Tire inserts - do you run them?

Another raw dog here. I ride without protection! I'm a pretty light rider though - 175 pounds or so. I'm easy on most components, including wheels. I tend to aim around the rocks and I think that has helped keep my wheels intact. 

I've had mixed luck with carbon wheels. I had a set of Enve DH rims a long time ago that I broke a lot of (pre-Cushcore), but I've got a set of carbon XTR rims on my current lighter duty trail bike that have been fine. I've wondered how a DH tire/carbon rim would work for me on my long travel enduro bike, but haven't been a-thousand-dollars-curious yet. I also really like the flex of alloy wheels, and while I imagine the current crop of carbon DH and enduro rims are better than what I rode back in 2013, I'm not really itching to change. But I'm speaking strictly to my own needs and preferences.

Ah ok, maybe Spomer can get you some carbon wheels to test. 

Side note, if you are $299 curious, these aren't DH wheels but it still seems like a crazy deal for 32H carbon wheels.

https://www.ethirteen.com/products/sylvan-race-carbon-e-spec-all-mounta…

Used to not run them till I gained weight and started denting rims, ran them after that for a long time but thought I would try running DH casing tires on the rear, within a few weeks of that I dented my rim really bad and so I'm going back to them on the rear. I run the Tannus Tubeless Armor

here is a question, whenever I change a tire it looks like a rat has been eating my cushcore lol. Literally chunks missing.

Is that where I've hit it so hard it's broken off? I reckon it's saved me thousands in rims. 

I think its worth mentioning up front that Im 165lb rider so my experience will be different from heavier riders but I’ve tried Cushcore and my attitude towards it is its best to run the heaviest casing available to you at your preferred pressures before considering running it. If you’re going to add rotational mass you may as well benefit from the added puncture protection. Running Cushcore on lightweight casing makes no sense.

I’m about 205lbs and I’ve been running a Cushcore in the rear of all of my bikes for close to six years, I used to go through at least two rear rims(alloy) a season, now I’m getting multiple seasons out of an alloy wheelset. Currently two bikes in my stable, my enduro bike will always have a Cushcore in back, but the wheelset (Hunt TrailWide v2) on my trail bike is at the end of its lifecycle, got about 18months out of it. I recently bit the bullet on my first ever carbon wheelset. Ordered a RimSaver for the piece of mind of protecting the investment, but I’m really looking to lighten that bike up a lot, especially the rotational weight so decided on carbon and to ditch the Cushcore and 1700g WTB TrailBoss… wish me luck!

I used to run them in my enduro bike, but got used to running more air in the rear + full DH casing tires so now I don't. I really don't like pedaling inserts around, which I do most of the time with that bike 

If I rode a lot of bike park they would be in that bike 100% of the time.

It is interesting though since I've gone from a full 29 bike to a mullet, the smaller rear wheel is taking a lot more abuse and traction is noticeably lower. I might change my approach mid-season.

The XC bike gets airliners front/rear because the tires are too damn easy to fold or ping the rims during big hits and I need the insurance.

I started running Nukeproof ARDs in 2019 as a safeguard for doing Megavalanche. I ran them front and back there (in 2019, with EXO front and DD rear), then started running it rear only from that point on (including a 2021 megavalanche with EXO front and back).

Moving to the new bike in 2023 I also bought a Cushcore XC. I promptly dinged a wheel in La Thuile, not even a week old EX511, and obviously punctured an EXO tire. I mangled the rim back in shape and am still running it. I even cracked the tubeless tape over a spoke hole running it together with the Cushcore and a Racing Line Michelin later in 2023 by loading the rim on a rock so much, the two sidewalls got pulled apart enough to slit the tape over the hole. Turns out you can push 4 plugs into the sidewall of a DH casing tyre even if there is no hole

Since then I switched from mainly running Maxxis tires to a Schwalbe Trail casing set and ditched the Cushcore. While it has A LOT of telltale signs of doing it's job, I'm, for now, perfectly fine running Schwalbes raw, with lower pressure than what I was running in EXO casing Maxxis tyres previously (1,4 bar now, 1,5 bar in Maxxis EXO).

