Tyre Liners

[MTBiker]

After a thorny race i got home and found lots of punctures. My slime got me home with no air loss but patched the holes anyway . I had like 8 holes per tyre.

 

Would tyre liners help for less punctures or not. MTBiker2008-06-19 12:50:48

[SeanMort]

Probably less punctures but no guarantee's. More of a hassle factor with liners in my opinion. Slime gets you out of most puncture situations.

[die skim]

yes, but rather convert to tubeless

[dirtrider]

At last somebody thats talking a bit o sense !

[Korbach]

Tyre liners aren't worth the effort. Most of them are too thick and hard which means they tend to get brittle with age and lift at the edges giving the tubes a great place to chafe against until air loss starts kicking in. They also add unecessary weight where you least need it.

 

The better quality thin ones are too thin to really offer much protection against sharp and hard thorns or other debris.

 

All liners move around during riding regardless of quality. This results in chafe damage to tyre and tube. Rolling resistance is increased and handling compromised.

 

The previouse comments about going tubeless or using Sludge or Slime are good advice.

[mudda]

Handling compromised ?

 

I have two mtb bikes - one with tubeless and one with with tubes

 

the tube setup has slime and tyre liners - the handling is not compromised at all. The biggest diff is the tyre pressure - tubeless I can run much lower tyre pressure and hence - much better grip on the rough stuff.

 

The best setup? Tubeless with slime.

[Tumbleweed]

joe's sealan will do the trick. i four-day ride through thorny botswana bore this out.

[scotty]

I bought good quality tire liners 2 years ago from Woodstock cycles and still have them. Occasionaly i take the tyre off and you can see the indents in the liner where something has tried to get thru. On the occasions that something has managed to penertrate the liner the the whole is sealed by tube slime. Never had a problem with stability.

[1hill@aTime]

I bought good quality tire liners 2 years ago from Woodstock cycles and still have them. Occasionaly i take the tyre off and you can see the indents in the liner where something has tried to get thru. On the occasions that something has managed to penertrate the liner the the whole is sealed by tube slime. Never had a problem with stability.

 

except the odd superman move!

[scotty]

Lol @ 1hill

[Speedi]

tyre liners add rotating mass! unless you are really worried about getting a punture, dont use them...

[Ox_Wagon]

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Tubeless is the way to go due to the lower pressure you could run but there are some other issues that one has to take in to account.  The things I don?t like about tubeless is that there are situations that they are a pain.  I passed a guy in a race where the sealant was hemorrhaging out of the front tire in a manner worthy of a Quentin Tarantino movie, the Japanese club scene in Kill Bill One comes to mind.  A rather difficult and messy instillation of an inner tube was the only option for this poor guy.

 

The seconded isn?t applicable to us mere mortals but it is still an issue.  The cost and hassle of changing tubeless tire reduces most of us to run one tire in all the different type of conditions. So your tire choice is always a compromise.  That is one of the reasons the European XC pros still ride tubed tires.  They (their mechanics) can the swap tire to adapt to the conditions on the day.  Have a look at Swalbe?s cool three tire system, cool

 

Lastly, which was my main reason to not install tubeless tires, is that the cost of tubeless tires and conversion kit is more than what my MTB is worth. There is also no guarantee that the conversion kit would work with my ancient rims, one of which is a Campy MTB rim.

 

So I have been using tire liners which works like a charm.  I haven?t had any flats in races and usually need to dig out a few dozen thorns when I wash the bike after the race.  I have played around with off cuts to see how much force is needed to get a knife through the liners and I was impressed.  I have some off cuts if someone wants to experiment.  

 

Lately I have added Specialzed?s sealant filled tubes.  I use road bike valves which was a hassle to get sealant in.  The spez tubes solved the problem.  I had one occasion where a thorn got past the tire liner close to the side wall.  The spez tube handled it extremely well. 

 

Yes it heavier but then again what does a tubeless tire plus sealant weigh.  And yes I know you can use normal tire at your own risk.  I still prefer riding a heavier bike than having to fix a puncture next to the trail in a race. 

 

I haven?t experience any problems with chafing although it is a problem if you install tire liners in road bike tire due to the higher pressure. I have a set of road bike tire liners if somebody wants them.   I think I get some spez tubes for my road bike in the near future.