At Enve, we’re confident that our rim and tire designs do not necessitate the use of tire liners or inserts and therefore, we generally do not recommend them. However if you choose to run tire inserts, here are a few things to consider.

Weight -  At ENVE, we expend a lot of time and energy to refine our carbon rims to be as light and durable as possible. Adding additional weight via an insert immediately negates one major benefit of the product you’ve purchased and puts the ride experience we intend for you to have at risk.

Pinch Flat Protection -  In our testing, we have seen that inserts are not very effective at preventing pinch flats and that a good tire paired with a rim designed with anti-pinch flat technologies like ENVE’s Wide Hookless Bead or Protective Rim Strip is your best protection from pinch-flatting . In fact, our testing has shown that the Wide Hookless Bead is more effective than all but the heaviest of inserts while the Protective Rim Strip found on M7 and M9 mountain wheel models has proven superior to all inserts we’ve tested when it comes to preventing the dreaded pinch-flat.

Tires – Consider the tires you are running. If you’re thinking of an insert to mitigate flats, consider purchasing a heavier tire with more flat protection. This will usually result in better flat protection and a lower net weight increase.

Tire Installation and Removal – Inserts tend to make tire installation and removal more challenging. Remember that inserts do not offer any real protection from flatting so now when you flat, you’ll have the added complexity of an insert to deal with.

Benefits of Inserts – Some inserts offer “run-flat” capabilities which for some riders may offer valuable piece of mind. Another benefit is damping. The added weight and nature of insert’s composition results in a muted ride quality. For large volume mountain bike tires, inserts can act as “volume spacers” to further “tune” the ride quality of your bike. This practice will introduce compromises to other aspects of the ride such as suspension tuning, weight, and ease of installation/removal.