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- XT660Z Tyres ( https://www.xt660.com/forumdisplay.php?f=164)

- - Heavy Duty Tubes ( https://www.xt660.com/showthread.php?t=19981)

..so what's the 23inch tube for then??

Old Honda XL250 and 500s. Bloody awful imo.

Michellin make a 4mm thick tube. ===> http://www.dirtbikebitz.com/images/p...y_Tubes-ms.jpg

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Heavy duty inner tubes on the road

In a nutshell....Is it ok to use Heavy Duty or Ultra Heavy Inner Tubes on my 660 Ten? I never go off road but do long touring miles and would like to keep punctures to a minimum.
Thanks

Quote:

Originally Posted by harryP (Post 200380)

In a nutshell....Is it ok to use Heavy Duty or Ultra Heavy Inner Tubes on my 660 Ten? I never go off road but do long touring miles and would like to keep punctures to a minimum.
Thanks

I think (someone may correct me) the reason for using heavy or ultra heavy duty tubes in dirt bikes is that it reduces the chances of getting 'pinch flats' when dropping the tyre pressure to ride off road in mud and sand.

I don't think they are designed to be more effective at resisting 'normal' punctures such as thorns and road debris. If a thorn can get through the tyre it can certainly get through an inner tube! (as happened to me a couple of times). So if you are touring and road riding, I can't see the benefit of the extra expense.

Another reported issue with running ultra heavy duty tubes is that for prolonged runs on the motorway and at higher speeds they are not recommended as they get hotter and expand more leading to higher risk of failure. Personally I run a rear ultra heavy duty tube in my DRZ and have never had any problems at mway speeds loaded up for weekends away though and a mate of mine ran his KTM990 with heavy duty tube without problems.

I use standard continental tubes in my tenere for both road and off road and find them to be fine. I wouldn't use an ultra heavy duty tube on my tenere to be honest as I don't need to and it would be a pain to fit!

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliwakeskate (Post 200381)

+1 Took the words right out of my mouth! ;)

The only thing I'd add is, from experience, HD tubes seem to more difficult to get balanced properly. You can get them sort of ball-park accurate, but never spot on. Not so bad if you've got knobblies (which are hard to balance anyway) and you don't do many road miles, or speeds much over 50-60mph. But poorly balanced wheels can be a real ball-ache (literally) on longer runs at higher speeds and when touring.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aliwakeskate (Post 200381)

Another reported issue with running ultra heavy duty tubes is that for prolonged runs on the motorway and at higher speeds they are not recommended as they get hotter and expand more leading to higher risk of failure.

Agreed. I went to a tyre/tube seminar with Grant Johnson from Horizons Unlimited and he said the same thing. He is the Yoda of road rubber so I beleive him. Never used HD tubes since.

Thanks guy's, I've gone off the idea!

Only thing is this - in my experience normal tubes can tear if you get a puncture, whereas HD ones usually won't.

I find fitting and balancing tyres with HD tubes not too hard. On the other hand UHD tubes are as others have said - hard to fit and balance for road use, so I don't use them, even for my work bikes which are off-road all their lives.