[kAZ]

I rode Wild Horse yesterday and it was a freakin cholla mine field. I ride Pass Mtn a lot, so I'm no stranger to cholla (west side has quite a bit on the trail right now, east side is much cleaner).

I use slimed tubes and that really pretty much covers the nut for me. I can go for almost the whole life of a tire before I start to lose an objectionable amount of pressure during a ride.

What I'm wondering though is what other's approach is when you get some stickers in your tire. I usually stop as soon as I see a cholla ball on my tire and pull it and any spines I can find out. I realize that I could just leave the spines in there and they will basically just become a permanent plug, but I figure that if I get them out that any that haven't punctured the tube won't be eventually pushed through into it. I think that most of the time I get them out before they go into the tube because when I change tires I don't usually find all that many spines; plus, I usually only have a couple of punctures in a tube that I patch - punctures that were stopped up with slime before taking out the tube, i.e.

One guy I rode with swore by the tubeless approach. IIRC, his approach with stickers was to just keep a-goin', and I think he claimed that he never had a problem losing pressure.

Anyway, riding Wild Horse yesterday I spent almost as much time picking stickers out of my tires as riding. This was unusual, as I've ridden there before and not encountered so much cholla on the trail - the heat and the monsoons cause them to drop and get blown onto the trails - but it got me wondering if others would just blow off picking the stickers off and keep riding.

 

[AZtortoise]

i usually do what you do, pick them out when i encounter them. i am careful to toss the pieces off trail so no one else becomes a 'victim.'

by the time i notice loss of air i have about 10 holes in the tube and several thorns in the tire casing. this is after months of riding. i just clean out the tire casing and replace the tube rather than patching a bunch.

Rita

 

[SunDog]

Spooge Roolz!

I run 2bliss on both of my bikes with a homebrew sealant mix (CJ's Cactus Spooge). I ride in Catalina, a notoriously thorny environment full od cholla, prickly pear, catclaws, wait a minuites, ocotillio, and mesquite thorns.

I generally leave the thorns in and have only occasionally lost pressure-never a full flat once I sorted out a durable rear tire. Loss of pressure has always been remidied by re-inflation and or re-spooging.

On one tire I quit counting after a year and over 200 punctures.

Louis

 

[dobbs]

What tires are you running? UST or regular naked?

I've found Kenda Kinetics 2.2 UST to be my favorite so far, but will never stop looking.

I run 2bliss on both of my bikes with a homebrew sealant mix (CJ's Cactus Spooge). I ride in Catalina, a notoriously thorny environment full od cholla, prickly pear, catclaws, wait a minuites, ocotillio, and mesquite thorns.

I generally leave the thorns in and have only occasionally lost pressure-never a full flat once I sorted out a durable rear tire. Loss of pressure has always been remidied by re-inflation and or re-spooging.

On one tire I quit counting after a year and over 200 punctures.

Louis

 

[SunDog]

Regular IRC DH/FR (reinforced sidewalls) on the rears and a Gazzi DH on the front of the Quasi and a UST Specialized Team or Trail Master on the front of the Motolite (w/X-Max UST rims). I am planning on changing the UST tire for a Gazzi, its too whimpy for my half baked drunken monkey riding.

Louis

 

[Flying Wombat]

Geax Sturdy USTwith Stan's

Has more thorn punctures than a pincushion, but still holding air just fine with no leakdown. I just keep moving, dont worry about pulling any thorns out.
I did get a slow leak after running over some barbed wire, but was able to succesfully patch the tire.
Might try the Kenda Kinetics, perhaps the 2.35 non UST with Stans to seal it, but the Sturdy has been very good to me.

 

[Srexy]

Homebrew here

1 part latex 2 parts slime (the stuff w/bits in it) and probably 1 part window cleaner (don't ask me why but it's been recommended and it seems to work).

I have WTB MutanoRaptor up front and VelociRaptor in rear. W/these kinds of sealants you can just keep riding. It's pretty funny when you see a cactus thorn in your tire and remember the occasion 3 wks beforehand that you acquired it.