Tire Liners and those Fix-A-Flat products

[Alex]

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. ) 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

[Eden]

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.

[TsPoet]

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?

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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

[yellow]

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!

[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!

Alex