Your opinion on Mr. Tuffy



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Joebora

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I've heard mechanics say that Mr. Tuffy causes more flats than it prevents due to abrasion against
the tube. I just replaced 2 tires that had Mr. Tuffy in place for about 3000 miles with no problems.
The Mr. Tuffys were still in great shape as I mounted the new tubes and tires. Should I be
concerned? What have others found on this crucial topic?????

Joebora
 
Yes, this can happen. I used to live in the southwest (El Lay) and put in Tuffys to deal with the
insidious thorns out there.

Take a piece of sandpaper (or better yet, a belt sander) and feather one end. Place the Tuffy into
the tire so that this end lies on the side that contacts the tire and abrasion flats will be
greatly reduced.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner
 
Originally posted by Chris Zacho "Th
Yes, this can happen. I used to live in the southwest (El Lay) and put in Tuffys to deal with the
insidious thorns out there.

Take a piece of sandpaper (or better yet, a belt sander) and feather one end. Place the Tuffy into
the tire so that this end lies on the side that contacts the tire and abrasion flats will be
greatly reduced.

May you have the wind at your back. And a really low gear for the hills! Chris

Chris'Z Corner "The Website for the Common Bicyclist": http://www.geocities.com/czcorner

Make sure you get them in straight too, once wiggly never straight again. I'm sure they prevented a few goat head flats on my bike but I quit being so concerned about that and don't use them anymore except on my commute bike; they definitely work better than Slime goop. I think the abrasion thing is BS.
 
You can also melt one end over a lighted match. This will make it blunt and reduce the tendency to
wear holes. Mr.Tuffy does increase your rolling resistance, however.
 
[email protected] (Joebora) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I've heard mechanics say that Mr. Tuffy causes more flats than it prevents due to abrasion against
> the tube. I just replaced 2 tires that had Mr. Tuffy in place for about 3000 miles with no
> problems. The Mr. Tuffys were still in great shape as I mounted the new tubes and tires. Should I
> be concerned? What have others found on this crucial topic?????
>
> Joebora

I have had no problems with them. Fitted to my commuting bike 4000 miles ago as I was getting fed up
with frequent punctures (glass slivers mainly).

Same tyres, same routes, but only one puncture since (drawing pin straight through, must have been
lying point up in the road). Tube had a line around it, but no sign of damage.

I think the benefits of tyre liners depend on the type of riding you
do. On my tourer flats are a rarity, but (pre-tyre liner) on my commute they were frequent.
Consequences of flats are important too. Missing the in the morning train due to a flat is
annoying, but while touring this is not an issue so why bother?

Andrew Webster
 
> the abrasion thing is BS.

It's definitely not BS. I've had a load of punctures from it as I used Tuffies for years.
 
I've used Mr. Tuffies for many years, never modified them, and never (that I'm aware of) had them
cause a flat tire. I've used them with tires sized nominally from 700x23 to 700x28. They are a
great product.

JT

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warped track-<< I've heard mechanics say that Mr. Tuffy causes more flats than it prevents due to
abrasion against the tube. I just replaced 2 tires that had Mr. Tuffy in place for about 3000 miles
with no problems. >><BR><BR>

If ya powder the tubes/inside of the tire well, Tuffys don't cause any problems...

Peter Chisholm Vecchio's Bicicletteria 1833 Pearl St. Boulder, CO, 80302
(303)440-3535 http://www.vecchios.com "Ruote convenzionali costruite eccezionalmente bene"
 
[email protected] (Joebora) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I've heard mechanics say that Mr. Tuffy causes more flats than it prevents due to abrasion against
> the tube. I just replaced 2 tires that had Mr. Tuffy in place for about 3000 miles with no
> problems. The Mr. Tuffys were still in great shape as I mounted the new tubes and tires. Should I
> be concerned? What have others found on this crucial topic?????
>
> Joebora

If you've been using them for 3000 miles with no problems, then you might as well keep on
using them.

As for me they have caused more than a few flats and one destroyed tire sidewall. The sidewall of a
Michelin Hi Lite Tour blew out after 1800 miles of Mr. Tuffy use. I am convinced it was the friction
from the edge of the Mr. Tuffy that wore a hole in the sidewall. On another tour I'm pretty sure the
Mr. Tuffy's caused the tubes to flat every other day. The hole was at the overlap. Stopped using
them during the tour to save the necessity of changing tubes every other day. On a relative's bike
they also started causing flats at the overlap.

Overall I think they maybe prevented one or two more flats than they caused. But by no means were
they flat free. So its each person's choice on whether they want to fix flats due to Mr. Tuffy or
normal flat causing things.
 
[email protected] (Joebora) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I've heard mechanics say that Mr. Tuffy causes more flats than it prevents due to abrasion against
> the tube. I just replaced 2 tires that had Mr. Tuffy in place for about 3000 miles with no
> problems. The Mr. Tuffys were still in great shape as I mounted the new tubes and tires. Should I
> be concerned? What have others found on this crucial topic?????
>
> Joebora

.........I got flats in road tires due the the unbeveled end chaffing thrugh the tube.Even with
talcum powder. Feathered the edge and no more problem.did not seem to be a problem with lower
pressure mtn types.
 
I have never used them and I have not had a flat in 14 years.

"John Forrest Tomlinson" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:%[email protected]...
> I've used Mr. Tuffies for many years, never modified them, and never (that I'm aware of) had them
> cause a flat tire. I've used them with tires sized nominally from 700x23 to 700x28. They are a
> great product.
>
> JT
>
> --
> *******************************************
> NB: reply-to address is munged
>
> Visit http://www.jt10000.com
> *******************************************
 
I just had an inspiration for a follow-up on this question. The jury seems to be out on Mr. Tuffy,
so how about this angle....

Mr. Tuffy comes in a variety of sizes, based on tire width. Maybe the problems of abrasions and
edges are due to using them with different sized tires. Theoretically, if the fit is right, the
edges shouldn't be an issue, right?

BTW, it seems strange to me that a product that is so soft and flexible can be so abusive to tubes.
But then, I'm not used to experiencing the inside of an inflated tire, so I don't really have a feel
for what's going on in there.

Joebora
 
[email protected] (Joebora) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I just had an inspiration for a follow-up on this question. The jury seems to be out on Mr. Tuffy,
> so how about this angle....

This "jury member" (me), from experience, votes that Mr. Tuffy isn't beneficial. I prefer thicker
tubes, heavy as they are.
 
On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 20:37:18 -0500, "A Muzi" <[email protected]> may have said:

>It was called Seal-N-Air latex foam in a green aerosol and it worked very well. Now gone due to the
>propellant.

Still possible to get, actually, but the formula has changed, and it's no longer sold in consumer
packaging. In the forklift business, this is just called "foam fill", and is still popular. You have
to have it installed by the folks who have it, though, because I doubt that you'd want to buy the
smallest package I'm aware of.

Some caveats: The stuff tends to have density variations, so I would not recommend it for a very
narrow profile (700, 27x or 28x) tire; it needs to have both an entry and an exit point available
for the fill process, so a wheel with only one valve stem hole would need to have a second hole
added. I have no idea what it would cost to have done, but it's likely that it would not be cheap. I
recall that a customer inquired about having it done to the wheels of a bunch of hand trucks, and
bought replacement solid-tire wheels instead when they got the quote.

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