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Innova changes the tubeless tire game with ITT tubular clincher concept

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Innova’s ITT (Integrated Tubeless Tire) concept is essentially a clincher tubular. The outer tire casing builds in a thicker-than-a-tube rubber floor that encloses the air chamber just above the tire’s bead. That lets it mount to any clincher rim, presumably even hookless tires, whether they were designed as tubeless ready or not. And the benefits extend way beyond convenience…

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Simply pump sealant into the tire, inflate, and you’re set.

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It’s available on four different tread patterns, three of which are easily in the “plus” category of widths. We’ve found that plus bikes’ tire pressures are much more sensitive to changes, so having a little extra security in terms of pinch flats and tire roll could be worth a couple extra grams…though, honestly, the weights shown above are pretty competitive for the widths.

InnovaTires.com

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David R.
David R.
7 years ago

Good idea!

monstercrosser
7 years ago

actually this isn’t new at all. LUV Tires tried this about 15 years ago and recall it’s a patent from another tire company that keeps getting recycled.

Bill Christensen
7 years ago
Reply to  monstercrosser

Yup, couldn’t have said it better myself.

bearcol
bearcol
7 years ago

I’m all about any new ideas to address tire durability but it seems to me I would be better served by adding that extra 110g to the casing and go standard tubeless.

Thick casing tubeless is pretty tough. I like the idea of procore, huck norris….. but when you look at the weight penalty it starts to make more sense to just offer thicker casings and call it good enough.

Fred
Fred
7 years ago
Reply to  bearcol

The problem with tubeless is burping. Procore solves that issue and is lighter than running DH tires. Huck norris solves the tubeless pinch flatting but doubt it solves the burping issue. I think tubeless is fine for normal trail riding but not ideal for fast aggressive riding eg DH. The last thing I want to worry about is whether or not I’m going to roll my tire off the rim because I just burped it on a previous corner!

JR
JR
7 years ago

Didn’t Tufo do this for cx about 15 years ago?

Dinger
Dinger
7 years ago
Reply to  JR

I believe their version was a sew-up tubular with beads attached to it.

Mick
Mick
7 years ago
Reply to  Dinger

Correct… They still offer it throughout the line Road Race, training, plus CX
I’ll leave it to others too debate the merit & performance of their tires

Rod Diaz
Rod Diaz
7 years ago
Reply to  JR

Similar. More like a full tubular (tubeless tubular, as per the Tufo custom) with mounting beads. I have tried the CX version. Unfortunately a bit tricky to mount (Mavic Open rims) and at low pressure they’d move fore/aft a bit. I was afraid they’d shear the valve off.

Never raced on them but used for commuting. I consider them a failed experiment – they never felt good. Casing was all wrong, stiff and uncompliant. Maybe they’ve improved in the 3 years since?

lincoln
lincoln
7 years ago

What happens if you do flat though? You wouldn’t be able to put a tube in to get home like you can with tubeless.

Regardless, I would totally buy this for cx.

mateo
mateo
7 years ago
Reply to  lincoln

Sure you would. Just flatten the inner portion of the “tubular” up against the casing and insert a tube as normal.

Eric
Eric
7 years ago
Reply to  mateo

Two possible issues with that solution.

1. That would leave the ‘tubular’ portion valve stem compressed between the casing and your replacement inner tube, possibly causing a second flat.

2. Is the ‘tubular’ portion have enough room or stretch to compress against the entire tire casing with a replacement tube inserted?

As stated earlier, would be a possible solution on CX where low pressure tubeless can burp sidewalls, and gluing tubulars is an uber pain. Additionally, CX you don’t need to worry about a replacement tube.

skimpy
skimpy
7 years ago

Long overdue, gonna grab the 26×2.4 asap (website under maintainance atm).

Alfus
Alfus
7 years ago

WTF!! no 29er??

Prolapsed
Prolapsed
7 years ago
Reply to  Alfus

Didn’t you hear 29 is the new 26

gabriel
gabriel
7 years ago

In the early 2000’s I was working for a wheel company that was testing these out tires like these in conjunction with Slime. Never got it to work, the tube bit would push the bead off the rim, slice wide open, then leave you with a tire that couldn’t take a replacement tube. The only good thing is that it happened fast enough so the hike back was a few miles instead of all day.

Ripnshread
Ripnshread
7 years ago
Reply to  gabriel

Yea, we were looking for a solution to compete with UST without having to pay to licence the patents. That was the guys who then later formed LUV tires. They were working with Innova. And yea, i don’t mention said “wheel company’s” name much either…lol.

Tim
Tim
7 years ago

Perhaps it’s a failure of imagination on my part, but I just don’t see the benefit beyond ease of installation. You still need sealant, they’re not all that light, and if you do flat it looks pretty problematic to stuff in a tube to finish the ride. Those above who mentioned ‘cross may have a point, but there’s no ‘cross sizes listed.

Clearly Innova think’s there are benefits. What are they?

Ryhor
Ryhor
7 years ago
Reply to  Tim

And sealant will form latex boogers inside a tire with time. With regular tubeless you can remove them. But with this tire boogers will stay forever inside finally making a wheel terribly unbalanced.

Dirty-D
Dirty-D
7 years ago
Reply to  Tim

your money =]

thePOB
thePOB
7 years ago

Doesn’t do it for me. Would rather just run a tube than this set up because if I do flat on this do I have to replace the whole tire? That just seems more expensive. And I’ve had fewer problems with tubeless than I ever did with tubes so I’ll stick with stans and my tubeless ready clinchers.

Phil Jones
Phil Jones
7 years ago

Schist? That’s not how you spell what this is.

ascarlarkinyar
7 years ago

Really, no pinch flat?

Is that a guarantee?

atlbikeshop
7 years ago

I agree with @bearcol, heavier duty tubeless casings make this sort of innovation unnecessary, less effective, and less robust than a quality tubeless setup.

Robert Page
Robert Page
7 years ago

This would make tremendous sense for low pressure fat bike tires.

Michael Cleveland
7 years ago

Curiously, to me, is that there doesn’t seem to be a single 29″ tire in that lineup…. was this actually from ’94, not ’16?

Oli
Oli
7 years ago

As no one can see any benefit, I’m assuming that burping is no longer an issue.

Tom
Tom
7 years ago

Nothing says technological innovation like using the Hobo font.

UnderPar
UnderPar
7 years ago

So when I cut the sidewall, how do I put a regular tube in to get back to the trailhead?

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