Fuck me, the price of inner tubes!

Had 5+ on my last tubes, didn't have a problem. Now one has split at the valve and I think that is a tube killer because the patch won't adhere to the metal valve.

Yeah our last ones were £50 each fitted, sounds like bike tyre territory to me!
How to fit and supply a run of the mill commuting bicycle tyre in a high street shop?

Likewise last set of car tyres was £200 for all 4 fitted. Cannot possibly imagine any reason to spend upwards of a grand

Edit - or even how you might be able to do that. Most expensive car tyres I can find in my car's size are £76 each

Specialist vehicles need specialist tyres. Look at who posted about the cost of tyres and the cars they own.

It’s like bike tyres, tell a normal person how much specialist bike tyres cost and they will tell you new tyres for their shopper bike cost a fraction of that amount.

New ones for my alpine tractor would be extortionate.

I've got a stack of Conti tubes I bought cheap.

ITS online used to sell tubes for 2 quid but they closed down.

I do patch tubes (though not quick enough judging by the box of tubes I have here) so I'm not too bothered but I'm guessing people buying tubes from shops aren't patching and are probably a bit stuck.

I wonder what the Decathlon tubes cost that I bought during Transiberica?

If higher prices do actually encourage patching I might change my opinion on price.
Everything is more expensive these days anyway. I think I'm just typing now because I don't really have a point. Weather's nice eh?

I normally ditch tubes if the valve dies, the hole is close to the valve (hard rubber where the patch won't stick well) and pinch flats (because larger patches often don't adhere as well and two little ones is a faff when you're on the roadside)

This was £8 from Barnes Bikes !
Never seen this brand before 🤷‍♂️
Wouldn't normally pay that, but I've given a couple of spares away recently to puncture victims on my commute.

1 Attachment

60mm valve though. Long valve tubes have always been more spendy.

Still £2.99 in decathlon (maybe not with 60mm valve), pretty sure I paid no more then £1.99 in 2001 so £3 - £3.50 would seem more inline with inflation then £7?

ITS was part if the hunt group hence they ditched tubes . I got one of the last orders replaced as they where splitting.

I don't remember tubes being less than £5 in shops in the City and when I left they were around £7 so maybe suburban shops are simply catching up to where they should be.

My last order from them was 2017 and I'm still using their tubes. Still have some in packets, in fact.

We definitely need a live report of Ed getting his car tyres on. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N45KcCsBYmc

Never noticed before.......
Might start buying in bulk online now !

Ok, granted my car is a hatchback not a tractor or a Maserati. But the guy saying 'half decent' car tyres start at £80 is chatting bollocks

Was £5 in the early 10’s.

Yes I will ditch it. The rock ring (little gubin you screw onto the valve) was overtight. You can make your own joke here hippy 😆

A branded tube was already £5 to £6 in a London shop 10 years ago.

You can't really compare with Decathlon's own brand, they must sell tens of millions + a year (globally) , it's not exactly a comparable business' model.

Change thread title to 'fuck me, the price of Ed's car tyres'

£3.50 would seem more inline with inflation then £7?

Have you seen everything else that gone up in prices? Like, the inner tube is barely scratching the surface.

That's completely safe to do indoors, right?

Fair enough, I do remember buying some specialized tubes for around £4 - £5 in Cycles UK Greenwich about 10 years ago so maybe £7 - £8 from a LBS these days is totally acceptable.

I do always try and repair a tube as many times as possible but when old repairs start failing etc I tend to replace / like to carry a spare.

Went tubeless for commuting much prefer the feel and had no issues with punctures / sealant, when my deep rim wheels die I doubt I will use inner tubes on a modern road bike again.

I never used those or valve caps on tubes (they do nothing and just slow repairs down).
Only my TL setups need those to hold the valve in.

No jokes here, Chop.