Tubolight says their Diamana shouldn’t be solely the quickest & lightest mountain bike tire liner available on the market – however in addition they declare it’s “the winningest tire insert [on the] World Cup, and the one one profitable in each downhill and cross-country“. Its secret although is NOT simply its mild weight or some distinctive materials. Tubolight says that it’s the particular shaping of their Diamana liner that manipulates the move of air molecules INSIDE your tire to raised management native tire compression & rebound as you roll over tough terrain.
Tubolight Diamana is the quickest, most superior MTB tire liner
I’m at all times a bit skeptical of a product we’ve not heard a lot of, claiming to be the quickest and winningest. However apart from sealant itself, tire liners are the least outwardly seen element on a race bike. (To be honest we did hear about, however not bodily see them on Thibaut Daprela’s Commencal Supreme DH V5 downhill race bike final summer time in Leogang.)
So we’ll simply take Tubolight’s phrase for it on the wins if solely primarily based on the rainbow jersey photographs of 2021 XC World Champ Evie Richards, 2021 Olympic Gold medalist Jolanda Neff, and 2021 DH World Champ Myriam Nicole on their homepage. To not point out 2021 XC World Cup #1 Mathias Flückiger and 2022 DH World Cup #1 Amaury Pierron. These 5 riders alone have apparently racked up a slew of wins on Tubolight tire liners in addition to a number of different riders on 5 stable MTB groups. There’s additionally the curious sponsorship of professional conti highway group Q36.5, since Tubolight’s high Diamana tech isn’t but out there in highway tire sizes.
So, everyone knows about MTB tire liners. What makes a Tubolight Diamana liner totally different?
What occurs inside a mountain bike tire while you hit an impediment?
Many mountain bikers are on board with the concept that tire liners could make you quicker in the long term. You get improved low-pressure grip & decrease rolling-resistance with out shedding time trailside fixing flats. However Italian tire liner maker Tubolight has a extra nuanced tackle how tire liners could make you quicker…
When your mountain bike tire hits an impediment, the tire deforms on the web site of affect. That domestically will increase the air stress within the tire, which in flip shortly rebounds, bouncing the tire again out towards the purpose of affect. This may typically occur faster than the bike’s suspension may even begin to react.
Decrease tire pressures and supple tire casings can delay that quick rebound. However there’s solely so low or supple you may go with out sacrificing stability, management, or sturdiness – even with most typical tire liners, that are already an enormous enchancment.
How does the Diamana answer work? And why?
The Tubolight Diamana goals to primarily create 2 layers of air stress contained in the tire quantity and to regulate the velocity at which air flows from one to the opposite. This creates a twin advantage of slowing native tire rebound with decrease outer stress close to the location of affect and spreading the drive additional across the rim for higher affect safety with the next stress zone subsequent to the rim.
From the aspect, the blue Tubolight Diamana doesn’t look something like different liners. Its undulating form rises and falls in waves across the wheel, leaving gaps of area above the rim. From an angle, you may see the distinctive scooped nature of the Diamana liner, with dimpled ‘star’ shapes stacked on high of one another.
Tubolight claims that when an affect hits the tire from the skin, these scoops direct airflow into the rim mattress beneath the liner by way of these lateral channel openings. Their form takes benefit of the Venturi impact to hurry up and compress the air because it strikes beneath the liner. The dimples additionally declare the identical boundary separation precept we see on golf balls and Zipp wheels, so extra air goes into the lateral channel openings, and doesn’t mirror again into the principle tire quantity.
Which means air flows into the rim properly quicker than it might probably escape, delaying the quick rebound impact that in any other case makes the tire bounce off an impediment.
Tubolight’s claimed outcomes?
The obvious result’s the native air stress within the tire doesn’t enhance practically as a lot on the web site of an affect, so there’s a a lot slower native rebound or bounce.
Which means the deformed tire will proceed to remain connected to the irregular floor floor for improved grip and management. Tubolight claims a “large 60%” enhance of constant stress towards the bottom for next-level traction. The slower rebound additionally claims 55% larger vibration damping, resulting in decreased rider fatigue and a smoother trip.
They finally say Third-party testing confirms as much as a 9% rolling-resistance discount over tough surfaces.
Tech particulars
Tubolight Diamana liners are fabricated from high-density closed-cell EVA foam – assured 100% absorption-free to work with any sealant. Relative to different liners, further foam hardness for the Diamana liners is critical to make sure they preserve their distinctive form for optimized air motion contained in the tire, and to ship “years” of dependable efficiency. This “results in the longest-lasting tire insert ever made” in accordance with Tubolight, “even after lengthy runflat rides“.
These distinctive Diamana liners can be found in three totally different variations, with totally different thicknesses & densities to go well with mountain bike driving from XC to DH. Their distinctive form additionally ensures they can be utilized with any tubeless valves.
Tubolight Diamana tire liners – Pricing, choices & availability
Diamana SL is the softest, thinnest & lightest for cross-country racing – at a claimed 97g per tire in 29″ solely.
The thicker, medium-hardness Diamana HD is essentially the most common all-rounder tire liner at 145g in 29″ solely, supposed for rear downcountry, or entrance path, enduro & DH tires.
Lastly, Diamana XHD options the thickest liner with the toughest EVA compound, particularly for use with bolstered casing tires. XHD is available in each 27.5″ (205g) and 29″ (220g) sizes to go well with hard-charging enduro & DH race bikes, in addition to heavier eMTBs.
Tubolight Diamana tire liners are offered direct from Tubolight, out there for 100€ solely in pairs. In the meanwhile, solely the 29″ SL+SL, SL+HD & HD+HD pairs are in inventory. XHD liners are usually not at the moment out there.
