jppe

BobbyG

I have been using tire liners for years. They let me use light, supple tires without worrying about goat-head thorns, which are a big problem, here in Colorado. Mr. Tuffy's Tire Liners. All three pairs, still going strong.

ogmtb

I also don't worry about goat heads or pieces of tire wire anymore. I went a lighter, more supple route though by going tubeless.

Altair 4

I've had STOP Flats 2 liners from REI in for several thousand miles now. So far, so good - no flats. I'm not a fast rider and the extra weight is pretty much meaningless to me.

Ogsarg

When my kids were younger, they used to ride in a field nearby that had plenty of goat-heads. I was fixing flats or helping them fix flats just about every time they went there. I put some liners in and it reduced the incidents of flats about 75%. Would still get some but much less. That was 20+ years ago and I have no idea who made them. They were well worth it to me.

JohnJ80

Have you tried tubeless yet? Since I went tubeless, I go entire seasons and thousands of miles without a flat. The last four tires I've replaced have been worn out without a single flat. Before that, I'd get about 6-8 flats in 3000 miles of riding (give or take).

J.

jppe

Carbonfiberboy 

I tried tire liners 20 years ago and found the rolling resistance to be just nuts. I didn't realize how bad they were until I took them out. They also caused friction flats, which the Rhino claim not to, but anything at all inside a tire will cause a friction flat. I've had them from glued patches on the inside. For infrequent flats, this cure is worse than the disease. My experience here in the PNW with Conti 4000 IIS has been very, very good. Supposedly the 5000 series is even better, we'll see eventually.

fietsbob

How do they differ from Mr Tuffys?

canklecat

Seems like a tire with an integral heavy duty puncture shield would be more efficient. Check out the Michelin Protek lineup. If Michelin has retained the same nomenclature they used a couple of years ago, this generally describes the differences:

• Protek Urban: 1mm Aramid shield, minimal cosmetic tread pattern, probably to reassure folks who distrust slicks.
• Protek: 1mm Aramid puncture shield, moderate chevron tread.
• Protek Max: 5mm Aramid shield, moderate chevron tread.
• Protek Cross: 1mm Aramid shield with their thickest chevron tread, which itself is an effective puncture shield.
• Protek Cross Max: 5mm Aramid shield, thickest chevron tread. I use these on my errand bike. Never a puncture flat. I've plucked out shards of broken glass, staples, radial tire wires, goathead grass burrs, etc. The tread has been slashed down to the yellow Aramid shield and still no punctures. The 700x40 (nominal, actually closer to x45 wide) version weighs 1,100 grams. It rolls surprisingly smoothly and well despite the weight. And that's on a heavy bike that weighs nearly 40 lbs when set up for errands with racks, panniers, etc.

PaulH

Mr. Tuffy inside of Marathon Plus is my minimum spec for bike tires. My bike and car get about the same annual mileage, and the bike does better on flat frequency..

Hondo Gravel