[Nicolás] often rides his bike in the city, and on more than one occasion has ended up with a flat tire. A flat tire might not sound like a big deal, but imagine if you are a few miles from your destination and running late – now your day has gone from bad to worse.
He was contemplating how he might protect his bike’s tires from being punctured by glass and other debris, when he came across some old car seat belts that used to serve as straps for various messenger bags. He pulled the tires off his bike and after removing the inner tubes, he unrolled the seat belts inside the wheels. The belts were cut to size, then the tubes were reinserted into the wheels and inflated as normal.
He hasn’t run into any glass shards just yet, but [Nicolás] is betting that the reinforced nylon mesh of the seat belts will keep his tubes safe whenever he does.
[via Make]
@G-Reg you’re*
Incidentally G-Reg, I just made a informative possibly helpful post, you made a post saying to half the posters they should not post and are trolls, now go ask a shrink who has the god complex.
FYI.. No one gives a crap about what you are criteria is for a hack.
Unfortunitly you are god complex is ill founded
“Your” is possessive in both of those contexts, thats why your wrong yet again..
Wanna try again?
I bashed everyone who sujested a store bought remedy to an “on hand” hack for the obvious reason. Dont drag out your stupidity anymore, its getting exhausting.
@G-Reg Want to*
How about you? do you wish to continue proving you are a retarded pissant internet ‘personality’ with some serious unwarranted confidence in himself? I think we are all convinced already so there really is no need though.
@G-Reg BTW, I acknowledge that you could indeed us the term ‘your wrong’ correctly if intended in that way (although I am not completely convinced you did not think up that you meant it that way after I made my post).
FWIW fellas we’re all pissants until we can hack this world we live in to further sustainable progress and evolution across all domains and it won’t happen by bickering. Just my POV.
Use an old radiograph. Cut it into strips. Did that years ago, haven’t had a flat since.
Thanks J, good point.
I really didnt intend to drag out that comment that long but i guess that what happens when you call names out. someones gonna bite. I’m just a big fan of this site and i look forward to seeing others personal responces and ideas on the comments. Seeing the amount of “go buy this” sujestions just pissed me off. If you cant see how thats b.s. on this site idk what to say.
And yea, Ill definitly defend and argue my point given the opportunity, obviously. So thanks to whatnot for his attempt to put me down and helping me reinerate(sp) my point over and over…and over. haha.
I digress, Happy hacking everyone. :)
@G-Teg OK ok, I’m sorry it became so ugly too and apologize for calling you retarded specifically.
But I did not say ‘go buy this’ in fact I’m not even sure such tires are available in his area, I was merely relating that I noticed that in my area the kevlar layered ones seem common, thinking he might not know that, I mean you don’t get alert phonecalls from bike shops on the subject of tires normally.
So if you know that and the purpose (as stated) is avoiding the annoyance of getting flats then you are fixed up without needing to think up fixes yourself.
As for home-fixes, I once read a study that most punctures actually happen the second revolution after the first contact grabbed the splinter/nail/piece of glass the second time the wheel comes around it pushes it in, so they experimented with putting a rim very close to the tire to pull out the objects before the next revolution and that seemed to work.
That does not seem practical in real life to me though since there are all kinds of variations in tire-pressure and deformations so it’s damn hard to make something that hovers a fraction above the tire.
Still, it’s an interesting thing.
@seriously, try this:
Standard medical X-ray style, or industrial defect detection film? If your Hack application works, perhaps other similar films might.
@Whatnot
Thorn pullers / tire savers most certainly *do* work. Dead easy to make and fit (mine are made from an old spoke, but you used to be able to buy them).
Some are pictured here : http://www.flickr.com/photos/speedplaypedals/5349895790/
And you can buy them here : http://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi?d=single&c=Accessories&sc=Tire%20Savers&tc=&item_id=UB-TS1&id=880521831634
@J – sounds like you were re-inventing solid tyres above. Been there, done that. Remember, pneumatic tyres work all the way round, not just at the contact patch. Foam-filled tubes are heavier (and have way more inertia, that’s weight at the outside of the wheel) and give a rougher ride.
Interesting design those old tire-savers there Mr Foo, but do they really work on the small things that get caught though I wonder, I’ve had flats from awfully small debris in the past (before the kevlar-layered tires became in vogue) and the smaller the thing you catch the closer those catchers have to be to the tire.
And I wonder if they would help in the snow to maintain traction, since the tire also picks up snow and maybe such an implement will help in those circumstances too.
2.35 tyres+2.5 innertubes @30 around psi, does it pretty well+ a good suspension.
A nice, thick garden hose does not require air, and fits near perfectly in the thinner street tires. Yes, it does not ride perfectly, but you absolutely will get there, period, no worries.
Did that once as a kid, along with a friend. We rode on them for months. Cheap, effective, and good for the ride to town at the time.
I found this, just by chance, and wanted to add it to the thread: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3tL8FC2cfA#at=100
Apparently, this couple used a portion of a canvas fire hose to protect the inner tubes of their motorcycle (!) tires during a winter (!!) ride to Alaska.
Anyone heard of cutting the bead off another set of tires and using that? Me and my friend did it once, and it worked for years…
It seems like the easiest way…
‘Course those were old tires, much lighter than modern ones…
Now this is the pinnacle of innovation!
just wanted to comment on our goat heads in idaho. we have never been on a bike more than 10 minutes because ALL the tires are flat in that time. in my area that’s on the road. i accidentally rode thru dirt and got 72 goat heads in my 2 tires in under 1 minute. slime does not work. as for all you pro bikers, good on ya’ll. i’m just trying to make my kids bikes go more than 10 minutes. i don’t care if i have to fill the tires with unicorn tears. we need a real solution to keep air in the tires. any ideas i will try. so i appreciate this guys belt idea. as all other ideas. i can say that i don’t care about glass or nails. goat heads are the devil. we don’t have litter here very much. a very clean nice town, with goat heads. tried airless tires but never got them and took 2 months to get the money back as the site was a scam. i don’t care about rolling weight, or aerodynamics or ozone depletion. a kid on a bike, that’s it. i’m the regular consumer. we want to ride a bike for 10 minutes and have fun. we can’t do that. so thanks author for the belt idea, we’ll try that. and if that doesn’t work, we’ll try something else till we find what works. if i can’t find a solution, i’ll just throw the bikes away. what joy will they have for bikes when they never rode one? their only experience with bikes is growing dust on flat tired garage ornaments. it’s just sad.
Long ago, I ran both rubber hose and water in the bike tires.
The water actually works very well, but is HEAVY. Not recommended, but it was fun to do!
If you get the thicker grade garden hose, it works great in thin 10 speed type bike tires! You can also add a plastic tube inside the garden hose for some extra “ride.”
As a kid, I ended up in a scenario where I had flat tires and no $$$ Decided what to put in them to ride to town. To do the water, I just filled the bike pump, and pushed it in there. Slow, but once full, the water won’t escape small punctures very quickly. I don’t know what a “goat head” is, but I suspect it makes too large of a puncture for the water to work. Pin hole size does work.
The weight issue triggered the hose. And honestly, with either one smaller, or two smaller tubes fitted inside the hose, it worked surprisingly well! Went on many multi-mile rides doing that with absolutely no worries about flats.