Tag: tires

tubo inner tube latex

Latex inner tubes: don’t use them unless you are racing

Latex inner tubes are getting immensely popular – they’ re not very new. But people seem to be buying them like crazy these days, especially here in my country. It’s like a new fashion item plague some part of the population, and you don’t know where it stemmed from. Latex tubes are lighter than tried and true butyl inner tubes. They are also more elastic; that’s why they make gloves from them. If you have a compliant tire, and a latex tube, you’ll feel a bit more comfortable, because the tire fills holes over the road surface more efficiently, instead of bumping over them. The real advantage of latex is not its weight but its compliance. In most cases, I see similar latex inner tubes that are like %20 lighter. Some say %50, some say even more, but you can… Continue Reading Latex inner tubes: don’t use them unless you are racing

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schrader valve

Biggest debate: Schrader valves or Presta valves ?

Schrader and Presta valves are maybe the most controversial topic in biking history(!). Something so trivial attracts so much attention that there are some bikers who swear by Schrader or Presta. Few years ago, I was shopping for a rim in a busy, well-known and quite old store. A man in his late 30s raised his voice gradually, at some point, I understood its about Presta – we was accusing the shop of being negligient and ignorant. Rather than calling them “Schrader” or “Presta”, we use the “thin valve” – “thick valve” here. Guy was insisting it is an abomination to sell “thick valve” inner tubes (which is obviously, Schrader) as they are for cars. I believe there is some truth in it. According to Wikipedia, Schrader valve was invented by August Schrader in 1891, the man who founded Schrader… Continue Reading Biggest debate: Schrader valves or Presta valves ?

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dtswiss thru axle

Newer bike standards that are actually good

We started to see emerging new “standards” or “tech” especially in the last decade. Most of them are vaporware, causes more problems and confusion then to provide a solution to problems they address. I’ll try to see the brighter side today. There are some standards that are actually needed. Stupidly, most of them tries to fix some problems that were non-existant before. It’s still good to solve a problem, without thinking about the causes, or who messed it up in the first place: Thru axles: Thru axles is a nice idea, and it solves 2 problems: one is the one with disc brakes, and the other one is about cup and cone bearing hubs. QR (Quick release) is quite an old piece of ….technology, first made by Campagnolo. I never liked it a bit, because you are compressing the hub… Continue Reading Newer bike standards that are actually good

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