Which is better to buy for a new bike?

[mrgold35]

It doesn't seem flats resistant tires for fat bikes are not on the market yet. All kinds of tire choices with regular and plus size (e)bikes. I have two his/hers 700X40c pedal bike since 2014 with Mr. Tuffy+Stans and I never had a flat with either bikes. I seem to having equally good luck with the plus size tires on the Radcity Step-Thru with Mr. Tuffy+Stans on the same routes as my old pedal bikes.

It was just days into ownership before getting a flat with my fat tire ebike (no Mr. Tuffy of Stans yet). Between both fat ebikes I've had since 2016 and +6000 miles; I've gone through 6 tires (4 worn, 2 destroyed by road debris), will need 4 new tires by next summer, and around 10-12 tubes. Sometimes it is easier to replace the tube instead of trying to patch 5-10 goathead thorn holes if I hit a bad patch.

I would rate regular/plus size tires in the excellent range for flats compared to fat tires in the poor-slightly below average in the same environments.

You might be A-OK with Mr. Tuffy+Stans+Tube for added layer of protection on the ebike if you ride a regular bike a lot and haven't had issues with flats.

 

[DragNLady]

I have Schwalbe "Fat Frank" tires and I know from experience, they are puncture resistant not puncture proof. I have slime in my tubes and as Mr Coffee says, the slime makes it difficult if not impossible to patch a tube. That's why I carry the Gaadi type tube for field repairs.

Tubeless tires are also not puncture proof but, with the proper kit, they are usually easier to repair than a tube. Your rims must be tubeless ready or suitable for conversion to tubeless. Getting them to seal initially can be a chore and breaking the bead for a field repair can also be a problem.

I'm afraid all you can do is minimize your chances of getting a flat. There is no way I know of to prevent them completely. A good tire, liners and slime working together are your best bet. Tubeless tires are certainly an option but it is a matter of debate as to whether they are better overall.

The Gaadi tubes sound like a great idea, but here is a review on them, don't think I would feel comfortable using them. https://etrike.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/gaadi-tubes/

 

[DragNLady]

I'm out east in NJ. We don't have those things called Goat Heads but we have more than our fair share of thorns and other sharp objects ready to puncture your tires at any moment. I have two fatbikes, a Specialized Fatboy and a Haibike Full FatSix ebike. With both bikes, I initially went with and ran for years, the Mr Tuffy liners and though they worked fairly ok with my 4.6 and 4.0 tires on these fatbikes, I still got flats. This late summer, after really getting tired of flattening out on the roads and trails, I scrapped the idea of tire tubes and liners and went with the tubeless setup that everyone on the fatbike forums said I should have been doing in the first place!

DragN: I would strongly suggest looking over the Schwalbe catalog for a tubeless ready tire in the size you need. From there, I would then look over and familiarize myself with the various tire guards they have on hand for your size tire & see if it also tubeless compatible. In that same vein, a note to Rad Power to see if their rims for your bike can be converted tubeless. If everything points well for going tubeless, I would go for that route first. Trust me, Mr Tuffy's can only do so much. I've had plenty of thorns go through my fatbike tires and Mr Tuffy's only to puncture out and flatten the tube.

If you go tubeless, do understand you will need to still carry a spare tube in case of a big tire slash that no tubeless sealant can handle.

Check with your friendly local bike shop and inquire as to the price of doing the tubeless set up for you. Stans sealant has their fans as well as the Orange Seal brand. My Haibike is a Yamaha mid drive, so changing a rear flat is no different than changing a traditional bike rear flat. Your hub drive is a different beast that requires different steps to remove and reinstall the tire/rim. I'd suggest a few practice runs in the living room, and not on the trail, where it's getting dark, a storm is approaching or the heat is too intense to get comfortable with the steps needed to be done to fix a rear flat or that tire slash that your tubeless set up cannot seal.

Speaking of fixing a tubeless flat, there is a pretty cool system based on larger tubeless car tire flat repair technology: http://www.dynaplug.com/bike.html I myself have the DynaPlug Mega Pill along with some spare plugs and carry this with me, along with a good air pump, tire irons, spare tube and tire patch kit....just in case. The system is not cheap to buy into, but it buys tremendous peace of mind knowing you've got the bases covered should you flatten out on the trails.

So, to make a long winded post short: 1. Schwalbe tubeless ready tire with some kind of tread guard technology. 2. Go tubeless with a good name brand sealant 3. Carry spare tube, tire pump, tire irons, tubeless tire plugging system at all times along with a good pressure guage. 4. Ask local bike shops if they can convert you over to tubeless 5. Learn how to remove the rear wheel and reinstall in the comfort of home before the poop hits the fan out on the trails!

