Photos of how to stop flat tires.

I'm not sure if others have tried this, but so far it has worked well .
I purchased a 30 ft long x 4 " wide cargo strap off ebay for around $20 . I then cut them lengthwise to fit properly inside the tire { mine is a fatbike tire } . I then used clear silicone to fasten it to the inside of the tire . These straps are made out of a very strong, lightweight , puncture resistant nylon and seem to do a god job at protecting the tube.

Heres a few photos....I was able to do 4 tires , so it is also inexpensive when compared to special liners or liquid additives.

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That's an interesting solution. I wonder how it holds up to nails, screws, and radial tire wires. It looks like it can stop the first two, but maybe not something thin enough to squeeze past the strands. Too bad a 4" strap won't reach the sidewalls, which are puncture zones as well. It would be a lot heavier, but crazy durable, lol.

I just used some offfalls from 2" ratchet straps for basetrapdoor limiting straps- they are difficult to cut thru but also obviously multifaceted in usefulness :? I'm thinking in a tire/rim they will work really good for pinches and maybe like +50% for punctures? My main bike flats were always pinches till I got wider rims to match the tires- something like 3-4 :5 is a good ratio instead of 1:2 imo.
Btw I like your sig HA

wow that's a really good idea. I will have to try that on my next build. Thanks for sharing.

just a word of caution; back in my DayGlo Avenger bike days, I had had the common problem of the regular tire liners slipping and "zigzagging" and so no longer protecting the center of the tube, so I glued them in place with silicone.

The first roofing nail that I encountered went right thru the strip, (as did others later) because the strip could no longer "slip" out of the way of the nail and push it's tip to the side by sliding across the surface of the strip, as the strip was now held flat by the silicone.

I pulled the strip off the silicone, during one of the repairs, and left it back in it's originally-designed mode of simply being clamped by pressure from the tube against the tire...and I had no further problems with it after that.


I don't know if the same problem will happen with the cargo straps, but thought anyone considering it should know of the possibility.

amberwolf said:

just a word of caution; back in my DayGlo Avenger bike days, I had had the common problem of the regular tire liners slipping and "zigzagging" and so no longer protecting the center of the tube, so I glued them in place with silicone.

The first roofing nail that I encountered went right thru the strip, (as did others later) because the strip could no longer "slip" out of the way of the nail and push it's tip to the side by sliding across the surface of the strip, as the strip was now held flat by the silicone.

I pulled the strip off the silicone, during one of the repairs, and left it back in it's originally-designed mode of simply being clamped by pressure from the tube against the tire...and I had no further problems with it after that.


I don't know if the same problem will happen with the cargo straps, but thought anyone considering it should know of the possibility.

Click to expand...

Appreciate it.

These nylon cargo straps seem to be thicker then most tire liners. The silicone seemed necessary to hold them in place when inserting the tubes, to ensure the cargo strap stayed centered inside the tire.

For me, the biggest hassle of ebiking, is the flat tires. Dissconnecting the wires , the torque arms and dealing with the added weight of the hub motor on the rim . My 1st ebike was a normal 700c- GIANT brand hybrid bike with front suspension . I used air free solid tires on that , and now that I am riding electric fatbike , I really miss the flat free airless tires.

I heard going tubeless really reduces the tendency for pinch flats and also allows you to run lower pressures. Interested if anyone has tried this

Back when I lived in a real desert. Nothing grew here . I only had to look out for the thousands of broken beer bottles on the road. so any tire inflated worked.
The climate changed. Every thing here is GREEN now ,not burnt grey by the sun. Thorns like spikes, goat heads and pointy thorns things every where. The only thing that works is an airless tube with the only tire that will work with it. 26 X 1.75 with a no mor flat tube. Very thin contact patch. Good ride quality, and not too heavy. Slime , thick tubes ,and liners really do not work for me here. I have not tried tubeless as it looks expensive to me.

tiny_n_terrible said:

Every thing here is GREEN now ,not burnt grey by the sun. Thorns like spikes, goat heads and pointy thorns things every where. The only thing that works is an airless tube with the only tire that will work with it. 26 X 1.75 with a no mor flat tube.

Click to expand...

Have you consulted with real cyclists in your area to see what they use? I sort of doubt it's the wheel breaking option you've chosen.

jbalat said:

I heard going tubeless really reduces the tendency for pinch flats and also allows you to run lower pressures. Interested if anyone has tried this

Click to expand...

There's a number of threads about it if you use that word as a search term.

