Strictly commuting I have not had any flats in the past three years. My commute is only 5 miles roundtrip and I make sure tires are at proper psi once a week. If I do get a flat it is usually a pretty severe pinch flat.

Poll results for those wondering about flats...

What kind of riding do you use your Tannus tires for? I've found them quite worthy of commuting and some training, but the rolling resistance makes them tough for climbing and faster speed group rides.

:foo:

It looks like I wrote that almost 2 years ago. had a pair of 23mm Tannus tires on a winter commuter. I never was happy with wet traction, although I've wondered about Gator Hardshell wet traction too.

The tires have worn down quite a bit, and picked up some big cuts, but still seem to work.

Like you, they did seem somewhat slower than other tires, so in Spring I had set the bike they are on aside, and continued with other tires, especially for longer rides.

Nonetheless, they are an option for commuting in miserable weather, or perhaps commuting on a schedule where a little slower or harsher would be a trade-off for not getting a flat.

I've meant to get some hard 20" Tannus tires for my trailer. Trailer flats are such a hassle.

Update two years later. When I ride the commuter with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires, zero flats. I've been riding different bikes to make my commute more varied and interesting. For certain, I've had more flats on those other tires. I don't keep records, but I'd estimate one flat every 700 miles or so on those bikes. That would be four or five per year. Still, it's no big deal.

I know your post was older, but I figured that also meant you had more time to give meaningful insight after riding them. I've been on them since January (for a review). I love not getting flats, but I do swap out for another wheelset with regular tires when I don't want to feel so sluggish.

Totally see airless tires being great for a trailer, especially if the trailer isn't weighed down too much.

Is that your review?

I had posted more lengthy comments in this thread:

https://www.bikeforums.net/general-c...olid-tire.html

I did mount my own tires. 23mm, on older road rims. I did do the install myself, but they were a bear to install. One issue is that I think Tannus only supplied 2 pin sizes, and the narrow ones were still too wide for my rims, making it tough to get the pins punched down and to stick (plus the tires were wide for the rims and the bead had to be pressed down).

I was having some issues with traction climbing my driveway (spinning the rear), and in one case braking in a parking lot and sliding.

Definately not as good of traction as I've gotten with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires or Michelin Protek Max tires, but perhaps not too much worse than tires like Continental Gator Hardshells.

Still, as mentioned, the tires did well for winter commuting (with traction notes above) when flats are worse, and more miserable to repair. But not tires I'd choose for my next century ride, or double century ride.

I think I did feel some road buzz in the hands on at least one longer ride, but it could have been other issue too.

I don't think there were "Pressure" choices when I got my tires.

Yes, that's my review. Thanks for sharing your previous comments. It looks like we had similar experiences and came to a lot of the same conclusions.

Maybe the tire compound I'm on is a generation better than yours, which is when they introduced "pressure" options, too? Thankfully I haven't had grip/tractions problems, but most of my wet riding wasn't aggressively up or down.

I typically have 1-2 flats/year between two bikes, my roadie running 700 x 25 Vittoria Rubinos and my commuter which uses 700 x 32 Vittoria Randonneurs in the model with puncture resistant casing. This is in the Seattle area where roads aren't in great condition and glass is encountered pretty regularly.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned wiping their tires with a gloved hand for a couple of seconds while riding after seeing glass on the road anywhere near the tire's track. This removes small pieces of glass/thorns/sharp stones that can get stuck in the tread before they work themselves through. When changing a flat I always try to locate the offending shard inside the casing and this failure mode accounts for ~95% of my flats. They used to make tire sweeps that would mount on the brake bolt that would continuously do this for you. One thing that bothers me about my commuter bike setup is that I can't wipe the rear tire due to the fenders I use, and that's part of the reason I use more robust tires on that bike.

I literally can't count how many flats this has saved me, as that's an epistemological problem, so it may just be a superstition or OCD showing, but I FEEL like this saves me at least some flats.

Given that my commute is only 5 miles round trip a flat is a rare occurrence.

