aluminum? is it flexible? are you talking about one of those tire liners they sell, or something you just stuck between the tire & tube you pretty much invented yourself?

here's a site that sells tire liners that would fit your tires: https://www.warwickmills.com/Stop-Fla...rotection.html

Good thing you pack a flat kit because NO tire is flat proof!! The weight of a heavier tire will prevent you from accelerating from a dead stop to whatever speed, say crusing speed as fast as you could with a lighter tire...BUT we're only talking maybe a second! Also the heavier tire will prevent higher speeds that a racing tire might achieve...but again we're only talking about maybe 5 mph on top speed which won't mean a thing to you if your not racing. And heavier tires might become more of a burden to push during long rides. BUT having said all of that, last years 4 person team winner of the RAAM race rode on Armadillo's! And I rode them on 158 mile one day trips and don't complain about them.

I too believe tire liners work

A word about SpinSkins, first off the Race version cost $40 for a pair and the more everyday (Duro) ones cost $25. That's a lot of money for a tire liner, but if they work then that's a good investment, and I have heard they work better then Mr Tuffy's and are far lighter. Also keep in mind that liners only protect the tread area not the sidewalls.

However the cost of these liners NEVER ENDS! The Race ones have to be replaced EVERY time you replace a tire, and the Duro's have to be replaced every other set of tires. So if you buy an average set of non racing tires at $80 a pair plus add $13 (remember these last two sets of tires so I haved the cost) your now spending nearly $100 for tires not including tubes every 2500 miles or so. If your racing and your tires cost an average of $120 plus $40 for Race liners now your upwards of $160 each tire change not including tubes every 1500 miles or so.

Obviously if your a everyday rider concerned about flats while commuting or out riding for exercise the cost to use SpinSkins might be a deterrent, whereas the Armadillos are less expensive and more flat resistent not only in the tread but also in the sidewalls...An area that liners cannot protect.

Alright, I have to add more to this thread.

I put the tire liner on my street hybrid and the inner tube exploded! I couldn't believe it and these are my conclusions.

1. Don't inflate the tire to the max -- After inserting the tire liner, you should not inflate the tire to the max because I the tire was hard already at 90%.

2. Schrader tubes more likely to blow --- The tube that blew up had a scharder value and the explosion occured at the valve. Once this happens, the entire tube is useless and discarded.

I'm still going to put the liner back on my touring bike to get more miles on the rear wheel but I'm not inflating them to max. Life is a learning experience.

I'm not sure how any liner would make any valve Schrader or Presta explode. When I use to use liners (in both my road and mtb bikes) they never did nor did I ever hear of that happening; but liners that are thick like Mr Tuffy and the Slime liners can rub a hole in a tube, especially light tubes, from the liner edge chaffing against the tube while you ride. This happened to me, then I figured out what was happening so I sanded the edge down to a fine taper; this won't happen with the SpinSkins though because they are already thin with no real edge.

I still use liners in my youngest childs bike and in the rear of my MTB and never had a situation like you described and these are all Schrader valves.

All this is very interesting - but when I tried the Mr Tuffy's, I kept getting flats. Where the hole was, you would always see a wear mark going across it - apparently from the strip rubbing on it.

I read stuff online about people having this problem, yet others swore by them. I tried to find out what was making the difference, without much success - some said to grind down the end to get rid of the thick edge. Some said to cover the overlap with electrical tape. But no matter what I did, I kept getting those flats from apparent rubbing.

I noted that most people didn't say much about what they rode. It is possible that the problems vary with tire. As I recall, I was riding 700x25 tires (Conti 4-season I think).

Oh, and while I'm posting, I'd like to mention a pet peeve of mine - people often make comments about flats based on how many rides between flats or how many days/months/whatever. Well, that doesn't help much because people ride different distances or number of days a week.

For example, I typically ride 4 times a week and will always be over 30 miles - often over 40.

I think it is better to think in terms of miles.

I had this experience with Mr Tuffy's too. The Tuffy tire liner is thick but what was so strange was the fact that sometimes I could go for months without any flats and then I could have 2 or 3 pinch flats in a row upon changing the tire! It lead me to believe the tire liner placement is an art and not a science. Go Figure.

Anyway. I'm trying Slime tire liners that are thinner and hopefully will reduce the pinch flats. What happened to me with the exploading inner tube was due to the tire liner actually makes it thicker and thus you don't need to inflate the tire to the maximum. In fact, a plastic nozzle like the Schrader valve is more likely to explode than a metal Presta.