Chalo said:

tiny_n_terrible said:

Every thing here is GREEN now ,not burnt grey by the sun. Thorns like spikes, goat heads and pointy thorns things every where. The only thing that works is an airless tube with the only tire that will work with it. 26 X 1.75 with a no mor flat tube.

Click to expand...

Have you consulted with real cyclists in your area to see what they use? I sort of doubt it's the wheel breaking option you've chosen.

Click to expand...

Chalo there are no real cyclists here . And as for breaking the wheels not in years of use. On many bicycles motorized ice , motorized electric, and pedal power. How fast do you ride?

I can hit an elevated manhole cover and taco a rim or a curb and damage the rim.

jbalat said:

I heard going tubeless really reduces the tendency for pinch flats and also allows you to run lower pressures. Interested if anyone has tried this

Click to expand...

Yeah, on a traditional bike.

The sealant only fixes very small cuts less than a couple of mm. Might work with a nail or thorn, but not something that actually cuts the tire.
Yep, to tube = no pinch flats and that gives the ability to run lower pressure (too low and the tire will burp).

Some of the fat bike guys had too much torque, and ended up shredding their inner tubes, so they went tubeless.

I'm curious as to why you don't get a tire with a built in protection strip like the ebike tires from continental or schwalbe?

Some DYI people have put two tires inside each other to minimize punctures (cutting the sidewall out of the inner tire)...

chas58 said:

I'm curious as to why you don't get a tire with a built in protection strip like the ebike tires from continental or schwalbe?

Some DYI people have put two tires inside each other to minimize punctures (cutting the sidewall out of the inner tire)...

Click to expand...

I did the tire in a tire (shwalbe marathons) and it didn't go as planned. The tire sidewalls (snakeskin) blew out. Reason it blew out was the thin sidewall. If you do go this route make sure you get a thick well rounded tire like a Maxxis hookworm that doesn't skimp on sidewall rubber for weight savings.

tiny_n_terrible said:

Back when I lived in a real desert. Nothing grew here . I only had to look out for the thousands of broken beer bottles on the road. so any tire inflated worked.
The climate changed. Every thing here is GREEN now ,not burnt grey by the sun. Thorns like spikes, goat heads and pointy thorns things every where. The only thing that works is an airless tube with the only tire that will work with it. 26 X 1.75 with a no mor flat tube. Very thin contact patch. Good ride quality, and not too heavy. Slime , thick tubes ,and liners really do not work for me here. I have not tried tubeless as it looks expensive to me.

Click to expand...

For your kind of riding tubeless might really pay off dividends. Thorns could easily be pulled out and replaced with a tubeless repair stick. Air up and keep riding. If you do a ghetto style tubeless it is cheap.

For your kind of riding tubeless might really pay off dividends. Thorns could easily be pulled out and replaced with a tubeless repair stick. Air up and keep riding. If you do a ghetto style tubeless it is cheap.

Click to expand...

so what do I need ? Rim tape, glue ?? Can you do it on any rim and any tire ?

Main tubeless threads
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=tubeless&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=titleonly&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

Some more tubeless threads:
https://endless-sphere.com/forums/search.php?keywords=tubeless&terms=all&author=&sc=1&sf=firstpost&sk=t&sd=d&sr=topics&st=0&ch=300&t=0&submit=Search

Mind you-- if you go tubeless, you may or may not contend with flats less often on the road or trail, but you'll definitely spend a lot more time fooling around with your tires getting them to work as intended. I've seen it again and again, with guys who can change a tube and be back on the road in five minutes or less. They fuss with their tubeless setups for a half hour or more, and then after setting off, they return and do it again because their tires aren't sealing.

If you include the time spent dicking around, tubeless tires are way, way slower than normal tires. I look forward to them going the way of MTB sewup tires. (Yes, once we had those too.)

(They sucked.)

jbalat said:

For your kind of riding tubeless might really pay off dividends. Thorns could easily be pulled out and replaced with a tubeless repair stick. Air up and keep riding. If you do a ghetto style tubeless it is cheap.

Click to expand...

so what do I need ? Rim tape, glue ?? Can you do it on any rim and any tire ?

Click to expand...

Look for ghetto tubeless over at youtube, and you will find various methods of how to run even spoked rims tubeless. Yes you can do on any rim/tire.

@Chalo, we've been over this before. Why don't you try it yourself before you rebel so hard? You are correct that tire might not seal properly to the rim and that will cause leakage. But that is a tiny problem. Air up when gone tubeless and let bike sit for a couple of days before riding if you are scared of the walk of shame. I know you got mad skills bro, and that you done more bike work the most of us here, but I think you sometimes can be a little on conservative side of things. Even if you use one method and that work great for you and have done for years and years, other can get different results because they have different requirements etc. Or maybe they are more open to experiment and find other solutions that better suits their needs. Just because it is different don't have to be bad.

