For the last month or so my rear tyre has had a slow leak. I've tried to patch it, but as it happens that immediate area already has 3-4 patches in it and I couldn't seem to patch it right, the slow leak persisted. This weekend I decided I'd had enough, and bought a new tube.

I'd been thinking for a while now that I'd like to use the old tube as a liner for the new one (so the new one effectively sits inside the old one), especially as it is so well-patched.

Now I'm wondering.. is this likely to make any difference as far as reducing punctures? I average about one a month.
Anyone have any experience with this?

I suppose some more rubber between your tube and the ground can't hurt, but I don't think it would do you much good. The extra thickness of an inner tube just isn't that much considering. I've heard tell of people using tires as tire liners (I think there is a thread in commuting).

Using a 2 tire approach, you get twice the flat protection, and half the lively, quick tire feel.

Self sealing tubes that have some sort of goop inside are a better option.
Still heavy, but capable of holding air after many perforations.

yeah I was reading that actually, mentally filed away for later practical implementation

Yes. Back when mountain bikes were a New Thing, we made our own studded tires for riding on snow and ice by screwing sheet metal screws through the tread from the inside. Then we'd cut the beads off an old tire and insert it between the studded tire and the tube to protect the tube from all those metal screw heads. It worked well enough to allow riding on snow and ice, but on dry pavement the additional weight was not helpful.

For puncture resistance, modern tire liners and/or self-sealing tubes are a superior solution IMHO.

+1. We did this on our 20" tires to ride on the ice in the creek.

If your looking for puncture protection a liner from an old tube isn't bad.
A better set of City tires would be next (Michelin/Schwalbe) and then the Mr Tuffy liners would be next. IMO.
I always sprinkle tire talc in the tire also, I have found that it does help to reduce flats.

Avoid the self sealing tubes. I hated them back in the 80's, talked myself into them when I started riding last year (I thought hey they had to have improved after 25 years right?) then immediately knew why I hated them after the first nail went through the tire and both sides of the tube (It is difficult to patch with goo running out so you end up throwing them away anyway).

I tried that an it actually caused a flat. I cut off the sidewalls so the old tire (which had a sidewall buldge) would fit inside the new tire, and along the edge of the old tire it "sawed" through the tube. I could see a line on the tube that ran along the line where the edge of the old tire was, and the pin hole was right on that line.

I use that method/setup on my mtb and have since I was a small kid. It always made sense to have a thicker inner tube. I don't use more than two extra tubes with the prime tube though.

I have actually suggested that here on BF but got laughed at, sort of.

I've done that as well. Worked great.

UPDATE - I did do the inner tube lining thing after posting the above, and I can happily report that after a year and a half of field testing, my rate of puncture has dropped below a quarter what it was before the extra lining - now 1 every 4-5 months (same route).

Might be worth adding to the tips thread with a link to here

I was at the auto parts store the other day and asked if they had any really good repair tape and the guy handed me a roll of gorilla tape, guessing it’s from the gorilla glue people. I bought the stuff and made my repair with it and was majorly impressed at how tough this stuff is and how good the bond was. I’m going to guess it’s like duct tape times 10.

I haven’t tried it on anything bike related yet but thought it might work well as a rim band tape if it came in a thinner width. After reading this thread I’m wondering if it would help with puncture proofing a tire. It’s a lot tougher to stick a screwdriver thru than a tube.

I don’t have much of a flat problem where I live and I used to run the 26” heavy wall slime tubes but got rid of them due to weight.

Anyone tried the gorilla tape?

And to get back on topic as a kid we used to make liners out of old tubes all the time. But we did it because we had holes wore thru the tire and would get bulge’s popping out.

Thorn resistant tubes are 3x thicker for only 2x the cost.. managed a 9 month
Eire-Scotland bike tour on a pair without a puncture..

It's worked for me.

My beloved old beater bike, with 26 x 1.9 tires, kept getting punctures in the same place. I tried everything that I could think of but I never did find the offending thorn or needle of glass that was causing the punctures. I cut the valve stem out of an old inner tube and used it between the tire and inner tube and commuted to work that way for about 6 months. I had no flats during that period.

I've never tried it with a skinny road bike tire, I'm thinking that might be a lot to stuff in there, but who knows?

Has no one heard of these? Am I that old?

https://mrtuffy.com/

BL