Tyre within a Tyre

[WyvernRH]

I have been renovating a TREK 2300 Composite (thread here http://bicycles.net.au/forums/viewtopic ... 23&t=98688)
I got the bike from the uni bike co-op and it had obviously not been seen much love recently and required a fair bit a TLC to get it going again but the wheels and tyres seemed OK until...
One morning I find the rear tyre has gone flat. Oh well break out the tyre levers..and that's what I did, broke two Park tyre levers for no movement. So, I fetched out the1970's alloy tyre levers and after a lot of agro got one bead off and felt inside to pull out the tube but it still felt hard. Maybe some one has put Finlec or the like in there? If so why did it go down? So after more extensive agro with the metal tyre levers I got the tyre right off the rim and found this.



Yes, someone had put a 23c tyre inside the outer 25c tyre and the inner tube was inside the inner tyre! What sort of person does this and why? Has anyone seen anything like this before cos I have never seen this before in many decades of riding and fixing bikes.

Richard

[Bunged Knee]

First time that I've heard of this.

Never seen it like that.

[uart]

Yes, someone had put a 23c tyre inside the outer 25c tyre and the inner tube was inside the inner tyre!

Perhaps the previous owner was a Russian Doll collector?

Seriously though, by total coincidence an elderly rider mentioned to me a few days ago about doing exactly this! He wasn't talking about recently though, he (79 yo) was recalling back to his younger days.

Another guy we were riding with got two punctures on the one ride, so we were talking about how much we hated punctures. I mentioned that I used to use tyre liners to prevent them and he said he used to sometimes put a tyre within a tyre when things were really bad (I think he mentioned three corner jacks). I didn't press him on the details but I was imaging it (the inner tyre) with the beads cut off, not a fully intact one like yours.

[Jmuzz]

Puncture proof commuter.
Before good armoured tyres existed.

[ColinOldnCranky]

Puncture proof commuter.
Before good armoured tyres existed.

Good call. I'm just surprised that it wasn't picked straight away, it's an old trick for extreme conditions.

I've had to do it when working on Blazing Swan for a month every year - About the only defence in the paddocks some years from caltrop and double gees. I can recall repairing my daughters tube once and, within a hundred metres it was flat again. On the re-repair I found a dozen double gees. Seriously. Last year I took 70 patches with me!

I warning to anyone contemplating the same. The inner tyre can abraid the tube fairly quickly. Use some emery to smooth of any sharp edge after stripping the wire out. But be prepared still for an early repair job.

[uart]

Good call. I'm just surprised that it wasn't picked straight away, it's an old trick for extreme conditions.

I mentioned exactly the same thing. Using a liner cut from an old tyre wasn't uncommon in severe puncture conditions like with three cornered jacks. If you look carefully at Richard's picture however you'll see that this one is a bit unique in that the inner tyre is fully intact - beads and all.

[march83]

Puncture proof commuter.
Before good armoured tyres existed.

Yeah, this is not all that uncommon. I've never done it personally, but I know more than a few guys who would get an old, worn 23 and put it inside a new 25 or 28 so they could reliably run up and down the dirty motorways without issue. I think it's much easier to do if you trim the bead from the inner tyre...

[DavidS]

Yep, back years ago, when bike tyres were not puncture resistant, we used to do this. Definitely cut the beads off first, but it can work very well. I used to just use an old tyre for this. I remember rolling over a broken bottle, the bottle broke, I didn't get a puncture

The trick was to position the beadless old tyre in the new tyre. But, it was very difficult getting the tyre on and off, although you didn't have to do it very often.

These days bike tyres are so much better I wouldn't bother.

DS

[WyvernRH]

Puncture proof commuter.
Before good armoured tyres existed.

Good call. I'm just surprised that it wasn't picked straight away, it's an old trick for extreme conditions.

Well yes, I too have known chaps in the (long distant) past who inserted a worn tyre tread centre part (after cutting off the the wires and sidewalls) as a puncture guard but normally this was on a decent sized roadster tyre and normally was only marginally successful due to abrasion problems as mentioned by a couple of posters. But this is the WHOLE tyre and in Newcastle, where I have gone without a puncture for several years (gonna regret that... ) I thought kevlar tyre guard had killed the practice off 30 or so years ago.... Also I understand heavy duty Gaffer Tape is a viable alternative?
Seriously getting the the two tyres off was a pretty major effort with bomb proof alloy tyre levers and lots of cloth padding etc on the rim. Not something that you want to do at the side of the road. Also the cause of the deflation? An abrasion puncture near the base of the rim caused by the inner tyre....

Richard

[twowheels]

I remember a kid at my school whose father had placed garden hose in his tyres to avoid punctures. At the time I thought he had replaced the inner tubes with intact garden hose, ie removed the inner tubes. Now I wonder if the garden hose was split and acted as a heavy tyre liner.