phantomcow2

A friend of mine said that around 10 years ago he replaced his tubes on his roadbike with solid tube after he got a flat. Though it makes for a stiffer ride there is never any flat to worry about. I would like to put solid tube on my tires but i cant find them anywhere. Do these things still exist? Any links are appreciated.

RoadKill

I remember my brother had one that we got some place like Wal Mart. Might be a good place to start looking. I think the solid tubes were one of those things that were too "low end" for the lbs to carry.

I remember we let that tire rot out and never did replace it. That thing was on there too tight and couldnt be taken off without a hack saw.

sydney

Yeah, Wally Mart or the Blue Light Special store and it will turn the bike into a slug.

Smorgasbord

Spray foam pipe insulation inside a tube/tire combo. Cut the thing off when it no longer works. Let me know how it goes.

Rev.Chuck

All right, that is an oxymoron. A solid tube, realy more of a dense foam than solid rubber is tough to install. You might try looking for a tire mousse, that is what the moto guys call them.

phantomcow2

Hmm i think i mgiht look into that, its a shame the solid tubes are not so abundant, yea that add some weight but its the least rolling resistance and never a flat.

rykoala

Never a flat? Try thorn resistant tubes with slime in them. That's the combo I just did for my commuter.

phantomcow2

I actually saw these "no flat inner tubes" from bell. It had all these claims like self sealing and all that, has anybody tried these?

Rev.Chuck

The self sealing tubes only work well when the puncture is very tiny. The sealant works by solidifying in the puncture. A tube does not give much thickness to puncture in. We used the stuff in implement(really big lawn mower) tires and it worked great, but these tires are pretty thick and no tube. The sealer would stop a 1/4 inch drill or a twentytwo round and only lose a pound or two. There was a demo gadget in the retail area. It was a wheel barrow wheel on an axle with a nail on a lever set to puncture it. That thing had hundreds(thousands) of punctures in it and only lost a couple of pounds a week.