Tried to bunny hop a pot hole on this mornings ride, but didn’t quite have the necessary forward velocity. Rear wheel took the hit and within 20 metres or so, the rear was flat. I wasn’t in a good place, so called my wife for a lift back home. I’ve rinsed the muck off the bike and wheels and chucked it all in the shed, I was late for work.

I’m assuming it’s pinch flat, which I’ll try and sort out this evening. But it’s made me think that I need some sort of rim protection insert. Cushcore do a Gravel / CX insert, but I’m not too enamoured at the prospect of shelling out £160 for a bit of foam and some valves.

Does anyone with a gravel / adventure bike run rim protection…? Are there any other options than the Cushcore? I notice that things like the Rimpact ones aren’t really for 700c gravel rims shod with 40mm tyres.

pinch flat…..answer = tubeless.

Or put a bit more air in the tyres (what you riding them at currently)

Or ride with more skillz

Ratbite did a CX/gravel insert but I think the chap who runs it has taken a step back from things this year. You could drop him a DM on Instagram to see if he has any stock left.

View this post on Instagram

Have you got a gravel bike? Do you run tubeless? Want more comfort and peace of mind? Our RATBITE gravel and CX inserts give comfort and protection, with great customer reviews. Grab some at ratbite.co.uk #antiflatter#ratbiteuk#cycling#cyclocross#gravelbike#gravelbikes#gravelride#tubeless#tyreinserts#tyreinsert

A post shared by RATBITE Tubeless Inserts (@ratbite_uk) on May 14, 2019 at 11:08pm PDT

@convert running tubeless already, somewhere around 40psi. I don’t have a gauge that goes that high, so that’s roughly what the pump said. I thought I could get away with less, reading some other threads would suggest otherwise…

@orena45 I don’t do Facebook owned social media, shame their website no longer exists. Might have to pinch my daughter’s account to contact them…

Currently reading the Homemade Huck Norris thread and looking up backing rod…

40psi on the road even with a 40mm tyre is very low unless you are very light. What do you weight?

So if already tubeless it’s not a pinch flat. Could have dented the rim and the air has leaked out. I guess you’ll see when you go home.

That chart is a bit old school is it not? I’m 85kg and run 80psi in my 25mm tyres, and ran 90psi in my 23mm tyres. Can’t remember the last time I ran 100psi in anything! Run 50psi in my 35mm commuting tyres but they are quite chunky.

I’ve raced CX with tubes and 35mm tyres at 40psi, certainly wouldn’t go lower, managed to rim both wheels bunnyhopping on a tarmac section trying to shed some mud…

Apologies for hijack, can’t comment on rim protection.

13thfloormonk

Member

That chart is a bit old school is it not?

That was my immediate thought too. I’m 63kg, running 75PSi in 25c and no more than 30 PSi in 40c. My 33cs are often at around 18PSi but that’s a whole other story

it is a bit old – couldn’t be bothered to search further. We still don’t know how heavy the OP is but I still say 40psi on the road is too low.

Practice bunnyhopping? If you were moving fast enough to flat on it, you were moving fast enough to bunny hop over it. Front wheel followed by rear. Both wheels at once is asking for trouble.

Not trying to be cheeky BTW.

Convert with Queen Victoria’s velocipede chart there 🙂

I think it’s a really good question but don’t have the answer – cx bikes handle brilliantly on the softer stuff sub 30psi, but if you run this on a mixed ride out on the bridleways you’ll ding the rims to **** and risk pinch-flatting the tyres. So you end you end up having to run higher, and the bike doesn’t feel good when it should be bossing the loam.

My CX bike is setup tubeless with 39-40mm on the front and 35mm at the back. Handles fine on the road with 40psi in the rear and I’m 90kg, that chart is a million miles out! Usually it’s even lower, 30-35psi works well for mixed on/off road.

Even my ‘winter’ road bike has 28mm tyres (with tubes) and I don’t go over 55-60psi.

I did run a bit of 30mm backing rod in the rear for a while although for the life of me cant remember if I transferred it when I swapped to mud/winter tyres. I put it in mostly as a failsafe so I’d be able to ride back home even with a flat tyre.

@convert 72.4kg last time I checked.

@sillyoldman a very valid point, my bike handling skill are pretty lame, especially when presented with a new bike.

For the record, it was a mixed surface ride, road, bridleway and byway. Taking in all sorts of surfaces, tarmac, grass, mud, cinder, cement, etc. The flat happened on a broken cement farm road, just before heading down into what would probably have been a mad bath of a bridleway.

I’d already had to get off and push up this, due to pedal strike and horse hoof chewed verges:

40psi on the road even with a 40mm tyre is very low unless you are very light.

I run 32 front, 35 rear in tubeless 700x42mm resolutes on road and off with no issues.

650b 47mm so more volume but I run 30psi or just above normally.

Practice bunnyhopping? If you were moving fast enough to flat on it, you were moving fast enough to bunny hop over it

You would need to know howl long the pot hole is, maybe it was 2 metres long…

The RimPact Pro was initially a CX gravel prototype that they developed into a MTB product, the CX version should be following. Apparently.

Had a look at the tyre when I got home, and it’s a pinch flat. A nice 5 – 6mm ragged cut that the sealant had no chance with. Just surprised that I couldn’t find it just after it had happened, I could totally have limped home with an anchovy in there. So now I just need to decide if I stick one in, or take the tyre off and patch the inside.

As for rim pro, the Panzer gravel insert looks nice, shame Whyte don’t seem to import it…