Punctures are the bane of every rider’s life – spare tubes, puncture repair kits, dirty hands… relentless punctures sure spoil the day. There are steps you can take to preventing punctures though, the number one being setting your tyre pressure correctly – you need to take into account your riding weight, terrain, and riding style. Even correctly set tyre pressure won’t stop most punctures though, but there are other things you can do:

Go Tubeless

Converting to tubeless is a no-brainer if you’ve got a few quid spare – you’ll save money on tubes and puncture repair kits in the long run anyway! You’ll also get a reduction in weight, as well as improved tyre performance. Stick some sealant in there and you’re tyres will self-seal themselves in the event of minor punctures without losing much pressure. But…

Sealant only goes so far…

Even with tubeless setup, punctures can still happen. Catching a sharp rock or bottoming out a tyre onto the rim can still tear large enough holes in the tyre that the sealant won’t be able to bridge the gap and stem the leak. Running super-heavy, thick-carcass downhill tyres might help, but who wants to lug around all that extra weight?! Now there is another solution, step forward…

Huck Norris!

The puncture prevention ninjas from Finland have come up with an inexpensive way of preventing those nasty Bruce Leaks, meanwhile protecting your tyres and your wheel rims! Essentially a foam insert that will cushion the impact between the tyre and rim during compression, it can virtually eliminate punctures.