How can one prevent a tube from sticking to the inside of a tire?

Question

I was cleaning my cruiser today, and as part of that I removed the tires from the rims to give them a good scrubbing. As sometimes happens, the tubes were stuck to the insides of the tires. (This also happens with some of my other bikes sometimes.)

While I was able to slowly peel the deflated tubes away from the tires, this can't be good for them! Is there a way that this can be avoided when reinstalling the tubes and tires onto the rims? This bike has had slow leaks in the past, and I'd like to take precautions against that happening again.

Answer 1

Baby powder works great and is very inexpensive.

Answer 2

Nowadays 'baby powder' is made from corn starch rather than talcum powder, due to concerns that talcum powder gives cancer etc. However, corn starch turns to an adhesive when wet. Riding through creeks or in the rain could cause the tube to adhere to the tire.

The traditional substance for punctures is 'French Chalk', a.k.a. talcum powder. To quote wikipedia:

French chalk has also historically been used in the repair of punctured inner tubes of pneumatic tires, such as are found on bicycles. A block of French chalk is typically included in proprietary puncture repair kits, which may include some means of generating a fine powder from the block, for example a small file or a roughened area on the metal case in which the repair kit may have been supplied. The French chalk prevents the repair from sticking to other parts of the tire.

The other benefit of using talc (or cornstarch) is that it also helps to install the tire. It's also easier to remove the tube from the tire down the road.

Answer 3

Yeah, talcum powder is what you want -- it has a natural slipperiness like graphite. Though cornstarch or any other powder would work fairly well. (Graphite would be OK but it's rather messy.) It's especially good to use after making a patch, since the patch has a strong tendency to stick to the inside of the tire.

You used to be able to buy it packaged specifically for use in bike tires, though I haven't seen it in a bike shop in years.

(You clean your tires???)

Answer 4

As long as you don’t have any patches sticking to the tire and thus coming off it shouldn’t be much of a problem. Talcum helps, as others have pointed out.

I was cleaning my cruiser today, and as part of that I removed the tires from the rims to give them a good scrubbing. As sometimes happens, the tubes were stuck to the insides of the tires. (This also happens with some of my other bikes sometimes.)

Why would you do that? Cleaning the rims and brake pads: Okay (though I’d still consider it a waste of effort), but you don’t have to remove the tire for that.