There’s a lot of buzz around tyre pressure monitoring right now, and TPU tube pioneer Tubolito has joined the movement with its Tubo-Road SYNCD. It takes the brand’s lightweight and robust thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) road tube and integrates a battery-powered Bluetooth pressure sensor, delivering real-time tyre pressure data straight to your device. Let’s see what it’s all about…
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For decades, cyclists have relied on a quick squeeze of the tyre to judge pressure, but in recent years there has been more accurate ways to monitor your tyre pressure with real-time pressure sensors.
TPU inner tubes have been part of the cycling industry for a few years now, with Tubolito widely recognised as a key player in this space. The brand has now taken things further with the Tubo-Road SYNCD smart bicycle tube, combining its lightweight TPU road tube technology with an integrated real-time tyre pressure monitoring system that delivers live pressure data straight to your device.
“SYNCD is the world’s first smart inner tube featuring an integrated battery powered Bluetooth pressure sensor that delivers real-time tire pressure monitoring directly to your devices”, says Tubolito.
It works with any iOS or Android phone, and for in-ride updates on your Garmin head unit, you can download the IQ app.
You can set pressure limits and alerts for sudden changes and of course, you get all the benefits of TPU – great rolling resistance and puncture resistance at a weight that’s much lower than a comparable standard tube. Our SYNCD tube weighed 44g on our scaled, with Tubolito claiming weights of between 44-46g depending on the valve length.
Tubo-Road SYNCD inner tubes fit tyres from 23-35mm wide, and you get a choice of three valve lengths to match your rims; 42mm, 60mm and 80mm.
There’s no complicated setup required – simply install the inner tube as you would a standard tube, spin the wheel to activate the sensor, and connect it to your chosen device.
Tubolito says the battery in its Tubo-Road SYNCD tube will last up to 10,000km or around two years, depending on usage. Once the battery runs out, the tube will continue to function as a standard inner tube, but the smart pressure-sensing feature will no longer work.
To reduce waste, the brand offers a replacement programme. Riders can send back their used tubes and the batteries are replaced. In return, customers receive a 30% discount voucher toward a new SYNCD tube.
Pricing and availability
The Tubolito SYNCD is currently available in the EU, US, UK, Switzerland, Iceland, Monaco, Norway and Liechtenstein, priced at €39.95 (around £35). This is just €10 more than the standard Tubolito-Road inner tube.
Currently, SYNCD is only available for road inner tubes and is compatible exclusively with Garmin head units. However, Tubolito is expected to expand both compatibility and product range in the future.
Get more info at www.tubolito.com
Would you like real time pressure monitoring on your bike? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.
7 thoughts on “Tubolito adds real-time pressure monitoring to its TPU inner tubes with new SYNCD system”
Absolutely insane solution to the problem of TPMS. When you puncture you throw away the monitor? And a 70% of RRP charge to replace the battery is nuts.
No – you send it back to them for the privilege of paying them £24.50 for a new one.
….an expensive solution to a problem I never knew I had.
It’s a far better idea to have something in the valve that can be switched between tubes. SRAM and SKS have both done versions. I’m disappointed that this article didn’t mention those options.
…might have something to do with it.
Er, nope – that’s not how it works, at least according to their own page. You cut out the sensor and send that back, and throw away the tube. They put a new battery in the sensor and install that in a new tube. So an otherwise perfectly good tube is now waste.
“Hey, Bob! I’ve got a great idea. Let’s package some electronics and a battery into this disposable tube. Then when the tube fails/dies, people can just chuck the tube and electronic waste in the garbage.”
What an epically stupid idea.