Flat prevention or just a tube?

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JosephPaul86

Just wondering what you guys do. I rode 12 miles yesterday and came home with a low(30psi) tire. I have these Kevlar liners that go around the tube, but I might remove the for the weight savings/less rotational mass when I upgrade to a more road friendly tire.

I was wondering if anyone uses that slime stuff or these Kevlar liners or just stick with a tube only? And this is on 26" MTB

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hr2510

I haven't tried it in the bikes yet but I use the slime in the tractor and riding lawn mower tires. There are lots of mesquite trees where I live so lots of thorns and the slime works GREAT!

ang1sgt

As HR mentions, tires and flats can be a localized thing. For me in the Northeast, it bits of road bed shale coming up and doing the punctures. In Texas, thorns and cactus/mesquite, for others it's glass or maybe bits of coral.

I like having the puncture protection built into the tire. A number of companies make these and I happen to like the Bontrager Hardcase line of tires for this. While the Kevlar liners are okay, they do add extra time to install as well as weight. As a Mechanic...I HATE SLIME! But I do understand that in some areas it does work the best.

Mr. Beanz

I'd cut thru the chase and upgrade the tires since you plan on it anyways. I had some Specialized Nimbus tires on an old mtb that I used for riding on the road/commuting. They were GREAT slick type tires. They were fast tires.

I went 1.5 width. They were tough, never had a flat while I had them on the bike. If the tires you have on your bike are the stock tires, ditch them. Stock tires usually suck big time. Only enough to get you out the door!:D

I've had liners on my tandem before. Ended up cutting the tube. I tried things like shaving the edge, but still cut thru. I did read the other day, someone used powder to prevent this.

Shubox

Mr. Beanz your talking about the Specialized Nimbus Armadillos? I went 40 miles today with 2 flats with my stock Bontrager Jones AC tires on my Trek 4500 I am thinking of switching to the armadillos I have read mostly all the slime vs no slime posts with the search function and it seems like a 50/50 thing with the Slime folks making the most sense saying the slime fixes flats you dont even know about.

barndoor

I use Tufo tires and a little bit of their sealant....they work GREAT! Got 'em on most of my bikes.

chunkyd

On the slime topic - I haven't tried them buut! i think i'd like to know is i have any holes in my tires at all!
i'd hate to be on a long ride and have a sudden flat based on a weakened tire that was already damaged. now if i get a flat i know about it somewhat immediatly and can take care of it.

I'd think about carry one as a spare thou, like a last resort thing...if that makes sense.

Stujoe

I went way overkill for tires on my HardRock...Specialized Nimbus Armadillos and thorn resistant tubes. I am planning on doing some commuting with it and flats are not a good option. The downside to it is that they are pretty heavy.

Velo Dog

Caution about Slime: It may stop leaks w/punctures you don't know about (how would I know?), but if you get one big enough that Slime won't work, I've found it almost impossible to clean the Slime off the outside of the tube well enough for a patch to stick. On a century a couple of years ago with Armadillo tires AND Slime, I ran over a branch with thorns in it and got nine punctures, four in front and five in back. I had a spare tube, and used that in back, but spent more than an hour scraping, wiping, sanding, regluing and resanding the front tube. B@$tard patches wouldn't stick. I finally caught the sag wagon back to the start.

Mr. Beanz

JosephPaul86

Thanks for the input guys. I'll probably go with new tires and tubes, and carry a spare tube just in case as I already do. I'll ditch the Kevlar liners and add them to my pile of spare parts. I'm looking on pricepoint.com for a good commuter tire and don't see any in my price range. Might ride to the LBS tomorrow and see hwat my buddy has got for me.

Shubox

After this thread today and my 2 flats I went and bought 2 Armadillo Crossroad tires, went crossroad over nimbus because I ride on the lakefront alot and go through some sand I dont want the nimbus to go sideways and fall on my face. Also my boys and I go trail riding occasionally.

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