Continental Inner Tubes - Rubbish?

Churchill123

Is it just me or are continental inner tubes cra p

i went through 3 today for various reasons, valves snapping when pumping one up, and another where the valve just clean sheering off from the rubber join to the main body of the tube!

Has anyone got experience with other brands

imposter2.0

Conti tubes - nothing wrong with them. No better or worse than any other IME.

DiscoBoy

I rate them. For butyl I won't buy anything else.

I've heard far more horror stories about Specialized, and my one experience of their tubes was poor.

foggymike

Wouldn't use anything else. User error?

sebo900

Conti tubes have never been anything other then awful to me I always rip the valves off the tube perhaps I'm particularly ham fisted but no other brand does it to me

Initialised

Yes, Continental tubes are the reason I fit the lock nut inside the wheel, stops the valve tearing off, not while I'm pumping but as I remove the pump.

Could be user error or pump choice but I have a workaround in case I have to use a conti tube, not fond of their tyres either.

Scrumple

Great tyres tubes well made and fine if you aren't cack handed

Churchill123

to be fair its probably me being ham fisted

ednino

Used conti tubes for 10 years, never had a problem

Ber Nard

I find them particularly annoying if you use a pump that has a screw on head. Because the Conti tubes use a removable valve core it can come away with the pump after inflating the tyre. I recall not being able to repair a flat at the side of the road because the pump wouldn't come away from the valve core. Luckily, I was within walking distance of home.

I know other manufacturers use the same design and I know using a pump with a thumb lever gets round the problem. But I try and avoid them, just in case.

Rob

sungod

they're shipped with the valve slightly loose, tighten properly before fitting and they won't come undone - i use a lezyne screw on pump, because i've tightened them the valves do not come undone

never had any problems with conti tubes, race light 28 are great

Anonymous

Continental tubes and tyres are great IMO.

Just learn how to use them properly or find something different to sl4g off :roll:

ride_whenever

Meh, I've had a few bad batches of conti tubes. Only use schwalbe ones now, only seen one bad one in 3 years of shop use.

The conti box we bought, 1/3 came back.

Anonymous

Initialised wrote:

Yes, Continental tubes are the reason I fit the lock nut inside the wheel, stops the valve tearing off, not while I'm pumping but as I remove the pump.

How does the locknut have any effect on what happens when you remove the pump?

I never use the locknut on butyl tubes and have never had a problem with any tube doing that and only use Conti Race 28 (in butyl's) these days.

You guys should never try latex tubes if you are having problems with butyl's lol.

Would have thought removable valve cores are always prone to come out if you use a screw on pump and do not allow it to cool down before removing/remove without enough care.
Good tip to make sure they are tight in the first place though.

casatikid

Had a problem some time ago with these tubes and my LBS did tell me that they had a bad batch in and that they had lots of complaints.So instead of slagging this rider off(Churchill 123) perhaps he has been unlucky as I was.
Use Vittoria now and with no complaints.

iron-clover

I've been using them almost exclusively for over 3 years- originally because of the bright yellow dust cap that's not too easy to lose on the road, and can't say I've had a bad batch. The worst I've had is the center of the valve blow out on a tube that was over a year old- and I can just replace the valve with a spare.
Also a few of my latest runs have loose valves, but 10s with a pair of pliers stop them from leaking/ coming undone.

Initialised

Carbonator wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Yes, Continental tubes are the reason I fit the lock nut inside the wheel, stops the valve tearing off, not while I'm pumping but as I remove the pump.

How does the locknut have any effect on what happens when you remove the pump?

I put the locknut one the tube, all the way down before putting the tube in the wheel/tyre this stops the valve stem tearing when I remove the pump since I'm pulling against the nut not the weak bit of tube between the valve stem and the rubber.

Anonymous

Initialised wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Yes, Continental tubes are the reason I fit the lock nut inside the wheel, stops the valve tearing off, not while I'm pumping but as I remove the pump.

How does the locknut have any effect on what happens when you remove the pump?

I put the locknut one the tube, all the way down before putting the tube in the wheel/tyre this stops the valve stem tearing when I remove the pump since I'm pulling against the nut not the weak bit of tube between the valve stem and the rubber.

Oh, I see................... Which way around do you put your helmet on?

Sorry, could not resist :oops:

Does anyone else do that?
Seems extreme and would have thought there would be something better to put between the tube/rim if it really was such a problem.

I thought it was pushing a pump onto a partially deflated tube valve that caused the tube to rip?

I use latex tubes which seem much more delicate and need topping up every ride. They never fail when removing the pump. In fact, after getting to 120psi on a non threaded valve stem it pretty much comes off on its own.

