Repeating report about Orange Seal and TPU tubes already posted on the boblist

[Patrick Moore]

For some miles now I’ve been riding a Rene Herse TPU tube with Orange Seal regular formula in the RH 28 mm Elk Pass on the front wheel of my 1999 Joe Starck fixed Riv Road custom in place of the hard to find and expensive to buy* Schwalbe extralight 584/558 X 25 mm butyl, and it has been at least as thorn resistant as the butyl, with no apparent air loss despite miles with 2-3-4 goatheads stuck in the casing.

So, before today’s ride, I replaced the butyl in the rear Elk Pass with a RH TPU, adding ~1.5 fl oz of OS regular. Just 20.24 miles out ’n’ back, but this is high goathead country, and the tire seemed to lose no air — I started with 60 rear and 55 front but did not measure upon return.

The route has some minor hills that I’ve ridden umpteen-quadrillion times on many different bikes with many different tires with many different tubes (or tubeless) and man!, it did seem to me that it was easier — with the TPUs — to climb those small hills, gauging things by my breathing rate and quad burn, and by the point where I generally go from seated to standing.

Perhaps it was just a good day, perhaps it was new product fever; I don’t know; but again, I’ve ridden this route for years and years on so many different bikes, and today I seemed to breathe less heavily and remain seated longer than before.

OTOH, I can’t say I noticed any advantage on the flats, again very familiar over the decades, both with and against a modest headwind.

I’ll test this again, and if this ease of climbing seems consistent over another 100 miles or so, and if the TPUs continue to shrug off flats as the butyls did, then God willing I’ll order another passel of TPUs for the 559X42s on the other (errand) fixed road bike. And if that goes well, then I might just swap out the tubeless Thunder Burts and Somas for TPU-tubed Oracle Ridges with OS regular.

*[$15 per, this 2-3 years ago, compared to $30, now $33, for the 26X1.25-1.8 RH TPUs. But the Schwalbe extra lights are very hard to find; I bought mine from a German vendor; not available in the US, AFAIK. At least RH is in the CONUS.]

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Patrick Moore

Alburquerque, Nuevo Mexico, Etats Unis d'Amerique, Orbis Terrarum

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