Originally Posted by
woodysroad
Wondering what some of the preferences for tires are for long distance touring. I'm planning a 10,000 mile trip and normally use Serfas tires on my Fuji Touring bike, typically 700 x 28. I intend to use 700 X 32 on this trip. I usually get 2,000 - 2,500 miles before needing to replace them, and plan to do so on my trip at about the same intervals, unless needed sooner. Anyone have favorites they would like to suggest?
Also, does anyone have experience with tire liners? I have used the thicker and bulkier "thorn resistant" tubes before and once got over 20,000 miles over a period of two years on the front one before replacing it, while getting over 5,000 on the rear. I'm thinking of using those on my trip. Any thoughts about tubes and tube protection? Thanks.
I use Mr Tuffy and have for most of the 30 years they have been in business. Some of my Tuffys are almost that old. They don't wear out, you can move them from tire to tire...less waste...and they do a very good job. I've tried other brands like Slime but those had a sharp edge that cut through the tubes in a very short period of time. I've had the Tuffy's wear through a tube only a couple of times but considering that I have them in every bike I've owned and I've used them for thousands of miles, that's not too bad.
There are places where they have failed me but that's more where I was riding...and a little Karma
...then the fault of the liner. I do an annual mountain bike trip to a dinosaur track site in southern Colorado. One year I took someone who had no liners and another person who had tubeless as well as my wife who had a single liner...I forgot to install the other one
My bike had both wheels equipped. My friend with the tubeless flatted both tires a couple of times. My friend without liners got 27 flats, my wife flatted on the tire without the liner and I got none. Zero. Nilch. Nada. I lorded it over my poor friend with the 27 flats and the tubeless guy mercilessly. I gloated so much my wife finally made me stop...you know the wives can do that.
The next year, on the same route, I stopped counting at 63 and had to carry my bike out of the canyon with tires so flat that they fell off the rims. There were so many goathead spikes...hundreds of them...embedded in the tires that I had to throw the tires away. I don't think anything would have worked in that situation. And I don't make fun of my friends anymore