Do you put another nut on the outside too?
What pump are you using? I think you might need a new one if its that tough to get off!

Initialised

Carbonator wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

Initialised wrote:

Yes, Continental tubes are the reason I fit the lock nut inside the wheel, stops the valve tearing off, not while I'm pumping but as I remove the pump.

How does the locknut have any effect on what happens when you remove the pump?

I put the locknut one the tube, all the way down before putting the tube in the wheel/tyre this stops the valve stem tearing when I remove the pump since I'm pulling against the nut not the weak bit of tube between the valve stem and the rubber.

Oh, I see................... Which way around do you put your helmet on?

Sorry, could not resist :oops:

Does anyone else do that?
Seems extreme and would have thought there would be something better to put between the tube/rim if it really was such a problem.

I thought it was pushing a pump onto a partially deflated tube valve that caused the tube to rip?

I use latex tubes which seem much more delicate and need topping up every ride. They never fail when removing the pump. In fact, after getting to 120psi on a non threaded valve stem it pretty much comes off on its own.

Do you put another nut on the outside too?
What pump are you using? I think you might need a new one if its that tough to get off!

No I don't put one on the outside, so long as I don't use short stems I don't need it on the outside.

Pump is a Blackburn Airstik mini pump, other pumps and my CO2 inflater don't tear valves, pump is emergency only but fitting the nut inside is like always parking facing downhill because I once had a car that regularly needed a rolling start to get it going.

lostboysaint

Another fan here of both tubes and tyres. Never had an issue.

Bar Shaker

They are my tube of choice. Second choice is S Works.

If a tube lets you seriously man handle it, you are adding too much weight where it really works against you.

Anonymous

Thats a great way of putting it

dennisn

Churchill123 wrote:

Is it just me or are continental inner tubes cra p

i went through 3 today for various reasons, valves snapping when pumping one up, and another where the valve just clean sheering off from the rubber join to the main body of the tube!

Has anyone got experience with other brands

It's just you. Without reading any further I'm going to vote for operator error.

Anonymous

As above ^

Well apart from people who seem to need industrial strength rubber and a 'bad batch', it seems Continental tubes have come out of this very well.

Really annoys me when people sl4g something off with a bad review and/or thread title just because they had problems with it.

This threads title just says 'revenge' to me and I don't think Continental deserve it.
Something like 'How do you find Continental Inner Tubes?' would have been the decent thing to put.
The word 'Rubbish' will just stick in peoples minds, even if they actually read the thread (which a lot may not) and the conclusion is that they are not.

I don't see Continental tubes as being for people who cannot use them properly so think any bad reviews from such people can be discounted.
The whole 'bad batch' thing is a bit of an odd reason to quit a brand too IMO.

Churchill123

Carbonator wrote:

As above ^

Well apart from people who seem to need industrial strength rubber and a 'bad batch', it seems Continental tubes have come out of this very well.

Really annoys me when people sl4g something off with a bad review and/or thread title just because they had problems with it.

This threads title just says 'revenge' to me and I don't think Continental deserve it.
Something like 'How do you find Continental Inner Tubes?' would have been the decent thing to put.
The word 'Rubbish' will just stick in peoples minds, even if they actually read the thread (which a lot may not) and the conclusion is that they are not.

I don't see Continental tubes as being for people who cannot use them properly so think any bad reviews from such people can be discounted.
The whole 'bad batch' thing is a bit of an odd reason to quit a brand too IMO.

How long have you worked for Continental's marketing team? :P

lostboysaint

Probably as long as you've worked for the oppositions?!

You asked a question, you got the answers. Don't start being a twat because the majority answer wasn't the one you were looking for.

Bar Shaker

Churchill123 wrote:

Carbonator wrote:

As above ^

Well apart from people who seem to need industrial strength rubber and a 'bad batch', it seems Continental tubes have come out of this very well.

Really annoys me when people sl4g something off with a bad review and/or thread title just because they had problems with it.

This threads title just says 'revenge' to me and I don't think Continental deserve it.
Something like 'How do you find Continental Inner Tubes?' would have been the decent thing to put.
The word 'Rubbish' will just stick in peoples minds, even if they actually read the thread (which a lot may not) and the conclusion is that they are not.

I don't see Continental tubes as being for people who cannot use them properly so think any bad reviews from such people can be discounted.
The whole 'bad batch' thing is a bit of an odd reason to quit a brand too IMO.

How long have you worked for Continental's marketing team? :P

How long have you been Edward Scissor Hands?

drlodge

Been using Conti Supersonic tubes - the paper thin ones - for the last couple of years and had no issues at all. I generally use a track pump which may be easier on them than a hand pump.