Hasta La Gadget!

It’s neither practical nor pretty, but this DIY tire-liner certainly looks effective

Summer is officially here, in the Northern Hemisphere at least, and with it comes puncture season. Here in Barcelona, Spain, the lack of rain from May onwards means the streets build up a tire-killing collection of sharp detritus, from the remains of broken beer bottles to shards of smashed car headlamps.

Taking a trip of more than a few kilometers without a spare tube, pump and tools is foolish.

Unless you are Bike Hacks reader Nicolás, who came up with ingenious and cheap anti-puncture shield for his tires. He simply cut the straps off an old messenger bag, which were made of already-recycled seatbelt webbing. He then cut the belts to size and pushed them inside his bike tires before replacing them and fitting the inner tube as usual.

Seatbelts are pretty tough. Try shoving something sharp through one to test it out if you like. It’s certainly a lot tougher than weak and easy-to-cut bike tubes. My first concern would be about the added weight, and then the difficulty of getting the belt lined up to keep it in balance. But then, on an old Dutch bike which weighs a ton already, this could be a great low-tech solution. Sure, you can buy proper tire liners, but are they free? I’ll stick with my patch kit, for now, but in an emergency, I now have a new idea of what to use for a tire-boot to repair any gaping holes.

Seat Belt Bike Tire Hack [Nicolás on Bike Hacks]

See Also:

• IT Clips Turn Inner-Tubes into Bungees, Belts
• $91 Worth of Rubber Bands From One Recycled Inner-Tube
• (Almost) 1001 Uses for Old Inner Tubes