Road Inner Tubes

Although inner tubes for road bikes may not be the most glamorous subject, they are certainly an essential part of riding a bike. For many people the first bit of proper bike maintenance they do will be changing their inner tubes to keep their bikes in good working order.

Road bike inner tubes are one of the simplest bits of cycling equipment in an otherwise high tech engineering world but no matter what kind of cycling you do, from downhill mountain bike racing to family days out with the kids, you are going to need them in good working order.

With so many different types of inner tube on the market, however, it is very important to get the right one for the type of bike you own and for the style of riding you are planning to do. If you are just doing a bit of casual riding then as long as your inner tubes are in good working order (i.e. no leaks) then you should be fine, but for any kind of more arduous riding or serious participating in cycling sports, then your tyre pressures really need to be spot on and your inner tubes need to be up to the job.

Butyl rubber is a fantastic low cost material for the majority of road inner tubes however latex rubber will offer slightly superior handling thanks to its increased flexibility, although they do cost a little more. When it comes to valves, Presta valves are definitely superior for racing bikes thanks to their slimmer stem which is better equipped to cope with the higher pressures demanded by racing bike tyres. Continental inner tubes feature everything you need for optimum tyre performance.