Tubolito's New MTB PSENS Tubes Have a Built-In Pressure Sensor
Have you ever wished your phone could communicate wirelessly with the tube in your tire to check the air pressure? What if that tube had a super catchy, and definitely not chuckle-inducing name like MTB PSENS? Same here, but Tubolito's latest addition to their line of lightweight tubes is actually a pretty clever innovation.
The Austrian company has put a NFC (Near-Field Communication) chip that's encased in foam inside their thermoplastic polyurethane tubes. The chip wirelessly sends a pressure reading to the Tubolito app when a smartphone is held against the tire. The chip doesn't require any batteries, and only adds around 7 grams to the tube. It's located around the valve stem, which makes it easier to remember where to place the phone to check the pressure.
The MTB PSENS tube has a 42mm presta valve and is available in 27.5” and 29” diameters. Claimed weights range from 90 – 93 grams, although my sample actually came in a little less, at 86 grams for a 29” tube. Even with that NFC chip, that's still significantly lighter than a standard rubber tube. The $49.90 price tag will also leave your wallet a good deal lighter than a traditional tube.
I installed a MTB PSENS to give it a try, and can confirm that the technology works. Once I opened the app and held my phone against the tire the pressure would show up in a couple of seconds. I did run into some little bugs with the app – at one point it kept showing the previous pressure reading until I exited and restarted it, and a few times an error message showed up and I had to scan again, but I'd imagine those will be sorted out relatively quickly.
A 29" version of the tube weighed in at 86 grams on my scale.
The foam pouch containing the NFC chip is visible above the valve stem.
At the end of the day, I'm not really the target audience for this tube. I run tubeless on pretty much every bike I own, which means the only time I deal with tubes is on the off-chance I need to fix a flat. In that case, I'm usually not too concerned about having the perfect tire pressure; I just want to get rolling again and make it back home.
However, the NFC technology is intriguing, especially if it can be incorporated into a tubeless valve stem at a reasonable price. We saw Quarq release their TyreWiz device a few years ago which communicates via Bluetooth, but that costs $200 and uses batteries. A quick scan of a few DIY sites brought up a concept that look promising - it'll be interesting to see where else this technology gets applied in the future. Who knows, maybe someday you'll be able to quickly check shock, fork, and tire pressures with your phone.
More information: tubolito.com
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But a lot of people doing little things and it all adds up?... Hell no it doesn't add up. Covid has diminished number of flights and it had virtually no impact on total emissions. I know what you mean but you are using a naive argument. You can't believe that if you drive less world will be better, because no matter how many do it, it has far lower impact than i.e. what government can do by stopping to subsidize oil now, But that will hugely increase food prices and there are at least 10% of folks in every Western country who would become homeless as a result of this.
This is a super dumb product, such function is great to have but it should be solved as a valve thing like tire wiz. No need to hold hands and sing the song of Gaya to prove how dumb some things are
So I started cautiously with tubolito up front and Assegai DH. Worked perfectly. So I went with the back too in a DHR EXO+. Both the "plus" size tubolitos (the non-plus size really is too small for 2.4-2.5" tyres and above). As a result, the plus size tubos don't stretch as much and might then endure more abuse.
Granted, the Zipp rims can take more of a beating than lighter weight carbon rims (in which case sticking with tubeless + insert might be preferable)
(PS: no I'm not a dentist, just buy stuff only on discount and prioritize biking above all else.. very cheap car, very cheap apt, and so on...)
If you ask me... I think the kids of my kids may be fkd... but i honestly don't think there is anything we can do. We are slaves to our brains chemistry on both individual, local and global level. Our only chance is for climate change to take long enough but consistently enough across the globe, so that natural disasters force policies out of pure economical point of view. We have huge capacity to restore environments but it takes time. Policies are tough to push through and as far as I hear California is a great example how wrong it can go when "green lefties" get free hands to push their BS. Low quality policies to win votes, doing more harm than good ,especially to the cause.
Just because someone says they are for environment doesn't mean they are not full of crap and should be kept from decision taking as much as possible since they can only wreck Havoc. Look at that DCA dude, he is doing more disservice to minorities he claims to fight for than good. Green lefties are at least as bad as people they criticize if not worse. I know a few folks like this working for municipality and they are resentful aholes and btches with raging minority complex being only after one thing: attention and power. "green" and "equal" are their passwords to get what they miss in their life They don't give a sht about the world.
stop f*cking breeding
As for an alternative, I found three tubes that hold air in the dumpster yesterday, and this is a fairly normal find. Maybe u need to buy new tubes, fine, but there's plenty of other stuff we can buy used, or just not need to buy. ❤️
The solution is and always has been to reduce production of waste, not just figure out what to do with it. At some point, we need to hold corporations responsible for creating throwaway items to increase profits, but given the piles of money they throw at the gov't to keep the status quo that won't change any time soon.
@rhagelaar: That was my point. It makes even less sense to pack them into individual plastic containers that'll end up in a landfill. Yet, there it was.
But to focus on simple things I am looking at Shimano now: stop packaging small items into big boxes with lots of instructions in all languages. Then there’s quite a few companies taking packaging beyond what is necessary.
Mine? PSENS.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UADXI9BJRs8
The equation governing this is p1v1/t1 = p2v2/t2 (p = pressure, v = volume, t = temperature). T is constant in this case, so P1V1 = P2V2. Exact answer would require some assumptions about the tire deformation and some toroid math, but roughly speaking, a 20psi tire could increase to 21psi. A tire insert would have effectively increase this, but not dramatically, roughly to 22psi.
Buy a good digital pressure gauge, check your tires before you ride, ride tubeless. Problem solved.
NO.
Nailed it
At around 25€ for a tube, an absolute no-go.
Now add another 25€ for a chip that you will throw in the bin when the tube/valve is trash ...
Just run your tires tubeless (+insert) and control the pressure regularly ...
This is a solution for a non-existing problem!
Cut it open.
Do the ghetto tubeless with the split tube.
Show it off to friends.
In all honesty though, if you get a puncture, you'll know about it and shouldn't need an app to tell you. Keep electronics off your bike, pedal with your legs and shift with cables.
Because they don't.
Well, it goes without saying that it is advisable to get to red only in extreme cases .......
Oh wait, they just don’t care how much pressure they have. Just pump as hard as you can
On my mtb? NO WAAY
There’s a lot of great reviews of tubolitos for mtb, it works great, it’s supple and hard to flat, but the bottom line just comes down to are you gonna pay $20 for a tube (and now $50? What if it pops?)