Road Bike Tire Test: Vittoria Open Corsa CX III Latex Tube

This is part two of a latex vs butyl road bike inner tube comparison. I'm going to use last week's review of the Continental Grand Prix 4000S II with a latex tube Read Here as a template and won't add much to this review except the data. This time I'm using the Vittoria Open Corsa CX III reviewed Here. Just like last weeks review I've substituted the standard 100 grams Continental butyl inner tube for a 80 grams Michelin AirComp A1 Latex tube. I've chosen the GP4000S II and Open Corsa CX III to test a latex inner tube simply because these are the fastest road bike tires I had the chance to test up to now.

If you're purely interested in the differences between butyl and latex tubes, I highly recommend you to also read this special article which includes latex,butyl and light butyl tubes.

Inner Tubes Specifications

Butyl Inner Tube

• Brand: Continental
• Model: Race 28, 18-25 x 622
• Weight: 100 grams

Latex Inner Tube

• Brand: Michelin
• Model: AirComp A1 Latex
• Weight: 80 grams

No differences, same as butyl inner tube.

The latex tube definitely has less rolling resistance when compared to the butyl tube, although the difference isn't as big as seen with mountain bike tires Read my special MTB article. Tests are run at 18 mph / 29 km/h, which might be a little low for road bikes.

• At 120 psi / 8.3 bar, the latex inner tube has 1.3 watts less rolling resistance.
• At 120 psi / 8.3 bar, Coefficient of rolling resistance (CRR) is 0.00039 lower


• At 100 psi / 6.9 bar, the latex inner tube has 1.4 watts less rolling resistance.
• At 100 psi / 6.9 bar, Coefficient of rolling resistance (CRR) is 0.0042 lower


• At 80 psi / 5.5 bar, the latex inner tube has 1.8 watts less rolling resistance.
• At 80 psi / 5.5 bar, Coefficient of rolling resistance (CRR) is 0.00054 lower


• At 60 psi / 4.1 bar, the latex inner tube has 2.3 watts less rolling resistance.
• At 60 psi / 4.1 bar, Coefficient of rolling resistance (CRR) is 0.00069 lower

No differences, same as butyl inner tube.

This is just added to the database as a reference, I've added an updated conclusion to the GP4000S II with latex tube review Read Here