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TECH NEWS
2021 Tubolito Tubo-MTB-P-SENS-214Tubolito unveils 'world's first smart inner tube' and 35g gravel tubes too
Tubolito has launched the “world’s first smart inner tube” for easily measuring tyre pressures on the go, as well as the “lightest, most packable gravel inner tube”, at just 35g.
The Austrian brand has previously impressed with providing viable alternatives to tubeless for saving weight at the wheel. We’ve tested the Tubolito Tubo Road 700C inner tubes and these scored a 9, so let's check out this innovative inner tube brand's latest offerings...
Tubo-MTB-P-SENS £41.99
Using a Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, the Tubo-MTB-P-SENS inner tube is designed to communicate air pressure wirelessly to riders’ smartphones via the Tubolito app that’s available on both Android and iOS.
This chip is located inside the tube close to the valve, and towards the centre, so it shouldn’t be damaged if you bottom out your tyre when hitting roots.
To determine the tyre pressure, you open the app and bring the smartphone close to the chip – within 3cm, says the brand. Your pressure will be displayed in both bar and PSI.
With a 42cm Presta valve, the MTB-P-SENS inner tube is available in 29in and 27.5in sizes. Each is suitable for tyres that are 1.8in to 2.5in wide.
Tubo-CX/Gravel All £27.99
Tubolito has updated its CX/Gravel inner tube, with a new single model that works with both 650b and 700c wheels, for tyre widths from 30mm up to 47mm.
According to Tubolito, it has a 50% smaller pack size than a standard butyl inner tube.
“Ready for disc brakes as well as rim brakes and offering double the toughness compared with standard rubber tubes it is the perfect all-rounder,” says Tubolito.
It’s also lightweight, the version with a 42mm Presta valve weighing in at 60g with the 60mm valve model a gram heavier.
S-Tubo-CX/Gravel All £29.99
80% lighter than standard butyl inner tubes at just 35g (with a 42mm Presta valve), according to Tubolito, the ultra-lightweight and very small S-Tubo-CX/Gravel All is designed to be a handy spare tube for 700c and 650b tyres, from 30mm to 47mm. The 60mm valve option is a gram heavier.
Tubolito says: “It is not only a saviour in need but can be perfectly used on a daily basis as it still is as robust as standard rubber tubes”.
Leftover tubeless sealant is said to do no harm to the tube.
Tubolito claims this tube has a lower rolling resistance than standard butyl inner tubes.
Latest Comments
- spen 1 sec ago
I often wonder if these councillors and campaigners realise how little "infrastructure" could be provided for the money available. In civil...
- Rendel Harris 28 min 11 sec ago
Yes...and no. Of course no bike can turn a bad climber into a good one and a heavier bike will climb just fine, but as you mention, the heaviest...
- SamSeed 3 hours 29 min ago
My 6KU, replaced everything but the front chainring over the past 5 years.
- Hirsute 8 hours 47 min ago
Radar tells me their closing speed, if they are slowing and how far away. Then I decide to say a prayer. The change of light pattern is incidental.
- lonpfrb 9 hours 7 min ago
Quite so, which is why our village 20mph zone covers the whole residential extent. Of course, enforcement is another thing..
- lonpfrb 9 hours 33 min ago
No, that's very doubtful while proper testing would be fully destructive.
- chrisonabike 11 hours 28 min ago
The relatives might of course disagree, but in general I'd countenance a relatively light sentence* if only we could fix it so that those who...
- ktache 12 hours 7 min ago
Id forgotten that I got a second hand set of project two's for my getting to work bike over twenty years back.
- Veganpotter 13 hours 4 min ago
My bet is that all these tires popping off are from people with bad pressure gauges or they're simply just putting too much air in on purpose. ...
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27 comments
We've just created a Kickstarter campaign for our NFC valve extension sensor that can be used with tubeless tires and reused over and over. It is published in pre-launch. You can visit here and sign up to be notified when it launches: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/roverdev/psicle-sensor
This has got to be the most pointless cycling product since that plastic thing to replace your finger when mounting a chain. Check and adjust your tyre pressures before you leave home using a quality pump and gauge. Then when you’re riding, if you don’t notice when you’ve got a flat, sell your bike, because you are a danger to yourself.
