Heavy-duty inner tubes

[Wildman]

Got a trip to Iceland in the planning so lots of gravel. Went to purchase some heavy-duty, Continental MX inner tubes yesterday and saw it stated that they were, "not for road use". Continental covering their ass or a genuine problem at road speeds? What inner tube do you use?

[Wargasm]

probably something to do with highway speeds and balancing with the inner tubes installed. The ones I installed said the same thing, no problems at highway speeds yet.

By the way have you ever thought of adding Kevlar in between the tire and tube to guard against puctures? I head about desert race bikes having done this, couple layers of ballistic kevlar between tuba nd tire supposed to add a lot of punture resistance.

[freetors]

Don't worry about it. You should be fine but I always cover the tube and inside of tire with talcum powder to keep the friction and heat down.

[cristi-mic]

I'm using Continental Ultra Heavy Duty tube on front tire (5mm thickness) and there are absolutely no problems.
On the rear tire I just transformed the rim into tubeless, more than 25.000km without problems.

[sTE610vE]

If you're worried about pinch flats I can see HD tubes, otherwise I would just go with standard tubes, much easier to mount without pinching and if it's a puncture flat the thicker tube might last longer with just a tiny thorn or rock in the tire, not sticking thru very far, but anything that sticks thru the tire much at all will get thru a hd tube too, my 2 cents worth

[Wolfgang55]

Have been using the 5mm super duty w/ ''Ride-On'' inside each for 6 tire changes.

They do make the turning of the wheel/rims heavier than the stock thin tubes but I will always add the super duty tubes at the first tire change on all of my scoots.

I don't care as much about the speed decrease but I do like the "keep going'' factor that both 5 mm tubes & ''Ride-On'' afford me.

[Ride-a-lot]

This past summer before riding the Oregon BackCountry Discovery route I ordered Michelin heavy duty tubes to put in the tires on my Husky. When the tubes arrived I was shocked at the size of the box they came in. The box was barely smaller than the box a new pair of boots came in. I weighed the tubes and together they were just under 8 pounds. I don't think I will be using heavy duty tubes again because of how much they weigh and how much harder they are to put in. The suckers were a bitch to install.

I guess they worked because after 6 days of solid offroad riding I had no flats. Of course neither did the other 2 guys I was riding with that had normal tubes in their tires.

[Wildman]

Cheers guys.

[AZcacti]

I gave up on the HD tubes since nails and screws are my main causes of flats.

[DaymienRules]

I find the HD tubes are generally just as easy if not easier to install than regular tubes. My technique is to put a few psi into them before installation, so they're inflated to shape first. I run the ultra heavy duty's whenever possible, and keep the std thin front tube on the bike as a spare.

[BigToad]

In my experience the hd tubes heat up to much at hwy speeds and cause excess tire wear, therefore not my first choice for road trips. However you say its gravel road so if you don't rip ie keep the speed down its hard to beat an HD tube. I generally add air for paved or higher speeds to avoid heat.

On my xr650r I use the tubliss system and have had exceptional results. That would be my choice for a smaller bike, being able to stick a plug in a nail hole and ride on is awesome. I have yet to test the tubliss system on a long trip and of course it's not DOT approved...but I will be using them on the TAT or CDR trips planned.....