Thorn resistant tyres?

[Heltor Chasca]

I think Smokey Joe from South East London knew more than he let on.

[Vorpal]

What is skog? I want to add it to my vocab thread
Merci

skog is a meneuver in skateboarding, a forest in Norwegian, and skoggy is sometimes a nickname for a Norwegian forest cat (formally Skogskatt) among cat fanciers

[Brucey]

I'm inclined to agree but some tyres are a little better at resisting punctures. If you get a hawthorn spike then all bets are off.

The problem here is with Hawthorn and worse after high winds, all sorts of rubbish gets blown onto the tracks and you can't avoid it.

Hawthorns can penetrate the tyre in one go, especially in the wet. But in the dry it often takes several turns of the wheel to penetrate the tyre.

I'd suggest that -if you have tried everything else- perhaps trying tyre savers (on a tyre without much tread) might help. It will knock things out of the tyre and prevent punctures if it takes more than one or two turns of the wheel to penetrate.

cheers

[djnotts]

Supposedly "thorn resistant" heavy duty inner tubes probably best bet. Judging by ebay listings seem to be most readily available in Australia, where they presumably know a thing or two about thorns!

[Scunnered]

I had another thought - what about tubeless tyres?
Isn't puncture resistance one of their claimed benefits?

I remembered that my bike has tubeless ready rims, so I would 'only' need tyres + sealant etc

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I stopped and got of my bike as I did many times, you need to spot subtle vague handling and always dismount.

A nail firmly stuck in rear tyre and half inflated, I limped all the way home after cadging a foot pump from a fallen wood collector loading his car Stopping many times at garage to re-inflate.
A tubed tyre would almost certainly either blown out (as happened to my mate on same road at speed, he struggled to stay in three lanes) or deflated quicker than tubeless.
An hour earlier I was keeping pace with another road user, I found myself lucky that day the nail was stuck fast.

My steed that day would get within 10 mph of twice the legal limit within just 1/2 a mile from rest.

I got into the habit of inspecting my tyres every day before mounting for any foreign bodies.
Today I hardly ever ride without the post ride check of tyres the day before, but my normal terrain is very mixed and can count on one hand the days I do not collect some matter which requires an implement to extract.

[yostumpy]

Supposedly "thorn resistant" heavy duty inner tubes probably best bet. Judging by ebay listings seem to be most readily available in Australia, where they presumably know a thing or two about thorns!

also available from BIKE24 in Germany I do believe ( Specialized?)

https://www.bike24.com/1.php?content=8; ... 107;page=5

not sure what 29" is, as I thought 700c was 28"??? but should fit ( 29ers are 700c aren't they??).also in 26" mtb flavour.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
On my Skip Trainers MTB, I always use a double tube, slit tube open all the way around inner edge and remove valve, place over partially inflated tube ant fit to tyre then rim.
Makes wheels heavier, adds extra depth for flat protection, seals up the tube to rim and tyre more, if you tape up the rim tape and make sure the valve is nicely sealed into rim, extra bit of tube cut to a washer and something sealing outer rim to valve too, resembles a tubeless more and hence flats might more be a slower flat, gets me home many times when next day I have a partial / full flat.

[RickH]

I had another thought - what about tubeless tyres?
Isn't puncture resistance one of their claimed benefits?

I remembered that my bike has tubeless ready rims, so I would 'only' need tyres + sealant etc

Not so much puncture residence as self sealing. I was talking to the guy who runs the local bike shop & he was saying that he'd been on a mountainbike ride with some friends. One of them got a puncture that wouldn't seal so they were going to have to put a tube in. The trouble was they had to remove at least 15 thorns from the tyre first! The good side of that was the 15 punctures that had self repaired probably without the rider being aware of their existence in the first place.

You'll need valves & may well need some tubeless rim tape too. Or just buy a kit then you know you've got all you need.

[yostumpy]

I had another thought - what about tubeless tyres?
Isn't puncture resistance one of their claimed benefits?

I remembered that my bike has tubeless ready rims, so I would 'only' need tyres + sealant etc

Not so much puncture residence as self sealing. I was talking to the guy who runs the local bike shop & he was saying that he'd been on a mountainbike ride with some friends. One of them got a puncture that wouldn't seal so they were going to have to put a tube in. The trouble was they had to remove at least 15 thorns from the tyre first! The good side of that was the 15 punctures that had self repaired probably without the rider being aware of their existence in the first place.

You'll need valves & may well need some tubeless rim tape too. Or just buy a kit then you know you've got all you need.

Ah! but the bad side even if you use slime tubes, is that if you don't realise, or forget, the likelyhood of MULTIPLE INTRUSIONS that could be present when fitting the new tube, then you'll run out of patches VERY quickly. I think I would rather take my visitations, 1 at a time, rather than armaggeddon!

''Every silver lining has a cloud!''

[Tigerbiten]

Hi,
On my Skip Trainers MTB, I always use a double tube, slit tube open all the way around inner edge and remove valve, place over partially inflated tube ant fit to tyre then rim.
Makes wheels heavier, adds extra depth for flat protection, seals up the tube to rim and tyre more, if you tape up the rim tape and make sure the valve is nicely sealed into rim, extra bit of tube cut to a washer and something sealing outer rim to valve too, resembles a tubeless more and hence flats might more be a slower flat, gets me home many times when next day I have a partial / full flat.

I did something similar to that over 25 ago with closed cell foam.
Cut a long strip the same length as the diameter of the wheel plus a bit for the tyre and a little bit wider than the rim, taper the long edges of the strip so it wouldn't damage the inner tube, put the strip in the tyre before the inner tube, fit and inflate.
Remove the strip after a puncture and it's easier to find what went through the tyre .....

[francovendee]

I'm inclined to agree but some tyres are a little better at resisting punctures. If you get a hawthorn spike then all bets are off.

The problem here is with Hawthorn and worse after high winds, all sorts of rubbish gets blown onto the tracks and you can't avoid it.

Hawthorns can penetrate the tyre in one go, especially in the wet. But in the dry it often takes several turns of the wheel to penetrate the tyre.

I'd suggest that -if you have tried everything else- perhaps trying tyre savers (on a tyre without much tread) might help. It will knock things out of the tyre and prevent punctures if it takes more than one or two turns of the wheel to penetrate.

cheers

I'd never heard of tyre savers so I Googled it. I don't think I'd want to have these on my bike.

You either have to adjust them so there is just a hairs breath of a gap, difficult, or have them rubbing the tyre.

I hate any noise from a bike apart from a nicely adjusted gear set, this sounds like the bike is purring

[mattsccm]

Tubeless. Not a universal cure but it usually solves thorn based deflations. Flint catchers occasionally help.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I thought of flint catchers and knew they would be mentioned.
For my type of training riding and tyres, thorns are mostly between the tread, yes they might help but MTB tyres are a lot more difficult to get concentric especially the cheap ones, so flint catchers are probably more suited to road style riders with what is typical with the tyres used.

Always carry a tube or three and tools, not forgetting a pointy tool to dig with and glasses if you are over 40 Torch head mounted will be useful too.

[rjb]

I got into the habit of inspecting my tyres every day before mounting for any foreign bodies.
Today I hardly ever ride without the post ride check of tyres the day before, but my normal terrain is very mixed and can count on one hand the days I do not collect some matter which requires an implement to extract.

+1

But usually after a ride where I have encountered hedge clippings, or glass. It doesn't stop those instant punctures but it can prevent the ones where the debris works its way through the canvas over time. Regular inspection is the best regime, a few minutes can save a lot of hassle later.