MTB Tyre Choice

skavanagh.bikeradar

I'm a bit green about the gills when it comes to MTB so bear with me......

I'm planning to ride a canal tow path early next year. Last time I did it I had about 6 punctures and spent a long day in the mud, cold and rain changing tyres. As did my 3 ride buddies. We got through loads of tubes.

So, this time I want to avoid punctures. What do you recommend to do so? The tow path last time was muddy with a recently trimmed hawthorn running alongside. What size tyre? What compound? For example my MTB is currently setup with narrow slicks - conti Ultra Gator/Kevlar - for commuting which are brilliant, but these will be hopeless in the mud and dirt of a towpath in February.

Help!

pilsburypie

So what was puncturing your tyres on your last canal tow path ride? The hawthorn thorns, broken glass or prostitutes drug needles?!

If you had that many punctures then unless you buy a wooden wheel I'd guess most tyres wouldn't be up to the job. My suggestion to avoid a situation like before is to "go tubeless". It's a bit of a faff as I'm finding out at the moment, but for your requirements of puncture proofing, this to me seems a good option. A faff in your warm garage seems better than kneeling in the pouring rain and dog shit time after time!

How long is your tow path ride? Sounds like it is a fair way by the way you're talking...

anjs

try looking at slime tubes

skavanagh.bikeradar

Hello, the ride is 20 miles (shade over). The main objective is to avoid 101 punctures and determinig the best tyre choice to avoid it.

What is this slime of which you speak? Tubeless - I've got to glue the things on right? never tried it even on the road bike, what do I need to look out for there? Can they still 'puncture' or is it just a case of them falling off the rim and sending me into the drink? Would I need new rims for tubeless?

skavanagh.bikeradar

A bit of googling got me up to speed with Slime - looks like you can get inner tubes already pre-slimed and also slime to go between the tyre and tube...?

So what's best for potentially quite muddy riding - what width tyre, type of knobbles etc?

richlong28

i advise you definatly not to use slime, i had a slime tube once and when it got punctured it just oozed slime everywhere and didn't seal the hole

also i don't think it has much to do with tyre choice, i guess a thicker compound tyre would help a little, but if the punctures are from thorns, glass e.t.c the only way to stop them is to avoid the rubbish.

amyabcd

I had slime tubes after a very similar ride to the one you describe ( tow path cut hawthorne) They were fine for about 3 years, I have changed my bike since but never punctured in the slime tubes (I guess I did but the hole was filled straight away) apart from a pinch flat at coed y brenin . Halfords :evil: have them on 3 for 2 usually and are about £8 i a recall. Much cheaper than tubless.
The good news is that the ride should be better this time of year anyway.

Amy

pilsburypie

the slime tubes and avoiding hazards seem the cheapest easiest option - if your rims aren't tubeless ready it will cost a fair bit to go down that route.

Have a look at tyre reviews on this site for some highly rated rubber

skavanagh.bikeradar

Many thanks all - funnily enough it was Dec 9th last year that we had our puncture-athon on the tow path. As a roadie it wasn't a great advert for MTB and we've not tried it since, it beat us - we ran out of light and tubes, cycling in mud in the rain and cold and dark on your rim loses its appeal. We got through so many tubes one bloke dropped out and got his wife to pick him up and she called in at Halfords for more tubes for the rest of us. So we had our own tubes, his tubes plus the spares and we still got through them all. Utter madness. By contrast on the road I had two punctures in about 3,000 miles and I thought that was a lot I've gone 12 months with one puncture on the road.

Of course I don't know what I'm doing on an MTB - although we didn't ride through any glass that I recall just very thick mud. Probably had a few pinch punctures from potholes/steps/concrete lumps that were hidden in the mud.

Thanks again I'll search for tyres then unless anyone fancies pointing me at a relevant discussion.....

skavanagh.bikeradar

Okay then, a search it is...

mtbikerboy

if your punctures were pinch flats, may be the tyre pressure was too low.
Sometimes when riding in bad conditions (cold, rain, dark as you mentioned). After about two punctures, you get frustrated and in your hurry, end up not pumping enough air into the tube (especially when using a mini pump)- leading to more pinch flats. Happened to me once.
Perhaps you just need to increase your tyre pressure.

apreading

I was put off slime by reading stories of the slime leaking from the valve into pumps etc, and by people saying it doesnt work very well. It obviously does sometimes though because plenty of people do use slime.

