http://www.crosstrainingenduro.com Most riders hate punctures. I do! Here are some tips to avoid punctures, and some strategies to make puncture repairs easier. Need hard enduro training? Work through our video lists. A hard rubber compound will slightly reduce the chance of rocks or nails getting through the rubber. Your choice of tubes can make a difference. Into enduro and dirt bikes? Check out our dirt bike videos. Manufacturers use very thin tubes as they are cheaper and reduce the claimed weight of their motorbikes. Hard enduro techniques are covered in our training vids. Some riders debate this issue, but generally the thicker the rubber, the less chance of punctures. Some ultra heavy duty tubes use a rubber compound that doesn't work well with puncture repair kits. Extreme enduro training vids are our focus. When you change your tyres, use a good quality thick rim tape to minimise the chances of your spokes causing a puncture. Consider fitting the TUbliss system. It doesn't prevent punctures, but you can simply use plugs. Puncture repairs take two minutes. A massive advantage is being able to adjust the pressure. Riding on the road? Use 15psi. In a mud hole? Drop to zero psi. Our group has used this for years very successfully. Some riders don't like the system though. See our longterm review video. If you are enduro riding get into our enduro training vids. Our dirt riding tips are great for developing your hard enduro skills. Mousses have been very popular with the hard enduro crowd for years as you simply can't get punctures. It's expensive and adds weight, but it seems to provide brilliant traction, air pressure adjustability, and the rear mousse can easily last for five tyres or more. I might do a video about this later. Do you have any other suggestions? Let us know. We always add extra tips from viewers in the pinned first comment of our Youtube videos. Make sure you have rim locks fitted, and the good quality metal ones, not the cheap plastic ones. Riders who often use very low air pressures sometimes have two rim locks fitted to the rear wheel. If you want extreme enduro training see our playlists of enduro skills to learn. Try our training vids for working on your extreme enduro techniques. Keep an eye on your tube's valve stem at low pressures, if it starts to lean over then your pressures are too low, or your rim locks are poor quality. Don't tighten that nut on your valve stem to the rim! Punctures generally fall into two categories. One. A nail, screw, or sharp object punctures the tyre. Two? The 'pinch' puncture occurs when sufficient force causes the tyre and rim to pinch the tube. You can great reduce both types of punctures by using the correct air pressure in your tyres. Here is a rough guideline. See our video about choosing the correct air pressure. Get in the habit of picking good lines in rough terrain, and lifting the front wheel over rocks, roots and square edges. The front tyre has much less volume so it is much more vulnerable to pinch punctures. Your choice of tyre can have an effect on punctures. Heavier tyres often have a stiffer sidewall which reduces the chance of pinch punctures. Some hate it. Do your research. What if you can't fix a puncture? A possible solution is to use large zipties to secure the tyre and limp back to your base. This is where tyres with very stiff sidewalls are handy. If you have tyre levers, you can also fill the tube with grass to avoid riding on the rim. What about alternatives to tubes? Otherwise your tyre could be shifting on the rim but you will have no warning of the tube moving around by seeing the valve stem lean over. . Learn how to change tyres well. It's so annoying to install a new tube but puncture it when fitting! Test your tubes before fitting, occasionally there are manufacturing defects. I had this happen on an adventure ride in a very remote area. I pulled out my brand new tube and the seam was split during manufacturing. I didn't realise until I tried to pump up the tyre. So annoying! Tyre sealants like Slime can seal a small puncture. Some brands also have better longevity now so increasingly some riders use these for everyday dirt riding too... not just hard enduro. See our comparison video for the pros and cons. Tireballs. I have never met anyone using these and can't find many owner reports about them. I'd be keen to hear feedback though. A fairly new product is Lucioli tubes. It's a thick tube with internal reinforcement. It's punctureresistant, and can let you limp back to base if you do get a puncture. They are quite heavy. Again, I don't anyone using these. I'm keen to hear feedback from riders. And finally, I know quite a few hard enduro riders using a combination of TUbliss and mousses. They cut a strip in the mousse to make room for the TUbliss setup.
Music thanks to Marko Fuerstenberg
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