TESTED: Tubolight EVO HD Tyre Liners

Words: Hayden Wright

Photos: Mike Blewitt

Tubolight’s tyre liners hail from Italy, and they should be well-known to anyone who follows succesful World Cup riders. Tubolight are used by the likes of the Commencal Muc-Off Team and Trek Factory Racing XC amongst many others. Both teams are known to never leave equipment choice to chance, and this alone speaks highly for Tubolight. While they have models for everything from road to downhill, the overall design is similar, although construction uses different materials and shapes.

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The Tubolight design has an inner channel and an outer channel, ensuring a lot of the material sits over the rim edge. This provides security against rim impacts, adds stability, and the two channels also have an impact on the movement of air within the system on impact, and is said to reduce rolling resistance for greater efficiency. We set up a set of EVO HD on a trail hardtail and an enduro bike to see if they would deliver.

Setup

Regardless of the model, setup was simple. Make sure your tubeless tape is in good condition and fit a valve. We used Tubolight valves, which have multiple ports to allow air to get in fast. Then fit one bead of a tyres, and fit the tyre liner. You do need to stretch it over the rim, but you can do this by hand. We even saw a tyre and liner fitted in about 15 seconds up at Crankworx!

Given that the Tubolight system creates two air channels, one against the rim and liner, and one between the liner and tyre beneath the tread – Tubolight suggest putting sealant in when the second bead is almost on, as opposed to through the valve. This could leave the majority of sealant in the internal channel, where it’s not really going to help with a small cut in the other channel.

On the trail with the EVO HD

The EVO HD is Tubolight’s heavy-duty offering, and has a few changes compared to the SL model specifically for use in gravity riding and on e-bikes. Firstly, changes have been made to the material used to construct the insert, with the HD’s foam having an increased density leading to a firmer feel. Second, the cross-sectional profile has been maximised to suit rims with an inner diameter (ID) of 26mm or more, along with tyres with an increased casing volume. All of this has been done in an attempt to decrease pinch flats, increase rim protection and also provide a more damped and stable feel while you’re pinning it downhill. Coming in at 120 grams (actual), these inserts have been piloted to World Cup podiums under the likes of Amuary Pierron and Thibault Daprella. Are they a worthy investment for the average enduro rider? I was keen to mount up a few and find out. My setup was as follows:

My first install was to the rear of my trail hardtail. While I really enjoy riding the bike when I have the chance, I’ve always found the ride to be harsh due to the tyre pressures I need to run to keep flats and rim dints at bay. After whipping in the Tubolight EVO HD, I began to play with pressures, coming down to 24psi from my typical 28psi. This increased traction immensely. I could feel that the extra contact patch achieved through the lower psi that gave the tyre much more bite into the dirt, while also decreasing small bump deflections. This deflection dampening was also a godsend on flat, pedally singletrack where you want to sit and put the power down. While descending on the hardtail is still a rough and wild ride, the insert does a noticeable job of smoothing out trail chatter while also helping dampen the harder ones. 

The second install was on the rear of my enduro bike. Typically shod with a Cushcore Pro, I feel that inserts are necessary on a bike of this kind to ensure you can finish out a race stage even if you do suffer a mechanical. In comparison, I felt that the Tubolight offered a very similar ride feel. The main characteristics I enjoy are the bottomless feel you get by adding some ‘suspension’ to your wheels and the damped ride quality that the foam insert and lower tyre pressures provide. When pushing hard on downhill stages I tend to stray offline and bang into rocks and roots a little too frequently. The EVO HD ensured that my carbon hoops stayed damage free, while also giving me more traction. Given the unnoticeable weight penalty and ease of install, this product should be a consideration for any serious gravity rider. They’re available in 27.5” and 29”, and sold individually.

RRP: $79.99
From: fesports.com.au

Hits

• Easy to install
  
• Low weight and reduced rolling resistance
  
• Can tune pressure for traction, not just rim protection
  
  Misses
• Adds an extra step to tyre changes or flat repairs