Over the week-end I stumbled across a product called Tire wipers.
With-in an hour, I read that someone suggested using them in high debris areas. Do people use these? And, are they happy with the idea/concept. I picture them as a good idea should a shard of glass etc hook into a tread. Hopefully it will get swiped loose before it rotates thru the next contact with the pavement.
Enlighten me, thank-you in advance.

-Snuts-

these? I have seen them on some C&V bikes, never seen them on newer bikes...though I would guess that as the carriers of the classic designe, VeloOrange, Rivendell, and maybe Compass would carry them, if anyone actually still carrys them.

A lot of us used them back in the day. They work. Don't stop all flats but they do brush off glass which often does its damage not on the first time around but over time as it works its way into the tread. They do make a mess of your brake if you mount them there. In back, you can often mount them on the chainstay bridge aimed down and the grit misses almost everything.

Back then if you wanted performance tires, the only option was sewups. In 1976, $13 to $35/tire was a lot. Patching a tire was (and still is) a 30-90 minute operation that can leave the tire compromised.

Now the hotshots would never be seen with those things. Instead, they would reach down and brush their tires with their gloves (or if they were cheap like me) with their bare fingers after they rode over glass. I still brush my tires, especially my good ones though nowhere near as faithfully as I used to.

Ben

Well that photo sure answers a lot.
Thank-you.
Great response so far (and quick).

-Snuts-

I wonder how much the friction they cause would effect rolling. I imagine it would be a considerable amount.

Do you have fenders on your bike?

No, very little. If you had them pressed down hard enough to make a difference, you would wear through the wire very fast. And you can only push so hard with that clear plastic tubing.

Ben

Yes, and I invented a wipe from Duct tape already. But my thinking was to wipe the rib of water that whips out in front of my front fender.
Ha-ha.


-Snuts-

Fenders make putting the wipes on harder, but there is more reason to use them if you have fenders. 1) you can only wipe the front tire. Rear's are famous for picking up more stuff. And 2) fenders keep a lot of the wipe grit off the bike.

Ben

I would think for this to work well, you have to be assured your rim is very round and the tire is very round as well, which often they are not as round as you would think, otherwise you would get some minute hopping and rubbing and an occasional flat spot on your tread. Or am I missing something?

There is a user on here called "rootboy" who makes them.

I would think even being very close to the tread, it would disrupt a shard of glass destine for a re-run at the road surface.


-Snuts-

I have had old-school Tire Savers (the correct term for these, BTW), on my old Fuji since I bought it new back in the '70s. In the 48,000-miles plus that I've ridden the Fuji, I've worn through several wires, probably two or three each front and rear - and I have made new wires out of a broken stainless-steel spoke!



...and I recently added them to my Arizona bike (the Miyata 710 I keep in AZ for when I visit) to help with the 'stickers' out there... Yes, the DO help. They help with glass shards, cactus thorns and steel-belted-radial wires!







My other bikes (the Univegas) have been fitted with Tire Savers as well, but I don't have any pics.

I don't see myself trying these here in Canada. But in Goat Head country they might make a difference.

Thank-you everybody for the help, and answers.



-Snuts-

Thats what the clear tubing is for, it acts as a kind of a shock absorber that keeps it in constant contact with the tire. I use these on a couple of bikes with a smooth to waffle tread tire. The wire is worn about halfway through on one set, and I have noticed no extra wear on the tread. It makes a zoooooshing sound, but they seem to work. Or else they don't, I just would not have gotten a flat anyway.

I'm starting to imagine a home brew set now out of old spokes for my latest Touring build, hmmm.



-Snuts-

Don't overthink this. They work pretty darn well over a wide range of tires and treads. (Coarse threads can get quite loud.) Cheap sewups were known to be often far from uniform but that didn't matter. I never noticed tire wear from from them. And I used a few pairs 'till the end, then rebuilt them with spokes or coathangers.

Ben

I never used them myself but installed a few for folks. We had one customer who made his own version very simply by tying a length of rawhide bootlace loosely from one brake arm to the other. The leather would drag lightly against the tire tread and perform the same duty as real Tire Savers. And he'd get many miles out of one pair of laces when cut into pieces the correct length.