multi-teired puncture defense system - good idea?
 

i commute through some industrial areas where the roads are paved with nails and broken glass. as far as i'm concerned, i don't mind giving up some rolling resistance and weight 'cause you're never slower than when you have a flat.

i have panaracer ribmo kevlar belted tires. i got a flat yesterday. i just installed a puncture resistant tube. would it be worthwhile to add mr. tuffy tire liners?

Sure, why not? I run Gatorskins plus Mr. Tuffies and haven't gotten any flats since I started using that combo (I know, now I've cursed myself). I never got a huge amount of flats, and can fix them fairly quickly. But, it's something I'd rather not do if I can avoid it. On a purely recreactional bike, it's not that big of a deal. On a commuter, where time can be a factor, the less flats I have to deal with the better. Come to think of it, who wants to fix flats on a recreational ride? I'm willing to give up that *slight* performance edge in order to spend more time enjoying the ride, and less time on the side of the road...

Happy New Year, ride safe!

An unfortunately placed nail will puncture anything. Thorn resistant tubes with sealant paste inside are pretty hard to flatten, and if a nail goes through you can usually just repump the tube and spin the wheel to seal the hole. FWIW, I've seen many flat tubes caused by Mr. tuffy liners- the edge of the liner wears through the tube.

I run the kevlar liners, myself. Changing a tube in sub-zero weather is to be avoided, so layer up the tires too.

My grandmother had an interesting solution to this dilemma during WWII (living in Berlin). She couldn't afford tires, much less the many repairs to inevitable punctures, so she wrapped electrical cable (readily available from bombed out buildings) onto the bike's rims until it resembled something like a tire and commuted many trouble-free miles to work.

Tell you grandmother she is my hero.

Thanks, but I'll have to do the next best thing and give the compliment to my mother who is very much like her mom was. ;)

I've heard this too. However, I believe it was a problem with older Tuffies. The newer ones have tapered edges which have supposedly fixed that problem. I've only been using them for a year or so, but haven't had any issues so far...knock on wood. I wouldn't worry about it too much, especially since the OP is running thicker tubes already.

As mentioned, no one is going very fast when fixing a flat. I lived for years in the southwest desert, where goatheads are ubiquitous, and the only way to ride was with thorn resistant tubes and tire sealant. With that system in those conditions, tires needed to be topped off about once a week. In those conditions, with normal tire/tube combinations, a ten mile ride could mean patching eight punctures (words of experience). These days, with a cargo bike and bolt on hubs (IGH in the rear), I will do almost anything to aviod a flat. The current system: Big Apple 2.35" tires, Tuffy type liners, dead tube slit up the inside and wrapped around the actual tube, and sealant in the actual tube. I have gotten flats with this system, but it takes something extreme (3" construction screw or the like). I also ride with a patch kit, tire boots, and a spare tube with sealant preinstalled. Urban industrial areas can be even worse than goatheads. Just a note on the Tuffys; they will wear through the tube eventually and cause a flat, but if they have prevented any flats in the interim, you're still ahead of the game, and they will prevent a lot of them. Also, using an extra, dead tube between the Tuffy and the tube will prevent this, as well as adding another layer of rubber and helping to prevent pinch flats. The best strategy is to keep escalating the prevention until you reach a tolerable level of flat frequency (one to two a year is about it for me). Keep rolling!