VredesteinRace Latex Road Tube(Return to Product Page)

I won't tell you about how you need to take care mounting these or how you need to pump them up every day - you know that already if you are looking at buying these.

What I will tell you is that I have found these to bring all of the benefits of latex ride quality and low weight with a surprising durability. I used to change tires and tubes for races, but for the heck of it I left these on under a pair of Michelin Pro4's and rode my normal training rides to see how long they lasted. Over chip and seal and loose rocksgravel and any other normal road hazard that you can think of, I have yet to have a single puncture after hundreds of miles of training and racing. These ultralights have proven to be an outstanding product when paired with the right tire.

This tube is what the rolling resistance articles are talking about. Seems to work well in most wheel sets that I have. I do not use these tubes in my carbon clinchers, as I found them to attach to the side wall of the tires, most likely do to the heat from the brakes. With aluminum rims, no problems especially with continental 4000s. Seems to be an excellant combo. No valve stem issues at the valve seat using Mavic SL rims.

Best tubes money can buy. Yes they leak air overnight, but as long as you check tire pressure before a ride, it is worth it.

Combine these with nice supple tires like Veloflex Master, or Vittoria Open Corsa CX 320 tpi and you are in cycling bliss. The only way to get a smoother ride is to go run Tubular tires and wheels.

100% recommended! Make sure you talc your tubes and inside of the tire before installing.

Great tube for racing, but one of the 6 tubes I purchased for my racing wheels spontaneously developed a pinhole leak on the rim side within the first few weeks.

This tire is 50-60 grams lighter than a typical butyl tire which is supposed to shave of precious seconds in a race. It rides great and I don't have any prOblems with the tire. It definitely doesn't hold air as long as a butyl tire though. I normally inflate to 125psi and after a 40k ride it is generally down a bit, maybe 10 psi lower at most but not too bad. The next day the tire is way down around 60-70 psi so you have to inflate before every ride. That's a good habit to be in anyway.

Lightweight tube. Significantly decreases rotational weight.

These tubes are great. I've noticed that I climb faster and accelerate better. Ride them in everyday rides without any problems. Only flaws If noticed (minor) are that you need to air up prior to each ride and over time the fuse point of stem and tube fails. Though I think this wouldn't happen if tube was threaded, something I refuse to buy. Perfect world only base of stem would be threaded!

Only have a few hundred miles on them so far, so I haven't completely formed an opinion yet.

A few observations

Don't use a tire iron to mount tire. I learned this at the expense of a tube.

They lose a significant amount of air pressure in between rides. You will have to pump up before each ride.

When I ordered my new, light wheelset - I threw on these and some 150g tires just to go the whole nine yards wrt weight. I like these better than the Vittoria Latex tubes I put in the same wheel a couple weeks later. I've removed both after only a few hundred miles, and the Vredestein's look like they've fared much better. The Vittorias kind of look haggard and make one wonder if you want to reinstall them or not. If you want to try latex, I think the Vreds are the way to go. They do lose about 15-20 psi over night when you first install them. I certainly wouldn't bet any body parts that I could tell the difference in a blind test - either in weight or feelrolling resistancewhatever. I threw them in a bag of talk first and did not use irons to install. I did use a bead jack. No problems o the install if you do it correctly and make sure you go around the tire getting everything seated right before inflating. I wish they came in a shorter valve stem. This, the cost, the air loss, the availability, the ridicule - all have brought me back to light butyl at 80ish grams. (I sometime run FOSS plastic tubes.) But if you want to try latex - VREDESTEIN RULES!

At under 55gms and as supple as the post ride was these tubes are awesome and should be OEM in all high end clinchers sold on LBS built bikes I Own Dura Ace c24 carbon clinchers and the riding difference In my opinion was rather astonishing after I changed out the Butyl for the latex tubes but the best thing about latex tubes is they patch permanently latex glue and a latex patch form a hermetically tight bond compared to Butyl which the bond is rather weak since there is no latex substrate to form a good base bond

I need to weigh the tube to check the accuracy, but they definitely feel lighter and take up less space than a butyl tube.

Running them with Continental GP4000s 25s and it's amazing. Very smooth ride and obvious placebo effect of the tubes.

Not a bad deal if you can get them for a reasonable price.

Does not seem to be more predisposed to punctures. When changing tires (not because of puncture), you can see the latex adhered to the tire which probably explains the supple feel to your ride you get with latex tubes. Definitely worth the minor added expense for racing if you prefer the ease of a clincher.

Have been running these with Veloflex 25c clinchers for the past 700 miles and love them overall. The combination of tube and tire with lower pressures 85-95lbs provides a really outstanding ride. No pinch flats while riding at lower pressures. I had one flat in the first 50 miles due to a glass shard and replaced it with a butyl spare. I later patched the latex tube then had a subsequent spectacular blow out when not riding. It sounded like a gunshot and blew the tire off the rim. This was likely due to my damaging (pinching) the tube when mounting the tire. The Veloflex tire beads are really stiff on Dura Ace rims. I mounted a new tube and the same thing happened. Third time I was more careful, used lots of talc, and kept my fingers crossed. Since then I haven't had any issues. That being said, I think I am a little nervous on fast descents and consider going back to lightweight butyl for peace of mind unless they remain trouble free. Flatting 3 times in one day was maybe an anomaly. They do leak air overnight and this is another consideration if you don't like topping off your tubes before every ride. I don't know how much air they lose on a 5-7 hour ride.

After making the switch from the butyl to latex rubber it was a noticeable difference in ride quality. The latex is also much lighter in weight which has advantages. No increase in flats over butyl but I would imagine the latex would not offer a durability advantage of the butyl rubber. I use the latex tubes on race day only with a race wheel set and tires. Not worth the flat risk on training rides.

To the best of my knowledge this (along with Continental Supersonic) is the lightest road tube you can buy. The light weight is appreciated, however I haven't been able to discern any change in supplenessride quality compared to lightweight butyl tubes. They appear and feel fragile, but I haven't had a single problem or flat yet in nearly a thousand miles of PNW winter riding. I did use an abundance of caution in mounting them (extra talc, very careful alignment, inflate to 30ish psi then deflate before inflating all the way). I had to remove the rear tire and tube when I broke a spoke, and the tube looked horrible (discolored and uneven stretching) but I remounted and it's still working just fine. Also, I am using them in 25mm Schwalbe tires with no problems even though I was a little concerned since other retailers are selling what I believe to be the exact same tube, but recommending a max 23mm tire width.