Fuck me, the price of inner tubes!

i've emailed the ceo of continental asking that very question !
hopefully i'll be inundated with free inner tubes and an apology letter !

i wonder if the valve hole in the rim is a bit sharp and may be cutting into the tyre, it's the only thing i can think that might be causing an issue.

how tight do people do up the little nut that holds the valve onto the rim ?

like i say in the last 20 years i can't remember this happening and i've now had three in 6 months, this is happening on my rock lobster and on all the badger rides and the last 8 years of riding that bike with the same rims i've never had it happen before.

Where on the valve? I presume you've checked the valve hole for burrs? Failing rim tape can also do this. Splitting though - odd - maybe a bad batch from the manufacturer?

how tight do people do up the little nut that holds the valve onto the rim ?

Pretty loose. Like, the nut is in the bin in my workshop and the tube is out on the trails on my bike.

We get a lot of tubes going beside the valve in the track bike at work, deburring the hole and ensuring the tape is sound seems to fix it. I do think the Vittoria tubes e we have there are as bit shite too. They definitely don’t like being stretched into a larger tyre, or even a tyre at the top end of what the tube is supposed to be able to handle.

all three have gone in a similar spot, but it's hasn't happened with any other brand of inner tube in the 8 years i've been using this wheel, 2 splits happened then completely coincidentally i also changed the rim tape and this one happened on thurs. the rim tape i don't think was the issue nor the valve hole in the rim

Yeah, I'd get a file onto the valve hole and maybe swap the rim tape. Fuck rim tape...

Bought 10 at auction for £18 , that's tubes for the rest of my life sorted

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How tight is the rim tape? I had similar with loose plasticky rim tape as it can cut in, rather than that nice velox cloth rim tape.

I used to swear by Velox cloth until it let me down a couple of times. Nowadays I use Tesa yellow tape - same stuff I've used for tubeless. It's cheap and there's a whole roll instead of buying 2xwheel's worth. Endless re-taping fun for the whole family.

I get quite a bit of inner tube failure in the same place. Mine is down to the Park Tools track pump being quite aggressive on the valve and a pain to take off the clamp head after pumping. This in turn puts a load of stress on the material around the valve.

Ruined a lot of latex tubes just like that. Flats I patch but that is just bin. I cut a piece of tube and do a hole to protect the valve area.

Mine is down to the Park Tools track pump being quite aggressive on the valve and a pain to take off the clamp head after pumping.

My Park Tool pump does the same. I prefer to use Michelin Airstop tubes because they’ve got smooth-sided valves which aren’t threaded and the pump head just slides off.

Are you using the tube without the security nut? If so the fitting of the pump head can lead to the valve stressing the tube at its join

Where’s good to get 16” tubes for a Brompton from? Haven’t bought one for years and just burnt through a couple in the same amount of days. Are the Halfords ones any good for £4? They seem to be the cheapest.

There are two "16 inch" rim diameters. Brompton wheels are 349mm. Kids' bikes are 305mm. I strongly suspect that Halfords tube is the latter.

Brompton tubes are at least easily patchable.

https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/inner-tubes/schwalbe-av4-schrader-tube-400a1618-tyres-37340-28349-to-37349-28355-to-35355/

SJS do cheap 'corratec' ultralight 26in inner tubes, works fine on 650b and doesn't cost too much.

It's really the lightest inner tube I ever had, but I did have one failure at the valve. Reckon it's still worth it, I doubled up duct tape at the valve hole, hope it doesn't repeat. Ordered 5 recently so either it's still worth it or I'm a fool.

Tesa yellow tape

Any specific model? Would seem like a good idea, tape costs ££ and I want to re tape two of the wheels I have sometime soon.

Tesa Tape 4289

What width? If you're in London I have a roll of it in 19mm I think you're welcome to use from.

Shit, I bought mine in 2017 and still have most of it.

Bought it from these guys for £9 at the time: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112547780916

Mine's from 2020 and I've barely put a dent in the roll, yet seem to wrap a set of wheels a month at least

Edit: from the same seller, mine was £11 then!

Cheers but am in Glasgow..

We should consolidate the forum's supply of Tesa tape... reduce reuse recycle...

Any advise on TPU good or bad.