Tubolito Inner Tube Tests
Contents
Tubolito is a manufacturer of thermoplastic elastomer (TPU) inner tubes. TPU materials have already replaced many traditional rubber products in the automotive and pharma industry. Tubolito was founded with the belief it's also possible to replace the traditional rubber inner tube with a lighter and stronger tube made from modern TPU materials.
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At Bicycle Rolling Resistance we know Tubolito has taken the development of their tubes very seriously because they've been using our private test service since the first prototypes in 2017. Since 2017 they've been sending in prototypes regularly and we've seen them develop into the final product that is available today.
We've received a lot of requests to test the Tubolito tubes as many of our readers are curious about how they compare to regular butyl and latex inner tubes. For this test, Tubolito sent us a selection of their most popular inner tubes. We've tested the Tubolito tubes and also tested a selection of regular butyl, light butyl, and latex inner tubes to give us a good indication of how the Tubolito tubes perform.
This article has been divided into a road bike, mountain bike, and CX/gravel section. Read on to find out more about how the Tubolito tubes perform on our rolling resistance tests.
Tubolito Road Bike Inner Tube Test Results
For use on road bikes, Tubolito has 2 types of inner tubes available: the Tubolito Tubo Road which weighs 40 grams, and the Tubolito S-Tubo Road which is even lighter at just 22 grams.
The 40 grams Tubolito Road is intended to compete with regular butyl inner tubes. The advantages over regular butyl tubes are a much lower weight while at the same time also offering a higher puncture resistance. This product is also ready for use with rim brakes as it can handle the heat during hard braking.
The 22 grams Tubolito S-Tubo Road is made to compete with latex inner tubes. When compared to latex inner tubes, the S-Tubo Road offers a much lower weight while at the same time holding air a bit better than latex tubes. The pack size is also very small which makes this tube ideal to carry as a spare tube. The biggest drawback of the S-Tubo Road is that it can only be used with disc brakes.
We've tested both the regular Tubo Road and S-Tubo Road and compared them to several other popular inner tubes. All tubes were tested with the same Continental Grand Prix 5000, under equal circumstances, and on the same day.
| Inner Tube | Weight | Rolling Resistance at 120 psi / 8.3 barsRR 120 psi 8.3 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 100 psi / 6.9 barsRR 100 psi 6.9 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 80 psi / 5.5 barsRR 80 psi 5.5 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 60 psi / 4.1 barsRR 60 psi 4.1 bar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grams | Watts | Watts | Watts | Watts | |
| Vittoria Latex 25/28 | 80 | 8.3 | 8.8 | 9.9 | 11.7 |
| Tubolito S-Tubo Road | 22 | 8.8 | 9.6 | 10.6 | 12.6 |
| Conti Race 28 Light | 75 | 9.3 | 9.9 | 11.0 | 13.1 |
| Tubolito Tubo-Road | 40 | 9.6 | 10.1 | 11.7 | 13.8 |
| Schwalbe SV20 Light | 73 | 9.7 | 10.4 | 11.5 | 13.7 |
| Conti Race 28 | 102 | 10.0 | 10.7 | 12.1 | 14.2 |
| Schwalbe SV15 | 105 | 11.2 | 12.1 | 13.5 | 16.3 |
| Continental Grand Prix 5000 25-622 (Speed: 29 kmh / 18 mph, Load: 42.5 kg / 417 N) | |||||
Our test results show rolling resistance of the Tubolito Road is similar to the performance of light butyl tubes. The Tubolito Road fits right in between the Continental Race 28 Light and Schwalbe SV20 Light. Compared to the regular butyl tubes of aprroximately 100 grams, the Tubolito definitely performs better in our tests at nearly half the weight of the light butyl tubes.
The extremely light S-Tubo is faster than the light butyl tubes but comes a bit short when compared to the Vittoria Latex tube. The big advantage of the S-Tubo seems to be the extremely light weight as it shaves off nearly 60 grams of rotating mass per wheel.
Although the Tubolito tubes still can't touch latex tubes in the rolling resistance tests, their performance comes very close.
Tubolito Road Bike Packing Size Comparison
From left to right: Tubolito S-Tubo Road (22 grams), Tubolito Tubo Road (40 grams), Vittoria Latex 25/28 (80 grams), Continental Butyl Light (75 grams), Continental Butyl (102 grams).
When you're carrying a Tubolito tube as a spare tube, another advantage of the Tubolito tubes is the much smaller packing size. The 22 grams S-Tubo is extremely small and can be tucked in almost anywhere.
Tubolito S-Tubo Road Air Holding Capability
| Inner Tube | Air Pressure after 0 hours0 Hours |
Air Pressure after 24 hours24 Hours |
Air Pressure after 48 hours48 Hours |
Air Pressure after 72 hours72 Hours |
Air Pressure after 96 hours96 Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| psi bar |
psi bar |
psi bar |
psi bar |
psi bar |
|
| Tubolito S-Tubo Road | 100 6.9 |
95 6.6 |
91 6.3 |
88 6.1 |
86 5.9 |
| Vittoria Latex 25/28 | 100 6.9 |
87 6.0 |
76 5.2 |
70 4.8 |
64 4.4 |
As many of you already know, latex inner tubes can leak quite a lot of air over time. Tubolito claims their S-Tubo tubes are not only lighter than latex but also leak less air.
