The Vittoria Air-Liner Light is a one-piece, featherweight, cross-country-centric tire liner designed to protect your rims, stabilize your tires, and allow for a significant drop in tire pressure on your mountain bike.
Four months ago I installed a set with some fresh Vittoria rubber for a busy season of racing and riding. After pedaling for 35 hours over 300+ miles, I'm convinced that the benefits of these inserts make incorporating them into all future MTB tire setups a no-brainer.
The Techy Tech
Three factors set the Vittoria Air-Liner Light apart from other products on the market — weight, foam construction, and ease of installation.
Weighing in at roughly 50g apiece, these inserts are currently the lightest out there. While this might not mean much for an enduro or DH rider, for the XC crowd a weight savings of up to 100g per insert is massive.
The foam is at the heart of the Air-Liner Light. It is engineered to have a progressive compression (like your suspension) and does not absorb sealant. Most notably, Vittoria claims that the inserts equalize within your tire. What this means is that while they might compress during the initial inflation, after being allowed to rest they re-expand into their original shape and size. Similarly, in the case of a catastrophic flat that doesn't seal, the quick release of air pressure causes them to expand, allowing riders to run flat without instantly ruining their rim — enough to get you across the finish line or back to the trailhead.
An important thing to note is that due to the dynamic nature of the foam, Vittoria recommends inflating to your desired pressure the day before a ride, and only doing minimal top-ups right before.
Installation of the Air Liner Light is a total breeze—barely more difficult than installing a tube. This relative ease is afforded by their single-piece construction—there's no need to finagle zip ties or cut them to size. Additionally, I found that the shape of the insert did not interfere with the use of a tire lever in any way when either installing or removing tires.
The included multi-way valve helps make everything work seamlessly. It has four air/sealant holes on the side in addition to one on top, which allows for effective and consistent inflation/installation under pressure without the valve needing to pass through the insert.
The Ride
Once installed properly, the Air-Liner Light inserts are good to go for hundreds of hours.
I am about 145-155 pounds kitted up, and I was able to run 16-17 PSI on 2.25 inch XC tires without my tires folding over in corners, or damaging my rims from bottoming out on roots & rocks — both intentionally and unintentionally. Since I ride a hardtail, 16psi in the rear was a little too bouncy for my taste and I eventually settled on bumping that up to 18-19 PSI where the tire still felt fast, supple and nimble, but secure.
As far as handling goes, I was continually impressed with how stable the tires felt under harsh cornering forces at high speeds. Traction-wise, being able to run a lower pressure allowed the tires to perform at their maximum capacity.
The combination of both increased traction and increased stability palpably improved ride quality and my ability to confidently navigate challenging terrain.
The Last Word
If you want a lightweight solution for protecting your wheels, running lower pressure without many of the drawbacks, and increasing the performance & versatility of your MTB rubber, the Vittoria Air-Liner Light inserts are worth your consideration.
While I did not suffer any flats during my testing period, and therefore cannot verify the effectiveness of Vittoria's "run-flat" claims, the performance benefits alone made the inserts totally worthwhile.
For most riders the increased stability will be the most tangible effect of running the Air-Liner Light inserts, closely followed by the increased traction afforded by running lower tire pressures.
For racers, add to this the minimal weight penalty and the potential to finish a race on a flat tire, and you've got a winning combo.
Written by Bertrand Mejia-Morin Photographed by Bertrand Mejia-Morin Published on August 9th, 2023
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