PS: A catastrophic tubeless flat or tear on the trails means you must use a tube as the tire pressures required to set a tubeless tire bead onto the rim can never be achieved with your hand tire pump. Good luck!

Mike

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all of this to me, Mike, very much appreciated!!!

 

[E-Wheels]

Thank you linklemming. I appreciate everyones input! But I still don't know which would be better. Which would be the most "flat preventable?" Putting Stans in a tire, or getting puncture free Schwalbe tires? I don't want to have to change tires every year, so maybe the puncture proof tires are the route I should go. I got my bike ordered, it is on it's way, so I have to make up my mind in the next few days what I am going to do. Or would tubeless tires be better?

Go tubeless. Once you have converted to a tubeless setup you will question why you didn’t do it sooner

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Go tubeless. Once you have converted to a tubeless setup you will question why you didn’t do it sooner

Well, yes and no.

If your rims are tubeless-compatible and you are willing and able to go down the learning curve and start-up expense then yes, tubeless can be pretty awesome. One caveat is that it isn't really recommended to run tubeless if you aren't riding the bike for several months for one reason or the other (so if you have a bike at a vacation home or don't ride in winter because you'd be dealing with feet of snow you might not appreciate tubeless as much).

One other observation is that the technology with respect to tubeless is rapidly improving and there seems to be a lot of innovation in that space. If you aren't an early-adopter type you might be wise to wait a couple more years to let the tech settle out a bit.

In any event, with present tubeless technology when you replace your tires you'll definitely want a mop and bucket to clean up the mess. I understand as you get better practiced at it that you don't slop as much sealant on the floor but I'd really not recommend you do any work on a tubeless tire over an expensive floor.

 

[6zfshdb]

The Gaadi tubes sound like a great idea, but here is a review on them, don't think I would feel comfortable using them. https://etrike.wordpress.com/2016/03/12/gaadi-tubes/

For me, the purpose of a Gaadi tube is for emergency repair to get back home or otherwise finish the ride. I wouldn't normally ride with one installed. I would much rather do permanent repairs using a bike stand in the comfort of my garage. IMO, the Gaadi is good enough to temporarily fix a flat on the trail.

 

[Alaskan]

Why choose? I do both. Green slime tubes in Schwalbe Marathon Mondials (winter) Marathon Supreme (summer)

 

[Mr. Coffee]

For me, the purpose of a Gaadi tube is for emergency repair to get back home or otherwise finish the ride. I wouldn't normally ride with one installed. I would much rather do permanent repairs using a bike stand in the comfort of my garage. IMO, the Gaadi is good enough to temporarily fix a flat on the trail.

Honestly, for me this makes it very hard to understand what problem you are solving with the Gaadi tube. My experience with Slime and Stan's tire sealant is that 99 percent of the time you can reinflate the tube and continue home, carefully. You might have to pump it up more than once, but you will certainly make it home. In addition, I can't see how removing the old tube, then installing a Gaadi tube would be easier than patching an existing tube in place, Dutch style.

That's all just my opinion. Do whatever works best for you.

 

[6zfshdb]

Honestly, for me this makes it very hard to understand what problem you are solving with the Gaadi tube. My experience with Slime and Stan's tire sealant is that 99 percent of the time you can reinflate the tube and continue home, carefully. You might have to pump it up more than once, but you will certainly make it home. In addition, I can't see how removing the old tube, then installing a Gaadi tube would be easier than patching an existing tube in place, Dutch style.

That's all just my opinion. Do whatever works best for you.

I guess it really depends on the riding surface you travel most. I've flattened several slime filled tubes on my MTB while riding rough rail trails. There's no reason to think it will be any different with the e-bike. Although the slime works great on small nail & thorn punctures, it does little to plug cuts caused by glass and sharp edged railroad ballast. As pointed out earlier in the post, slime tires are tough to patch due to surface contamination. Although I've done it successfully a couple of times using alcohol swabs, I'd rather just put in the Gaadi and replace the tube when I get home. Yes, you destroy what could be a patch-able tube when you use the Gaadi but I never ride on patched tubes anyway.

The Gaadi's are expensive and far from perfect but IMO, they are the easiest & surest way to deal with a flat on the trail.

 

[Feliz]

My experience is different, I only use Schwalbe and Slime and I've never had a flat, at least not since I competed in the early days of mountain biking.

 

[6zfshdb]

My experience is different, I only use Schwalbe and Slime and I've never had a flat, at least not since I competed in the early days of mountain biking.

