Recreational & Family - Flat-resistant tires for bike trailer?

It is goathead season and our Chariot has had two flats in the last two months, which is two more flats than any of our bikes have had in 2008. I think it is more flat-prone because the wheels run closer to the edge of the road/trail, maybe. In any case, fixing a flat with a bored toddler in the trailer is a pain in the butt, so I am trying to think of ways to make those tires more flat resistant.

Has anyone tried replacing the tires with kevlar tires? They are a standard BMX size so there should be some other options available. I was also wondering if something like this (http://www.bizrate.com/bicycles_equipment/oid857826004.html) would help.

Just wondering if anyone else had given this a try. I am lousy at fixing flats under the best of conditions anyway.

back when i was riding bmx bikes--about 13 years ago--we had goatheads and other tire damaging things to deal with. instead of spending money on expensive tires, we came up with a cheap fix that worked pretty well. it wasn't foolproof, but it worked.

for each wheel, you'll need:

1 20x1.75 tire
1 20x1.75 tube
1 20x 2.125 tire
these are both standard bmx sizes, so you should be able to find them at any lbs or xmart.

it takes some work, but you can use the smaller tire as a tire liner for the larger tire. you can buy these tires new, or use old dead ones if you have them lying around. if you find that it's too tight with two tires and a tube on your wheel, you can also cut the bead off of the inner/smaller tire, and use it as a tuffy strip kind of thing.

ever consider going tubeless (http://www.google.com/products?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&channel=s&hl=en&q=tubeless+bike+tires&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&resnum=6&ct=title)?

Not much you can do if it goes through the sidewall. That being said, The Panaracer you are looking at is good, although Mr. Tuffy's is more popular. Take a look at Armadillo tires, and if you combine that with Mr. Tuffy's/Panaracer tire liners and HD or thicker "thorn resistant" tubes, it can provide the best possible protection from goatheads...some like to use the slime filled thorn resistant tubes. The two tire method (one inside the other) is a bit on the heavy side as well as the various 'airfree tires', but it does work.

I have had success with Mr Tuffy liners, but if you put less than 60 psi in the trailer tires, the Slime would be easier.

Schwalbe Marathon plus tires come in sizes from 16 and up. I've never had a flat in my 4000+km with my pair. They are a bit slower then other tires, but worth it if you don't want flats

If our current tires wear out before our 3 yr old outgrows the trailer I will replace them w/ 20x2.0 big apples. The trailer is ~3 yrs old now, got a lot of miles on it, but the tires are kind of hanging on there so it's tough to say if that will happen.

Check your bead seat diameter before buying new tires. Not all 20" rims are the same. You'll find the bead seat in parenthesis next to the tire size on the tire.

I think what DieselDan is referring to is "standard" tire (and rims) sizes.

The following tables are from Sheldon Brown tire sizes (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-sizing.html#fraction) page.

Fractional---ISO--------Applications
20 x 1 1/8
20 x 1 1/4
20 x 1 3/8--451 mm----Juvenile lightweights, BMX for light riders, some recumbents

20 x 1 3/4--419 mm----Schwinn juvenile

20 x 1.5-20
x 2.125-----406 mm----Most BMX, juvenile, folders, trailers, some recumbents

A general rule is that if the tires expressed using decimals are different in size from tires specified using fractions. In the case of the 20" series, there is a fractional size that is different from the other fractional sizes

Granted I don't tow as much as you, but after one flat on my Burley Flatbed, I put Slime tubes on. Havn't had a flat since. If they weren't so knobby, I would mount the Specialized Armadillo BMX tires, so that it could match my bike.

We use Armadillos on some of our bikes. I think we are going to start with the Mr. Tuffy's because that's easy to buy locally. I will report back on how it works. Thanks for all the suggestions -- I will probably wind up trying out some combination of a lot of these.

I'd really prefer not to make the tires overly sluggish, but it's a trailer, not a racing bike, so I'm not sure how much difference it makes in the long run.

How about air less tires? I've been reading about them, and the reviews are mixed for bike use. For trailers, I'd think they would be ideal. They're common on wheelchairs. Here's one such company....

http://www.noflattubes.com/index.html

It looks like they are sold under the "BELL" name, and one poster mentioned finding them at Walmarts.

Uh....what's a goathead? I take it is not the sun-bleached skull of a dead goat lying on the road.....

No, it's a nasty little thorn shaped like a goat's head. Also known as puncture vine or tribulus terrestris. It looks so innocent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris) but it is an evil little thing.

Uh....what's a goathead? I take it is not the sun-bleached skull of a dead goat lying on the road.....

They are nasty hard little things....

Part of the reason Mr. Tuffy's were invented.



The ones in this picture have one of their main points embedded in the car tire.

We have the same thing in Florida, just a little different species, I guess. Three flat tires in one day because of those pests !!