Commuting - heavy duty tire tubes-do they work?

just went to the bike store and got a flat tire fixed.
the bike store owner installed a heavy-duty tire tube and said it should help in avoiding flats.
too early to tell if it will really work.
does anybody else have experiences with these heavy-duty tire tubes? i would be interested to know, if they really work i am planning on installing another one on my other tire.

I'm curious, too. Same deal with me - I was getting a flat every two months on my hybrid and got a kevlar-lined tire on the rear, and was thinking about one on the front. I hear they weigh a bit more, but that's not super relevant for me since I'm carrying panniers with my lunch and work clothes - I'd rather just not have flats. Worth it? Any negatives?

PaulH hasn't flatted in 20,000+ miles. Maybe he'll chime in.

Either the thicker tubes work, or tire liners work, or both. I can't discern the efficacy of each because I use both. No flats in 7,000 miles.

Having a mirror might help, too, allowing you to move left with confidence when able. A lot of pointy things are blown right, toward the curb, where they await you.

PaulH hasn't flatted in 20,000+ miles. Maybe he'll chime in.

Either the thicker tubes work, or tire liners work, or both. I can't discern the efficacy of each because I use both. No flats in 7,000 miles.

Having a mirror might help, too, allowing you to move left with confidence when able. A lot of pointy things are blown right, toward the curb, where they await you.

well maybe heavy duty tire tubes do work. i already had on my bike panaracer pasela tourguide tires, which have kevlar lining, that i bought from harris cyclery, and i got a flat with far less than 7000 miles on them with a standard tire tube.
i can estimate i had maybe 2000 miles or so before i got my flat.

I put my trust in tires with kevlar or similar puncture protection belt, and slime tubes. Since riding that combo there were no flats, in about 1 000 miles rolled on bad and littered roads. Or maybe there were flats, but slime tubes work - either way, me happy :D

well maybe heavy duty tire tubes do work. i already had on my bike panaracer pasela tourguide tires, which have kevlar lining, that i bought from harris cyclery, and i got a flat with far less than 7000 miles on them with a standard tire tube.
i can estimate i had maybe 2000 miles or so before i got my flat.

Maybe they work, maybe they don't. But a lot of folks would be delighted to flat once only every 2,000 miles. Some luck is involved. Sounds like you have good tires.

I've had better luck running armored tires than I have with the thicker tubes.

I use serfes drifter tires. Would get a few flats with regular tubes. No flats with thornproof heavy duty tubes. I go for years with no flats using this setup. I tried slime in regular weight tubes before the heavy duty ones. They flatted just as often as regular tubes with no slime. Plus they slung that nasty crap all over the bike while they where going flat. :notamused:

Yep, heavy duty thornproof tubes work.

I use Avenir thorn resistant tubes. I ran over a goat head bush somehow ( I really don't know how) and not a single one got through. I haven't had a flat since I got them, previously I normally got one every couple months at least.

It depends on what the main source of flats is. For goatheads, I've heard good results for heavy duty tubes. But if the problem is steel shavings and industrial staples, heavy duty tires will help more (tho nothing works all the time). And for glass, tires are definitely the way to go.

Having tried them all,

. Tire liners work good but if not properly installed can actually cause pinch flats.

. Thick-walled tubes provide a measure of protection, and can be combined with tire liners.

. Flatless tires such as Schwalbe Marathons can be written over broken bottles without worries.

The flatless tires are more expensive than standard tires, maybe twice as much, and I used to frown on such expense, but I finally broke down and put some on my commuter.

I use Avenir thorn resistant tubes and Panaracer Pasela Tourguard tires. Probably overkill but I have not gotten a flat since using this combination.

thanks alot guys for your input of. i think i will go ahead and put heavy duty tire tubes on my other tire. in combo with a panaracer pasela tourguide kevlar lined tire i should have the best protection i can get.

I use thorn resistant tubes/Continental Ultra Gatorskin tires on my commuter road bike and haven't flatted in at least 2,000 miles with this combo on the back. I had a normal tube and Gatorskins on the front and flatted 3 times this year. I changed to a thorn resistant on the front and haven't had any issues since. It is quite a bit heavier, though. Performance offers the best deal for the tubes. Here is a link. Good Luck.

http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1034747_-1_1518501_1518500_400233

I use thorn resistant tubes/Continental Ultra Gatorskin tires on my commuter road bike...
http://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1034747_-1_1518501_1518500_400233

Yup, when I bought my Cross Comp, I took the cx tires off and used gatorskins. Great purchase, no flats so far and they are smooooth

My commuter wears Forte GT2/K kevlar-belted tires and Forte thorn-resistant tubes. No flats since installing them a year and a half ago and I ride over pretty much anything.

Thorn-resistant and heavy duty are often very different. My thorn-resistant tubes weigh over 9 oz. each. Most heavy duty tubes I've seen aren't that much thicker than a normal tube.

I've had good success using puncture resistant tires and normal tubes. Such tires are usually heavy, but I'd rather have a little extra weight than be fixing flats all the time.

PaulH hasn't flatted in 20,000+ miles. Maybe he'll chime in.

Either the thicker tubes work, or tire liners work, or both. I can't discern the efficacy of each because I use both. No flats in 7,000 miles.

Having a mirror might help, too, allowing you to move left with confidence when able. A lot of pointy things are blown right, toward the curb, where they await you.

I don't use them. It seems to me that it is the role of the tire (and tire liner) to prevent punctures, not the tube. Stopping the penatration at the tube, rather than at the tire seems to be a good way to collect embedded tacks and nails. I've never seen a "flat-resistant tube" for cars or airplanes.

Paul

I was at Hilton Head, SC, recently and took a beach bike from my sister's vacation home to the LBS for replacement of the tire, which was worn and flat, and the LBS guy highly recommended the thick thorn proof innertubes. He put them on all his rentals, as this fixes the issue of customers getting flats. That said, it didn't look like he uses kevlar tires. I inferred that thorn proof tubes were cheaper than kevlar belted tires.

That said, given the weight of such a tube, which comes in a box that's double the size of a regular tube box, I'm certain that it adds more weight than the belted tires.

I recently got a flat on my bike, which I use Schwalbe Marathon Plus's, which shocked the heck out of me and ended up being the first time in all the years of bike commuting that I had to ask for a ride home. The tire wasn't the problem--it was a tube defect near the valve stem that bubbled up and a patch wouldn't hold. I didn't have a spare tube--just my patch kit. I later replaced the tube with a thick, thorn proof tube.

Double protection, with kevlar belt and the thick tube, is nice!