inner tubes - what's good & bad

So I am thinking of going to a 150/60R17 on the rear. Will the stock tube work or would you go with a different size? What brand tubes are you guys using? Are there good ones and bad ones, or is a tube a tube?

Good thread!

I got my Conti SMs on the weekend and I've been scratching my head since. They're the 150/60s. Comparing them they are a bit wider but also lower. I put a 5-5.3 tube in the tire just to size it out and it seemed a bit narrow.

As for brands, I've used many different ones and the only failures thus far have been from foreign objects (screws), extreme age (miscalculated and had over 17k), or trying to put too big a tube in for the tire (created folds which wore). I wouldn't blame the tube brand on any of that.

I'm not sure what to try. That's what I know thus far. Looking forward to other responses.

I was told that a slightly small inner tube is a lot better than a slightly big tube, for the exact reason that Zed mentioned.

FWIW I have to go get a new inner tube tomorrow cause I pulled a 2 inch nail out of my back tire this afternoon.

I hate it when that happens. Nails in the wrong places can really ruin your day!

Sure can. I had to "phone a friend" to get the bike home. As it turns out pushing a 300 lb bike with a flat tire is a lot hard then you'd think.

Apparently the dirt around a construction zone is full of nails and other sharp crap.

hey mawkey go to motorcycle superstore.com and go to metzeler tubes , i got the type A and type B for 17" rims, nice tubes i thought.

Yamahawk, what size tire did you buy that tube for?

Finally changed to the Contiforce SMs today. Unfortunately a #10 wood screw in the old rear tire destroyed the stock tube so I couldn't try it. Looking at it though I do thing the stock size would be fine. I couldn't get another tube, so I used the 5.00/5.30 that I had on had. It's a little on the small side for the 150/60 but the tire seated. I want to try a 5.50/6.00 but hey, it's the first motard night of the season on Monday, I need something. We'll see how it goes.

I'll report back on how the small tube makes out and a review on the Contis. So far the test ride was good.

I re-used the original stock tubes in a pair of Distanzias. The stock tubes list sizes on them and will fit no problem.

The stock tubes looked absolutely brand new. Of course, I've never ridden on a pair of tires (track days included!) that wore out in 2000 miles.

Next question -- anyone used inner tube Slime? I'm thinking I won't bother but breaking the bead the tire was a pain in a$$. Thoughts?

mawk i got the 120/60/17 front and the 150/60/17 rear. contiforce hypersports road attacks

Well, the 5.00/5.30 rear tube on the 150/60 tire held up for 100km of hot laps on the kart track tonight. So I guess it's OK and the stock one should be also.

Thanks for the info guys.