any success stories with puncture resistant bicycle tires?

[vash]

i tried to ride before a doctor's appointment. i had FOUR flats. i fixed my first flat, laughed about it..and noticed a goat-head sticker in the front..flicked it off and heard. "PHISSSSH!"..haha..fixed the front..no problemo.

i make it 100 yards and got another..fixed it..went away, and the patch failed. 4 flats. it was brutal. i ran out of CO2 and had to use my hand pump.

after the doctor's appointment, i bought some continental gaterskin tires. hope they work. any success? the conti's came in the 700x32 i need, altho i did drop a size to 700x28.

i think the park service mowed the trail and kicked all the sharp thorns out onto the asphalt.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Using the super heavy duty slime ones on my mountain bike right now - they're heavy as heck but seem to work. I've had reasonably good luck with the road bike. I just accept that flats will happen as part of the activity. I can change a tube even in the rear wheel now in under two minutes (and I'm betting I can shave another 30 seconds off of that) with minimal grease/junk on my hands afterwards.

[vash]

under two minutes is blazing fast. with my size conti's i had to get wire beads. foldables were not an option.

i just added a few minutes of cussing to my routine.

[look 171]

Mr. Tuffy inner tube liner. Heavy, but they work wonders. I use to have them in my training wheels putting in the miles through out the city. I ran over everything and they seem to hold up well. Not one flat. Did you get the flats on the same tire? You must still have some glass or the sharp object must still be in there. I always run my finger inside the tire just to see if the glass is out. Be careful, Don't get cut doing that.

[MFAFF]

Specialized Armadilos with slime tape inside. 700x23c at 100 + psi

2 punctures in the past year despite commuting thro Central London every day.
Needed to replace the tyres due to wear and I began to worry about the number of cuts and holes in them.

There may be others that are as effective however at the moment these do the trick for me.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea the hardest thing (IMHO) is zipping the bead all the way around without pinching or destroying the new tube. Hard to do when your hands are shaking and your heart rate is up having just jumped off the bike. practice, practice, practice...

This guy is pretty quick (although I think he "cheats" by stuffing the old tube into his shop apron saving him a few seconds - in a race situation you won't have convenient pockets on the front of your jersey and it's awkward to start with anything in your hands, and it takes time to reach behind you to stuff things back into the pockets on the small of your back... And if you miss, there's another 15 seconds to pick everything up (cursing, ask how I know...)

How to Change a Bike Tire FASTEST- for triathlon, roadies and cyclocross racers - YouTube

[mjohnson]

For those of us running tubeless MTB tires Stans is everything. Their sealant will fill obscene punctures - goatheads are nothing.

If you could pull your tubes' valve stems you could inject some of that sealant. It's thin, maybe like whole milk. An ounce a tube is all you need.

Some claim they pierce a hole in a dry tube to insert the sealant, then patch the hole as you would a puncture. I've never tried that.

Stans claims the stuff is so good you can go tubeless with normal rims and tires. Maybe you could go that way?

[porsche4life]

What is this Stans? I had a goat head take out my Mtn bike tire... Twice..... Didn't check quite well enough, lot of area on a 29x2.5. I haven't had any more issues, but I haven't been in the rough a lot in the last few weeks.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by MFAFF

Specialized Armadillos with slime tape inside. 700x23c at 100 + psi

2 punctures in the past year despite commuting thro Central London every day.
Needed to replace the tyres due to wear and I began to worry about the number of cuts and holes in them.

There may be others that are as effective however at the moment these do the trick for me.

+1

I tried the Gator-skins, and they did not work.

Specialized makes 2 versions of the Armadillos: regular and elite. The elite weigh less. Another suggestion, I run 2 different sets of wheels, and one set has regular armadillos with 28c tires. These are for "training" and bad areas. It is still possible to get flats, but a lot less likely. I run these for anything short of 50 miles.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by look 171

Mr. Tuffy inner tube liner. Heavy, but they work wonders. I use to have them in my training wheels putting in the miles through out the city. I ran over everything and they seem to hold up well. Not one flat. Did you get the flats on the same tire? You must still have some glass or the sharp object must still be in there. I always run my finger inside the tire just to see if the glass is out. Be careful, Don't get cut doing that.

Mr Tuffys for me, haven't had a flat in years.

[uncle_scott]

I have had really good luck with regular tubes and slime. After working 5 years in a bike shop, that seemed to be my best remedy. My commuter, my BMX, and any MTB I ride that's the combo I use. Utah is notorious for thorns too...ymmv, but that is honestly my solution. Good luck!

[vash]

Originally Posted by red-beard

+1

I tried the Gator-skins, and they did not work.

Specialized makes 2 versions of the Armadillos: regular and elite. The elite weigh less. Another suggestion, I run 2 different sets of wheels, and one set has regular armadillos with 28c tires. These are for "training" and bad areas. It is still possible to get flats, but a lot less likely. I run these for anything short of 50 miles.

damn, the shop guy told me the armadillos did not come in 28. they do.

i got the gators mounted..i'll give them a go. the diillos are cheaper too damn.

[kanadary]

Specialized Armadilos. had one flat in 4 yrs during a century ride. i don't use the bike for commuting to and from work. only weekends.

[willtel]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

What is this Stans?

Home Page

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by vash

i tried to ride before a doctor's appointment. i had FOUR flats. i fixed my first flat, laughed about it..and noticed a goat-head sticker in the front..flicked it off and heard. "PHISSSSH!"..haha..fixed the front..no problemo.

i make it 100 yards and got another..fixed it..went away, and the patch failed. 4 flats. it was brutal. i ran out of CO2 and had to use my hand pump.

after the doctor's appointment, i bought some continental gaterskin tires. hope they work. any success? the conti's came in the 700x32 i need, altho i did drop a size to 700x28.

i think the park service mowed the trail and kicked all the sharp thorns out onto the asphalt.

I've had great luck w/ Continental Touring Plus 300x37 on my hybrid

[nota]

any one use wipers anymore ?
back in the early 70's on sewups we used a little wiper
to knock off glass or thorns

[Laneco]

That's what your glove is for.

Hook your thumb over the frame and let the tire slide past your palm. Hand goes at the rear of the tire travel. Front tire, thumb on the down tube palm forward. Rear tire, thumb on the rear stay palm down/rear.

Spin-skins are a light and flexible choice for a tire line. Specialized armadillo are great road training tires. For training, go big and fat. For MTB, Stan's looks like the bomb. I saw alot of riders using that product at the 24 Hours of Old Pueblo (in Tucson). Cactus everywhere. I did not use it and fixed 11 flats in one lap.

angela

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by MFAFF

Specialized Armadilos with slime tape inside.

+1

Very heavy tires, but I have ridden on them for years in an urban environment, and only had one flat. It was a 'one in a million' flat. A safety pin that had been bent open punctured the sidewall of the tire, pretty close to the rim. I was unhappy about the flat, but had to laugh at the incredible unlikelihood of it happening.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by nota

any one use wipers anymore ?
back in the early 70's on sewups we used a little wiper
to knock off glass or thorns

Can't have that, everyone's racing now. Every second counts.

[Burnin' oil]

Every non-car tire at our place is full of slime. Seems to work in a world filled with puncture vine (goat head stickers).