- Flat tires can be a bit of a pain, can't they?
But maybe you can suffer from fewer of them,
because coming up are five hacks for no more flats,
or for less flats, I suppose.
Less of them.
We know from our videos about road tubeless,
some of you don't really like that system,
and one of the reasons that you give
is having to faff around with liquid latex sealant.
If that's you, then you might not like this next hack.
But at least in this case, it would all be contained
inside your inner tube.
You hear that?
That's right, just because you're not running
road tubeless doesn't mean that you can't get
the benefits of latex sealant.
All you got to do is remove the valve core
in your inner tube, which is the little threaded bit
that sits just underneath the locknut of the valve,
and then inject, using something like this,
40 ml of sealant inside the tube.
Now here is an old school hack, if ever there was one.
The flint catcher, and this, very much,
is a hack because I actually knocked it up
about five minutes ago out of an old spoke,
which is probably actually why it looks
like a bit of a bodge.
Anyway, these things have gone out of fashion a bit,
but if you suffer from a lot of sharp objects
related punctures, then you could perhaps be interested
in bringing this back.
So it works by bolting on to your brake calipers.
Disc brake users, I'm afraid, you're not invited
to this particular party.
And then, that little bit of wire there
sits just over the top of the tire.
I mean, if any objects are picked up,
they will get brushed off by that thing
before they're then have a chance to work
their way through the carcass of the tire
and into your inner tube.
So as I said, you can hack one of these together.
This is literally made out of an old spoke.
You could do a much better job, I'm sure,
with a little bit more time, and a little bit
more patience, or you can actually buy a cheeky little
vintage number off eBay for just a handful of loose change.
It's not just sharp objects from the outside
of the tire coming in that cause punctures,
but on old knackered wheels, generally,
you might find that actually the bed of the rim, itself,
it will cause punctures.
And that's because unless you've got a really nice
smooth rim tape inside, like this one we've got here,
then you could find that some sharp edges end up
protruding through, so that could be at the valve hole,
or it could be at the spoke holes.
So if you're super serious about trying to minimize
the risk of punctures, you might want to add
an extra couple of layers of rim tape.
Now, electrical tape does not cut the mustard here.
It stretches under pressure, so when the tube is inflated.
If you've got something like Gorilla Tape knocking around,
then that would do the job,
but rather than going out and buying Gorilla Tape,
you may well spend a couple of pounds,
a couple of dollars, Euros, on actually some
specific rim tape.
Velox is probably the thickest, most luxurious
rim tape that you can buy.
Tires with reinforcement.
Now, I know a lot of you would say that something
isn't a hack if you've actually got to spend
proper money on it, but considering that we all
have to replace our tires from time to time,
this one seems like a sensible suggestion,
even if it's not technically a hack.
Basically, if you buy a tire that is a little bit
tougher, it's got harder casing on it,
it's going to be much more impervious to sharp objects
penetrating through it.
So something like this Continental Grand Prix
Four Seasons is something of a classic.
I have actually bought several pairs myself in the past.
But most manufacturers will have something similar.
Basically, although it's not going to guard against
all punctures, you will still suffer them from time to time,
it is going to cut down on them because that casing
is much, much tougher.
What do you do with your old, worn out tire, then?
Well, before throwing it in the bin,
or indeed, making yourself a hipster belt.
Yeah, hipster belt.
Why not take the drastic step of cutting off
the bead of the tire, something you'd probably
have to do if you were making your hipster belt, anyway.
But then line the inside of your new tire
with your old one.
Now, granted, this is probably going to feel
monumentally slow, possibly even a bit horrible to ride.
But on your town bike or maybe a touring bike
that's already going to be heavily laden,
and therefore relatively slow anyway,
not a bad shout.
Double the tire, double the protection.
Now, I do have a confession to make here.
I don't do any of this stuff.
None of this.
I run standard Continental GP4000 II tires,
and I'm perfectly happy with that,
with, of course, standard inner tubes, as well.
Because as well as all those hacks,
there are actually other, perhaps, easier things
that you can do that may well reduce your risk
of punctures.
Firstly, wider tires, so 25s, 28s,
perhaps even bigger than that.
Especially if you are a bigger rider.
And then, it's also about where you ride.
So firstly, looking where you're going.
So avoiding things like pot holes where you can.
Or patches of broken glass.
But then not riding in the gutter
of the roads, that's where debris tends to collect.
You shouldn't ride there anyway,
for lots of different reasons,
but reducing your risk of punctures is also one of them.
And then I guess the other thing that's worth
mentioning is actually try not to worry too much
about when you get punctures.
They are, of course, a pain.
We've already mentioned that.
But actually being able to change an inner tube easily
is a very important skill for a cyclist to have.
There you go, I'll leave that with you.
Do make sure you subscribe to GCN before
leaving this video, and if you want to watch a couple more
that are related to this, firstly,
it's How to Change an Inner Tube in Record Time,
that one is just down there,
or for another video about how to reduce your risk
of punctures, with some other helpful tips,
click just down there.