Bike Liner Recommendations for the RadMini?

[Investor9872]

I was just wondering what bike liners you guys are using for your 2018 RadMini. The tire size for the Mini is 20" x 4". I've seen some Mr. Tuffy liners on Amazon, but they are for the 26"/29" tires only. I live a few blocks from a cement, paved beach path, which is where my wife and I will be using our Rad Power bikes. Are liners overkill for our purposes? I figured if I'm going to have to put them on, then I'll put them on during the assembly process when they arrive. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Barry S]

There are some forum members with fat tire bikes that use them. It's my understanding that 26" and 29" is for liner length purposes only. You want to make sure you're getting liners that accommodate the width of a fat tire. You can always trim the length but make sure you sand down the cut edge so it's smooth and won't damage the tube. You can always just overlap it.

 

[Investor9872]

PCDoctor. Wouldn't overlapping the liners can cause pinch flats at the overlapping edge? Thanks for the reply.

 

[Barry S]

I think there already is a small amount of overlapping even when you order the correct size. Hopefully somebody else on this forum can share their actual use experience.

 

[mrgold35]

I use Mr. Tuffy liners for 26"/29" X 3.1"-4". You will want to get the liner that is wide enough for the Radmini 4" tires. There was overlap with my 26X4 Radrover tires. I did get a pinch flat once from the overlap section sliding out of place. I cut the end for minimal overlap and haven't had an issue since (+4500 miles).

Mr. Tuffy liners really didn't provide as much protection I thought they would. Large debris you find in "share the road" bike lanes like glass, car parts, and nails/screws can still cause a flat. I've had flats on trails running over cactus plants or broken tree branches that punctured the tire/liner and broke off inside.

Mr. Tuffy helps me out with goat head thorns by adding an extra thickness to help prevent the thorns from reaching the tube. Goat head thorns still penetrate Mr. Tuffy liner just as easy as it does the tires. I still get a few goat heads that reach the tube 5-8 times a week; but, Stans tire sealant takes care of these about 99% of the time. I leave the thorns in the tires until I get home, remove the thorn, listen for the leak, rotate the tire down, let Stans work in a few seconds, and move the the next thorn.

 

[Barry S]

I did get a pinch flat once from the overlap section sliding out of place. I cut the end for minimal overlap and haven't had an issue since (+4500 miles).

Do you think placing something like Gorilla Tape over the overlapped sections would help?

Mr. Tuffy liners really didn't provide as much protection I thought they would. Large debris you find in "share the road" bike lanes like glass, car parts, and nails/screws can still cause a flat.

Since my riding would be strictly paved roads with the hazards being limited to glass and construction debris as you described, would using a tire liner be an unnecessary expense in your opinion?

 

[mrgold35]

I tried using black Gorilla tape to help center the liner in the middle. The Gorilla tape didn't stick to the inside of the tire and my liner still took me a while to center properly in the middle. I had to air the tire up just enough to push against the liner to keep in place. I would run my hands on either side of the tire without being seated to push/pull the liner in the middle. I spend almost the same amount of time getting the liner straight compared to dismounting, fixing, and remounting the tire. The inside of my Vee8 tires are very slick and I'm not 100% sure if my liner is centered right now or off to one side or the other around the tube (orginal reason for the Gorilla tape)?

I didn't try Gorilla tape directly on the overlap sections of the liner. I just cut down the length for minimal overlap after the pinch flat. The pinch flat happened on the side of the tube where the overlapped section of the liner moved off to the side and bunched up causing the pinch flat with the tire flexing in normal paved road riding.

For my type of riding; it is the combo of Vee8 tires, Mr. Tuffy, Stans tire sealant, and spare tube that gets me back on the road the fastest for my riding conditions in the southwest. I got my first flat in a few days with just Kenda+tube. I usually go 3-4 months between "tire falling off rim" flats at 50-75 miles per week. Most I do now is pull out the goatheads, let Stans do its work, check PSI, and add more sealant every couple of months. The key is being able to find the right combo to ride home instead of having to call for help or push the bike home.

 

[Backwards]

Regarding Stans tire sealant ---

I went to https://www.notubes.com/about-us to read up on this product. My confusion revolves around Stans website saying there are no tubes and this EBR forum talking about using the product with tubes. MrGold35 – I take it that you use tubes and put Stans tire sealant in the tubes. How much do you put in a tube? Does this make swapping out a tube a mess if the tube must be replaced? Does this product cleanup easily with just water? Thanks for the info.

 

[Investor9872]

When I took delivery of my bikes last Friday, I put liners and Stans in all 4 of my tires before installing the two front tires. On the back of the Stans bottle, it states that you can use it in valve inner tubes and provides you with instructions on how to use it. With the inner tubes, 2-oz per tube is plenty. This Youtube instruction video is very informative.

