Tubolito Tubo Road 700C inner tubes

Used these when trying to smash hill climbs 2 years ago. All good until you go downhill. I clipped a 4cm long stone in the road on a downhill and the tyre literally blew off the rim. I tried to steer left at 30mph into the verge but unfortunately woke up on the opposite side of the road broken helmet and carbon front wheel, plenty of rash and pain but luckily no bones broken. I was lucky since further down the hill we usually reach 50mph. Have since taken race tyres and lightweight inner tubes off and replaced with heavier more reliable robust tubes and tyres. I have had this kind of impact numerous times living on dartmoor but luckily always using more standard tubes and tyres it has just resulted in rapid pinch flats tubolitos just do not have the elastic properties needed on dodgy uk roads

Was so excited when I discovered these, that I immediatley bought 4 of these, 2 Road and 2 Road S, from two different sources. 

Three of them were leaking at the valve core straight out of the box, one held up for three days before the same issue occured. Inflated at max 80 psi (I ride 28mm tires).

Big waste of money.

Put a set of the 'regular' Tubo Road 700c with Conti GP5000s on a Cervélo R5 last June and for first 6-8 weeks they were great.  Nice taut feel on the road and held pressure very well.  Then one tube failed at a seam and Tubolitos patches didn't fix the problem.  Returned the tube, which Tubolito was kind enough to replace, and bought a few more plus some extra patches.  These were installed on new carbon wheels with a set of Michelin Power Competition tyres.  

All good for a little whiel but things changed when the punctures started.  Hard to know if it was just bad luck, the tyres or the tubes, but I had a lot of punctures and again the patches weren't great so the tyres needed frequent pumping.

After a few weeks, I returned them all.  Tubolito was kind enough to offer to replace them but I never got around to it and have now lost the correspondence.  Overall, the service was prompt and polite and Tubolito stood firmly behind the product.  But for the price, they were disappointing.  No doubt manufacturing process is continually refined and QC improved so they're worth trying.

I didn’t get on very well with these and will avoid them as far as possible in future.

I bought 3 of the ”CX/gravel” versions of 42mm 700cc, one for each wheel plus a spare. I must have been feeling optimistic (what can go wrong?) because normally for some such new technology I would have been more cautious and tried one tube at a time.

They are not lying about the weight – 54g per tube in all possible permutations I could think of with 3 tubes and 2 different branded sets of scales. Also being bright orange it’s easy to spot trapped tubes when installing (assuming tyres and rims are not orange too). After the first 4 weeks of commuting 2hrs per day I had not needed (or noticed a need) to add more air to either tyre. All seemed well, and losing weight is always a benefit.

However, when initially installing I noticed that it was very difficult to attach my Part Tool track pump to the valve stem. It took a lot of effort and patience. Eventually I concluded that the smooth plastic stem was not conducive to air tight gripping by the pump-head. The task needed three hands.

Then, after a tyre change (for unrelated reasons), I must have pinched and punctured the tube (despite the orange-ness) and then needed to try the dedicated patch kit. Still, it seemed that all was OK.

But it all came undone after a day ride of 3 hours or so when I noticed that the rear tyre was slightly soft. I added some more air the following morning with the three-handed Park Tool pump technique and went off to work. When it came to home time both tyres were fully flat and my Lezyne Pressure Drive adaptor could not fit the valve stem at all. I had to get a train home instead. On inspection the patched tube had failed at the patch (the patch had lifted off) and the rear tube had failed at several of the indentations of the cloth rim tape (there is nothing wrong with the rim tape).

I’m now chasing the supplier for a refund.

I have used them for most of last season. I usually use 1 tube/month, but I still have not punctured any tubolito tubes. So considering that I often puncture normal tubes when installing these, pinch flats and so on, it may actually turn out to be a good investment (not even taking the weight savings into account).

Do these offer any improved protection against pinch flats? That was the biggest selling point of tubless for me.

Yes, but normal super light tubes like Conti SuperSonics are 50 odd grams for £9 each. 

I have on of these for my MTB it's especially usefull there because an MTB-innertube is so much larger! Do remember that if u use them they wont deflate well, impossible to roll-up again!