CyclingVirgin

I will be commuting 5-10 miles everyday now that I finally got in my shoes but wanted to 'toughen' up the bike. I have read a little about them and the fact that Amazon had them for $12 didn't hurt either. Wanted to upgrade the tires but I found this a more affordable path.

Has anyone tried these liners before?

Goods?

Bads?

-=(8)=-

The overlap section might chafe your tube. Use lots of baby powder and
sand it down a little-- use a strip of duct tape on the sharper edges.
k:

xenologer

Havent run them myself (I prefer the tires theselves to have an integrated armor layer).
But I've fixed flats on customers bikes that had these in them. (which says something about them already)

The edges of the liner can damage inner tubes; sand down the cut edges, keep your tire pressure up to avoid any squish-induced migration. That should help your odds.

save up for aramid/kevlar lined tires; makes more sense to have the armor layer on the outside right?
analogy; mr tuffy is like having buckets in your attic to catch drips from a leaky roof -the roof already has a hole though

stdlrf11

Same as above. They gave me more flats than they saved me.

-=(8)=-

This.
This is for another thread, but I think the tire situation of bicycling is yet another huge factor in keeping us from advancing.
Can you imagine buying a new car --circa 2013-- and knowing in advance they only supplied an item that was mostly unusable and pretty much only good for keeping the rims up off the floor? Its sadly ironic that companies gloat over their parts spec on bikes that come standard with what are universally known to be items that WILL leave you stranded, eventually.

Mark Stone

However there are tires and tactics that we can use to make flats extremely rare. There are tires made by Schwalb and Continental (and others) that you can ride through a tack factory and won't go flat. Over a year ago I started a thread boasting about a stretch of almost 3000 miles without a flat, and several commuters responded with stories of years and years of flat-free riding. Currently, I'm at 7 years without a flat tire using Continental SportCONTACT in both 26 by 1.5 (on The Rig) and 700 by 32 (on the Black Knight bike).

If you keep the stock tires when you buy a bike, or keep buying the $10 specials at Gnashbar, yes flats will be common. But if you make the investment that saves in the long run ($50+ per tire usually) then riding is a lot less of a hassle and a lot less expensive.

Mumonkan

i used then in my youth on my bmx bikes, i dont recallever getting punctures but i still did get pinch flats from dropping down off stuff and jumps and general stupidity

i guess they worked?

DVC45

It works for me. Just don't use it for high pressure tires.
I use 700x35 tires and pump 'em to 65psi. No ripped tubes issues.

hueyhoolihan

i use them on all my bikes. reduces number of flats for me, although things can go through them. like ten penny nails and schrapnel, but i get flats on the steel belted radials on my motorcycle too.

i remember using them for a while without getting a flat. when i got one i forgot to put the liner back in. within 100 yards, i got another flat. fixed it. went another 100 yards and got another flat. i thought WTF???

i eventually got about seven or eight flats within the next mile. i eventually realized that the liner had been preventing a lot of junk (thorns and glass debris, mostly) from getting to the tube. and when i inadvertently removed it, they all began a concerted attack.

cyccommute 

I've been using them since shortly after they were introduced...back when we still ate mastodons...yum, mastodon steaks. While chafing of the tube can occur, the problem is rare in my experience. That's as long as you are using Mr. Tuffy and not other products.

A set of Tuffy's never wear out. You can change them from tire to tire and they will outlast a thousand sets of tires. They work particularly well in the goathead infested west. They may not be perfect...you can still get a flat...but then even kevlar doesn't stop all goat heats either. Tires that have the liner built in work as well but you throw away the liner each time you change the tire. The Tuffy's are more economical in this respect.

And tires with built in liners aren't perfect. This is a new tire...less than 150 miles...that split open from a impact with a rock. It was a relatively small rock and a minor impact. But I wouldn't trust the tire and had to ditch it.


A tire with a Tuffy liner would have shrugged off the impact without splitting the tread.

gerv 

Yeah... me too. However, I was using the Nashbar brand in one case and that seemed to be the difference. I've never used Mr Tuffy's but have had good luck with better quality liners.

My final decision was to ditch the liners and ruin my life completely with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires.

