Of Tubes and Tires
Tubes and Tires are the greatest factor in the ride quality of a bike. Here are some “expert” resources along with a couple of my observations.

The late Sheldon Brown has given us a great primer on tires and tubes and it should be read including the “other” related articles at the bottom the page. http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html

My personal experience with tubes is that where tubes go wrong is in the manufacturing process. Tubes are strips of butyl rubber vulcanized together as well as the jointing of the seams around the valves, and it’s this jointing process that determines where things can go wrong. I have had bad experiences with cheap tubes from off brand companies coming apart at their seams or that the strips weren’t uniform creating a bulge point, so spending a couple more dollars for a decent tube means I won’t have to spend several dollars on CO2 cartridges, a bad ride experience, and possibly not making it home. I now am very happy to pay more for a good Continental, Michelin, Maxis, etc. tube. Tubes are best bought in bulk. It’s cheaper and you never get caught without one. Most local bike shops sale them now with a buy 3 get one free. If they don’t, you should tell them the mark up is plenty enough to give you the 4th one free.

Tire selection also can affect a tube selection. Here’s where the offsetting features can come to play. If you have selected a tire that has the flat protection belts added you can offset the weight gain and worsened ride quality with a “race” tube which is lighter than normal or maybe even a latex tube. IF you go with a lighter tube make sure the tube is the proper size. If you read the Sheldon Brown article you will have found that the latex tube is much lighter than butyl but also loses air pressure faster. A lot of people swear by the ride quality of the latex as it has less mechanical resistance to road imperfections and reduces the weight by a few ounces. My next tire/tube combo (October) will include the latex and I will report on it next spring.

And when it comes to the relationship between inflation, tube/tire, and rolling resistance I hope you were paying attention at http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tires.html#rolling.

Here’s a nice calculator for “optimum” tire pressures http://www.dorkypantsr.us/bike-tire-pressure-calculator.html which is based on this guy’s research and report: http://adventurecycling.org/resources/200903_PSIRX_Heine.pdf . I choose to follow the 45-55 principle and can only say that it makes my style of riding more enjoyable as I look at the pain on the other riders’ faces that obviously don’t like my road choices. I have tried the 40%/60% and it puts way too much pressure in the rear causing the rear to lift off the road surface and the much lower pressure in the front creates a squishy tire when I stand up adding weight to my front end.
My last bit of advice is for you to learn how to put your tires and tubes on by hand without a tire lever as it reduces the risk of damaging the tube.