I am concerned that someone (like me) might not see you when coming over that steep hill by the railroad tracks.
does anyone have suggestions on āno flatā methods?
I am thinking of using slime, which I have a bottle more than enough to fill both tires.
Is there a better approach? Ive seen pictures of people filling the tires with rubber resin, but the tires are intended to be 40 PSI and to do that Iām not sure it would be.
Ken,
Thanks so much for bringing the bike and scooter by. Heather is going to make a donation to the space and take the scooter. Tanners has some 12v7Ah batteries that can get her running, and she is going to order a replacement tube.
Iām almost done grafting a 60Ah lithium pack to the red and black bike. That should give it a 30-40 mile range.
The only two comfortable methods of running āno flatā is Slime in your tube or purchasing special honeycomb type no-flat tires. The rubber resin is heavy and gives a very hard ride.
Rather than āno-flatā tires, you may want to consider carry an extra inner tube, tools to change inner tube and a small bicycle tire pump. It does not take up much space and can enable you to get going again within one half hour. Your bicycle will also need the quick release nuts.
Quick release nuts wouldnāt be practical, as the motor is on the front wheel. I will probably just go with the slime.
Of the 3 chargers, Iām not sure how many work. I think only 1 might.
Iām glad the old bike is no worse for sitting on an exercise idler for the most of my having it.
I think that scooter had about a 4 mile range on a good set of batteries, its too bad about the front tire; as the batteries had also gone, I would have replaced the whole scooter as to repair it, it was a $100 model from wallmart.
Ken, all three chargers spit out proper voltage. I havenāt tested them under load yet.
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I use Slime in my tubes. It works OK, though it isnāt perfect. I still need to pump my tires now and then, and sometimes the product clogs the tire valves and makes my air pump work harder filling it. It helps that I have a stem coring tool so I can clean out the valve stem.
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The best solution I have found are Marathon tires as wide as your bike can handle so you can use the lowest tire pressure possible.
tiny wheelsā¦ ultimately, perhaps, in the mean time, slime. so far Ive seen the tires loose presure in one day, so if it can extend that to several that would help tremendously.
I want solid tires, but Iām not exploring that at the moment.
You can also place puncture proof liners between the tube and the tire. That is about 80% as good as Marathons.
BTW, Marathons are available in 16" and 20" sizes if that is small enough. I had them on a Dahon I used to own.
Bicycle tires will always need refilling much more often the people used to cars. I was told this is because the tubes themselves are slightly permeable, so they always have a really slow leak.
As to the need, for the tire corner with slime. I would say it is essential. In my experience that stuff made the regular topping off of the tires, much more of a pain then the gain they offered in puncture prevention.
I go as much as a month or so between topping off my tires, since I put Slime in them. It used to be every three days. My rear tire doesnāt burst nearly so often, either. My step-dad actually pumped my tires full of Slime when I visited him in New Mexico, because āgoat headā thorns out there were tearing my tires apart. Slime works well against thorn holes.
If I am using āracingā tubes, such as on my carbon fiber bike I need to top them off every 4 days or so. On my general bike and touring bike I use heavier walled tubes (about twice the thickness of normal) and can go 1-2 weeks between top offs.
I used belted (like marathons) on my bikes when I am in goat head country and have not had a single puncture. This was even after I pulled goat heads out of the tire. The belts in the tires prevent the thorns from penetrating to the inner tube.
The only issue I have with slime, is that it always caused me to have to remove the stem and clean it on a regular basis (nearly every time I topped off). This was a much more time consuming operation than the 60-90 seconds it takes me to use a old fashioned tire pump to top off the tires.
Now I am not saying you shouldnāt use slime, I am just saying that for me it was more trouble then it is worth. With my current setups on my three bikes, I have had only one flat in about 10,000 miles. I can live with that, especially since it only takes me ten minutes to fix a flat.
first dry enough day to try it. see yall tonight.
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