Anti thorn ideas

Five punctures in two tubes in two days. This from riding canal paths to my off road haunts.
Tubeless or Slime would be working overtime, so I assume a strip is the best bet?

I’d go for the Slime.

I’m commuting 3 days a week along the Grand Union, 10 miles each way. Running Bonty TLRs with Bonty sealant and haven’t had a problem yet, I do tend to wait ’til I get home to pull the thorns out though, just in case.

Used to run Panaracer USTs with sealent, no issues there either.

Met a guy a couple of weeks ago on the Kings Langley stretch who’d had 8 punctures on his journey so far and was looking for the train station to get him the rest of the way to Tring!

dan

Not far from there. I use the GU to get to Ashridge/Ivingoe Beacon and Woburn the other way.
I’m on a crosser.

I’m running similar to TwentyOneThirtyFive on one of my bikes, just with Stans sealant and it works very well at stopping the thorns punctures (I don’t bother taking them out either). The other bike doesn’t go near thorny trails…

I’ve tried strips inside the tyres, and they kinda worked, but not that well. My dad runs tyres with the strip built in (not sure what they are) and they work better than the strips you put in after. I’ve not tried slime tubes, so can’t help you there.

M

Bit further north than me, I use it between Hemel and Watford for commuting, but as the evenings get longer try and do one ride home a week where I stay on the canal path until Berkhamstead or Cow Roast and head up into the woods and across to Ashridge before circling back through the golf courses to Potten End.

Is a lovely end to a working day 🙂

dan

Tubeless will work. The thorns tend to break off and bed in. You don’t lose sealant unless you gash it on some glass or something.

A mate has just had 7 punctures on our last 3 rides as the local farmers have been cutting the hedgerows on some of the bridleways. I’m running tubeless (Stans rims with Stans fluid) and I didn’t get a single puncture.

He’s finally been persuaded to convert his Flows to tubeless as he was adamant he wanted to stick with tubes before.

Tubeless would work. I’ve never had any luck with slime, just seems to ooze out and never set.

Of the strips I hear best comments about the panaracer one but it’s expensive. Other alternative is to just use an old innertube cut and wrapped around the other one. Failing that a downhill tube might work. Depends how bothered you are about weight.

Tubeless should sort!

Dr Sludge, it works!

I use Panaracer Flataways in my front tyres and they do resist much debris. They are around £10 each though and don’t think they can be re-used if you change tyres. Some tyres aren’t keen on them, eg Nobby Nics can be difficult to adhere.

Karl – the GU can be a pain, just go tubeless and be done with it

I use Slime puncture strip inserts inside my tyres. They resist most things and even if you do get a puncture somehow it usually lasts til you go home and you find a flat in the morning which you can repair in the comfort of your home 🙂
You need to be really careful about inserting them though cos if you get it twisted it will cause a puncture. Also with some wider/softer tyre types they cause punctures. And if you’re lucky enough not to get a flat for a while eventually the end of liner will wear a small hole in your inner tube.
Tyres with built-in jelly-type puncture strips are all very well until you run over glass which gets embedded and then you can’t remove it from either the inside or the outside of the tyre!
Never tried tubeless so can’t comment.

i tried the strips they woek ok but as lady says the ends wear a hole in the tube i have swapped to dr sludge tubes cheap on merlin

i think the puncture strips give a harsher ride as well

I had the same after the last big blow wind covered the towpath with thorny twigs two days on the trot had 7 in the front and similar in the rear .

trip to halfrauds for some slime no flats since

Some better quality tyres would probably be the easiest thing.

I used to expect about 6/8 thorn punctures a month (riding every day), sometimes several a week. That was on some crappy worn tyres and then some equally crappy semi-slicks from Geax and Nevgal. I tried slime (heavy and messy when it doesn’t work and stops the patch from sticking). Tried strips (affect the ride, and heavy and the cut end was abrasive and wore away the reinforcing fabric from inside my tyres which then split..

Nowadays on the same routes, I get possibly only 1 thorn a month using garden variety tubes and better quality tyres.

I find fewer thorns in my tyres to pull out with the higher the tpi count of the tyre. Usually now run Advantage Exception 120tpi and they seem to be good.

Make that 14 in three days 😡

Running Speed Kings on either, Aksiums/A-Class/Shimano. I think Slime tubes would be my best bet.

You can tell Easters round the corner. 🙄

If I lived and rode where there was a lot of thorn hedging I would go tubeless.

Second Dr Sludge as the slime tube variant of choice!

Pushing round at the start of hedge clipping season last year gave our pram 14 punctures in one outing. Put in Dr Sludge two days later (after it was delivered) and have no problems since!

Pump them up to 60psi! Bit bumpier, but NO punctures 🙂

I use Slime tyre liners/strips. They work ok but still get punctures occasionally.

Toobless too!

Pump them up to 60psi! Bit bumpier, but NO punctures

I tried this once, When running WTB Velociraptors. If I went above 30psi I got punctures no end. Below 30 psi none at all..

last year I ran conti speedking supersonics on my canal commuter, I had a fair few thorn punctures and was running them at a low PSI with a hand pump. I tried going tubeless which was a complete failure, altho someone on here has claimed success with tubeless SpeedKings, but he said it took a few weeks and alot of patience. This summer I’ve filled a few supersonic innertubes with gunk, but I’ve yet to see if sealant filled inner tubes makes any worthwhile dif with thorns. I’ve also got a proper stirrup pump with gauge, so now running alot higher PSI.

Stans tubless conversion with the sealant works fine,