Lots of punctures - replace with solid or puncture resistant

[Chalo]

I went with regular 2.125 tires and STANS in the tubes and couldn't be happier. I hope the flats are minimized with the STANS in there but we'll see.

Stan's and other latex-based sealants turn into cottage cheese monsters over a relatively short period of time. Those monsters don't have much value in closing punctures, and neither does the soupy mess that the monsters float in.

It's worth deflating the tires every so often, taking care to avoid letting sealant into the valves, so you can check the tubes for stanimals.

 

[X2flier]

To my post back then, I would only add that you may wish to cut away the tire beads from the inside tire. It may not be necessary, though.

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=82771&start=75#p1395351
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[neptronix]

Stanimals, ha ha..

Yeah i had slime on my 700c bike wheels once..
Took a few goathead hits.. then hit a small nail, which killed the tube entirely. It wouldn't seal.
Aha, but i was carrying a patch kit, so i don't have to do a 2 mile walk of shame back to HQ, right?

Nope. You cannot patch a tube with sealant on it because it will leak on the patch.. the patch gets wet, and the adhesive becomes ineffective.. so.. it starts working as an anti sealant..

Okay, as for the tire in a tire idea..
Seems like it would have some other problems..

1) Cut the tire in half, and now you have a gap in the tire, which could shift around and create a bump in your tire..
2) Don't cut the tire in half, and at low pressure, the inner tire can still shift around..

What's the solution for these kind if pitfalls? Some type of glue? perhaps RTF, which is basically a rubbery kind of glue that can still adhere while the tire flexes, etc..

 

[X2flier]

Okay, as for the tire in a tire idea.. Seems like it would have some other problems..
1) Cut the tire in half, and now you have a gap in the tire, which could shift around and create a bump in your tire..
2) Don't cut the tire in half, and at low pressure, the inner tire can still shift around..
What's the solution for these kind if pitfalls? Some type of glue? perhaps RTF, which is basically a rubbery kind of glue that can still adhere while the tire flexes, etc..

https://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=82771&start=75#p1395351
Neptronix,

No need for Room Temperature Vulcanizing (RTV) sealant. Cut the old "inside" tire straight across once. Install the "inside" tire into the good road tire. Overlap the ends of the "inside" tire in there. Mark the inside tire at the end of the overlap. Remove the inside tire, and cut the inside tire straight across at the overlap mark, removing a section of the inside tire maybe 4"~8" long. Reinstall the inside tire into the road tire, with zero overlap, and a no-gap close fit. No sealant needed.

Alternately, you can cut the inside tire at a 45 degree angle instead of straight across, to minimize feeling any "bump" in the rolling tire. That trick also makes the fitment of the inside tire less critical, with the end-to-end abutment. It simply does not matter if the inside tire shifts a bit, if it could at all, being trapped between the inflated tube and the road tire.

As I said, you may or may not wish to remove the tire bead strips from the "inside" tire, for easier fitting into the road tire. We are really only using the sidewalls and road tread, on that "inside" tire.

We "bicycle kids" all did this trick for years, way back when, so the process (and the flat-free results) are well proven. Adding the hard and slick Slime strips between the "inside" tire and the road tire should make your tires about bulletproof to road hazards, then. You will need much less air pressure to obtain a hard tire and an easy rolling resistance, using the "inside tire" trick. I believe that this lower air pressure also prevents tube punctures that might happen if the tire was "fully" inflated.

 

[markz]

LOL neptronix, I was doing the same thing. I always wondered what the heck is going on, what am I doing wrong, it must be something I am doing wrong. I kept most of my tubes, rode home many a time on a flat whether it be the front or rear w/ motor.

As you said Marathon Plus tire. There is a store in Calgary, Power in Motion in Eau Claire Mall downtown, they have 20 tires on a big ring for your viewing pleasure, 4" in length and bead to bead. Its probably a custom thing they did there. I recommend anyone in Calgary to check the store out, they sell custom cut spokes and they have a "Wheel Guy" who does a good job lacing.

Thorn Proof Tubes on used old tires have saved me a few times. I admit sometimes I am clueless, I had a tires sidewall break open probably due to my negligence in aligning the V-brake pads. I rode days with that hemorrhoid popping out of the side :lol: at my laziness to not even look. One day it got worse, looked and to my amazement I saw that hemorrhoid popping out. Any normal tube, I would have had an on street repair.

A combo of Thorn Proof tubes and them Marathon Plus tires is the way to go!
It is well worth the money to spend on the tire and tube.

Other things people have done
- Use cut up old tubes to line between tire and tube.
- Use an old TIRE to do the same. I'd assume a smooth tire. Just search.
- I dont know about them Tire Liners, I tried them, not sure why I didnt stay with it, maybe my laziness in trying to get it in, or maybe it just did not help.

