Dollar Bills Are Made Biker Tough

My friend Shaun is a biker - not the Harley Hog type - rather the skin-tight-outfit, skinny-tire type. Shaun tells me that every now and again while on a long ride, far away from a place to get a replacement, a tire has been known to fail. Once the tire fails, the inner tube is next, and a good ride is spoiled, because now you're walking.

One of the reasons you rarely ever see anyone walking back home with a flat - assuming one always carries a spare tube - is because the skinny-tire people always carry a $1 bill.

Why? I knew you'd ask.

From Bicycling Life: Sometimes, you will find a long or deep cut in the casing. Very often patching the tube and continuing to use a gashed casing will result in another flat, quite probably in less than a mile. Often you can apply your largest patches to the inside of the tire casing, and thereby get hundreds of more miles out of the tire. Other times, gashed tires are too far gone to be salvaged. To get home, a favorite cyclists trick is to place a dollar bill, folded in half or quarters between the tube and the tire, so that it covers the gash in the tire. Paper money has very high bursting resistance.

For a video describing the process, click here.

Shaun was kind enough to share his latest ride-saver. Despite some wear, it got him home.




Try that with a dollar coin and see what happens!