I don't recall the last time I had a flat. Running Schwalbe Marathon Plus on all my bikes. I am riding between 2K and 3K miles per year and my commute is on well maintained paved trails and really quite suburban neighborhood street. Meaning I don't really encounter any kind of debris on the roads.

after nearly two years of flat-free riding on gatorskins, as of this morning i've now had two flats this week. the tires are just old and spent.

the gatorskin is not my favorite tire, but they were given to me by my uncle who didn't want them, and i have a very hard time saying no to free stuff.

so now i get to order new tires, my favorite commuting tire of all time, the conti GP 4 season!

bike tires direct had 'em on sale for 41 bones apiece, not bad at all for such a high quality tire.

Ending up getting screwed yesterday, I'm sure this would of flattened most tires (tubeless & tubed). It happened 100 feet from the office, so I changed the tube at my leisure.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...00934ee545.jpg https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...75d3b469e2.jpg

Yeah, that sealed for me with flat attack. Well, at least for a few days (I didn't notice it was there at first on a knobby tire), then it worked its way through to the inner part of the innertube where sealant doesn't work and I went flat! :-O

No reason why that wouldn't seal with Tubless - unless you pull it out. I do have tire plugs though if I need to pull one out and then plug the hole.

I haven't hit a screw like this running tubeless, but at the rate it leaked air, I at least think I would of needed to add air.

I wouldn't ride with the screw like that as I'd be scared of damaging the rim or destroying the tire.

I only seem to get flats when I let my tires get too worn. I have new sets on both my bikes and haven't had any in a year.

I get two to three flats a month. There is glass every where on my way to work and back. :notamused:

Switching to Michelin Pro 4 Endurance I got one flat in a 3 year period, and then it was a very small and sharp piece of metal; doubt anything could have prevented that....I am not switching from those tyres so long as i can get them to buy.

The poll is way out of range. It'd be more useful in months, i expect.

I probably just qualify for the poll with once a year. That's on the bikes with puncture proof tyres, though.

Perhaps fewer punctures are the one benefit of riding on roads..?

In New York State, beverage containers have a mandatory deposit. Most customers don't return their containers for rebates, but scavengers pick them up in bulk and return them. Everyone else puts them in the recycling bins. As a result, we don't have much broken glass on our roads.

"More than one flat per year"?!?!

How about "More than one flat per month"? Or even week sometimes?

Goddess Mother, I used to commute on a road that led to several wrecking yards. As a result, there was/is more sharp junk on that road than you'd ever imagine. Tried *all* the "flat resistant" tires. Marathons seem to be the best, but even those can go flat - ask me how I know this...

Two flats so far.
Once coming back from work like 2 years ago, the rear tire stepped over some rock or something and had a bit side wall damage - booted the side wall and still riding on it today, with some 3k miles after the incident.
Second is not a flat, but a defective valve tube connection. I did clean up, pressure tire, lube chain for next day ride. In the morning after taking from garage and rolling the bike ... hunmm??? something is not right. Front tire was way low pressure. Swapped the front wheel with another one and went out. At night, disassembled it and didn't find any whole, but some noise coming out from the valve area. It was some cheap tube I put on cart to get free shipping somewhere....

about the ONLY time I ever got more than 1 flat a month/make that a year, was when I rode with basically worn out tires... As soon as I got new ones, the exact same type, I didn't get a flat for 2 years, until they wore out again... That 1/4 " thread makes a huge difference... JMO...

Only once my tires get worn. I went around 3000 miles with no flats, then multiple, in a short amount of time, less than 200 miles. Changed tires, and no flats so far in a little over 1000 miles.

I've always (since the age 10) carried flat repair kit with me (pump, means to remove a wheel, tube patches & glue and a spare tube), especially when riding out of town.

It's been used to fix other people's flats 99.9% of the time. :)

Minding where one rides is the best flat-protection: just avoiding the debris, potholes etc. Usually requires some concentration, actually looking where one is going, planning ahead for traffic...

I do get flats though. After having written this, the probability of that happening today has just risen by 99% - Murphy's law...

"The first rule of flat protection is not talking about not having flats!" :)