This is the product they 'unvieled'?
A tube with a circuit board leaned on?
Do you really believe this is how the final product will be?
"To determine the tyre pressure, you open the app and bring the smartphone close to the chip – within 3cm, says the brand. Your pressure will be displayed in both bar and PSI."
So 3cm further away than my existing pressure gauge and not viewable as I ride? Where do I sign up?
I'm not going to buy one, but the benefit of remote sensing is that you don't let a bit of air out each time you check it. With a regular gauge, checking the pressure changes the value you are trying to measure.
What would you do with pressure information on your Garmin during the ride? If it's going down over an hour or two, I don't need any sort of gauge to notice that.
It's not something I'd pay 40 quid for personally (I guess 80 for both wheels x no. of bikes), but my thinking was a low pressure alert similar to my car. Without it, maybe you'd notice the drop in pressure immediately, maybe you wouldn't notice until the wheels squirm when cornering/breaking...
Fair point about letting a bit of air out when checking with a conventional gauge - though I find I need to pump my tires up regularly anyway!
All these sharp bits of plastic and metal sitting next to the inner tube. Article mentions the board not getting damaged by drops, how about the tube being damaged by the board?
Do you really think that the board leaned to the tube will be the board to be built in together with the tube?
I bet this is just a illustration, and the product is far from ready.
Why do you have to dismantle your cassette and take your chain off to install it?
If only they had combined the gravel specificity of the Tubo-CX/Gravel All with the NFC pressure sensor of the Tubo-MTB-P-SENS! Although I guess that could have resulted in their entire marketing department dying from some sort of mass orgasm.
Coming soon - a chip you shove up your arse that will tell you when you are going to get saddle sore.
I thought you were going to say it would tell you when you when it was time for something else...
Now there's a Kickstarter idea. The tech is already available. I could install it in a saddle cover/shorts, Bluetooth the data to a phone screen, and you could experiment with different saddles/angles/riding position to minimise discomfort.
https://pressureprofile.com/sensors/tactarray
Pressure sensor inside the tyre is something I've wanted someone to build for a while. But for tubeless and that will communicate with a Garmin
Nice idea, shame about the execution
How about you take the chip out of one of these and pop it in your tubeless? You'd need to fins a way to secure it out of harms way, but I don't see whybit wouldn't work. Can't see the sealant bothering it.
I think the marketable product would be a valve for tubeless with the sensor built in? Much like modern car tyre valves.
That actually sounds like something that could work.
“Ready for disc brakes as well as rim brakes and offering double the toughness compared with standard rubber tubes it is the perfect all-rounder,” says Tubolito.
I think this tells me enough, since I have a mix of disc and rim brake bikes and these will save me from having to keep the different tubes available for each bike - I'm in
I laughed at this and then double checked a couple of my spare tubes which were disc only due to heat
Good job you don't do long descents on rim brakes then.
Any pictures of the box ?
The consumer will decide if this a complete and utter waste of time and effort.
Is air pressure on a bike so really important that we need this. What happen to using your thumb or a pressure guage. Also dont they know about the indrustry going tubless.
"Thumb test" is notoriously unreliable. I can also see the advantage of this over a pressure gauge, especially when out and about - most people keep their phone on them all the time, but who carries around a pressure gauge?
Most people who have set up their tyres tubeless also carry around a spare tube or two, just in case they get a puncture that won't seal. Part of the selling point of the Tubolito is it is small and light to carry around as a spare.
There's also the argument that people who are on the fence about tubeless might give this a go - I'm not going to comment on how much is marketing versus real, but lower weight, more supple, and fewer punctures than a conventional butyl tube are the same reasons many people choose tubeless, so if you can get similar benefits with less faff then I can see the appeal.
The pressure gauge is on my pump.
If the tyre has gone down by enough that it is causing or about to cause a problem, I think I'd notice !
In what way is it unreliable? You press a tyre if it squidges alot probably time to put more air in, if not you are good to go.
How are we going to meet any climate goals when people can waste resources on giving consumable plastic parts - each and every single one - their own cpu and communications chip?