To tube or not to tube
HONDA TRANSALP XL750 4112 MILES Gareth’s back riding, and has a new interest in inner tubes…
I’ve recently started riding again after an op on my right arm. Specifically, I had some tendons rebuilt in my elbow, and they’re precisely the ones used to operate a bike’s throttle.
Why is this relevant? Well, because in order to get back into the swing, I needed to start slowly on a bike that’s easy to ride. Step forward the Transalp, which – when in Normal mode at least – is so easy to ride that I fell right back in love with biking within moments.
That’s no mean feat in the middle of winter, but alas my first ride was on a Saturday in January and the mercury was just above freezing.
Truth be told, I wasn’t able to go particularly fast. It immediately became apparent that my arm would tire quickly when using a wide range of the throttle movement available. This naturally forced me to cut back and slow down. Might as well work on my smoothness, then…
Fortunately, the Transalp excels in this situation. It’s a very laidback ride, with a comfortable seat, slow-ish steering, an assured gearchange and a nicely mapped throttle. I soon got into a rhythm through corners and found myself grinning from ear to ear. It was a bit like reuniting with an old friend.
However, there is another point to make this month and it’s something reader Guy Morgan wrote in about, having seen my test round-up video on YouTube. It’s about tyres: since the wheels are spoked, and therefore more flexible but stronger than cast wheels they use inner tubes (because they’re centre-laced, rather than rimlaced, which can run tubeless).
Guy reckons it’s a sub-optimal approach: “I have been going off to the mountains of Europe for the best part of the last 20 years, usually with a couple of mates, and I can’t remember not having to repair a puncture… sometimes several,” he says. “How confident would you be having a puncture half-way up the Col de L’Iseran with nowhere safe to stop? Many new bikes can have spokes on the outer rim, and this allows tubeless. KTM have a simple idea of a big rubber band on the inside of the wheel causing an air seal over the spoke ends, so again allowing no tubes.”
This made me think. Should adventure bikes at this pricepoint, which don’t spend a lot of time actually off-roading, ‘make do’ with tubed tyres for cost reasons? I’m aware they can be repaired at the side of the road, but tubeless are less likely to get a puncture in the first place. Plus, I’d need to buy new wheels to move to the far more ubiquitous tubeless variety.
I’d be keen to hear what you think, and what experiences other riders have had.