What to do about thorns?

[MarickH]

Hi everyone

 

I read some articles online, but I am still confused about what to do about thorns.

 

Let me explain the scenario. Last weekend my wife and I took a ride on our local trails. She runs tubeless and I run tubes with slime. One section was very thorny (duiweldorings) and both of us picked up a number of thorns, which we left in place. Her tyres seemed to be fine during the ride, while mine lost a little bit of air.

 

On Monday I went to check on the bikes and her tubeless was fine, and to my surprise, so was my slime tubes.

 

So here are my questions:

 

1. Does one always leave in thorns (both tubeless and tubes with slime)?

2. Am I correct that should my tubes with slime be flat tonight, I must remove all thorns, and then patch up the holes?

3. What will happen if I give my tubes with slime some air, will the thorns cause more damage, leading to a flat, due to the increased pressure?

4. What do I do if her tubeless is flat tonight?

 

Thank you!

[Belgarath]

I'd not worry. I've always had tubes with slime, as well as an extra lining, and never no flat, thorns or no. The problem with slime in general, because of the ammonia in them, patches don't last. Tried to patch a snake bite once, ended up tossing the tube and buying new ones. If you still have air in them, leave the thorns. They'd either fall out, and the slime should seal the holes, or stay in, which doesn't matter.

 

I've only just went tubeless, had three proper flats, but that was glass cuts. Her tubeless shouldn't go flat, as the sealant in them should have done its job. Same goes - don't remove them, they will fall out one by one, or break off and stay. You may not even know how many punctures the sealant have plugged already without your knowing.

[Zatopek]

I use thorns to plug slow sealing punctures that are to small for real plugs. 

[DR ◣◢]

Tubes tend to move around inside the tire a tiny bit. Leaving a thorn in can cause the tube to tear or make the holes a little bigger. 

 

I'd recommend popping the tyre of and feeling the inside for thorns sticking through and removing them. 

 

With tubeless you can leave them. 

Edited April 24, 2015 by Maxxis

[BLACKvoodoo]

ride them off 

[BLACKvoodoo]

in the 5 years I've had tubeless , I've had one puncture that never sealed and it was a pop rivet that made the hole  

[MarickH]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Much appreciated.

[georgedup]

Had it bad the past weekend.My own fault.Rode the philidelphia race(Lots of thorns)

I run tubeless so I left the thorns in the tyre and rode on...Did not check my sludge before the race and had not realised I had no sludge left in the front tyre...result had to do the last 33km bombing and riding and bombing and riding the front tyre...bad bad bad...will def not make that mistake again..

[scotty]

I run tubeless, if while riding I notice thorns i leave them until i get home then i remove them, . Reason being if while riding i did puncture and was forced to fit a tube i would have to first inspect and remove all the thorns left from previous rides and this can be time consuming. 

Edited April 24, 2015 by scotty

[Lone Rider]

Every 6 months the slime in my tubeless tires starts drying up. I then remove the tires clean out all the dried slime, and pull/break off any thorns sticking through in the process. I then pour in some clean slime, and I'm ready to go for another 6 months.