We Tested: CushCore Tire Liners
I had two main motivations for wanting to test out CushCore Tire Inserts. First, I’m prepping my winter gravel bike for outdoor riding in Western New York. Fixing a tubeless flat in the winter is no fun, and I like the idea of being able to crawl somewhere warm for the task. Second, the few times I’ve had sudden flats on chunky gravel, the rim took some hits before I could come to a stop. I like the idea of having some protection of the rim.
That said, I’m wondering if I will like the feel of riding with tire inserts. Also, I wonder if I can bring myself around to relying on tire liners and not carrying a spare tube for the rare occasion I cannot plug the tubeless tire. Here, I cover the tire liner installation. Later, I’ll report back on testing the CushCore tire liners outside in the elements, with some intentional riding on a flattened tire.
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My man, where are you riding in Western New York right now? I’m currently buried under two feet of snow
South of Buffalo. I HAVE to get outside next week. I’m so tired of chasing pixels on the trainer!
I am not a nativer speaker, but there is a word for running a tubeless setup to lower weight and rolling resistance and then install a bad fake tube that increases weight and rolling resistance way over that of a non TBE tire with inner tubes.
It starts with “m” and sounds like “iconic”.
mnemonic?
Where is the test part? I suggest deflating the tires and riding on the road. My buddy uses similar insert product by tannus. When he flatted, said he felt like he was riding on the rim causing damages. Sucks cause i recommended that solution.
The actual testing is coming as I stated in the article.
“Later, I’ll report back on testing the CushCore tire liners outside in the elements, with some intentional riding on a flattened tire.”
I didn’t write the headline, though. I acknowledge it is misleading.
And how are these different to Vittoria ones? Different material type? Under pressure those green ones shrivel up inside meaning minimal contact with tyre and therefore minimal rolling resistance increase.
Why is this in the Triathlon Forum, and not in the Gravel Cycling section?
Meanwhile I’ll just keep riding my 8 year old non-disk brake 2015 Calfee and 2016 Cannondale Slice both with hed ardennes 28mm clinchers and tubes and not have to deal with all this complicated, high maintenance and expensive crap and just ride my bike.
I don’t have first-hand experience with the Vittoria inserts, but I can attest that the CushCore are not designed to compress with the low tire pressures of gravel and mtb. CushCore claims added stability in cornering against tire folding, squirming, and burping. I promise to test that out and report back.
Thank you for the insight.
CushCore seems to bundle their insert with a valve, without the option.
I note that Cush Core calls these ‘inserts’ but, for reason unknown, the title of the ST article concludes with “Liners”.
Liners have a different function to ‘inserts’ afaik and are designed to protect inner tubes (in my world).
“Bike tire liners are thin strips of tough material, such as Kevlar or polyurethane, placed between the inner tube and the tire. Their purpose is to stop sharp objects from puncturing the inner tube, which can result in a flat tire.”
You are correct. I should have been more precise and used the proper term (insert) throughout the whole article. I slipped into what I considered to be a more general term (liner). Thanks for pointing that out. I’ll use the proper term (insert) in my follow up article.
Agree…this should be moved.
Also these inserts have been discussed at nauseum in multiple forums. Just look at the MTB forums.
Fwiw…I tried them for the flat/rim protection benefit and found them to be a gigantic pain in the ass. Made mounting and unmounting tires very difficult. Made getting a good seal difficult. Added rotational weight. I personally saw no benefit that outweighed the cons, but to each their own.
Same boat here. I got a set for my MTB. I live in an area where punctures are common due to sharp rocks so figured what the hell let me give them a shot and ride at a lower PSI and see if it makes a difference. For how much they are surely they can only be a benefit, right? WRONG.
Without a Bead Bro or whatever they were impossible to get on. I got a trash can to use as leverage, soapy water, etc. Just a miserable experience. Eventually just took my wheels to the shop where I bought the inserts and paid to have them install them.
Eventually I slashed a sidewall above where the insert would even protect. Tried riding on the greenway for a few feet until I came to the conclusion my rim would be trashed had I continued. Had the shop replace the tire for me. Few weeks later slashed the sidewall again above where the insert would be protecting.
Ended up giving them away because I hated them so much and didn’t want to bother trying to get a few bucks back for them.
Sounds like our experiences are about the same. I can see some.of the theoretical benefits. Particularly burp and some rim protection.
But even in MTB, if your tires are burping, you’re probably running too low of tire pressure. If you get a flat good luck getting that tire remounted trail side. Only thing I can see in that situation is maybe(?) you could limp it to trailhead flat.