Schwalbe Aerothan 700c Tube

My new bike came with Aerothan tubes installed in Schwalbe tires, and they work great. They are, as advertised, extremely light with excellent rolling resistance. They're also very compact (roughly half the size of a regular butyl tube when folded), so they fit neatly and easily in either a smaller saddle bag or a jersey pocket. They're not puncture proof, but they do at least as well as butyl tubes in resisting punctures.

When I got my first flat (rear tire), I put in a butyl tube, and noticed an immediate difference. It was harder to pedal, harder to accelerate quickly, and harder to hold speed on the road. After I got home, I ordered up some Aerothan tubes, and replaced the butyl tube in the rear tire. I was amazed at the difference the Aerothan tube made.

Are they worth the substantial price difference? Maybe not for a commuter or casual recreational rider, but for performance riding, they can't be beat. And contrary to reports from some reviewers, they CAN be patched, although you must use Schwalbe's glueless patch kit, which is readily available through WBW/BTD. Yes, they're expensive, but they make a noticeable difference on the road. I'm sticking with the Aerothans. The better ride quality is worth it to me.

After a lot of indecision, splurged and bought two of the Race 700 x 23/28 version. Disappointed to find that both weighed nearly 46g (45.7 and 45.9g to be precise). Substantially more than the 41g listed both in the specs and prominently on the box. Hoped that the scale was off. Fresh batteries, re-calibrated. Nope, not the scale.

Schwalbe tech rep says that lower weight is less important than reduced rolling resistance and greater puncture resistance. CyclingTips' posted data shows that Aerothans have slightly more rolling resistance than latex and slightly less than Conti Supersonic. As for puncture resistance, it's always seemed like that should be in the tires rather than the tubes (though resistance to tearing while mounting is always welcome).

Still, one expects that a product which is (a) made in Germany and (b) so expensive would be closer to spec. If that's impossible, a weight range should be given.

They're still in the box, so my one star rating doesn't mean much. Haven't decided whether to use them or return for credit.

Pros: lightweight, packs small, holds air very well, perfect for seat-pack spares

Cons: Cannot be permanently patched with any patch material currently on the market. I've tried Tubolito, slime, and Park patches. Nothing works. Schwalbe says you must use their patch kit, but I've never tried it because these are not available anywhere. Until Schwalbe makes their patch kits as widely available as the tubes, these can only used as a seat-pack spare (unless you want to throw away a $30 tube with each puncture). Note: Tubolito patches work great for a while, but after a few months they eventually fail.

Been using these instead of tubeless on my road bikes. One flat in 3 years and 15k miles. NUFF said. If you don�t want to mess w tubeless but want great ride quality, light weight, puncture resistance without the hassle of tubeless, this is it!

Same experience as Aaron below. These are light but not reliable. My valve blew out after pumping it about 80 psi and thread ruined and not able to hold air literally after 2 rides. Won't be buying this again.

I will never use a "normal" tube again! It is a phenomenal improvement. It frees up so much space in your Jersey or bag, and they really are puncture resistant. The also prefer them to their orange competition. Cannot recommend enough!

Lighter than latex, and it holds air better than butyl, with virtually no pressure loss between rides. Some reviewers have said they're hard to repair, but in my experience punctures are easily repaired using either the Schwalbe or Tubilito patch kits that are specifically made for thermoplastic tubes. They are great to carry in the flat kit since they are light weight and take up much less space than butyl or latex.

I bought this to use as a spare on my tubeless gravel bike. However, the paperwork that comes with it says not to get it in contact with sealant. So, it is useless for my purposes. I bought lightweight tubes from another company that do not have this issue.

I am using aerothan tubes 2 ways. The best gain is for the emergency tube on my mountain bike and I just put a rock through my front tire and had to use tube to get out of the woods. It is half the weight and 1/4 the size of carrying a 2.5 inch black tube and this matters. Well worth the $28 where I have carried it for 8 months. The valve cores seem to be shipped loose where I took warning from these reviews. . For my winter road bike use I did super glue the core in per reviews and have used one on front across rough roads for 400 miles. So far I like it inside a new mich power cup for an upgraded plush light ride. I have ran latex several times and always get failures near the stem short of 1000 miles. Tighten the valve cores on aerothan and these may be the best tube available.

Nice and light but not worth the money. And the do have to be aired up before every ride. I thought they�d hold air better than regular tubes but they don�t. Not a noticeable difference in ride feel.

Bought 3 of them at the beginning of May. All 3, yes all 3, are toast now.

