chucky

Nobody makes plain 'ol regular wheel chocks for bicycles (you know, triangular blocks to keep the wheel from rolling) and the types of wheel blocks they do make (ie to compliment rear wheel indoor trainers) suck at holding the wheel still despite weighing nearly as much as my entire bike.

So I did this:


That's an 8x1-1/4" inner tube (ISO137) pumped to about 10 psi serving as a chock for a standard 700c front wheel and it works marvelously at preventing the wheel from rolling as well as preventing the handlebars from rotating (in addition to gripping the ground as well as any tire or better).

My only complaint is there don't appear to be "thorn resistant" tubes made in this size so I'm afraid this bad boy's gonna explode if I keep using it outdoors...maybe wrapping it up in athletic tape would help (and come to think of it maybe wrapping with athletic tape the inner tubes used the regular way inside tires would prevent them from getting flats too...anyone ever test that out?).

dsbrantjr

I believe that the word you intended to use is "chock"

chock
/CHäk/
Noun
A wedge or block placed against a wheel or rounded object, to prevent it from moving.

chucky

Yeah, sorry I thought "chock" in my head but after I typed "chucky" I continued typing "chuck".

Can the mods fix the spelling in the title?

Kimmo 

Probably not a great idea... I'm not sure exactly what 'athletic tape' is and how much it can stretch, but sticking stuff in between your tyre and tube will hurt acceleration and braking, ride comfort, and grip.

And the puncture protection afforded will only be due primarily to the thickness of the tape; its toughness won't matter much when it's firmly sandwiched between tube and tyre, IMO.

chucky

By athletic tape I simply meant generic cotton tape...

Would it "hurt acceleration and braking, ride comfort, and grip"? Probably but it seems pretty similar in essence to what tire carcasses are made of and which we know in some respects must be made in a way that "hurts" the properties you listed if they are to survive the environment of their intended "performance". There's nothing comfortable or grippy about a tire that isn't rolling because it was too fragile to stay inflated and it seems to me that insufficient flat resistance is simply a subtle example of this.

I'm already sticking stuff between my tires and tubes (StopFlats2 tire liners) even though I agree that it does indeed "hurt acceleration and braking, ride comfort, and grip"...but I don't agree that puncture protection comes primarily from thickness nor with the conventional wisdom that we can regard the tube/tire as integral because clearly we can't even regard the tire itself as integral if a foreign object is in the process of cutting a hole through it.

We have plenty of ideas of probable greatness along with plenty of people willing to pursue them, but what we lack is the knowledge of someone who has tested the improbable ones!

Kimmo 

Yeah, I suspected you meant a fabric tape... kinda like elastoplast or something, huh?

I don't think anything woven is going to help much, unless it's a tight weave of something tougher than cotton.

But then I don't suffer many flats at all and can afford to pooh-pooh such ideas from my armchair; if you're desperate for improvement in this regard, I don't see the harm in experimenting...

Tough to reach any sort of conclusion without getting deliberately destructive, though.

chucky

Yes! At this time I can't recall an exact quote from David Wilson's "Bicycling Science", but this is how bicycle engineering progresses:
Destruction!

Clawed

When the tube gives up the ghost find the 8" tire it came out of and use that for a chock. A scooter store should have an old tire lying around that would work. A little scrub and a little ArmorAll will make it wife acceptable in the house.

Ronno6

I like the small hair bands made of 1/8" bungee cord. Wrap around the handlebar just below the front brake lever, and
pull over the lever to engage the front brake for parking.
It goes with you everywhere and is ready at a moment's notice.
Besides, it gives my fingers something to fidget with while riding.........

fietsbob

A loop of shock cord with a plastic ball on the end, has made its way onto the steering tube /stem,
and so on hand for the same purpose. sets my brake on stop.