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Are the "superlight" tubes any good?
I'm sure their tubes are no better or worse than anyone else's, but making butyl tubes lighter (ie thinner) is not a good way to go about the problem of saving weight.
Latex is superior to butyl in every regard, as a material for an inner tube, except gas permeability. So you don't want them on your daily, which is exactly the use case that calls for maximum puncture protection and making butyl thinner, reduces it.
Hovis is right that tyres are your first line of defence, but the tube still has a role to play unless you're rolling on something like Marathon Plus and in that case you wouldn't be bothered about saving a few grams of butyl.
During hedge cutting season I picked up a thorn in my rear tyre. I only stopped because of the noise and what I could feel: doink-doink-doink. The thorn was fully 5mm out of the inside of the tyre, but the latex tube didn't puncture and stretched around it instead. Butyl is too rigid to have done that.
If you want lighter inner tubes, get latex and enjoy the benefits of reduced rolling resistance, improved puncture protection and greater comfort. Just make sure your tyres warrant them.
Scilly.Suffolk-
Hmm, well I'm not exactly sure what this bike is going to become ultimately. I've got a retro MTB that is now my commuter/pub bike/etc. and my normal road bike (which I used to commute on) will just be for weekend rides I suppose. So based on that maybe it's worth switching to latex tubes.
On the other hand I'd like the replace the frame with something more gravelly and for gravel rides, touring and bikepacking I almost certainly don't want latex tubes. Although I suppose I could keep a set of latex tubes for when I go on one-day road rides and swap between gravel/road tyres.
Fairly sure no one else is interested in my random mumblings about my bikes so I'm going to stop here and just think about it for a while. Thanks for the info anyway.
frankenbike
Are the "superlight" tubes any good? Or am I going to puncture them all on the first ride?