{"id":600116,"date":"2026-04-11T13:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600116\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T13:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:39:20","slug":"dont-call-it-an-inner-tube-lidl-trek-to-debut-innovative-double-bubble-safety-system-at-paris-roubaix","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/600116\/","title":{"rendered":"Don’t call it an inner tube: Lidl-Trek to debut innovative ‘double-bubble’ safety system at Paris-Roubaix"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lidl-Trek will be using an inflatable Odyssey Optis tyre liner system at Paris-Roubaix<\/a> to boost protection and to enable the team’s riders to keep riding a little bit further in the event of a puncture.<\/p>\n

Paris-Roubaix always causes flats and even destroys wheels entirely. We have seen teams use foam tyre inserts and even tubular glue<\/a> to help provide extra insurance to the tubeless setups that are now used, to ensure the tyres stay on the rim in the event of an untimely puncture.<\/p>\n

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Lidl-Trek, however, has found another neat solution in this quest.<\/p>\n

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While visiting teams and scoping out bikes and tech in the run-up to the race, we spotted some unusual-looking double-headed valves on Mads Pederson’s spare bike that had us stumped until we saw the ‘Odyssey’ brand name on one side.<\/p>\n

Odyssey, a brand that’s perhaps more well-known in the BMX world, is behind the Optis system, which it offers in 27.5 \/ 29 and 700c road sizes. The 700c long-valve Optis tubes retail at $89.99 each, making it a fairly expensive upgrade.<\/p>\n

Optis stand for Odyssey Pneumatic tyre insert system. It’s a tuneable nylon reinforced TPU insert, which resists expanding when inflated, meaning it can be inflated to a higher pressure than the tyre it sits inside, while allowing that tyre to still be inflated to its own optimal (read: lower) pressure.<\/p>\n

It is said to help prevent tyre burping and to protect against impacts and pinch flats, as well as acting as a bead lock whilst giving the rider more of a chance of riding on a punctured tyre, which sounds like a perfect fit for a lot of the challenges that the Roubaix cobblestones create.<\/p>\n

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Image 1 of 3<\/p>\n

\"AHere is the Optic inner tube on it’s own (Image credit: Pete Trifunovic)\"AHere’s the system fitted to a Bontrager Aeolus 49V wheel. Note the SRAM XPLR 1x drivetrain(Image credit: Patrick Fletcher )\"AHere’s some more info on the side of the Optic inner tube (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher)<\/p>\n

Whilst we haven’t seen a WorldTour road squad use this tech before, we saw a hacked equivalent being used by gravel star Keegan Swenson last year at Unbound Gravel, but rather than this solution, he simply used a flat inner tube inside a tubeless tyre <\/a>to allow fast reinflation in the event of a catastrophic puncture, and he drilled a second hole in his rims to accommodate it.<\/p>\n

Riders suffering mechanical issues – punctures in particular – at Roubaix may often have a longer wait for assistance, depending on where they are, due to the narrow and often spread out nature of the race, particularly in its later stages. A system that gives a rider an increased chance of riding on a flat for a little longer must be helpful, and may help prevent catastrophic rim damage<\/a>, something that we saw at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.<\/p>\n

The team explained that the liners will be inflated to 6 bar or 87 PSI, the 32mm Pirelli P Zero Race TLR RS tubeless tyres will, in turn, be inflated to a lot less than this, and we assume will still have tubeless sealant added for good measure. An added benefit of the liner itself, aside from it being lighter than a foam insert, is that if punctured, it will also release its air into the tubeless tyre itself, acting as a fast release of air similar to a Co2 or charger, which would give a welcome boost of air while the sealant plugs the hole.<\/p>\n

The team were happy to chat and explained that the team had been testing the system all winter, on recons and was happy with it, describing it as a ‘double bubble’ or best of both worlds system. They believe Lidl-Trek are the only team using the system currently, but didn’t know for sure.<\/p>\n

Lidl-Trek have been using new and as yet unreleased Bontrager wheels this year, and we got a good look at them during Opening Weekend<\/a>. For Paris-Roubaix, the team will use Bontrager’s stronger gravel wheelset on the Roubaix stones. The team will also use the gravel-specific SRAM Red XPLR 1x groupset, which has been adopted by nearly every SRAM-sponsored team for the classics this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lidl-Trek will be using an inflatable Odyssey Optis tyre liner system at Paris-Roubaix to boost protection and to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,85],"class_list":["post-600116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cycling","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}