Inner Tubes

Inner tubes are a fundermentally important piece of cycling equipment. Whether you're an avid road racer or hardcore downhill mountain bike, we all need inner tubes to enjoy the sport we love.

Inner tube types

There are many different types of inner tube available in today market, it is important that you get the right tube for your riding type.

Choosing Your Tube

It is important that you marry your inner tubes with your tyres and the discipline of riding you're planning.

For recreational riding your main consideration should be durability and comfort. For high performance riding you should be considering varying characteristics depending on your discipline, including weight, handling qualities and puncture resistance.

Tube Sizing

It is imperative that you replace your inner tubes with a tube that is the right diameter and width for your tyre.

Inner tubes typically state a wheel diameter and width range for which they will work, e.g. 26 x 1.95-2.125", indicating that the tube is intended to fit a 26 inch tyre with a width of between 1.95 inches and 2.125 inches. Performance orientated and competitive riders as a rule, for weight reduction purposes, will choose the proper diameter tube with the smallest acceptable width for their inner tube.

Butyl or Latex?

Butyl rubber is the industry standard for common replacement inner tubes, offering a relatively cheap and readily available replacement product. However, more expensive tubes made from latex rubber also exist.

Latex rubber tubes offer slightly enhanced handling characteristics. As latex rubber is slightly more flexible than traditional butyl rubber, the tubes adapt quickly to the tyres changing shape while cornering and on impacts. Latex based tubes generally have a thinner wall, offering obvious weight savings.

Despite their obvious advantages, it is important to recognise their flaws. Latex rubber is more gas permeable than butyl rubber and, as a result, latex rubber tubes do not hold the air as long as butyl based tubes and require more frequent inflation.

Inner tube valves

Modern inner tubes are offered with two different valve types: Schraeder and Presta.

When buying new inner tubes it is important to consider what type of valve you want. Modern bicycle rims are drilled to fit either Schraeder valves (a larger diameter hole) or Presta valves (a smaller diameter drilling). Therefore, when changing a tube, we recommend you replace your tube with one with the same valve type. In an emergency, a Presta valve will easily fit through the larger hole of a Schraeder drilled rim, but should be replaced as soon as possible as the valve may move around in the hole and eventually tear off.

Schraeder Valves are the same valves used on all automotive tyres and are often referred to as car type valves. In terms of bicycle market, Schrader valves tend to be used on lower pressure bike tyre tubes.

Schraeder valves use air pressure inside the tube to help shut the valve, but also have a spring to assist in keeping the valve shut, which is particularly important at lower pressures. The pump attachment on Schraeder valves is shorter and has a greater diameter than that on their Presta counterparts.

Presta Valves are slightly more sophisticated that Schraeder valves. Presta style valves tend to be found on higher pressure tubes found on high-end bikes, although they are now used on all UST or "tubeless" mountain and road bike tires.

The pump attachment is narrower to grip the longer, thinner valve. To inflate the valve lock needs to be undone and retightened once inflated to the desired pressure.

Presta valves are the preferred valve type for most cyclists as they are easier to deflate and provide better purchase and seal when you are pumping tyres up.

Woods (or Dunlop) Valves were once popular on bicycles tyres in Great Britain and Asia. These are now obsolete and very rare as they have not been supplied with bikes for years.

Their bases are wider than Presta valves, but can be inflated using Presta pumps, with the fitting simply screwing onto the valve. As the hole size in the rim is the same dimension as a car tyre valve, we recommend replacing a faulty Woods tube with a Schraeder version.