Is there more I could be doing to avoid flats?

eTrike said:

I've used Schwalbe Marathon Plus (the plus is important) for over 10k miles with zero flats. I did use a little slime for thorn punctures to prevent slow leaks but have since sworn off the stuff.
Another decent and cheaper option is Rubena Stop Thorn. They don't grip as well as Schwalbe but they are nice and thick. I've put over 400 miles on them since the red inner started showing.
Good info posted above. I ride recumbent trikes so the wheels don't prop debris but I've also got three tracks to watch vs. 1.

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That's the first mention of heard of the Rubena Stop Thorn. Perhaps I'll give it a try, one of these days. Several people have mentioned being big fans of the Marathon Pluses, and in general it seems safe to say they're the king of resilient tires that ride reasonably well (if not the cheapest option). Of course, one of the earliest responses in this thread was Alan B's picture of a nail driven right through a Marathon Plus, so they're not invulnerable to the sort of attack that prompted this thread. :? But it's good to have another data point from a pleased user with positive real world experience.

What sort of tube do you have in there, that's lasted >10k miles with zero flats? Seems like that's as important as the tire (considering my most recent flat was from a tube that parted at the seam).

Makes sense that trikes have both advantages and disadvantages in the flats department.

Things seem to have gone much better for me since I started being more paranoid about bike lane debris.

I didn't have any issue with the Tuffy's chaffing, I use baby powder.

Stem perpendicularity (that's a great word) can be had with a threaded valve stem.
As such, with a Specialized tube.

The moped tubes I've got on the back of SB Cruiser are threaded stems like that (with 90-degree adapters to make it easier to re-air them if I do need to, given t he tiny space between motor and rim)

Jabotical said:

Things seem to have gone much better for me since I started being more paranoid about bike lane debris.

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Yeah, generally if you arent' where the stuff is, the stuff doesn't affect you.

(whatever "stuff" happens to b e in any particular context)

http://stopaflatusa.com/
Foam inserts instead of regular bicycle tubes.

BikeMan4U - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXvm21aGqFY

NEXO Tires
Tannus Solid Bike Tire

Solid Tires/Tubes BLOKES Opinion
https://youtu.be/Yca1g1eooqo?t=33

Harsh ride!

Better
Schwalbe Marathon Plus
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E0oZ7ZPKK6E/S-SfUOh-S7I/AAAAAAAAALo/OdChkYlX5Ww/s1600/Marathon-Cut.JPG
In my city, there is a custom in-store demo of 12 tubes on a large display ring that were cut, and I am convinced that these tires are a great compromise. Then throw in a Sunlite Thron Resistant tube and maybe for triple protection some Tire Liners.

Based on my experiences with them, pretty much any kind of solid tires are going to eventually beat your wheels to death unless you're a very light rider and bike and ride on completely smooth paths; all the impacts and bumps transfer directly to the rim section in contact with the tire there, instead of being spread all around the rim by the air in a tube. Spokes go slacker there, rim deforms, and this loosens the spokes over time, until stuff just starts breaking, and rim starts warping, etc.

The heavier you and the bike are, and the bumpier the path, the worse the problem will be.

Even if you yourself aren't feeling the bumps that much, it's still affecting the wheel.

If the spokes are super-tensioned, the problem may not manifest itself, but the spokes may damage the rim around the nipple holes, etc. (just like with too-thick spokes).

If the spoke nipples are "glued" (like with linseed oil or other nipple locking fluids), the spoke nipples may not unscrew from the slacking/tensioning, but the rim may still deform over time.


They also give a harsher ride. Some are better than ohters, but none of them feel like air-filled tires.


If you really can't live with a flat, the solid tires are an option. I've used them for bikes, trailers, etc., when I just couldn't live with a flat, but they cause enough other problems that I eventually found other methods (like moped/mc tires & tubes, doubled-up tires with liners between, etc).


Some people rave about them, and there's even a thread around here somewhere reviewing a bunch of them.



If you use tire liners, I recommend taking an old set of tubes and cutting off the valve stem, then slitting the tube along the inner circumference, and putting that tube over your air-filled tube. Then the tire liner goes between the tire and that old slit tube, so the old tube protects your air-filled tube from damage the tire liner may cause, especially if you run at lower pressures.

'Way back in the day, before there were inlays like Mrtuffy and Slime strips, we used an old tire (a "boot") inside our "road" tires to prevent flats. Cut the old tire across, and install it into the road tire. Mark the overlap of the "old" tire end inside the good tire, and cut out that much of the old tire (zero overlap inside the tire). Assemble the tire (with the boot and the tube inside) to the rim as per normal. You will need much less air pressure to inflate the booted tire to a good rolling resistance. Even nails (or thorns) that might pierce one tire would seldom pierce two.

With thicker tubes, or maybe an inlay between the two tires, you might be almost bulletproof. Could be worth a try, there.

X2flier said:

Cut the old tire across, and install it into the road tire. Mark the overlap of the "old" tire end inside the good tire, and cut out that much of the old tire (zero overlap inside the tire).

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If you use a slightly smaller width tire, and you cut away the wire beads, the tire can remain in a seamless piece for no overlap and no chafing. It makes installation easy, and the liner tire says in place when repairs are eventually needed.

I've done this modification on bikes that required elaborate disassembly for flat repair.

X2flier said:

'Way back in the day, before there were inlays like Mrtuffy and Slime strips, we used an old tire (a "boot") inside our "road" tires to prevent flats. Cut the old tire across, and install it into the road tire. Mark the overlap of the "old" tire end inside the good tire, and cut out that much of the old tire (zero overlap inside the tire). Assemble the tire (with the boot and the tube inside) to the rim as per normal. You will need much less air pressure to inflate the booted tire to a good rolling resistance. Even nails (or thorns) that might pierce one tire would seldom pierce two.

With thicker tubes, or maybe an inlay between the two tires, you might be almost bulletproof. Could be worth a try, there.

Click to expand...

would probably work even better with some type of vulcanising agent between the two tyres to bond them together.

Actually it'll work better as separate layers. If something punctures the outer layer, it may just indent the inner layer, and be deflected by it.

But if they're fastened together, it'll just go straight thru both of them.

I can tell you for sure that's what happens with Slime protector strips glued to the inside of a tire.

yeah that's an interesting thought.