{"id":43848,"date":"2025-03-24T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=43848"},"modified":"2025-03-21T15:57:09","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T22:57:09","slug":"bike-tires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/bike-tires\/","title":{"rendered":"Bike Tires"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dependable bike pump<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Topeak Joe Blow Floor Pump<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After breaking four or five \u201crugged\u201d bike pumps in four or five years, I made the hefty investment into a Topeak Floor Pump four years ago, which cost about half what I had paid for the \u201ccheap\u201d ones before. It\u2019s still going strong and doesn\u2019t show any sign of wear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As to which model to choose, it depends on the bike. For a racing bike you\u2019ll want a pump with a small-diameter cylinder, e.g. \u201cTopeak Joe Blow Sport II\u201d while for a commuter bike or a mountain bike you\u2019ll want one with more volume, e.g. \u201cTopeak Joe Blow Max II\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These pumps are well-built, large enough (that includes handles, too) and have a good pressure gauge. The tube is long enough. But probably the best thing is the \u201cTwinHead\u201d. Depending on the valve type, either side fits. One side for Schrader valves, the other one for narrow valves. No adapter, no hassle, just push on and turn the lever. \u2014 Bernhard<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Puncture-proof bike tires<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

NoTubes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most days I ride my bike to work, and about twice a week I do a several-hour trail ride. On average I was getting a flat a week (mostly rear pinch flats on downhill trail rides). My friend told me about Stan\u2019s NoTubes system. The next time I sat in the dark cursing yet another flat, I decided to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the NoTubes system you remove your inner tube from your tire. No tubes! You add a rim strip that seals your spoke holes. Since there is no tube you need a filling stem to put air into the tire\u2026..this is built into the NoTubes rim strip. Then you add some white liquid inside the tire that seals it airtight. It\u2019s one of those things that seems like it would never work, but it works amazingly well. The white liquid sloshes around inside the tire and immediately reseals any punctures as they occur without any air loss. If you still need convincing, watch this amazing video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have not had a flat since switching, and I can run at much lower pressures when needed for technical downhill without the danger of pinch flats. The system even saves some weight (and un-sprung rotational weight at that). Installing the system is pretty easy, especially if you use lots of soapy water while installing the rim strip and tire. The only maintenance is that you have to keep adding a bit of the liquid every few months or so. The site also has preferred tires that work the best, and other good installation tips worth looking at before committing. I will never go back to tubes. \u2014 Alexander Rose<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Travel-size floor pump<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Topeak Turbo Morph Bike Pump<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Topeak Turbo Morph is a lightweight frame pump that functions like a floor pump. It has a fold-out anchor for your foot, and the handle also flips sideways into a T-shape. It\u2019s also got a hose, so you can easily inflate the tire while it\u2019s mounted on the bike. Before getting the Turbo Morph about two years ago, I had a tiny frame pump that was just this side of useless. Most portable bicycle pumps are designed to be used exclusively with your arms\/hands. Since they attach directly to the tire, they\u2019re cumbersome to use and difficult to get to the full tire pressure. Contrast this to the floor pump in your garage. You anchor it with your feet and use your body weight to power it. Unfortunately, they are also too large to easily carry with you. I tried another \u201cmini foot pump\u201d before the Topeak, but it wouldn\u2019t quite work with a Presta adapter. With my other frame pumps, I\u2019d spend more time inflating the tire than I would fixing it, and it would be hard getting the thing past 60 PSI. With this pump, I can get the tire to its full 120 PSI in just a couple of minutes. I have the G model, which has a built-in gauge. More convenient to have a gauge on the pump than to have to carry a separate one. But if you\u2019ve already got a gauge, then you probably won\u2019t want the gauge version. I have puncture-resistant tires, but the key word is \u201cresistant.\u201d I still wind up getting a flat a couple times a year. This is well worth carrying. \u2014 Joe D.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Puncture-resistant cycling tires<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Schwalbe Marathon Plus Bike Tires<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had two punctured tires in three weeks right before I bought these. Since I switched to the Marathon Plus tires a few months ago, I haven\u2019t had a single puncture. The Marathon tires come in two grades: normal and Plus, which is the more flat resistant of the two (Schwalbe also makes a model called the Supreme, which I haven\u2019t tried). They are truly for everyday commuting, with tread and real heft. Most importantly, they have Schwalbe\u2019s SmartGuard, a layer of \u201chighly elastic, special india rubber\u201d to help better protect your tubes from sharp objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marathon tires aren\u2019t cheap \u2014 and it\u2019s hard to tell whether it\u2019s just been good luck or good engineering \u2014 but I feel confident it\u2019s the latter. I ride a lot (28 km, two or three times a week, 10 months or so a year) and I used to get tons of flat tires, sometimes once a week. This month in particular is very bad for debris; it\u2019s the thaw here in Toronto, so all sorts of junk gets left behind as the snow banks melt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m sure part of why I was getting so many flats is due to the fact I usually ride an EZ-1 Recumbent. With a \u2018bent, the front wheel is very lightly loaded and the back wheel is heavily loaded. I sit right on top of it (I\u2019m 6\u20192\u2033 and 240 lbs), so it probably carries 90% of my weight. I think this makes the tire more susceptible to punctures because I\u2019m guaranteeing that anything sharp that doesn\u2019t bend or move goes right in. I\u2019ve ridden on a few other kinds of tires: Continental slicks (nice), cheapo knobbies (garbage), some satisfactory tires that came stock, and Primo Comets (dartboards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am riding under the same conditions, circumstances and in the same areas as when I used to get the flats, and haven\u2019t had any trouble. Just last week I rode through quite a lot of glass with no problems. \u2014 Adam Norman<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Twice the stability for bikes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pletscher Two-Legged Kickstand<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the need for a two-legged kickstand on a large tandem is fairly obvious, it\u2019s not as clear why you\u2019d need one for smaller bikes \u2014 until you start riding with children aboard. Whether you\u2019re using a front-mounted Kangaroo WeeRide or a traditional rear-mounted child seat, preventing the bike from falling over when a child is strapped into the seat is a serious safety concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first saw this Pletscher kickstand about seven years ago, when it came on our Bike Friday Family Triple. It\u2019s an aluminum kickstand with two legs; the second pivots via a cam mechanism, so that it stows alongside the first leg. Made in Switzerland, it\u2019s a cool piece of hardware for the folding design alone. Stowed, it looks like a standard Greenfield kickstand, with an extra leg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The double-legged stand makes a big or heavily loaded bike far more stable when you dismount, and it can also double as a makeshift workstand for back-end fixes, as it lifts the rear wheel off the ground. We now have two bikes outfitted with this kickstand, and with our youngest still 17 months old, we\u2019re considering a third. \u2014 Yitah Wu<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once a week we\u2019ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because\u00a0the possibilities they inspire are new.\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>\u00a0to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 130<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2387],"tags":[2388],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43848"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43848"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43848\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43854,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43848\/revisions\/43854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}