Tire Liners and those Fix-A-Flat products

DH, my friend, and I all flatted on our road ride today. It looked like goatheads, or something similar, were the culprit. What do you think of tire liners? Do they negatively impact the quality of the ride? Is there a particular liner that is better than the others? I'm riding a Felt F3C, if that matters at all. The LBS is very anti-tire liner, for some reason.

DH tried a fix-a-flat type thing (the can of goo and air, whatever it's called) on my tire first, and it didn't work. (I should note that he didn't read the directions first and didn't shake it up. :o ) When he flatted after me, I read the directions and shook the second can up and it worked just fine for him. He rides sew-ups. Does the fix-a-flat stuff work on regular tires if you actually follow the directions, or is it best for sew-ups? We were in a somewhat remote area and, if I were riding alone, I would prefer to use the fix-a-flat stuff because it was much faster than changing the tube.

Thankfully, my friend's tire didn't go flat until she got home!

Thanks.

Alex

I've had mixed sucess with tire liners. I had them in my old bike and I went about 15 years flat free - yes that's 15 years, with 700c tires. I put some in my winter bike this year and I got 3 flats in 2 days, 2 of them caused by the liner itself (one from the trainer rubbing over the overlap...). That was with 650's - I think that the liners just did not agree with those tires/wheels. I definitely like original Mr. Tuffys over slime liners - much easier to install properly.

I've never personally used tire sealants - though I bought a used disc wheel that already had it and it sure does work - but I don't know what brand - def. not slime since it was not green. That tire will leak slowly, but it will hold 150 psi for an hour or better, which is pretty good.

We also bought some slime for a friend of ours who uses a wheelchair and seemed to have perennial flats. He really loves it - he's not always pumping up his tires or listing to one side. Wheelchair tires generally are much lower pressure than bike tires though.

Hope this won't be considered a hijack - but what about the flat-resistant tires - like Armadillos or Gatorskins?
Which will give more "performance" while stopping, or at least inhibiting, flats, tire liners or flat-resistant tires?

DH and I always use Kevlar tires- but then we ride a lot of rough gravel roads with 700x28 tires.

Alex, you hit the Salt Lake valley goathead jackpot. See my post in Southwest. So sorry someone didn't warn you about the JRT! It's notorious for goatheads! :(

I talked to my uber-roadie coworker today and he rolled his eyes at the mere mention of tire liners and said, in an exasperated tone, "But, it's all about rolling resistance, so WHY would you add weight to your wheels?" He then proceeded to tell me about some new wheels he purchased at enormous cost. I suppose I wouldn't want to add any weight to wheels that cost that much either! :eek:

Alex

We use mr tuffy tire liners and they've been great. Far fewer punctures. Downside is i'm really slow at replacing a tube :o I had to do my back wheel yesterday (pump got stuck on the valve and DH pulled the valve out of the tube getting the pump off :p ). But i insisted on changing it myself cos i know one day i'll have to do that on the road. Took me 45 minutes :D

I think i like the sound of that fix-a-flat gooey stuff :o

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Originally Posted by Alex

I talked to my uber-roadie coworker today and he rolled his eyes at the mere mention of tire liners and said, in an exasperated tone, "But, it's all about rolling resistance, so WHY would you add weight to your wheels?" He then proceeded to tell me about some new wheels he purchased at enormous cost. I suppose I wouldn't want to add any weight to wheels that cost that much either! :eek:

Alex

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I'll ask my SO what they do(he works at the LBS in albuquerque). They line all of their tires b/c of goatheads.
I am in south florida still and I use gatorskins for training(silly people smashing glass beer bottles all along the beach).
But I know that gator/armadillo skins won't do any good fighting the evil known as the goathead. They will go right through them.
So tell that weight weenie co-worker of yours to go shove it,haha.
but really- would you rather have to change a flat during your ride, or have an uninterupted ride. I know I would prefer the 2nd. Also if you can ride with the few extra ounces of the liner, then you are that much stronger then he is! haha

What's a goathead?

I got some tubes pre-filled with slime at the beginning of the year. No flats yet, and I know I've ridden through glass and such. I think I broke a piece of a bottle on a ride the other day. (I'm very glad I wear sunglasses.)

I might notice a slight weight difference, but I suspect it's in my head. I'm guessing that if I do get a flat, it will be messy, especially if I have to carry the tube back from anywhere. Ew.

http://www.klickitat-trail.org/images/goathead.jpg

http://www.43bikes.com/images/Tribulus_terrestris.jpg

Armadillo tires would be a joke to use to combat this plant.

http://www.tariksaleh.com/moscaline/...cturesmall.jpg

Ohhhh, those guys. Them are evil.

That's just mean.

Those are SSSOOO hard on puppy paws!

My Khan gets pretty sad when he finds a patch of goat heads!

I've stepped on a couple of them too, and I can understand how he feels!

BUT, I've not had another goat head flat since putting armadillos on my bike -- and I was flatting half a dozen times a ride with them. Doesn't even much matter if you've got the Slime in the tubes, since you get so many holes they don't all seal in time!

EVIL weeds!

Karen in Boise

ok i lied, they don't line their tires- they hate liners! haha
they seal all of them. He told me to tell you to either use sealent in your tires, or to get i forgot the name of the tire. but i will ask him again and let you know. he said though that the reason why he doesn't really recommend armadillo's is because they are just a really really stiff,hard tire-making it hard to work with.

I accidentally rode through some broken glass last week. I may not have actually hit any of it, or much of it, it came up on me and I wasn't paying close enough attention. I'm on armadillos. I was hoping they were tough enough to take it, and since I don't have a flat I'm assuming they are.

What tire is tougher than an armadillo?

Goatheads have cost us ALOT of money. Not only on our bikes, but our baby jogger.Mimitabby, AWESOME pictures, they are horrible, especially when you find one in your 14 year olds mouth, because she thought it was food!:eek:
I know DH had the hardcase tires by Bontager put on with slime tubes and then added slime on top of that, we STILL get flats:( Not as bad, but we do.

Nasty looking buggers, those thorns.
You might want to check out these tires http://schwalbetires.com/node/142/ok
my LBS showed me these things - they are about as puncture proof as you can get since they have a layer of foam in them that is probably about as thick as one of those thorns is long.... I would guess that they are not the lightest or fastest tires out there, but I would think its a whole lot slower to be fixing all of those flats....

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Originally Posted by Jenn

Goatheads have cost us ALOT of money.....they are horrible, especially when you find one in your 14 year olds mouth, because she thought it was food!:eek:

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Your 14 year old thinks goatheads are FOOD? :confused:
Maybe they would like some headcheese....

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Originally Posted by Lisa S.H.

Your 14 year old thinks goatheads are FOOD? :confused:
Maybe they would like some headcheese....

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14 month old, they put EVERYTHING they find in their mouths.

I was down in Tempe this weekend and I did a loop of the Ironman bike course the day before the race. I tried the Mr. Tuffy liners and I didn't get a single flat over 40 miles of rough pavement, pieces of CACTUS, glass, broken wood, and other junk. I'm sure it slows me down a bit, but not nearly as much as changing a tire would have. I may use them for LRRH in June because I really don't want to have to fix a flat.

DH did the Ironman this weekend and he used Slimeliners and he didn't flat over 112 miles.

Alex