One of the questions I get asked the most (besides "when will you be selling more KBikes?"!) is do you have no flat tires for the KBike?
And we don't have an option for that as far as the tires/wheels go.
However, a friend of mine reached out last week to let me know about the cool product her hubby found for her KBike - A no flat option!!
She lives in Texas where cactus, and those little stickers that grow along the edge of the road, have been giving her issues. Just like a lot of you it seems! (Here in Montana I run over sharp rocks and downed trees and drive through creeks and over rough logging roads, but we don't really run over cactus all that often. lol!)
Her hubby decided to do a little internet search and came up with these amazing things: Tannus Armor Inserts
Here is what he shared with me to share with you all:
'Mindy,
We installed Tannus Armour inserts in our K-Bike tires.
Tannus says that we can use our standard inner tube (24” x 2.5” - 3”) with this insert, but I tried and it did not work. The Armour takes up a fair amount of the width of the rim, and so a narrower tube is needed. I used a Slime brand 24” x 1.75” - 2.125”. Using a Slime tube inside the Armour is probably way overkill, but that’s the only brand Walmart had in my town.
The Armour insert looks like this out of the box:
The first step is to remove the tire from the bike and the old inner tube from the tire. Nothing tricky here:
The Armour is sized for a 24 x 3" to 4” tire. Our tires are 3” wide, which means the Armour is too big to fit on the wheel. Following the instructions on Tannus’s YouTube videos, I cut down the insert by first removing the tire from the rim, putting in the insert, and marking where the edge of the tire was. Then I cut it with scissors almost up to the marks:
Next, put the tire back on the wheel and stuff in the insert. It’s not really hard, but requires some squeezing and stretching. The insert should be right with the tire bead at the rim. If it’s rolling over onto the wheel, you probably need to cut it down a little more.
Once I got that far, I tucked the insert in on the front side and mounted the tire (with no inner tube) just to see if it would work. If you can’t get it mounted, you might need to cut the insert down a little more. Once it works, unmount the front side and insert the inner tube.
Normally, you would put a little air in the tube before installing, but I couldn’t make that work. I had to lay it in completely flat to be able to mount the tire and insert on the wheel. Even with the tube completely flat, getting the tube and insert mounted on the wheel is hard. It requires lots of gripping, squeezing, and some leverage with tire levers or *gasp* screwdrivers!
When it’s mounted, inflate to about 30 psi for a really nice, worry-free ride.
I hope this is helpful!
Dan'
I just want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to Dan and Marion for the well laid out written instructions and the photos. Their help with this issue is absolutely priceless! Finding this product and then trying it out for me and for all of you!! So, so amazing! Thank you thank you!
**Also, Dan told me, he took the KBike out for a spin, with only ONE wheel loaded with the armor, the KBike drove like a dream. The insert does not make the tire hard or even that much heavier. Unlike other no flat foams or slimes. This is excellent news because driving a KBike or any other kind of bike, with very hard tires and NO suspension is NOT fun. These may not be entirely easy to put on but they will make the life of your tube longer!
You can go directly to this link: Tannus Armor Inserts to order your own set! If you are worried about putting this all together yourself I suggest taking your wheels, tires, tubes and inserts to a local bike shop and paying them to do it for you.
We will not be offering these through our website nor will my hubby be available to put these in the tires. Purchasing them yourselves is the way to go for sure!
**NOTE: Any words in color and underlined are links to take you to another page or to a product you can purchase.