Avoid A Pinch Flat On The Mountain Trail With This Affordable DIY

When you're biking through mountain trails and exploring the wonders of nature, few things are worse than an unexpected pinch flat. This tire malfunction, commonly referred to as a snake bite, occurs when your tire's inner tube becomes too compressed, and catches between the rim of the wheel and the ground below. Pinch flats are common when bikers hit a curb, land on a rock, or progress over uneven terrain, and are nearly unavoidable when your tires are low on air. While this is a pain in the neck under any circumstances, the worst case scenario is catching a pinch flat while you're deep into mountain trails, forcing you to walk your bike all the way back to camp. Luckily, there's a simple, old-school solution, courtesy of some seasoned DIYers: baby powder.

For starters, even inside tubeless bike tires you'll want to run tubes, to help increase puncture resistance and give you a fighting chance when tires are underinflated. To make the most of these inner tubes, and avoid pinch flats, baby powder is your secret weapon. Many people know that baby powder or talcum powder reduces chafing on human skin. As it turns out, the same friction-reducing powers work when biking as well. Essentially it prevents the tube from binding or sticking inside the tire, reducing stress points and bulges. Advocates also claim it makes it easier to remove and replace old tubes.

It should be noted that this trick won't be much use against a traditional puncture flat, like those caused by thorns or debris. You'll still want to pay attention to avoid slashing your tires against any number of sharp objects found along the trail.

Before you set out to tear through scenic bike trails across the country, make sure your tires are in tip-top shape. To begin, remove each tire from the rim and take out any liners or inner tubes you're currently running. Then dump a small dusting of powder — maybe ¼ cup or so — inside the tube. To spread it around, simply pick up your tire and rotate it by hand, making sure to thoroughly coat the inside rubber with plenty of friction-reducing material. Once you've got the interior powdered up, give the tire a light shake to remove any excess. 

From there, you should be ready to insert the inner tube, and reattach the tire to the rim. While this isn't a foolproof process, it should help reduce the overall number of pinch flats you might suffer along the trail. It's also an affordable alternative to buying expensive, pinch-resistant aluminum rims or heavier 29-inch wheels if you don't want them. 

Seasoned cyclists often know to keep a spare inner tube on their person while traversing especially tumultuous terrain or bike touring or bikepacking for a long ride. So it's worth bringing a small bottle of baby powder along as well (or store the spare tube in a sealed baggie, already coated in powder). While WD-40 isn't a great hack for extending the life of your bike, the baby powder trick could at least get you across the trails with tires intact. You might even wind up bailing someone else out, making you the hero that the trail needs.