No more flats
- Thread starter joeyd50
- Start date
justforfun
Active Member
Using Slime tubes. 1 flat, 9,000 miles two bikes.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
There are a lot of dials on the flat tire machine. I ride usually on atrocious roads that can be tough on any tire, and a lot of the "pavement" I ride on is actually chip-seal (oiled gravel) which erodes even the best bike tires. So there are several things I do:
- Use tires with some kind of built-in kevlar liner, like a lot of the Schwalbe tires have.
- Be fussy about replacing your tires. Depending on where you ride, your bike, and how hard you ride it might be reasonable to replace tires every 1500 miles or so.
- Consider a tire liner like a Mr. Tuffy or a Rhinodillo, especially if you don't ride with a tire that already has a kevlar liner.
- Purchase high-quality tire tubes if you aren't running tubeless.
- Consider Slime or other tire sealant as well. Mainly what Slime does for me is that it lets me pump up the tire and limp home or to some more comfortable place to fix a flat. The big downside of running tire sealant in tubes is that it makes it difficult (or impossible) to patch the tubes, so you are committed to replacing the tube rather than patching it when you have a flat.
Nova Haibike
Well-Known Member
An aramid fiber liner, while tightly woven, objects like thorns and wire can still penetrate it. Schwalbe uses it in their lightweight road tires and call it V-Guard.
Schwalbe's more famous Marathon Plus touring tires use an up-to 5mm thick latex rubber ("SmartGuard") as its puncture resistant belt. They are the most puncture resistant tires made...primarily because of how thick they are...but also very heavy.
Mr. Coffee
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- A Demented Corner of the North Cascades
True that, but at least for me a lot of my "punctures" are caused by objects like small rocks, chunks of broken glass, and piece of metal and the aramid liner does a pretty good job of protecting the tube from such things.
I am kind of torn between the thicker rubber liner on some tires and an actual tire liner. Both add weight, which lowers range dramatically. But both (or either) greatly reduce flats for me.
ElevenAD
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Ringoes New Jersey
i had 6 or 7 flats in 2019, all with slime, two with slime and tire liners, huge sharp threaded screws shred everthing i have thrown at them and they make such a big jacked up hole its hard for the slime to seal, i have now switched to Schwalbes,Liners and thicker tubes,hopefully 2020 will be better!
Look at Multi Seal Flat Out on YouTube
smorgasbord
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
I'm installing Tannus Amour this weekend.
Nova Haibike
Well-Known Member
Multi Seal does not recommend their product for bicycle tires. However, they supposedly worked with Finish Line to develop its tubeless tire sealant. That said, Finish Line sealant does not get good reviews.
ElevenAD
Well-Known Member
- Region
- USA
- City
- Ringoes New Jersey
Never heard of it,ill check it out!
Stefan Mikes
Gravel e-biker
- Region
- Europe
- City
- Mazovia, PL
I believe in puncture-protected tyres, too. I don't want to replace the Specialized Elektrak 2.0 tyres on my Vado, as I am very happy with them. Perhaps I will treat the inner tube with Slime. Regarding my Lovelec, the Continental Top Contact Winter II seem to be well protected against punctures ("Don't tempt the Fate!") I intend to buy Schwalbe Marathon e-Plus for the warm season as I trust the highest protection level of their products.
What surfaces are you riding on down there in New Jersey?! Shards of glass all over?!
My first ebike had Slime tubes and Kenda tires, I rode it 5K miles without a flat. My current bike with Schwalbe tires had 3 flats the first thousand miles (2 front 1 rear). Then I put Stan's sealant in the tubes and have now gone 2K miles without a flat. I'm a fan of sealants!
Saratoga Dave
Well-Known Member
I just came across something new from Stan’s, a DART plug system. I’m definitely buying this one. It’s difference is claimed to be a chemical reaction with any latex based sealant (not just theirs, though I am a Stan’s user already) that makes an immediate seal. If the winter ever goes away and I am lucky enough to get a big enough puncture I will report back to the Squad here.
No affiliation with Stans, I literally was here reading this thread an hour ago, wandered off to YouTube to see what is new on the subject, and here came this Dart thing. Shazam!
Been a tubeless fan for a year now, so clearly a customer for this.
No affiliation with Stans, I literally was here reading this thread an hour ago, wandered off to YouTube to see what is new on the subject, and here came this Dart thing. Shazam!
Been a tubeless fan for a year now, so clearly a customer for this.
steve marino
Active Member
Depends on where you ride. In Hawaii the rain would wash all the crud to the side of the road. I had to use slime in extra thick tubes w/ a liner AND Armadillo tires and still got occasional flats from glass and nails. Here in the desert it's thorns, so just slime works fine. I still carry a tiny air pump in my sidebag and monitor the tires to avoid a thorn staying in there and wiggling around to make a bigger hole. It's easier and cheaper to just put slime in your tubes, that way you can determine how much to put in there and you don't have to take the tire off the rim.
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