Tube 1 developed an air bubble in one spot during installation, stretching the material irreparably before the tire was even on (apparently there's a warning against overinflation prior to mounting,written in tiny print in the install guide??).Tube 2, mounted on the rear under a Conti GP5000 in 28mm, punctured after 150 miles.Tube 3, mounted on the rear under a Conti GP 4 seasons in 32mm, punctured after 200 miles (300 miles total on this tube, if you count the 100 miles when it was on the front before I switched it to the rear). As other reviewers have noted, the Schwalbe Glueless Patches can't be found anywhere! So I'm stuck with two broken tubes that I'll probably never bother to fix, given my lack of trust in these tubes now, and what I've heard about the Glueless Patches not always working well.

This was no scientific experiment, so my results are by no means objective, and I may have just had a run of bad luck (I think I was tempting the Flat Gods when I bought these tubes because I was on a 3000-mile no-flat streak with basic butyl tubes (Bontragers and Michelin Airstop A2s with different set-ups)). That being said, I will never purchase Schwalbe Aerothan tubes again. Schwalbe, if you're listening, lower the price by at least half and I will MAYBE consider buying them again, because, as much as I hate to admit it, I did like riding them and I feel like the lower weight and slightly lower rolling resistance was noticeable.

My next tire/wheel upgrade will probably be going tubeless (in which case my Aerothans, if I ever am able to patch them, will be even more useless, because, as Schwalbe notes in the fine print of their Aerothan packaging, the tubes can't come into contact with Tubeless sealant - so much for a light spare tube lol).

Big TPU fan. Use Pirelli's on my disc break, was pumped to find Aerothan's are rated for rim.

However - I've repeated issues with valve core, which is loose and can be easily unscrewed. 1st tube couldn't hold high pressures. My 3rd tube held pressure fine using a floor pump, but any hand pump that screws on can easily unscrew the valve core, which releases all the air. I learned the hard way in the middle of nowhere on a ride.

I've superglued the valve core - hope that helps. But Schwalbe - why am I doing the engineering for you?

There are plenty of reviews here that express the issues that I have had with these - the valve stems are made from plastic rather than metal and are absolutely not up to the task required of them. I've ridden approximately 200 miles with them at this point, and I have to say the tube itself is incredible and provides a great ride quality while also noticeably reducing rolling resistance, but the valve stems immediately started letting air out (even at ~80psi). I probably WOULD buy them again, but I think the first thing I'd do would be to replace the valve core with a higher quality one (the threading on the original valve is VERY fine which I think exacerbates the problem) wrap that in pfte tape, and then dab a very small amount of glue around the valve core threads so it couldn't go anywhere.

Generally, I agree with other reviews, very light, easy to install, great ride, excellent air retention.

I have ridden several hundred miles and had no flat issues on two bikes.

The valve stem is absolutely terrible!!!

Difficult to add air with a standard hand pump. valve core can easily dislodge and make the tube unusable. I don't know if I would purchase again due to the almost dysfunctional stem, but I would definitely buy if they had a quality stem, even if they were slightly higher cost over their already high price.

I had been using latex tubes but was tired of the constant air loss so I decided to give the Aerothan tubes a try. So far I'm impressed by the feel and they don't loose air like latex. They are a bit pricey but so far seem to be a little more resistant to flats. Longer use will determine their true value. So far so good.

The Schwalbe Aerothan 700c tube is pricey, but it is a huge bicycle upgrade! I save on space, weight, and have a more puncture resistant tube. It is easy to inflate and install. I carry a 27 mm extender in my bag for aero higher profile wheels.

Expensive but I was surprised it felt a noticeably better/smoother ride with these tubes. I did have a pinch flat but it was from a pothole. Didnt think a cheap butyl tube could do better in that situation. I used the Park Tool GP-2 patch since the Schwalbe patch is impossible to find and the patch is holding up well after 2k miles. Just make sure surfaces are super clean before applying the patch. I also had 30mm valve extenders fixed on these tubes and no leaks whatsoever. Will get couple more spares when they are back in stock and on sale.

Look, I put these tubes in for a race, and they were a dream. Very light, and they rode unbelievably, I couldn't believe what a difference they made in the ride. Then a couple rides later I get TWO PINCH FLATS IN THE SAME RIDE 15 miles apart, leaves me with a 2 mile walk of shame. That was just the beginning. I can only use their special patches, right? For TWO MONTHS I look everywhere, nobody has them in stock. TWO MONTHS! So I finally give in last week and my the Park Tools glueless patches. They actually seem to work pretty well, but I'll never know because as I'm getting everything repaired and ready to ride, my valve literally BLOWS OUT of the plastic (yes, plastic) valve stem. Threads are ruined, won't hold a valve or an extender in the stem. Trash. Waste of money. Don't think I'll waste my time trying to install the other aerothan that I repaired.

Full disclosure I re-installed the tire using a tire lever and did not use talc so it is probable I caused damage during install. One of the tubes had a slow leak over 2-3 days and subsequently burst when I went to refill it.

They are very light and compact.

Weighs 50g and rides nice inside my Schwalbe tires