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A bicycle inner tube that instead of forming a sealed torus topology in the factory, is a tube that has connectable valves at each end. The standard valve, to the outside of the wheel, acts as a bridge component between tube ends.
When a puncture happens the connecting valves can be undone and a strong
sheath repair can be applied.
Linear inner tube
http://cgi.ebay.co....a8057#ht_1312wt_972 Baked simpler [MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 12 2011]
[link]
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And you don't have to remove the wheel or chain! |
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How do you make the connection strong enough and flexible enough? |
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If the 'bridge' component is inflexible plastic, and the tube is rubber (i.e. just like a normal inner tube) with the ends finished with a ridge which is pushed past another ridge inside the opening of the 'bridge' section, then air pressure, when the tube is inflated, will keep the junction secure and sealed. |
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Those valves are gonna prove awfully bumpy as you roll over them, and if they're plastic, you'll end up cracking them through cyclical loading, causing extra punctures. |
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I am pretty sure I've seen "linear" inner tubes, favoured
because they can (like this one) be changed without
removing the wheel. |
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They are basically just tubes with one valve and closed
ends
which are long enough to wrap once-and-a-bit around the
wheel. This means that there is a region where the ends
overlap, but this doesn't seem to matter (the pressure,
after
all, is the same all around). No need for two valves or a
connector. |
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[Edit] found'em. See link. |
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Is this so the air can go all the way around? Here's a [+] as clearly the linear tubes oppress the air by making it go back and forth rather than round and round. |
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