either need a long threaded valve stem to use with Silca’s new stuff or I need a really short valve stem to use with a proper valve extender (Silca again).
Thanks
I had a lot of issues with the Michelin (green?) Latex tubes springing leaks around the valve stem area. Probably 5 tubes sprung leaks, in different wheels! Since switching to the (red?) Vittoria latex tubes I’ve not had any issues.
I had a lot of issues with the Michelin (green?) Latex tubes springing leaks around the valve stem area. Probably 5 tubes sprung leaks, in different wheels! Since switching to the (red?) Vittoria latex tubes I’ve not had any issues.
x2
Michelin is terrible with the leaks around the valve stem. Would never use them again.