Top 3 Fastest Tubeless Road Bike Tires - Tubeless Vs Latex Tube (and Butyl)
Contents
- Introduction
- Test Set up and Conditions
- Average Test Results
- Individual Test Results (Pro Members)
- Conclusion
- Comments
As the world seems to be moving towards tubeless bicycle tires, it's interesting to see how they perform when fitted with a latex or butyl tube. We've done many tests with tube-type tires and different tubes but didn't really dig into testing tubeless road bike tires with inner tubes yet.
This article is for those interested in running tubeless road bike tires with tubes. We will keep it short as the data should tell its own story. If you're interested in other tests of inner tubes or tubeless related things, here's a list of other related articles on our website:
- TPU Inner Tube Tests
- Vittoria Air Liner Road Test
- Tubolito Rolling Resistance Tests
- Fat Bike Tubeless Vs Inner Tubes
- MTB Tubeless Vs Latex Vs Butyl
- Tubeless Sealant and Rolling Resistance
We've tested the Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ 2.0, Schwalbe Pro One TT, and the Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR with sealant, a latex tube, and a butyl tube. As usual, the averaged data of those tests will be available free for everyone.
Pro Members can open the individual tire data and dig into the results further. We found that the cotton Corsa Speed G+ 2.0 performs a little bit better with tubes (just a couple of tenths) than the other 2 tires. We must add that the difference is so small that it might be attributed to the margin of error of the tests.
Test Set up and Conditions
We've performed all tests on the same day to get the data as accurate as possible. All tests are performed using our standard test protocol. All data used for this test is 100% comparable to all other data on this website.
We used the 3 fastest tubeless road bike tires that are currently on the market:
- Vittoria Corsa Speed G+ 2.0 25-622
- Schwalbe Pro One TT 25-622
- Continental Grand Prix 5000 S TR 25-622
Test Conditions
- Speed of 29 km/h / 18 mph
- Total wheel load of 42.5 kg / 94 lbs
- 700 x 17C wheel
- Temperature between 21.5-22.5 °C / 71-72 °F
- Diamond plate drum surface
- 77 cm drum diameter
Test Results - Average Results of 3 Road Bike Tires
| Average of 3 Tires | RR 60 psi 4.1 bars |
RR 80 psi 5.5 bars |
RR 100 psi 6.9 bars |
RR 120 psi 8.3 bars |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Watts | Watts | Watts | Watts | |
| Tubeless with 20 ml sealant | 10.6 | 9.1 | 8.3 | 7.7 |
| Vittoria 25/28 Latex Tube | 11.0 | 9.4 | 8.5 | 7.9 |
| Continental Race28 Butyl | 14.2 | 11.6 | 10.3 | 9.5 |
We don't think the test results need much explaining. The latex inner tube comes very close to the rolling resistance of the tubeless set up with 20 ml of sealant. The air pressure also makes a bit of a difference as the difference gets bigger at lower air pressures.
The 100 grams butyl inner tube does add quite a lot of rolling resistance. From a performance perspective, it probably doesn't make sense to use tubeless tires with a 100 grams butyl inner tube, but it's always interesting to include this tube as we use it for all the tube-type road bike tire tests.
As the measured differences are just a couple of tenths of a watt and are within the margin of error of the tests, the averaged results probably paint the clearest picture about the differences between tubeless and tubes. We found the inner tubes to perform a bit better in the Corsa Speed G+ 2.0, and we suspect this is because the Corsa Speed comes with a very sticky coating on the inside of the tire.
If you really care about the last few tenths of a watt of performance when using inner tubes, using a bit of sanding paper on the inside of the tires and then degreasing the tire and inner tube might get you those few tenths of a watt on the other tires as well. Less movement between the inner tube and tire results in a lower rolling resistance.
Test Results - Individual Tire Rolling Resistance Data (Pro Members)
The next section is only accessible by our highly valued Pro Members. This section includes all test data of the individual tires.
Conclusion
Using latex inner tubes in tubeless tires is nearly as fast as setting them up tubeless. The most significant performance penalties are the higher weight of the inner tube and the loss of the re-sealing in case of a puncture that tubeless sealant in tubeless tires offers.
Using a 100 grams butyl inner tube in a tubeless tire doesn't seem like a wise choice from a performance perspective as the butyl tube adds quite a lot of weight and rolling resistance.
What's interesting to note is that latex, as a material, has a rolling resistance that is nearly zero. The slight increase in the test results also comes from movement between the inner tube and tire that increases at lower air pressures. Reducing friction between the inner tube and tire can lower rolling resistance by a couple of tenths of a watt.