First flat with Tannus.

[sc00ter]

Yup, I woke up this morning to a flat tire. I have Tannus installed but I'm fully aware nothing is 100%. At least it was the front tire! Anyways, I gotta pull the wheel and see whats going on. I've come to the conclusion that the Kenda tire factory must be near the Laffy Taffy factory and get their rejects for Kenda puncture liners. I'll post my findings when I get it apart/fixed.

[sc00ter]

First thing, my wheel marking ritual. I put a paint pen dot on one/same side of the: Valve stem. Rim. Tire. All in a nice, neat row. This way when I pull the tire and tube off the rim I know how everything lined up, no matter how mixed up it gets. This system helps make sure you can trace back whatever caused the flat and ensures the cause isn't still present. Now onto the flat cause.

Something small and sharp poked thru the tire, Tannus and put the tiniest of holes in the dead center of the tube. I originally thought it could have been a seam failure but the tiny hole was ragged and actually slightly off center of the seam. Nothing was found lodged in the tire or Tannus. I used my Slime Scab patch kit, lined up the paint dots and inflated to 20psi. Back on the road!

Some of you are wondering if removing the tire with a Tannus is as bad as installing them new. New you'll need burly tire levers that can lock onto your over-sized spokes. But shockingly everything came off without a fight and went back on with no curse words or blood.

[Altema]

Sounds like an in and out puncture, unless the object is still inside your tube! I think you would have found it though.
Did you notice any black dust on the outside of the Tannus Armour? There was a lot of of it on mine, worn of the inside of the tire due to friction.

[donwright80211]

Overall, do you think the Tannus tubes are a good value ($140 a set) to provide puncture protection?  Also, largest 26" size listed at 3.0-3.5 and is that right for the 26X4 Kendas?

[sc00ter]

Alt, yes there was a bunch of black dust in there. I had to wash my hands twice! I'm a clean hands diva.

down, the price vs. value is subjective. On every ebike forum people have deep discussions about the various methods of flat protection. I've used Mr. Tuffy tire liners on all my analog bikes and had great luck with them. I tried Slime tubes but got a small hole and got sprayed with neon green Slime while riding to the beach for a night of partying. I hate Slime now. I tried Tannus because it was something different AND they claim you can technically ride on a flat with Tannus liners! I've yet to test it (my flat was discovered in the morning in my garage) and I hope I never have to.

We ebike owners with hub drives secretly fear the rear flat! The rear wheel is an extra pain to remove due to weight and wire complexity. My overall discovery is Kenda has the weakest flat protection of all the so-called flat protection enhanced tire brands.