By Greg Conderacci
Many years ago, when tires were much more delicate than they are today, riders mounted “flint flickers” – little wires to keep small stones and pieces of glass from sticking and causing flats.
The wires hovered just above the rubber. Press down on the wire with your finger and the debris was gone – without sticking in your finger.
Today, riders don’t need to wipe their tires as much – until that little chunk of glass sticks into your rear tire. You hear it, reach back to wipe it off, and it winds up in your hand. Or, even worse, you hand jams between your rear tire and the seat post.
The simple solution is to attach a fairly large zip tie to the seat stay. It’s not elegant, but it can save both your tire and your hand!
Greg Conderacci is a marketing consultant and a former Wall Street Journal reporter, non-profit entrepreneur, and investment bank chief marketing officer. In Getting UP!, he brings you the same skills he teaches at a top graduate school and Fortune 500 companies. Lots of people promise better performance … Greg proves it. Using his energy techniques, in 2015 he rode a bicycle across America in just 18 days — averaging 150 miles a day.
It appears the older wire will have a much better contact than the zip tie approach.
Any tips on making the wire one?
Hi, Mike — Well, if you mean the 2000 naughts, probably yes!
How about bending one from a stainless steel spoke and bolting it to the fender mounting hole?
A little different home made tool that I make and use to remove thorns, glass, metal and rocks from tires….
Here is AZ, small thorns are the worst as when they are picked up by a tire as all that can be seen is a small round end flush with the rubber which cannot be reached/removed with a pliers or knife point .
I take a 6″ piece of spoke (stainless is best but any will do) and sharpen one end with an electric grinder, Then the sharp point can be used to flick out or leverage out the thorn, glass or other imbedded object. Check tires after every couple of rides…
I have given out many of these to riders to reduce the number of flats.
I use a pointed tweezer. Deflate your tires after a ride or a minimum of once a week. Pinch wherever you see imbedded glass, stone, or other debris and then pick it out. Careful not to dig too deep and stab through the tire and tube.
Yes, that should work as well. The only advantage with the sharp spoke is that I do not deflate the tire…a little faster to complete inspection/removal.
I’m very familiar with the AZ goathead thorns. I lived in Phoenix back in the mid 1960’s. The thorns were murder on the sew up tires that we used on our touring and racing bikes back then.
On a cross country tour from L.A. to Boston in 2008, we rode on the Interstate shoulders while out west. The broken up pieces of radial tire wire from blown out truck tires were a big problem. My riding partner had 17 flats. I had Schwalbe Marathon tires on my bike and had only two flats. I did inspect the tires frequently and pulled out bits of wire. The Schwalbes were heavy, hard to mount and dismount from the rim but were pretty much bullet proof. After putting 3500 miles on the tires back in 2008, I have been using them on our tandem ever since.
Rene Herse sells a tire wiper, aka “flint flicker”. Link: https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop/equipment/fenders/tire-wipers/
These things don’t work anyway, just like tire wiping doesn’t work. Something like a goathead penetrate instantly and all these things do is pull it out, but you still get a flat. Jobst Brandt said as much.
The one in your photo looks exactly like the one attached to the brake caliper of the rear wheel on my 30 year old road bike. I believe it was called a “Tire Saver”. And yes it does work….
I tried something similar back in the ’70’s and they didn’t work particularly well. They may be slightly more effective with today’s better tires, but sealant will do much more to prevent flats than any tire wiping device. It just plain works.
Hi Ken, I plan to join you on your July Northwoods Tour. Bob, Grinnell, IA
They were called “Tire Savers”.
Hi, On a groadie ride in Central MD my riding partner encounter pieces of glass on a road section. He reached down with his gloved right hand to clean what may have been glass off his front wheel. The other rider we were with said that that not safe and that one’s hand get get jammed into the fork. I have experienced wheel suck while cleaning glass from my rear triangle. The spinning wheel sucked my hand into the rear triangle below the brake mount. Needless to say my left hand was badly bruised. I was lucky that I didn’t endo over the handlebars too. I really like your hack.
By the way. Are you the same Greg who I used to do the epic rides with back in the early naughts?
Hi, Mike — Well, if you mean the 2000 naughts, probably yes!
Don’t assume that either the zip tie or the wire “flint flicker” will automatically clean your tire. They’re not rubbing on the tire — which would just add drag and noise. And some thorns and those little annoying steel filaments from blown radial tires will still flat the tire. The devices are just there to aid in wiping the tire (especially the rear). I wipe my tires any time I ride though suspicious debris (like scattered broken glass).