I beg to differ. Running cushcore with light tyres gets you just under a full on DH casing weight with more rim protection. Also the supple casing feel up top and the sidewall support is great.

For me at least, running CC Pro or Tannus was encouraging me to run lower air pressure, which meant I needed inserts to protect my rims - so I think I was creating a positive feedback loop. 

No inserts now, just more psi. Though, they’re hanging there in my garage waiting for me to change my mind again …

After my MS diagnosis and symptoms caused me to stop riding, I got a job at Art's cycles doing bike building/packing and I started a list of new bike tech that would come up that I've never gotten to use. Some of it was from before but I hadn't been able to afford. Inserts are on that list. Along with 27.5 and 29 inch wheels and many more. But I got So good at installing them. Experience installing motorcycle tires helped immensely. But most installs at the shop usually came back to me. Rims have that deeper section for a good reason.

Same here - the WAO Strife has seriously impressed me. I was blowing through several ex471s a year with and without cush core. Now I've had the Strifes for several years and haven't had a single issue. I think part of it is rim strength and part of it is the wide bead helping to avoid pinch flats. 

220lbs, ebike and flats… cushcore pro and DH tires are essential.

Running rear tubolight inserts on all bikes. But I mostly ride a hardtail and short travel bike with exo tires. Only the eeb has DD/dh tires  How you guys are toting around heavy casing tires on trail rides is beyond me. I’d rather go to the gym, or play monopoly, or have a colonoscopy. Lordy heavy tires suck to ride except high speed downhill. 

Fightin’ words - I’d wager 3 out of 4 riders who insist they need heavy tires have been smoked down a hill by a spandex clad dude on an Epic with bald tires. But my opinion is clouded by living on the front range, where the bros need knee pads and coil shocks for the poorly built flow trails. 

One of the main benefits to inserts are that they are volume reducers. This means that a 2.5 tire might have the spring progressivity of a 1.75 tire (more or less depending on insert), so that you can run a low pressure to get a big contact patch and small bump compliance, while still getting support for corners, bigger bumps, g-outs and jump faces/lips. The fact that rims last longer is a bonus to the wallet. 

Rimpact Pro and Rimpact Pro Race!
Helps to dull the impact so hardly any work needs on wheels anymore. My life is soooooo much easier with inserts than without them!

I run original cushcores in the back of my DH and Ebike.  Mine are like 10 yrs old, and so far, I haven't had any bad dings in awhile.  No flats.  I'm not sure how long you're supposed to wait before replacing but I'm sure I'm past that!  I needed these a lot more in Colorado, when I lived there, due to the prevalence of jagged bedrock.  Here in Tennessee, they just aren't needed as much, though I still run them, as I said, on two bikes.

Rim saver checking in here. Works. It's light. Less hassle than foam. 

Imo the insert gives puncture protection by distributing the point force, what would be a tear turns into a pinch.

Also DH tires rebound so slow! For fast poppy progressive trail bike I want progressive fast rebounding tires. 

I am another one who swears by inserts on my Spire with DD casing. I would say I slightly prefer the ride quality without, but the insurance policy is well worth it. I have broken no WAO Unions running cushcore in four years I have had the set, and broke one on the one day I took it out. My second wheel I rebuilt myself terribly and am constantly retensioning and yet Ive not broke it yet. I have broken like five I9 axles in that time too. 

My experience, as well as my general ability to envision direct impact force versus non direct impact force transferred to foam, has led me to doubt We Are One and others' claims about the inner bead strikes being worse than hitting the rim. my annoyance with the discourse online was anough to collect empiracal data and analyze if other people felt the same. Here are the results. Even though I was over my skis math wise, the data tells a clear survey with a good sample: people who run inserts break fewer wheels.

I run CC Pro on the rear of both my DH and e-bike.  How bad does a CC have to look before opt for a new one?  The ones I’m currently running are looking pretty rough.

Love this survey! Thanks for asking the questions we're all wondering.

Im glad you acknowledged there may be a sampling bias that people running inserts are more likely to be a category of rider that is harder on wheels. 

Anecdotally I’ve blown up two wheels while running inserts and one wheel without, but that’s not an apples to apples comparison given different rim and tire combinations each time.