Air-Liner Light Gravel
Air-Liner Light Gravel from Vittoria increases protection for larger volume tyres.
Vittoria have added another tyre liner to their range. The Air-Liner Light Gravel brings their gravel specific range up to two. While they are made from the same bright green foam as the originals, they’re bigger and have a different profile.
With gravel tyres getting ever larger, Vittoria have used the Y shaped profiles from their MTB liners. The original Air-Liner Gravel inserts had a rounded profile that worked with tyres up to 42mm. The new profile works better with tyres from 42 to 50mm.
The new profile brings the following advantages to your gravel riding:
Comfort and stability
Running an insert allows you to run lower pressures without worrying about damaging your rims. Lower pressures off-road also lets your tyre flex and conform to the terrain. This puts more of the tread in contact with the ground, improving traction. Of course you could do this without a liner, but then you run the risk of rim impacts on rocks and roots. Perhaps that’s not a problem if you ride on ‘champagne’ gravel; not something I see much of in Sussex!
Vittoria says the Air-Liner Light Gravel allows ‘progressive compression’ of the tyre. Having an insert that compresses and rebounds like a spring would obviously be less than desirable. To counter this the Air-Liner Light Gravel will compress and return in a controlled manner. Otherwise you would end up with less grip as your tyres ‘boinged’ over obstacles!
Puncture protection
This was always my main love of tyre inserts. Running lower pressures in cyclo-cross races is a must. However using traditional clinchers with inner-tubes meant you ran the risk of pinch punctures. This was a common problem on urban courses which were usually on old land-fill sites. Using tyre inserts and tubeless allowed me to run the low pressures needed for grip, without the problem of pinch-punctures.
The same problem happened when riding gravel, particularly when riding UK gravel. In my experience this involves more flint, roots and generally rougher terrain than what is desirable! I can still hear the crack! as I hit a large flint on a fast downhill on my first ride with a new pair of carbon wheels. The inserts went in the very next day.
Vittoria say the Y shaped profile also helps keep your tyre in place and prevent ‘burping’. Presumably this is down to it preventing the tyre deforming so much that the bead pops open in a small area and burping. While burping isn’t always ride ending, it usually leads to sealant loss. Sealant which you may need later in the ride, so you want to avoid it.
Run-Flat capability
This is a feature that you want to avoid, but is really handy when it happens. The idea is that if you suffer a serious puncture and sealant doesn’t fix it, you can keep riding; for a limited time. I have experienced this off-road a couple of times and it has actually taken me a few minutes to realise I was running flat. Rather than losing all grip and momentum, or ruining my rim. The insert allowed me to keep going until I found a suitable place to stop. Handy in a race, where you might be in a group and unable to stop without causing a traffic jam.
While I wouldn’t recommend riding too far on a flat tyre, especially on rough ground, it can get you out of trouble. Going too far would mean you run the risk of ruining your tyre, making it difficult to repair. However, for me it’s good to know it’s there, just in case.
The Air-Liner Light Gravel comes in 700C or 650B, and is suitable for tyre widths from 42-50mm. Weights are 40-45g and are suitable for rims with an internal width of 23-28mm. Each insert comes with a 60mm tubeless valve and retails on the Vittoria site for €59.95.
I’m an insert convert now, due to the type of terrain that I ride on. Perhaps if I rode mostly on fine hard-pack I wouldn’t need them. However, with events like the Gralloch and CX Century on my calendar I will continue using them. I’ll try and get hold of these inserts and see how they compare to the Tyre Invaders and Air-Liner Gravel.
