Bulletproof Tire?

Hi 'Yall, Been back here in Maryland riding the C&O Canal which I dearly love... except I seem to be
plagued by quite a few flats running on the unpaved ground, over and through lots of vegetation
(including thorns). Came home yesterday with a flat on the front of my Gold Rush - 20" (451) x 1
1/8 and am thinking a tougher tire is in order. Any suggestions? Thanks,
--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

When I was getting boucoup flats in the FL keys due to thorns I successfully tried Mr. Tuffy liners
with thornproof tubes. Heavy but effective. Carefully cut Mr Tuffy to fit a 20 inch rim and replace
the deteriorating Mr Tuffy liner every year.

--
Gator Bob Siegel EasyRacers Ti Rush "chere" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi 'Yall, Been back here in Maryland riding the C&O Canal which I dearly love... except I seem to
> be plagued by quite a few flats running on the unpaved ground, over and through lots of vegetation
> (including thorns). Came home yesterday with a flat on the front of my Gold Rush - 20" (451) x 1
> 1/8 and am thinking a tougher tire is in order. Any suggestions? Thanks,
> --
> Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

>>
One caution. I've come out in the morning to a flat tire. After about a year or so, the lap in the
liner wears a hole in the tube causing a very slow leak. <<

Confirming that. I had my first flat in a year a few months ago when my rear tire fell victim to TOS
(Tuffy Overlap Syndrome).

--
Greg Dunn

"Robert Siegel" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Re: Tuffy Liners, Velox rim tape, and thorn proof tubes....... Quoted from
> current EasyRacers Forum thread on tire liners: Gator Bob Siegel EasyRacers Ti
> Rush
>
> ******
>
> Works very very well for me
>
> Peter M Spirito
>
>
>
> Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged
>
> 05-01-2003 07:10 PM
>
>
>
> rkernan Junior Member
>
> Registered: Nov 2002 Location: Posts: 3 Tire liners I've used tire liners for
> years. You can get different widths and lengths. I pull pieces of glass out of
> my tires regularly from
my
> 8 mile round trip to work and back, most of which would have been flats.
>
> One caution. I've come out in the morning to a flat
tire.
> After about a year or so, the lap in the liner wears a hole in the tube causing a very slow leak.
> My solution is to "rotate the tire" or move the location of the liner lap periodically.
>
>
>
>
>
> --

 

Greg Dunn wrote:
> One caution. I've come out in the morning to a flat tire. After about a year or so, the lap in the
> liner wears a hole in the tube causing a very slow leak. <<
>
> Confirming that. I had my first flat in a year a few months ago when my rear tire fell victim to
> TOS (Tuffy Overlap Syndrome).
>

Feather the ends of the liner where it over laps. It's easiest with a grinding wheel, but if you
don't have one, you can do it by hand with sand paper.

Lorenzo L. Love http://home.thegrid.net/~lllove

“A people living under the perpetual menace of war and invasion is very easy to govern. It demands
no social reforms. It does not haggle over expenditures on armaments and military equipment. It pays
without discussion, it ruins itself, and that is an excellent thing for the syndicates of financiers
and manufacturers for whom patriotic terrors are an abundant source of gain.” Anatole France

 

Anyone tried these? A friend sent the link ~ they SOUND good... http://www.airfreetires.com/

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

Figures...a weekend ahead filled with comments about Airfree Tires. Last time this board lit up like
a xmas tree for 5 weeks about Airfree, in fairness has anyone actually received tires they ordered
recently in a timely fashion? I'd still like to buy some for my trikes, but have been waiting to see
if delivery times improved b4 risking it.
------------------------
"chere" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Anyone tried these? A friend sent the link ~ they SOUND good... http://www.airfreetires.com/
>
> --
> Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

Chere -- Do an archival search. Air Frees have been discussed ad nauseam. Hugh Whosis, who owns the
company, has issued several long proclamations about his product. I remain skeptical but in fairness
I have never seen much less ridden on an Airfree tire.

