TT3.6 - Looking for thorn resistant tubes

[spedroza]

I have a TT3.6 (bought in 2006). With all my bikes I like to run thorn resistant tubes. I don't care about the additional weight. I prefer avoiding flats. I've never been able to find a thorn resistant 20x1.0-2.0 tube with presta valve. Has anyone ever found one?

Each time I have to deal with this I start pondering drilling the valve opening to allow for a shrader valve. How much will this compromise the strength of the rim? Has anyone does this?

Sam

[Jess_Kess]

We do not have any puncture resistant tubes, but the Schwalbe Marathon tires have a Kevlar, puncture resistant strip in them. They are a worthwhile upgrade!

You can drill out the rim to allow for the schrader valve without compromising the rim.

[dragnfly36@yahoo.com]

[size=150][/size]Have you tried smart tubes yet

[BillP]

I just checked the Smart Tube website, slime.com. They don't list a 20" tube with Presta valve stem. The smallest presta tube shown is 26".

They do have a variety of 20" tubes w/Schrader valve stem.

I think I'll look for what is or was called 'mr. tuffies', the plastic liners you put inside the tire. Have worked really well for me on both my road and mtn bikes.

[squidlyman]

After many miles, and lot of frustration, I gave up on the presta tubes. I prefer them... as I like the valve over the "Big S", but you can't get puncture resistant tubes with them. I tried slime, but no luck there. I tried even using "tire liners" (cut up former tubes, placed between the presta tube and tire), but no luck.

So... I gave in one day and bored out the holes and made the switch to "Big S". The one perk is that now my pump doesn't need to be switched to pump air into my trike and my two-wheeler! But, now I have puncture resistance tubes, mountain bike kevlar tires, and no punctures in many, many miles.

One negative is that the Shraeder valves (at least for me) seem to have slow leaks. Not major... but it means pumping my tires up every week or so, something I never had to do with Presta's. This is true on my tubes, as well as my girlfriend's trike, so I can't imagine it's a "random bad tube", but instead a design issue with them. Not a big deal, though.

Also, finding a 20" presta tube while traveling is somewhat difficult. The shraeders, in a pinch, can be found in Wally.

-Happy riding!

[prhkgh]

I had LOTS of thorn flats, even with Maraton 100lb tires. I tried different tubes, and FINALLY got what works perfectly on my Rover-8: REI carries 20" tubes by slime. They are listed as 5 times normal thickness, and come preloaded with slime. Per the packaging they are supposed to self seal holes up to 1/8" in diameter. However they do have Schraeder rather than Presto valves.

I thought I'd have trouble mounting them (I only have use of one arm), but it wasn't too bad...it took me about 1/2 hr each over the course of 3 days. I slightly inflated them to smooth out fold points into a real circle shape, and I could work them into place rather easily. Reseating the Marathons was the hardest part, but that would have been the case wth regular tubes as well.

After 3 weeks the tires were still rock hard from my initial inflation. Eventually they each softened some, but uniformly. I think it was not punctures but normal 'air your tires back up periodically' stuff, as I pumped them back up* and they are still rock hard a week later. (*Actually I use Nashbar bike CO2 cartridges to inflate...they periodically put packs of 10 threaded CO2 cartridges on sale for about $15...or 5 packs of unthreaded Blackburn cartridges for $5.)