Flat Tire Protection: Test Results from Homemade and Retail Options

Keeping bicycle tires from getting punctures can be a challenge. For the most part, I've given up on having pretty, soft (comfortable) tires because I have found that they aren't low maintenance when it comes to dealing with road debris. When making a run to the grocery store or taking care of a quick errand, it can be a nuisance to have to stop to fix a flat.

There are a variety of options available for sale. Everything from putting goop in tires to thicker tubes, but last fall, I decided I wanted to try out a couple of options that I'd been curious about, and I thought I'd share what's happened to date.

Over the last several months, I have been testing a couple of fairly inexpensive flat protection possibilities. One is a homemade option, while the other is store bought. I wanted to see if either (or both) would actually provide protection from glass and other potentially poke-through-the-tire debris found commonly on roads and paths. I will say from the get-go, I have been pretty impressed thus far with both options.

Stop Flats 2 comes with a set of two liners, one for each tire.

When I picked up another bike early this year, I wanted to put cream tires on it, but the two tire options I enjoy riding have both left me wanting when it comes to flat protection. I decided to try StopFlats as liners in the tires to see if would provide the protection I need.

These liners are not new to the market, but I haven't yet had the opportunity to test them. I have had the opportunity to see and hold them close up and thought that they seemed a viable option to actually help prevent flats, but the only way to know for sure would be to put them on and get to riding.

The first challenge was deciding which size to buy. There seems to be a plethora of size options and it's supposed to be made easier by the color coded liners, but I still found it to be a bit challenging. There seems to be some overlap in sizing in a few instances and some sizes that are still missing from the line up too.

A few samples from the size line up of StopFlats

Ultimately, I settled on a size to try for my 650bx38 tires and went about installing them. The installation is pretty simple and wraps around the interior of the tire before the tube is inserted. I had installed these once before on a customer's bike while filling in at a local bike shop, but the process seemed a bit more challenging with my tires. It could be that they are simply a softer tire so keeping the liners in place while adding the tube presented a bit of a challenge, but nothing that was unmanageable.

My tests with this liner are still fairly limited as they have been in place for only a couple of months (and certainly not the most thorn-centric months), but thus far, they have not disappointed. I have ridden through glass shards, dirt paths with goatheads and other stickers, and rolled over metal and other road debris without experiencing a flat tire. To date, these liners have lived up to expectations, but I look forward to testing them over the longer term to see how they withstand longer use over roads and paths with debris.

The second liner I've been experimenting with is a homemade option. Several years ago, I read a comment on a forum about someone who was going to try lining his tires with tyvek to see if it would help prevent flats. There was never any follow up to this statement, so I always wondered if it was something that could really work. In theory, it seemed reasonable because those mailing envelopes are pretty strong and durable, but I wasn't sure if it would work in real-world use.

It has been suggested that USPS mailing envelopes can be had free of charge,which is true, but I would point out that it is illegal to use USPS envelopes for anything other than mailing a package via the post office... and I don't want to feel responsible for someone breaking the law.  

The first step was to get some tyvek mailing envelopes. These can be obtained at just about any office supply store, Amazon, or many other big box retail/discount establishments, if they aren't already somewhere in your home or office.

I decided to test this liner on my fat tire bike because it's more challenging to find flat liners for this size bike tire. To make the liner, I took a mailing envelope and folded it width-wise so that it would be narrow and long. Depending on the width of the tire and the envelope in question, the envelope may need to be cut down a bit so that it isn't too wide.

Then, I repeated the folding step with the next envelope and used packing tape to attach one end of the first folded piece to one end of the second envelope. This process continues until there is enough of the envelope length to make a circle to fit inside the tire.

The worst part about this homemade creation is fitting the "liner" into the tire. I may have left a bit too much on the width, creating a bigger headache than it needed to be. The secret seems to be getting the envelopes to lay flat against the tire. Once that happens, it's much easier to get the tube in place.

I have had these tyvek liners in the bike tires for about seven months now and I have not had to deal with a flat tire. While I have ridden through the same types of debris as on the other bike with its liners, I have not yet had a goathead or any debris physically stick and stay in the tires, so I don't know if I've just been fortunate enough to not run directly over any goatheads (unlikely, but possible), or if they have simply been pushed out prior to my seeing them. The same is true for glass. I have definitely run over pieces, but nothing has stayed long enough for me to inspect at the end of a ride.

Both of these options add a small amount of weight to the bike, but both are fairly light and for the bikes in question, the added weight is not significant enough to cause issues. They are both bikes that are heavier than a race bike and are used for transportation and/or dirt riding, so a few extra ounces is not noticeable when pedaling. The ease of knowing I won't get a flat (or at least, am far less likely to get one) is worth it, certainly, to me.

I'll be continuing to test these options and look forward to updating after more long-term use is had, but in the meantime, I thought perhaps one of these might be an option for anyone looking for flat protection.

What do you use as flat protection, if anything? Have you tried retail or homemade options that worked well? I would certainly be interested in hearing about other experiences with preventing flat tires.