Airless tires?

[JB]

Has anybody ever used or tried airless bicycle tires?

The flat gods have become angry with me for some reason, and I seem to be flatting pretty much every ride lately (from punctures, not from pinch flats), so I'm trying to see what my options are (slime tubes / thorn resistant tubes are the other choices).

I know Sheldon Brown didn't approve (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_a.html#airless), but I wanted to see if anybody else was familiar with them.

http://www.airfreetires.com/

[Steve Mattson]

I did 500 miles down the coast with my two friends, that's 6 tires and none of us got flats.  Schwalbe, Continental or Vittoria tour tires.  All of us used slime tubes.  I added some mr.tuffy tube liners as well.  Spray adhesive works to get these in nice and straight.  No flats, no slow leaks, no explosions, no drama at all.

[Elizabeth Hunter]

Gatorskins?

I've never had a flat with mine (knock on wood) and I've had them probably 900 miles.

[Matthew Moore]

thats good to hear I'm putting some gator skins on my bike

[Gern]

Flats:
I have used & promoted Slime(or any brand really) since the early 1990's, when I stopped using Mr Tuffy's because Slime works so well.  Granted Slime began with me in Mt Biking...  Later(2003)I had tubeless on my Blur in the beginning, but didn't like it for me, so I went back to tubes w/ slime.  I recommend not over paying for glue filled tubes, add the juice yourself.  Slime instructions say to use 4 oz. per tube, I have always used 1/2 that, w/out problems.  Even with presta tubes that won't allow the valve stem to be removed, I have cut a LITTLE  'x', added the goo, patched & mounted, & ridden into the future.  Pretty much always the tubes hold their own, until, it is time to change tires!!  First time I changed tires after I installed Slime, I had to forcefully pull the tube out of the tire. It was stuck in there real good. After removing the old tube, looking at the inside of the tire I could see all the stains from the NUMEROUS puntures that immediatly sealed up tight, preventing me from having to stop, patch & resume riding.  I counted over 60 sealed punture points!!  I was forevermore HOOKED!!

Airless:
I have an airless(joyless, limp, squishy, feels like it's flat, truly zaps the fun of riding a bike) rear wheel on my Dyno Moto 7 cruzer 'lot bike'.  I got it at the recycle bin in the BRW.  I was excited to have it, right up to the point of taking my first 'Oh So Disappointing' first test ride.
I put it on because repairing flats on the rear Nexus 7 spd, w/ the brake make it very difficult to manage with only my two hands.  Thus always requiring another mechanic...
Did I mention how the crappy feel of the solid tube makes for a really disappointing ride?  Cuz, like it does, dude.  

[JB]

60 punctures?

OK, I'm sold on the Slime. 

[Elizabeth Hunter]

I tried a slime tube once and it failed miserably.

But I know Gern loves them (he's the reason I tried).

[Gern]

And I've always had trouble handling horses

[Steve Mattson]

If you end up inflating and deflating a tire a lot, slime sucks.  It clogs up the valve as it 's trying to coagulate the hole it thinks is there in the form of a valve.  Slime is a form of AI, as it "thinks".  Soon it will merge with skynet and within minutes every radar screen at norad headquarters will be filled with incoming icbm's launched as an act of war against the creator.  Slime will be our downfall.
But, until the merger, I recommend the stuff.  We got bottles of a "made in the USA!" version of slime in the shop.  You could try that stuff and see if it helps.  For all I know, it's snake oil.

[JB]

http://www.skynet.net/

Skynet's already here, we're just supposed to think they're a shipping business...

[steveby3]

Skynet is actually a British military satellite network. I'd be scared except it is Britian and their robots probably only work from 10 am to 4pm, with a 2 hour lunch and 40 days of vacation.

Anyway I hate the slime stuff.  my roommate uses it and i've seen it work but it always seems to end up gunking up his valve stems making it impossible to inflate the tube.

JB: do you still have the stock tires on your bike? A lot of people complain about the stock tires on the bikesdirect bikes.

[Elizabeth Hunter]

And if everything's still stock check the rim tape. They might be using cheapie stuff, and it might not be placed carefully to cover everything.

[EricW]

JB -

Found these guys:

http://www.airfreetires.com/

Dunno if it works - they can adjust the "pressure" of the tire to suit.

I've got Continental Gatorskiins with a Kevlar layer.  I've run over my share of broken beer bottles on the streets of LA.  No flats in about 2K. I also use a wire tire scraper on each wheel to brush off the smaller pieces of glass after I run thru them. I can show you these they work way better than the old glove on the wheel.

My feeling is that Slime doesn't work very well with high pressure tires. There isn't enough time for it to seal the puncture before a lot of air gets out. I don't ride off road very often, so no thorns.  Plus I exploded a slimed tire recently inflating it - the green stuff went everywhere...

EricW

[JB]

We're going with the slime for the time being. 

They're $5.99 a tube at Performance (if you ask for the internet price (and at Wheel World if you ask them to match prices, which they are nice enough to do.)  I read the directions, and the valve stems can actually be removed and cleaned if they get clogged, which is kind of cool.

I do have the stock tires, and they're not super, but when you run over thumbtacks, etc., you really can't blame the tire.

Further bulletins as events warrant.

[Gern]

It helps alot to orientate the valve stem to strait up 12 O'Clock, let sit a bit before you add or remove air from slime filled tubes. Always have a little rag and cover the stem with it Before you start letting out air.  I've never had a valve goo up and cause a problem w/ Presta or Schreader.  I have had it ooze out of the valves when working on them, but I dab it off and carry on.  Interestingly, I've lived thru alot of hassles in my life, but never involving a tube punture sealant.  Come on Karma, bring it on!!

I'll keep you updated as to what happens NOW w/ my slime history!