 

[mrgold35]

I did the same thing as @Investor9872 ; installed the 4" wide 3XL Mr. Tuffy; but, two bottles of Stans 2-oz sizes in the tube. I've been using this combo since Oct/2016 and haven't had an issue. I use two bottles of Stans because we have a ton of goathead stickers in the southwest. I get atleast 2-5 stickers in my tires daily and probably 1-3 wet spots a week on my tires from Stans doing its job with extra long goatheads. I have to add more Stans every few months because of all the goatheads. You might only need one bottle of Stans if you don't have goatheads to worry about.

I had a few flats when the only fix was replacing the tube. I carry tire tools, air pump, extra bottles of Stans, and a spare tube now along with folded shop towels, hand wipes, and rubber gloves to clean up any sealant in the tire. These are flat too big for Stans caused by road debris (glass, nails, screws, etc...) or when I had a pointed broken limb from a fallen tree branch put a one inch hole in my rear tire.

You will need to trim the long end of the tire liner for minimal overlap once you wrap around the tires to help prevent pinch flats from the liner. This happened to me once because the overlapped liner was too long and bunched up to one side of tire. Trimming with only1-2 inches of overlap solved the problem.

 

[Backwards]

75 miles and got my first flat. So - pulled the back tire off my RadCity , patched the tube, and went to put in all back together and the washers fell off my wheel from both sides. Anyone have an order of install for all the parts. The sprocket side of the wheel has a nut holding the sprockets on, washer, and a part that is fatter than a washer with a part the fits in the slot the threaded part of the wheel fits in. The power side cord side of the wheel has a washer, then a part that is fatter than a washer with a part the fits in the slot the threaded part of the wheel fits in, then washer like unit with a long arm that has a screw through it that goes into the frame. My problem is that i have an extra washer and am not sure which side and it what part of the order it goes in. Is there an exploded parts list showing location and order? Thanks for the help.

 

[Barry S]

See if this tutorial from Rad will work. It's for the RadRover and RadMini, but the order of the parts may still apply. It would be a great idea if they did an exploded parts list like is common with appliances.

 

[JThomas]

I tried using black Gorilla tape to help center the liner in the middle. The Gorilla tape didn't stick to the inside of the tire and my liner still took me a while to center properly in the middle. I had to air the tire up just enough to push against the liner to keep in place. I would run my hands on either side of the tire without being seated to push/pull the liner in the middle. I spend almost the same amount of time getting the liner straight compared to dismounting, fixing, and remounting the tire. The inside of my Vee8 tires are very slick and I'm not 100% sure if my liner is centered right now or off to one side or the other around the tube (orginal reason for the Gorilla tape)?

I didn't try Gorilla tape directly on the overlap sections of the liner. I just cut down the length for minimal overlap after the pinch flat. The pinch flat happened on the side of the tube where the overlapped section of the liner moved off to the side and bunched up causing the pinch flat with the tire flexing in normal paved road riding.

For my type of riding; it is the combo of Vee8 tires, Mr. Tuffy, Stans tire sealant, and spare tube that gets me back on the road the fastest for my riding conditions in the southwest. I got my first flat in a few days with just Kenda+tube. I usually go 3-4 months between "tire falling off rim" flats at 50-75 miles per week. Most I do now is pull out the goatheads, let Stans do its work, check PSI, and add more sealant every couple of months. The key is being able to find the right combo to ride home instead of having to call for help or push the bike home.

Here in Idaho, our state flower is the goat-head. I've had 2 flat tires in a month all the while using green goo and liners in the tires. My friend at the local bike shop had a few 20x4 tires so we thought we would try an experiment. We grabbed a couple of his used tires and trimmed the sidewalls off. We then used the remaining tire shell as a tire liner for both tires! I am experimenting with different tire pressures and though the ride is a little stiffer, goat-heads are no longer an issue. Only a bullet to the tire will cause a flat now.

 

[mrgold35]

Here in Idaho, our state flower is the goat-head. I've had 2 flat tires in a month all the while using green goo and liners in the tires. My friend at the local bike shop had a few 20x4 tires so we thought we would try an experiment. We grabbed a couple of his used tires and trimmed the sidewalls off. We then used the remaining tire shell as a tire liner for both tires! I am experimenting with different tire pressures and though the ride is a little stiffer, goat-heads are no longer an issue. Only a bullet to the tire will cause a flat now.

I wish I thought of that when I replaced my Kenda tires about a year ago.

I will keep that in my back pocket when my Vee8 wear out.