--
Gator Bob Siegel EasyRacers Ti Rush "Wile E.Coyote" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Figures...a weekend ahead filled with comments about Airfree Tires. Last time this board lit up
> like a xmas tree for 5 weeks about Airfree, in fairness has anyone actually received tires they
> ordered recently in a timely fashion? I'd still like to buy some for my trikes, but have been
> waiting to see if delivery times improved b4 risking it.
> ------------------------
> "chere" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Anyone tried these? A friend sent the link ~ they SOUND good... http://www.airfreetires.com/
> >
> > --
> > Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD
> >
>

 

For the benefit of us who are new to the newsgroup, would one of you kind souls summarizes the
drawbacks of these tires?

Thanks most kindly.

"Wile E.Coyote" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Last time this board lit up like a xmas tree for 5 weeks about Airfree...

 

And while you're at it, the Schwalbe Marathon looks like a hybrid tire . . . it takes air, but has a protective bead down the center of the tire that is supposed to make it nearly bullet proof.

Any experience with the Marathon?

Ben
>>>>Burley Canto>>>>

 

Unfortunately for you, the 451 tires have far less choices than a 406 tire as far as variety. Robert is right though: thorn-proof tubes and Mr. Tuffy liners are the way to go. If I remember correctly (50/50 chance there), a liner and thorn proof tubes weigh about the same as some kevlar belted tires.

Airfree tires, otoh, are wieghty but some have great luck with them. Hugh seems fair to work with. A quick search of the archives will give all the opinions you could ever want on such tires. They did not personally work for me but Hugh was more than accomodating.

Derek

 

Oh Lordie!! chere, you don't know what you may have restarted!!!

Airfree tires have supporters and doubters. The last I heard, they had a new line coming out, ran
into some quality or production problems, and haven't delivered any of the latest generation tires.

Hugh "something" owns and operates the firm. He is apparently an honest guy. The speed freaks among
us have huge reservations about the rolling resistance of the tires. There are no definitive tests
as yet, that I am aware.

Our own "Limey Lew" is an advocate of the earlier version.

--
Miles of Smiles,

Tom Blum Winter Haven, Florida Homebuilts: SWB Tour Easy Clone Speed Machine Clone

www.gate.net/~teblum

 

You surely don't expect this self-absorbed 'bent rider to think of a "search" first, do you? Sorry
everyone! I will dutifully go to the archives as so gently instructed... and not another word about
the "A-F" subject.

--
Chere ~ GRR Sanibel, FL / Cumberland, MD

 

I have some airfree tires on my mountain bike. I ordered mine from www.amerityre.com. I've had them on my bike for about a year. I used to get alot of flats because the debree in the roads is pretty bad on my commute. I wanted to test them on my mountain bike before I put them on my recumbent.

Pros: they don't go flat. One day, I found a large nail going all the way through my sidewall and out the other side. Not only would this have caused a flat, but probably would have required changing out the tire. It didn't phase the tire at all. Another pro is that you don't have to carry spare tubes, folding tires, pumps, CO2, patchkits or whatever.

Cons: they are heavier (even after you add the weight of tubes, pumps and extra stuff you carry) and slower. They ride extremely rough, transmitting every bump in the road to your rump. Finally, they have very poor grip especially in sand or wet conditions. I never feel comfortable taking high speed turns with them.

I have thought about taking them off the mountain bike, but went ahead and kept them on. But then again, I don't ride the mountain bike that often anymore. I prefer my rocket or my Speed trike for everyday use. I doubt that I'd order them for my recumbent or my trike. The marathons and tuffy liners do a pretty good job for me.

Dennis

 

Wow, great tires! Where do I sign up? ;-((

--
Gator Bob Siegel

> Cons: they are heavier ... and slower. They ride extremely rough,
transmitting every bump in the road to your rump. ... very poor grip especially in sand or wet
conditions. I never feel comfortable taking high speed turns with them.

 

>And while you're at it, the Schwalbe Marathon looks like a hybrid tire .
>. . it takes air, but has a protective bead down the center of the tire that is supposed to make it
> nearly bullet proof.
>
>Any experience with the Marathon?