CyclingVirgin

I have lost allllll confidence with these liners now...Son of a gun...Should I return them?

For a second I did consider getting new tires (Wider and more for commuting) as I am running 700 x 20c Matrix tires but everyone has a different opinion on which is BEST...Then again I do hear a lot of great things about the Gatorskins

mugicha

I run these liners on all my bikes along with conti gatorskins. Doing 7 - 10k miles per year for the last several years, the only flats I've been getting are valve failures and one sidewall rip (monster pothole).

AlmostGreenGuy

I use Mr Tuffy tire liners on all of my high volume/low pressure tires. They rock. All I do is sand the end, and put a piece of duct tape over it. In three years, not a single flat.

I can't say the same from the Slime brand tire liners. They should be outlawed.

I've been using built-in flat protection on my high pressure tires. I put in 3,000 mikes on a set of Marathon Mondials last year, with only one flat. And that flat as from the valve separating from the tube. Not a tire issue at all.

Ridefreemc

I went with 25s on my 5200 and prefer the ride. As far as flats go though I don't have many and tire size doesn't seem to make a difference.

Dahon.Steve

Agreed.

However, I think it's a shame you have to throw out the stock tires because they offer no or very little flat protection. This is the reason why I use the Tuffy tire liner but only on the OEM tire. Once they are gone, I buy quality Schwalbe tires and put the tire lines in storage.

CyclingVirgin

Darn! Maybe I should take the wheels apart again and sand down the sides... :/

I was thinking of putting on some 28s but feared clearance issues...what brand 25s do you have on yours?

cyccommute 

Just use them. I doubt if you'll have problems.

swwhite

I have used Mr. Tuffy's. My experience was that over time they folded somehow inside the tire and formed a point, sort like the point you make when folding a piece of paper. Then, that point would wear away at the tube and eventually cause a slow leak. That happened twice. Now, I do realize that I don't have xray vision, so my analysis is is based on what they told me at the bike shop and what I saw of the tire liner after it was removed. But the "bottom line" as they say is that I had more flats with the liners than without. This spring, when I activate the summer bike, I am going to get the Scwalbe tires and see how they work. It certainly is possible that my liners were not installed correctly; I don't really know much about using them.

erig007

2 years not a single flat

CyclingVirgin

They are on the bike...I am going on a 15 mile ride on Friday but it's after my Wingate (experiment I am running for school) so we'll see how shot my legs are. ha!

Hopefully I don't get a flat cause if I do, those puppies are going to fly out of the tires and head right back to Amazon.com!

Medic Zero

I used to use them. These days I prefer a tire with built-protection. I can see the utility in using Mr. Tuffy's to make a weak tire suitable until you wear them out. The other utility I can see for them is goat head country. I've had goat heads go right through Vittoria Rando Pros that stood up to everything else. I've still got a couple of sets of them in the parts bin for when that eventuality arises again.

If you've already bought them, give them a try. Advice to sand them and tape them down is good. If you don't tape them down you have to be quite careful about not pinch-flatting yourself with them. I successfully used them for a couple of years to be able to ride all over the city here with them. I went from a flat every day, sometimes 3-4 flats a day, to it being a much rarer occurance. When those tires are worn out, I'd recommend going with something with built-in puncture resistance. I'd be willing to bet that if nothing else a good tire weighs a lot less than a tire+Mr. Tuffy's. I'm no weight weenie, but it really counts out on the edge of the wheel. It adds up. In addition, you won't have to worry about flatting yourself with the Mr. Tuffy.

cyccommute 

In my experience, it takes several years and many, many miles (thousands) for the Tuffys to chafe a tube. I haven't experienced a chafed tube in at least a decade and I have them on all of my bikes. It's not something to lose sleep over.

Ridefreemc

I don't think the 28s will clear the front fork on top-not sides, but I may be wrong. I think I have the Continental Grand Prix GT. I can check that later tonight though.

squegeeboo

I've used them since a little after getting into commuting, back in '06. I'm on my second set now, my first set went brittle around the edges and started causing me issues in the winter of '09-'10, and only once i switched them out to new tires. If you just check them when you swap out tires/tubes you'll know when they're aging.