Thanks for your report, but the solid rubber tires being crappy wasn't a huge surprise

I live in Utah and my flat rate is about once every other ride.
Went through about $400 worth of various bicycle tires and sealants and tire liners and..
When Schwalbe marathons filled with stans no tubes don't work, it's time to hang it up.

The only answer is more rubber.
The best bicycle tire i can find measured 7mm thick right in the center ( marathon plus ). I'm sure that the second you sit on the bike, that 7mm becomes 5mm. The biggest goathead i've measured was 11mm long.

The thickest motorcycle tire i've seen measured about 13mm, but i have only measured a few. I'm sure it gets burlier than that. The thinnest i've seen is 8mm on a vee rubber 16 x 2.0 tire. ( but this tire had a hard compound, which is more likely to deflect or snap a goathead in half )

I have never seen a goathead fragment in any of my car tires, but have picked literally THOUSANDS of them out of my bike tires.

The only way a bike can handle this kind of environmental damage is..
1) run scooter/motorcycle tires.
2) run the skinniest 700c tire you can get away with and pump it to max PSI at all times. The round shape will fling most of the goatheads off. Only one which you roll over at dead center of the tire ( chances of this are lower the narrower the tire patch is ) will pop it.

 

[neptronix]

Interesting, but how do you get really exact?
Because i don't want to have to fidget with this tire if i ever have to replace a tube.

It seems like inflated vs uninflated might have a difference of 5mm. A small amount of gap is just as bad as a small amount of overlap. I suppose you'd need to make a couple passes to get it truly right.

The diagonal cut is an interesting idea for preventing misalignments from messing up the ride quality.
I feel like some kind of locking shape mixed with RTV to make sure the two sides remain locked would be most ideal.

Maybe i'm being too cautious. I just want the result to be something solid i can trust over time. Tire anxiety is worse than range anxiety for me.

 

[neptronix]

Power in motion is a cool company but it seems like they failed to market themselves properly which is kinda sad.

Yeah, maybe thick tubes are a good help. I imagine that once they take enough hits though, they're ticking time bombs because a little pin prick can eventually turn into an area where the tube shears apart. The harder compound of a tire is much less likely to do that.

Maybe i need to head over to the local used bike parts place and pick up some smooth tires and experiment with a few styles of cuts and adhesives and return with my results.

Would be nice to get back on the road. Haven't had any good riding for 3 years here due to not finding a bike with 20 inch wheels ( thus fits motorcycle tires ) that comes in an extra large size.

 

[Fastwanabe]

Could it be possible that this clumping occurs because the tube has a powder substance inside of it?

 

[Chalo]

Okay, as for the tire in a tire idea..
Seems like it would have some other problems..

1) Cut the tire in half, and now you have a gap in the tire, which could shift around and create a bump in your tire..
2) Don't cut the tire in half, and at low pressure, the inner tire can still shift around..

Don't cut the tire. Just cut off the wire beads. You use a slightly smaller tire for the liner, and cutting away the wires allows it to stretch and expand to fit the space. It doesn't shift around any more than a tube shifts around inside a tire.

It's important to use a smooth treaded tire on the inside, so there aren't voids in between the liner and the outer tire casing.

This is a measure I only take when puncture hazards are extreme, or when removing the wheel is a terrible ordeal or beyond the capabilities of the user. I don't employ it on my own bikes. But I would use it before a foam tire or a DOT tire.

 

[Chalo]

Could it be possible that this clumping occurs because the tube has a powder substance inside of it?

It happens just as readily to tubeless tires that have no powder in them. It's only a matter of the latex coagulating.

Glycol-based sealants like Slime can do an analogous trick, because they use fibrous material that jams into punctures. Over time (a longer time than latex sealants take to curdle), the fibers become felted into lumps, like cat hairballs.

 

[amberwolf]

I don't bother cutting the tires (I just take the beads off). I tend to pick tires taht are just a bit smaller diameter than the ones they're going into, where possible.

But mostly I just use the old tubes in layers instead, sometimes with tire liners between the tire's inner side and the outer side of the outer tube layer.

Cut the old tube's valve off, then slit it on it's inner circumference.

Place it around the actual tube you're going to air up.

Insert this assembly into the tire.

If you only have thin old tubes, you can use several layers.

If you use a tire liner, put it ito the tire first, and then the asembly of tubes.

You can make the "tire" as thick a rubber as you need by doing this.

Do NOT glue them together.

Especially do NOT glue any tire liners to anything--if you do they can't move to let nails/etc slip across their surface to prevent a puncture, and the nail will just go right thru.