I was using Vittoria Randonneurs for 2 years, but when it was time to replace my back tire, I decided to switch to 28c tires. I opted for the Vittoria Rubino Pro Tech, which are supposed to be pretty durable However, since switching tires, i've had 4 flats, all from road debris. That's all within around a month and a half, compared to the one flat in two years on the Randos.

After changing my flat last night, i decided to go back to my Randonneur on the back (the one that was on the front before) but now I can feel a huge difference in the tire feel compared the Rubino. (bad) Simply put, I like the Rubino ride quality and road feel better.

So, with all that said.. i'm wondering if anyone uses Mr Tuffy tire liners? I've read good and bad about them. Good being that they work, bad being that they increase rolling resistance somehow and could possibly cause flats.

Any thoughts?

1. They do slow you down.

2. Installed correctly, they seem to work.

3. 8,500 miles flat-free in the Desert Southwest. YMMV.

Not significantly. And what kind of cramp does a flat tire put on your overall speed?

I agree with everything else.

Last fall I did a mountain bike ride. 4 people, 4 bikes, 8 tires. We had 32 flats. One bike had 27 punctures, 1 bike had 4 (it had 1 tubeless tire that got a flat), 1 bike had 1. That leaves one bike that had zero...mine. The one that had 1? I forgot to put the Tuffy back in my wife's tire Yeah. They work.

I ride them in all my clinchers. I've seen them chafe tubes, but primarily in low-pressure applications. After cutting them to fit, sand both sides of the cut edge (I usually just rub it on the sidewalk a bit to round off the edge).

They do make $50 tires ride like $25 tires but punctures are REALLY rare.

In my experience they do reduce the amount of flats per mile. What I also have found is they are no where as useful as good armored tires.

I've only tried Armadillos which are $50 tires that ride like $15 tires. I killed mine in a freak encounter with beer bottle chunk that sliced the sidewall, so I've had opposite experience in that realm. Like I say it was a freak accident, however.

The "feel" of the tires will change once you put the Mr. Tuffy's in. I agree with the comment that they work well when installed correctly, the other side of the argument is, if they are installed incorrectly, they can cause more flats than they prevent by chafing or pinching the tube.

A better solution is to find a tire with adequate puncture protection built into the tire. There is always a trade-off however. Tires that have exceptional puncture protection will generally be heavier and provide a less dynamic ride, or they can be very expensive. Most mainstream tire manufacturers make an array of options.

It's not nearly as noticeable as people make out. I doubt that anyone could really tell the difference in a blind test. Compared to tires with protection built in, the difference would be even less noticeable.

Tire liners have the added advantage of cost. A Mr. Tuffy liner can last for decades...out lasting many sets of tires. Tires with integrated liners are a single use item. Once the tire is worn out, the liner is discarded with the tire.

"It's not nearly as noticeable as people make out."

This would depend on the tire. On the tires that the OP mentions, maybe you're correct. The lighter and more supple the tire (think racing or sport tires), the more noticable the difference. I'm not dissing Mr. Tuffys, just saying that you don't get something for nothing. If you add weight and a peice of rubber/plastic to a bicycle tire, it's going to feel different. This is true whether it's an add on (like Mr. Tuffy) or molded into the tire (like our Marathon Plus tires).

Please note that I said 'noticeable'. There might be a measureable difference but I'd suspect that it is vanishingly small. But perception is a very funny thing. You'd need a double blind test where the rider didn't know what he had in the tires. I've ridden both ways recently (700Cx23 road tires) and I certainly can't tell the difference in ride quality nor do I see a noticeable difference in speed.