Haven't managed to puncture one yet, and a do a lotof milage in all wheather, and I'm rather
careless (don't avoid glass, don't clean tires, etc) Ok I did get one snakebite going through the
mother of all potholes at night. This is with the normal Marathons: there's also City Marathon
(lousy cornering but fairly bulletproof too) , Marathon Slick (not quite so strong), Marathon XR
(don't know) and Marathon Plus (even better protected,I'm told, but heavier rolling). Then there's
variations in width and profile...

Mark van Gorkom.

 

> Any experience with the Marathon?

I've got about 500 miles on city marathons on what is probably the worst some of the worst pavement
anyone can imagine riding over everyday. My commute requires me to beat the heck out of these tires
on cracked pavement (jamming them in jagged fissures fairly often). There are spots where I need to
take the rocket off-road and plow through abandoned lots full of broken glass, construction debris,
mud (fun), wire, and other stuff. The roads to work are lined with broken bottles. I probably run
over busted glass 8-9 times a day.

The only flat I've ever had with them so far was a really freak accident. I little teensie piece
of wire, about .3mm diameter, about 5mm long, somehow went directly perpendicular to the tire and
worked its way through, slowly. (I can tell it was a slow process because the hole in the tube was
sort of scratched through, not stabbed.) This may even have been a strand of bike cable from my
own garage.

I find these to be pretty good tires. I have the kevlar ones. Whether that means they have a kevlar
bead (they were foldable) or a kev bead and belt in the tire, I'm not sure.

I've used tuffies and had stuff go through them, so nothing's poke-proof...

sj

 

> Airfree tires have supporters and doubters. The last I heard, they had a new line coming out,
> ran into some quality or production problems, and haven't delivered any of the latest
> generation tires.

I got a note from Hugh Waters, the owner about a month ago. The company that was supplying his
rubber compound decided to quit distributing it after the first set of Open Road Tires had shipped.

That led to the above series of posts due to non-shipment of already paid for tires (around the
first of the year). As I understand it, that issue has been resolved for the 8 or so customers
involved. In his e-mail, he said they had secured another compound distributor (maybe even the
manufacturer this time -- I've trashed the e-mail), and were in the process of spinning a new set of
test tires. Once he had the quality control where he wanted it, he would send me an e-mail and
beginning reshipping the Open Road style. As I understand, the other types of tires listed on his
website are available.

FWIW, the rolling resistence for these tires is a little better than Primo Comets according to the
tests done by Dave Lafford. If the "real-world" tests are comparable with the lab tests, these tires
should be terrific for 95% of the biking population.

Regards -- DP

 

Hugh Waters like most entrepreneurs is a boundless optimist. According to him, his Airfree tires are
always right on the edge of greatness ... but so far ... they apparently ain't soup yet.

Gator Bob Siegel EasyRacers Ti Rush

"Dennis Pedrick" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> > Airfree tires have supporters and doubters. The last I heard, they had a
new
> > line coming out, ran into some quality or production problems, and
haven't
> > delivered any of the latest generation tires.
>
> I got a note from Hugh Waters, the owner about a month ago. The company that was supplying his
> rubber compound decided to quit distributing it after the first set of Open Road Tires had
> shipped.
If the "real-world" tests are comparable with the lab tests, these tires
> should be terrific for 95% of the biking population.
>
> Regards -- DP

 

Hello, Review Boy, I have been using Airfree Tires for about 3 years now and would rather 'fight
than switch'.

The MAIN drawback that I have found with them, in fact the ONLY drawback as far as I am concerned,
is that I have 4 perfectly good pumps that I will NEVER get to use.

Hope this helps.

Lewis.

.......................

"Review Boy" <review [email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> For the benefit of us who are new to the newsgroup, would one of you kind souls summarizes the
> drawbacks of these tires?
>
> Thanks most kindly.
>
> "Wile E.Coyote" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > Last time this board lit up like a xmas tree for 5 weeks about Airfree...

 

Hi, Chere, I LOVE my Airfree Tires and would be glad to try to answer any questions that you may
have about them.

I have been using them for about 3 years now and they work very nicely for me.

Lewis.

.....................

"chere" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> You surely don't expect this self-absorbed 'bent rider to think of a "search" first, do you? Sorry
> everyone! I will dutifully go to the archives as so gently instructed... and not another word
> about the "A-F" subject.