I'm also using Schwalbe Fat Franks with slime. I've had one flat so far on the front no less. It was a slash caused by broken glass. There are always idiots around here that think it's funny to break beer bottles on the trail.

I'm in the process of swapping out the Fat Franks with the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. Hopefully, I won't need to use the Gaadi tube for awhile.

 

[Mr. Coffee]

I use Rhinodillo tire liners on my Pedego Interceptor. Since I've used them (September 2017) I have had exactly one flat (tack in the sidewall), which easily sealed with the Slime tubes and I've ridden over 1800 miles on that sealed tube.

I find either using a puncture-resistant tire or a tire liner is a very good idea. Or if you are riding in awful conditions (like construction sites) you might want to do both.

 

[6zfshdb]

I use Rhinodillo tire liners on my Pedego Interceptor. Since I've used them (September 2017) I have had exactly one flat (tack in the sidewall), which easily sealed with the Slime tubes and I've ridden over 1800 miles on that sealed tube.

I find either using a puncture-resistant tire or a tire liner is a very good idea. Or if you are riding in awful conditions (like construction sites) you might want to do both.

Thanks for the link. I know nothing about tire liners so I'll have to do some homework. I did read somewhere that they can cause pinch flats if not installed properly. Any truth to this?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

Thanks for the link. I know nothing about tire liners so I'll have to do some homework. I did read somewhere that they can cause pinch flats if not installed properly. Any truth to this?

If you frequently check your tire pressure (I hand-squeeze the tires before every ride and frequently while I'm riding) pinch flats won't be a issue.

The biggest hassle with tire liners is sometimes it can be quite a struggle to get them in place properly. There are a number of tricks to installing them properly, but most of the tricks involve partially inflating the inner tube before you put the tire all the way on and use the partially inflated inner tube to hold the tire liner in place while you work the tire onto the rim.

The downside to both tire liners and "puncture-resistant" tires is that they both increase weight and rolling resistance so you won't go as fast or as far.

I found this discussion about flat tire prevention on REI's web site. Hopefully it will prove helpful.

 

[6zfshdb]

If you frequently check your tire pressure (I hand-squeeze the tires before every ride and frequently while I'm riding) pinch flats won't be a issue.

The biggest hassle with tire liners is sometimes it can be quite a struggle to get them in place properly. There are a number of tricks to installing them properly, but most of the tricks involve partially inflating the inner tube before you put the tire all the way on and use the partially inflated inner tube to hold the tire liner in place while you work the tire onto the rim.

The downside to both tire liners and "puncture-resistant" tires is that they both increase weight and rolling resistance so you won't go as fast or as far.

I found this discussion about flat tire prevention on REI's web site. Hopefully it will prove helpful.

Thanks again for the info and REI link.

As you point out, I've read that puncture resistant tires are heavier with greater rolling resistance. This is only partially true for some Schwalbe tires however. If you compare the specs, their Marathon + HS468 tires have twice the puncture resistance with the same rolling resistance as the Fat Franks that came stock on the Platinum Interceptor. The Marathon's are a few grams heavier even though they have a slightly smaller profile. This may have a negative effect on the soft ride provided by the Fat Franks though.

https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/road_tires/fat_frank

https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/off-road_tires/marathon_plus_mtb

Are you using the Rinodillo tire liners with the OEM Fat Frank tires & slime tubes or have you switched to something else on your Interceptor?

 

[Mr. Coffee]

...
Are you using the Rinodillo tire liners with the OEM Fat Frank tires & slime tubes or have you switched to something else on your Interceptor?

I'm using the tire liners with Fat Franks and Slime tubes on the Interceptor. I experimented with Rock Razors but there were clearance issues.

 

[john peck]

Guess I´m just lucky. Only in the last few years have I ridden anything other than cheap tires, yet I have never had a flat.

 

[Curious George]

I use puncture resistant tires both on my ebike and my regular bikes, without Slime or extra liners. I have been riding regularly for over four decades. Flats are rare with the puncture resistant tires. I always carry tools, a good portable pump and two spare tubes. Although it can take a few minutes... swapping out a spare tube is not that big of a deal except in rainy weather. I have had to do it twice on a rear hub powered wheel and it was slightly harder but not a disaster, all in all. I can not speak to tubeless tires but I know many folks that rave about them.

 

[ebikemom]

When you say "puncture resistant tire" what tires are you referring to? Thanks!

 

[Curious George]

Schwalbe - various types, Continentals- various types. A little Google goes a long way.