Even wheels with tough tire and a 1 kilo heavy duty tube will puncture. So will a tubeless. The major benefit of tubeless is that a repair can be done in 30-60 seconds roadside or in the backcountry. And you don't need to carry extra stuff. Tubeless repair kit and canned Co2 fits under your seat. Or in a shirt pocket. One other great thing about tubeless is that if you do have a flat, air will almost always leak slowly. As opposed to tire and tube setup where you can get inflated tire in seconds. For high power e-bikes and hi speed riding I for sure know what I prefer.

macribs said:

@Chalo, we've been over this before. Why don't you try it yourself before you rebel so hard?

Click to expand...

The reason why is because I've watched some of my own coworkers-- good capable mechanics, all-- fooling around for what seems like hours just trying to get one single tire holding air consistently. And making a drippy mess in the process. And coming back to do it again after a few weeks so they can spoon out the cheese curds that have formed inside their tires. It's the same song and dance when they install tubeless on a customer's bike.

I personally won't do tubeless tires for a customer. My thinking is if you choose to soil your own pants on purpose, it's nobody else's job to clean up the mess.

Some things you can learn by example. I don't have to try tubeless tires to know they're not for me.

I do all I can to prevent flats, but my grandkids are jus impossible! You know kids,... they skid at every chance, pay no attention to low tire pressure, slipped tubes, or anything they run over.

So while attending to roof leaks in the motorhome, I thought why not jus TRY something different this summer.
https://www.menards.com/main/home-decor/office-supplies/adhesives-tape/tape/roofing-tape/rubber-roofing-seam-tape/p-1444444062094-c-5821.htm?tid=515119039480257583

I'm gonna cut and lay it in the tire with a partially inflated tube jus as others above have done with webbing straps. I'm also gonna use it in place of rim strips too. Only about .300" (1mm) thick, it has an awesome adhesive on both sides, can easily be doubled up, is VERY flexible, self healing and sealing. I'm hoping it will greatly reduce slipping tubes, pinch flats, and minor punctures common on the kids bikes, and might consider it on my own.

macribs said:

jbalat said:

For your kind of riding tubeless might really pay off dividends. Thorns could easily be pulled out and replaced with a tubeless repair stick. Air up and keep riding. If you do a ghetto style tubeless it is cheap.

Click to expand...

so what do I need ? Rim tape, glue ?? Can you do it on any rim and any tire ?

Click to expand...

Look for ghetto tubeless over at youtube, and you will find various methods of how to run even spoked rims tubeless. Yes you can do on any rim/tire.

.

Click to expand...

Are you sure tubeless can be done on all tires/rims ?

For example, there were many people claiming that the stock rims on the DOLOMITE fat bike, did not have enough of a rim lip, to properly seal a tire on it with a tubeless setup.

Marathon tyre is ok. Less flat but still some.

Having done ghetto tubeless for years, I can testify that it can be finicky to set up when you've got a rim/tire combo that don't like each other, or a non tubeless tire with thin sidewalls. With a tubeless rim though and a tubeless ready tire, it's a snap. Pop them on, air them up to seat the bead, add sealant through the valve stem and you're good to go. Goatheads, cactus, snakebites, you're impervious to spikey things, it's such a big improvement for mountain biking. The downsides is if you tear a sidewall, it's a mess putting a tube in. I've only had to do that once though in the past decade maybe?

If I was getting that many flats on the road, I'd switch to moped tires and not d!ick around with heavy, poorly performing liners. Fatbike tires seem to pick up a lot of debris, they might not be the best choice for the road.

rumme said:

macribs said:

jbalat said:

For your kind of riding tubeless might really pay off dividends. Thorns could easily be pulled out and replaced with a tubeless repair stick. Air up and keep riding. If you do a ghetto style tubeless it is cheap.

Click to expand...

so what do I need ? Rim tape, glue ?? Can you do it on any rim and any tire ?

Click to expand...

Look for ghetto tubeless over at youtube, and you will find various methods of how to run even spoked rims tubeless. Yes you can do on any rim/tire.

.

Click to expand...

Are you sure tubeless can be done on all tires/rims ?

For example, there were many people claiming that the stock rims on the DOLOMITE fat bike, did not have enough of a rim lip, to properly seal a tire on it with a tubeless setup.

Click to expand...

Well I retract my previous statement.
Tubeless should work on most tire/rim combos. Some odd rims might not work while other will. You just got to try until you find your right combo