Punctureproof?

Mich

I can't be to specific on details cause i'm going back about.. 10 years? just from memory.

Me and my friends were on our bikes down the local woods and this lad came up on his bike and instead of inner tubes it was like, solid rubber/hard foam i don't know exactly, But it was impossible for this guy to get a puncture and he even told us that it was still a smooth and comfortable ride both on and off road, he demonstrated this by stabbing it with a knife (tire was about ready to be changed anyways) anywho.. Was this a DIY jobby by him or is there stuff like this we can actually buy?

Thanks

supersonic

I have seen solid tubes before. They are crap, and ride totally differently. The pneumatics of a proper inner tube suit a bike far better when grip and traction is concerned.

Andy B

You could buy them, they were shit though

Puncture protected tyres are available, but they're heavy

Slime inner tubes will help seal punctures too, but only ones of less than 2-3mm and only in the main tread pattern, not on the sidewall, plus they're also heavy.

fearnsy

Panacrer Flataway Kevlar linning, 36g a tyre, for about a tenner?

Mich

Ok thanks guys, I'm after the best way to prevent punctures so what products could you reccomend?
I'll be doing road riding and a canal tow path (as a short cut to work) and also come the warmer weather i'll be down cannok chase trails, i just don't want to be 8miles from home on my way home from work to find i've got a puncture and have left all my stuff at home for example to fix it.

Buckled_Rims

http://www.greentyre.co.uk/

A company from Middlesbrough makes these tyres. Despite what others think, a flat tyre can cause a few problems. So, you have to outweigh the heaviness and lack opf grip with the non puncture-profuseness.

Your decision, not others

Mich

That seem's to be on the line of what i'm after, But i'm not to set on lack of grip.
I didn't think i'd be faced with so many choices and problems on that day i decided that i was once again going to jump on a MTB :?

cooldad

Just carry a spare tube or puncture kit. Those foamy tyres are rubbish for bikes. A lose/lose compromise.OK for forklifts.

Choices and problems? It's just a bicycle - don't be a drama queen.

Mich

Drama queen? I'm simply trying to save myself a little bit of hassle

cooldad

Mich wrote:

I didn't think i'd be faced with so many choices and problems on that day i decided that i was once again going to jump on a MTB :?

Drama queen.
People in Darfur have problems.

Buckled_Rims

Don't get caught up with others who think you're sissy or this or that. If you really don't like punctures have a try with those tyres. I can't vouch for them as I have never tried them, but I have thought about them for my commute. I couldn't give a flying **** what other think so long as i don't have to change an inner tube on a cold, damp, frozen Monday morning in February!

I've even seriously thought about my road bike having these solid tyres just for training, but I have lots of spares inner tubes to use first!

Mich

That was mainly for the "Choices"
At the end of the day i don't want to be riding home from work at 1:30am to get a puncture and have to sort it, i just want to get home and get into bed, without any problems and climb into bed after a long 12hour shift

cooldad

Sissy has nothing to do with it. Air in a tube works in the same way as a rising rate suspension, as it compresses, the resistance ramps up, so it absorbs small bumps nicely, but can take a big hit without destroying the rim. Foam tubes are linear, so either so soft you'll wreck the wheel on a severe bump (like cheap kiddie bikes) or really hard, so you lose the suspension aspect.
The air also allows the tyre to deform and alter the contact patch for better grip.
Or put another way, if they worked, we'd all be using them.

cooldad

Best way to avoid punctures is decent tyres and tubes, and reasonably high pressure if you are riding mainly on the road or canal paths.
Carry a spare tube and pump and it takes 5 minutes to change, once in a blue moon.

tx14

cooldad wrote:

Sissy has nothing to do with it. Air in a tube works in the same way as a rising rate suspension, as it compresses, the resistance ramps up, so it absorbs small bumps nicely, but can take a big hit without destroying the rim. Foam tubes are linear, so either so soft you'll wreck the wheel on a severe bump (like cheap kiddie bikes) or really hard, so you lose the suspension aspect.
The air also allows the tyre to deform and alter the contact patch for better grip.
Or put another way, if they worked, we'd all be using them.

just to be fair there usually is a time lag. but yeah, just carry a spare tube or two and you're set.

cooldad

Time lag - the earliest tyres were solid rubber, before pneumatics, and there have been foam tyres of one sort or another as long as I can remember, which is well over 40 years.

tri-sexual

i remember these tyres,
they use to sell them at ATS
they come in different colours, pink, yellow, blue etc
they were advertised with pictures showing them pierced by four inch nailed all over and in all different directions
i remember them being quite plastic (soft compressable dense plastic rather than rubber) in texture and even though they are solid they are actually a dense foam with small bubbles throughout (think small bubbles similar to wispa bars rather than larger aero bar bubbles)
they were marketed mainly for kids bikes

a major tyre company reintroduced this idea last year at a international bike show (maybe the year before), cant remember which one but they promised similar performance to rubber pneumatic tyres ie grip, durability, handling but without the punctures.

belugabob

I used to run the hedgehog tyres from greentyre.co.uk on my hybrid commuter, about 15 years ago. I got them because I got fed up of punctures caused by the local chavs breaking bottles on the cycle path. They are equivalent to something like 80 psi, so your @rse might take a short while to get used to them.
I never had any problems with grip, but then I wasn't exactly shredding tge gnarly stuff on them - just commuting to/from the station.

It was great, being able to ride over broken glass with impunity.

Northwind

It's possible the green tyres have improved but they used to be heroically s**t. A mate had them on his old Courier, they were fantastic, never did puncture but they did fall off the rims at random while riding which was good fun for all concerned.

ride_whenever

amerityres are another company that makes them.

I wouldn't use them though. If you really want to avoid punctures try going tubeless.

jimexbox

cooldad wrote:

Just carry a spare tube or puncture kit.

I carry both, takes 5 minutes to change an inner tube.

Be a good boy scout, and be prepared.