The results of the pressure tests speak for themselves, the Tubolito S-Tubo leaks less air than the latex tube. Although the air loss is much less, you probably still need to reinflate your tires every ride if you're strict about your tire pressures.
Tubolito Mountain Bike Inner Tube Test Results
Just like the Tubolito road bike tubes, the mountain bike tubes come in 2 different flavors: the Tubolito Tubo MTB which weighs 83 grams, and the ultra-light Tubolito S-Tubo MTB that comes in at 43 grams.
We used a Continental Race King Protection 29x2.2 to test the Tubolito tubes and a selection of butyl, light butyl, and latex tubes. All tests were performed on the same day and under equal circumstances.
| Inner Tube | Weight | Rolling Resistance at 55 psi / 3.8 barsRR 55 psi 3.8 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 45 psi / 3.1 barsRR 45 psi 3.1 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 35 psi / 2.4 barsRR 35 psi 2.4 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 25 psi / 1.7 barsRR 25 psi 1.7 bar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grams | Watts | Watts | Watts | Watts | |
| Michelin Latex | 130 | 14.8 | 15.2 | 15.8 | 17.2 |
| Continental MTB 29 Light | 154 | 16.2 | 16.5 | 17.4 | 19.6 |
| Tubolito S-Tubo MTB | 43 | 16.3 | 16.6 | 17.4 | 18.9 |
| Continental MTB 29 | 228 | 16.4 | 16.8 | 18.0 | 20.2 |
| Tubolito Tubo-MTB | 83 | 16.9 | 17.6 | 18.6 | 21.1 |
| Continental Race King Protection 29x2.2 (Speed: 29 kmh / 18 mph, Load: 42.5 kg / 417 N) | |||||
We see the same pattern here that we saw with the road bike inner tubes. The 43 grams S-Tubo MTB performs nearly equal to the 154 grams "light" butyl tube in the rolling resistance tests. At the lowest air pressure of 25 psi / 1.7 bar, the S-Tubo MTB does outperform it slightly. The latex tube still seems to be in a class of its own when purely looking at rolling resistance.
The 83 grams Tubolito MTB tube comes in behind the regular 228 grams butyl tube. It looks like the main advantage of the Tubolito MTB tube is the much lower weight that cuts down on the rotating mass that's even more important on mountain bikes.
Tubolito CX/Gravel Inner Tube Test Results
For CX and Gravel bikes, Tubolito currently only has the 55 grams Tubo CX / Gravel available. A lighter S-Tubo version may become available later on.
This time the tests have been performed with a Continental Terra Speed in the 35-622 size. The CX / Gravel tests are a bit more limited as we only compared the Tubolito tube to a "standard" 161 grams butyl inner tube and an 80 grams latex inner tube.
| Inner Tube | Weight | Rolling Resistance at 60 psi / 4.1 barsRR 60 psi 4.1 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 50 psi / 3.4 barsRR 50 psi 3.4 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 40 psi / 2.8 barsRR 40 psi 2.8 bar |
Rolling Resistance at 30 psi / 2.1 barsRR 30 psi 2.1 bar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grams | Watts | Watts | Watts | Watts | |
| Challenge Latex | 80 | 15.3 | 15.6 | 16.8 | 20.2 |
| Tubolito Tubo-CX/Gravel | 56 | 16.8 | 17.8 | 20.1 | 24.5 |
| Continental Cross 28 | 161 | 17.0 | 18.3 | 20.8 | 25.3 |
| Continental Terra Speed 35-622 (Speed: 29 kmh / 18 mph, Load: 42.5 kg / 417 N) | |||||
The CX / Gravel test results show the same pattern as the road bike and MTB test results. The 55 Grams Tubo CX / Gravel outperforms the standard 160 grams butyl inner tube in the rolling resistance tests. The big advantage of the Tubolito tube once again seems to be a much lower weight.
When purely looking at rolling resistance, the latex inner tube still has the lowest rolling resistance.
Conclusion
Our tests show the standard Tubolito tubes perform similar to light butyl tubes in the rolling resistance tests. The even lighter Tubolito S-Tubo tubes outperform the light-butyl tubes and in some cases even come close to the rolling resistance of latex inner tubes.
When looking at weight, the standard Tubolito tubes are approximately 50% of the weight of light-butyl and latex tubes. The ultra-light S-Tubo versions are even lighter at approximately 30% of the weight of those tubes. If your main target is getting the rotational weight down as much as possible the Tubolito tubes will be your cheapest option.
We feel the Tubolito TPU tubes are a good replacement for the traditional inner tubes that have been around for a long time. Although rolling resistance isn't as low as latex tubes yet, we feel these tubes come close enough and in some cases might be a better choice because of the lower weight and small packing size.