Cant be bothered with tubeless as it seems like a load of expense and hassle and you have to redo them every couple of months dont you?

Dont know quite why you got so many punctures - I have always found them very good and have done a dozen such rides this year on my cheap Kenda's that came with the bike. I find I get punctures alot now that I am commuting though, so am about to try Schwalbe Marathon Plus ATB tyres - a knobbly version of the supposedly indestructable Marathon Plus. Might be worth a look for you too. Not the lightest of tyres but they look pretty good - I just need to get around to fitting them.

Nik@

skavanagh.bikeradar wrote:

I'm a bit green about the gills when it comes to MTB so bear with me......

I'm planning to ride a canal tow path early next year. Last time I did it I had about 6 punctures and spent a long day in the mud, cold and rain changing tyres. As did my 3 ride buddies. We got through loads of tubes.

So, this time I want to avoid punctures. What do you recommend to do so? The tow path last time was muddy with a recently trimmed hawthorn running alongside. What size tyre? What compound? For example my MTB is currently setup with narrow slicks - conti Ultra Gator/Kevlar - for commuting which are brilliant, but these will be hopeless in the mud and dirt of a towpath in February.

Help!

I have similar problem, especially when i go coastal roads where farmers cut the bushes so thorns can easily puncture tyres. One friend of mine recommend special spray which you put in to the tube valve and when you go on the thorn it seals tyre itself from inside.

DV1

Continental Vertical pro !!!!!!! thats what i rde with ,

granted a little over kill for what your doing, but they are a great powerfull strong tyre with kevlar reinforced walls.

supertwisted

apreading wrote:

I was put off slime by reading stories of the slime leaking from the valve into pumps etc, and by people saying it doesnt work very well. It obviously does sometimes though because plenty of people do use slime.

.... try Schwalbe Marathon Plus ATB tyres - a knobbly version of the supposedly indestructable Marathon Plus. Might be worth a look for you too. Not the lightest of tyres but they look pretty good - I just need to get around to fitting them.

I've used slime tubes, bit of a mixed bag really. I got a nail through one tire, which obviously slime or no was going to go down.
However, repairing that tube became a nightmare as all the slime had leaked out inside the wheel, all over the tube and bubbled out of the valve as I tried to patch and inflate the tube.
While repairing the big puncture, I noticed the slime had half-filled a pin-prick hole in another part of the tube. Annoyingly, it hadn't done so completely, so I could intermittently hear it deflating, but it would stop every time I tried to find the leak!

The Marathon Plus ATBs on the other hand are probably a winner. A work colleague used to get several punctures a week on his commute, since fitting these he's had nothing for months. They're quite heavy though.

skavanagh.bikeradar

interesting feedback. Slime is sounding worse than I thought.

Vivid

richlong28 wrote:

i advise you definatly not to use slime, i had a slime tube once and when it got punctured it just oozed slime everywhere and didn't seal the hole

also i don't think it has much to do with tyre choice, i guess a thicker compound tyre would help a little, but if the punctures are from thorns, glass e.t.c the only way to stop them is to avoid the rubbish.

Slime are rated quite highly, in your case the puncture may have been larger than 1/16in therefor too large for the slime to repair.

Have a look at Slime's Tyre Liner, once inserted between innertube and tyre it stops glass, nails, thorns etc from puncturing the tube. However there is no protection on the walls.

ride_whenever

sorry vivid,

slime are highly rated? Not really, every time they are brought up as a solution to the issues they are rubbished, it's hardly a glowing recommendation. A tubeless conversion is a much better plan, or even putting some decent sealant into your ordinary inner tubes using removable cores.

skavanagh.bikeradar

Don't forget I'm a roadie and this MTB business is likely to be small number of times during the winter. The rest of the year the MTB is slicked up and used for commuting mid Feb - end Oct. So I don't want to do anything too costly or permanent but i do want to do somelthing that prevents the XC rides becoming a nightmare.

hairy_boy

What tyres where you using last time out when you got all your punctures - slicks/semi-slicks or knobbly tyres ?

Shake n Bake

i have had a many punctures on roads and yet i have riden over glass, thorn bushes....... and had nothing. my tyres are good but its often just luck i find!

i often find that when i get a lot of punctures i rush them and sometimes i forget to check the tyres thoroughly for what caused it. just wondered if that might have been a cause for repetitive punctures?