Next time your sitting in the freezing mud changing a flat tire next to a busy road because you trusted one of the tire liners like Green slime or Mr tuffy or Spin skins remember this story.

I used schwalbe marathon tires (with Kevlar belts and spinskin tie liners) For a year with out any punctures, it looked like they had another years worth of tread on them. Then one day the rear tire developed a bulge when I took it off the wheel I discovered that a piece of glass had torn threw the center of the tread and the tire liner and half way threw the tube which pushed up into the hole. If I hadn’t been using a thorn resistant tube I would not had gotten home with out considerable misery.

Well then I had a wild idea that I could use the marathon tire inside another tire of the same size as an affordable heavy duty tire liner.

I had to cut off the bead (which reduced the weight by half), but it fit the other tire I had. If you want a lightweight liner, use a primo commit with Kevlar belt.

I checked my tires again after several months and found several glass cuts and some even went threw, but non of them went into the second tire!

This won’t protect your outer tire but it will get you home with out the misery factor. I now have 6 tire on my bike and 8 on my trike.

WARNING! Tires are not standardized sizes. A 1.5" primo comet will not fit into a 1.5" schwalbe marathon, but a 1.25-1.35 will. A 1.5" marathon will fit into a 1.75" 70psi marathon and a 1.5" comet will fit into a 1.75" marathon plus. And a 1.5" Michelin transworld city tire may fit into a 1.5" marathon but not the other way around.

The green slime may work for low-pressure tires but all they can do is add thickness, not resistance. The other two have been known to move around and even cut the tires casing threads. There is a goop that will stop punctures but is so motion sensitive that it has to be replaced twice a year.

Specialized Armadillo tires are very puncture resistant but even those have been know to be punctured. They also have a problem with the tread coming off, so they have a lifetime warranty.

I still think they should make a steel belted bicycle tire, Kevlar doesn’t work very well. I looked at industrial tires and saw nothing but a poorly made solid tire whose tread wears fast.

The future of personal transportation
the truth about clipless pedals
My EZ3 Trike
My comuter bike
how the Tricycle got so big
building a LWB touring bike

Under standing trike wheels
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