Three flats in two weeks … = Gatorskin ??
 

Just replaced Conti Ultra Race with Gatorskin on rear. The ride seems to be much harsher. I'm thinking of putting 4000S on front to replace an ultra race. Is this a good idea? Do you have any advice on tubes? I'm running 700 X 23.

vittorio rubino pro.

GP4000s have about the same flat protection as gatorskins, and ride much smoother.

Or go tubeless if you really want to end getting flats.

+1 on the Rubino Pro

I have conteninental GP4000 on my race/training bike, but for commuting I have schwalbe marathon plus. marathon is like a tank. It's havier than most tires, which is a trade off. But you never have to expect a puncture with marathon plus.

gatorskins and those tires with thinner layers of protection are still prone to wires.

I'm a strong believer that flats are often bad luck, but that flat frequency also depends on rider size. I rode Gatorskins (not hardshell) from Seattle to New York City this summer...didn't get my first (and only) flat until Pennsylvania -- a small pinch flat. Rode through plenty of debris and aimed at plenty of rocks in attempt to shoot them out :D

I'm flat free for over 2000 miles with my cheap Bontrager T2's. $20.00 but they weigh a ton and are NOT good in the wet. That's about 50% limestone and the other 50% crappy Nebraska highways.

Flats are random. Hit a big enough thorn or chunk of glass wrong you get a flat. That's life.
About the only difference tires make is at the wild extreme. The schwalbe marathons are amazingly flat resistant, but I've flatted even those. And I sure don't want them on my road bike. They are, however, the answer to life on a commuter.

My current voodoo, which I admit is voodoo, is latex tubes. I'm sure I've just been lucky lately, but haven't flatted with them yet. My friends have elaborate reasons explaining why, but I still think it's just luck. Still, I'll take luck over flat any day.

It's unclear from your post which tyre was flatting. But keep in mind that the ultra race is a cheaper tyre than the 4000s or the gatorskin.

I use Conti Super Sport Plus and have had no flats. I think they're plenty fast and pretty light. I recommend.

S

Getting a few flats close together in time may not itself be justification for ditching your current tires. Flats are pretty random. You might go for months without getting one then get a few bunched together. That's just the nature of random.

i'm assuming you're removing the little shard of glass that's stuck in your tire causing the flats in the first place right?

Always a good idea to closely examine the cause of flats, especially when you hit a rash of them in a short period of time.

Completely agree, with the addition of road quality as well.

I ride Michelin P3R tires, generally agreed upon as the least flat resistant tire you can get, nearly, and I've had one flat in 3 years, and that was a 3 inch, 3/16 nail. I absolutely am not going to pretend my tires are doing a great job preventing flat, but where I live, the road surface is either going to be fine, or have a nail on it. Obviously people who live in places where there are tons of thorns and plant pokies will have different experience. I'm just saying that it's not like a strong tire = no flats and a soft tire = tons of flats, de facto.

Elaborate? Me?:geek:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/e/a...88c03bb5c5.png
where:

E is the Young's modulus (modulus of elasticity)
F is the force exerted on an object under tension;
A0 is the original cross-sectional area through which the force is applied;
ΔL is the amount by which the length of the object changes;
L0 is the original length of the object.

Last summer, starting on my birthday, I got 6 flats in 8 rides, all on the rear wheel of my single speed. It started with an obvious piece of glass, and went the gamut from there. After the third flat, I started patching tubes, which resulted in the fourth flat. I had also changed tires at the third flat, to a used one I had, which led to the fifth flat. I bought new tires, got two nice rides in, then hit a piece of glass.

The highlight in patching tubes was using my swimming pool for leak detection, and discovering that one of my tubes that I had been carrying as a spare had five holes in it. My son told me after that he had noticed the ferret playing with it.

I use the conti GPS 4000S because of advice I received on this forum,I had been using gatorskins,schwalbe tubless,vittoria,and I am 100% pleased with the contis.Today I picked up at 10 goatheads on a path,,and no flat.Im sold thanks guys!

The true Vodoo is no matter what tubes or tires y'all use, flats come in three's.

Oof, that's quite the extreme measure you took there opting for a gatorskin to ward off flats. Gatorskins are awesome against flats (sans super weak sidewall achille's heel) but they ride like crap.
GP4000s are the golden standard here with flat protection near that of a gatorskin but with a much smoother and palatable ride, cornering, rolling resistance, pretty much everything else; a great compromise in my book.
Plus they can be had for cheap when bought off PBK preferbly with a discount code stacked on top of their quite frequent sale prices for them.

When you get flats that often.... it's not normal. Take a look at your rim strip to make sure it's not worn out. Either way it's probably a good idea to replace them with nice cloth ones. Also, drag your finger (or a cotton ball) along the inside of the tire to make sure there isn't anything sharp.

Michelin PRO4 Endurance are less flat prone than GP 4000s. The Conti's tend to pick up glass, especially in the wet. The Michelins do not. The already-mentioned Rubino Pro tires are also superior to the Contis in not picking up glass.

Always (ALWAYS!) run your fingers through the inside of the tire to feel for anything that may re-flat your tube, ESPECIALLY when you didn't find the culprit when changing/patching tubes.

On a side note, what tire pressure are you running? If you're getting repeat pinch flats you need to up your pressure...

*slowly* run your fingers on the inside. Or you'll be searching for a bandaid as well.

i haven't had a puncture out on a ride for 4 years. had a slow puncture at home though.

did i say vittorio rubino pro?

I am going tubeless