There are countless systems designed to prevent punctures on mountain bikes: Cush Core, Pepi's Tire Noodle, Huck Norris or Procore are just a few popular examples - but downhill racer Johannes Fischbach is up for something new. After annoying defects on the racing circuit, he has developed his own system against flat tires, which is now ready for the market. The Tire Trooper uses a ring made of closed-cell PU foam, which not only protects the rim and tire from punctures. As the ring pushes the tire outwards, there is also less burping and the ride over root carpets and stone fields is noticeably smoother. The system also has emergency running properties, meaning that you can still roll to the finish with the Tire Tropper when the air is out of the system.

The Tire Tropper foam ring is compatible with puncture protection milk, works with the valves supplied and is not particularly heavy on the scales: the version for cross country and all mountain in 27.5" weighs just 76 grams, while the counterpart for enduro and downhill weighs around 104 grams. The CC and DH versions of the Tire Trooper are available in 26, 27.5 and 29 inch wheel sizes. It is sold directly via the company's own web store. The price tag for a Tire Trooper set including valves is just under 80 euros.

Johannes "Fischi" Fischbach says of the new system: "In the Downhill World Cup and Citydownhill, I fly to the toughest tracks in the world and then: One wrong rock or root hit in the run - tire flat and the race is over. I've often had to deal with this in my career. Every racer knows this problem, but even as a hobby rider you don't want to have to end your run or your tour because of a flat tire. With Tire Tropper, that's all in the past."

tire-trooper.de