venomx

I bought some continental contact travels for my hybrid so I can go fast On the road and handle well on gravel and mud paths
they are supposed to be more puncture resistant than most other tyres or so they say in the advertisement
they are awesome to ride with and hope I don’t get any punctures with them but I know they’re inevitable

do you guys regularly get punctures ?

flangehead

I’m estimating about 18 per year.

Context is suburban commuting and utility about 5000 miles per year. Most common cause is small leaks from very small wires (tire steel belt remains). Over last 15 years I’ve had about 8 nails/screws, all on rear.

shelbyfv

One last year, 8500 miles. Another tube failed at the valve stem, just sitting in the garage. I don't consider that a puncture. Totally irrelevant to your experience as we aren't riding in the same location, with the same tires and probably don't share many of the other numerous variables.

alcjphil

I have had only one puncture on the road in the last 5 years and one tire that went flat suddenly while the bike was sitting in my living room

canklecat

Pretty rare for me now. Common the first year or two after I resumed riding in 2015.

My best guess is as I've gotten stronger and regained confidence, I don't ride the shoulders and gutters as much. That's where most of the sharp pokey stuff is that punctures and cuts our tires.

I also try to avoid those patches of debris that accumulate between motor vehicle wheel tracks at intersections. That's where a lot of stuff like glass shards, wire from worn radial tires, etc., accumulates.

Even with fairly heavy duty puncture resistant tires and thicker tubes, I often got puncture flats my first year or so riding. Now I mostly ride road bikes with thin tires that have little or no puncture resistance. But I get fewer flats because I don't ride the gutters and rough shoulders where glass and sharp debris accumulates.

I mostly ride more assertively now on roads. And when I do ride the wide shoulders I'm very cautious to avoid debris. Lots of broken glass in my area from rednecks. They're pretty predicable. My favorite rural route is in a lightly regulated part of the county adjacent to what used to be a "dry" county (not uncommon in Texas and elsewhere throughout the South), so there lots of county line bars and strip joints.

There are also a couple of motorcycle bars. Those guys do not toss empty beer bottles on the road. It'll flatten their tires just as easily.

But the redneck bars and stripper joints are the worst. Guys get liquored up and angry when they realize the girls around going home with them. So they toss glass beer bottles and liquor bottles along the roadsides. There's a definitely pattern to the debris, or lack of debris, for the first mile after passing a redneck bar or stripper joint, vs the biker bars.

aggiegrads

They will be very rare with Travel Contacts. I had a pair of Top Contacts that lasted about 4,000 miles and had no flats.

Because they are 60mm tires, you do not need to inflate them to be rock hard. Running them around 30-35 psi or less (~2.5 bar) will make them less susceptible to flats.

fietsbob

Proportional to amount of detritus on the highway shoulder/street. and the amount of heavier weight puncture protection features of your tires..



...

cyccommute 

How many times do you expect to get bite by a mosquito? How many times are you going to draw to an inside straight? How many times is a bug going to fly under your helmet? That’s how common it is to get a flat. Flats are completely random. There’s no way of determining how many you are going to get. You may fix one and get another (for a completely different reason) in a foot. You may go for years without getting one. You might wear out a set of tires without ever getting a flat. Ya rolls yer dice and ya moves yer mice.

asgelle

I'd love to play poker with you.

3alarmer 

.
...the city recycling truck that went through my neighborhood Thursday before last sprinkled random small bits of broken glass in a nice even layer on every street in the neighborhood. It took until today to get them to run a street sweeper. It's a problem that seems to recur at random intervals about once a year. So I once got two flats on my way over to the bike path, which is about ten blocks. That was before I figured out what was going on. AS already stated, a lot of this depends on where you ride and the tyres you run. Some modern tyres are impressive in their resistance to flatting.

sweeks

I put Schwalbe "Marathon Plus" tires on my folding commuter bike about 6 years ago, and haven't had a flat since. This is in Chicago, where there is a fair amount of debris on the streets. Some folks complain about increased rolling resistance, but I don't care! Having a flat on the way to work sucks.

DeadGrandpa

I'm running a set of Schwalbe Marathon Dureme tires (6 years old), with a tire liner in between tire and tube. I had my first flat in four years (five if you don't count a Skabs patch coming loose in a hot pavement situation), earlier this year. It was some kind of staple that just missed the tire liner. I'm thinking of taking out the liner when I rotate the tires, for the weight savings. I ride mostly all rural, so it's not a big risk.

venomx

mine have to be about 80psi

Ironfish653

80 psi sounds pretty high for that big of a tire.
Unless you’re a very large rider. I’m ~210, so I’m pretty solidly in the ‘Clydesdale’ class.

I run 80 psi in my 28mm Ultra Sports, 70 in the 32mm Paselas, and when the MTB is in commuter mode, 60 psi in the 1.95” Ritchey Speedmax, which a pretty thin, flexible tire.

blamester

I use tufo sealant. It works very well.

cyccommute 

Reduced pressure doesn’t result in fewer flats nor do wider tires result in fewer flats. I run 55 mm mountain bike tires with large knobs at 40 to 50 psi and I get flats all the time. I use liners (or tires with integral liners) and I still get flats. Flats are just part of life with pneumatic tires.

Running tires at very low pressures opens up a different mode of flats if you use tubes...pinch flats. If you pinch flat, you are also likely to damage the rims when the rim bottoms out on impact. Then a 25¢ problem into a $100 problem.

aggiegrads

I’m not saying to run so low that you get inch flats. Running tires over-inflated makes a smaller contact patch and the tire cannot deform as well over a road hazard.

dedhed

Common enough they sell all manner of puncture prevention and repair products.

cyccommute 

30 to 35 psi on 50mm tires (the Contact doesn’t seem to come in 60mm width) is getting pretty close to pinch flat territory. You also said “or less”, that’s definitely getting into pinch flat territory at any rider weight.

As for the contact patch, I’ve already said that I run very wide tires at lower pressure (not as low as 30 psi) and I still get flats. I have bikes with 35mm tires that are pumped out 80 to 90 psi and I get flats on those as well. I have a bike with 23 to 25 mm tires and it gets flats as well. The size of the tire and the contact patch has little to do with it.

An argument could be made that a smaller contact patch makes for a smaller target. Lower pressure makes for a larger contact patch and a larger target. It’s not a good argument either way but it can be made. In the end, high or low pressure isn’t going to make for more, or less, flats. Flats are random, pure and simple.

cyccommute 

Yup. And none of them perfect. Even sealant which many will tell you is the miracle cure isn’t. Tubeless tires still need plugs and the sealant needs constant maintenance.

Chuckles1

I get much fewer flats on gravel than years ago, when I got a couple per year. The difference? I brake more and keep my speed down on gravel descents when the road has lots of loose, sharp stones all over it. As time goes on, the roads are getting worse in my area. I'd rather slow down a bit than have my ride ruined by a puncture flat. On paved roads, I ride in the middle of my lane where the least broken pavement is; least debris also. When traffic forces me to the edge of pavement, it's often so rough I have to stand up to avoid being rattled to a pulp.

Wanderer

I used to average 2.5 flats a week, at about 200 miles a week. Switched to Schwalbe Marathon Supremes (700X35 or 40) at 90 PSI, and have been extremely lucky since then!

Good flat resistant tires are an improvement, a big improvement, but I still carry a patch kit, and keep the glue fresh!

Gresp15C

I'd guess 1 per 1000 miles. This is with puncture resistant tires on some of my bikes. One suggestion: If you have puncture resistant tires, you'll still pick stuff up, but it will take longer to get through the tire. I reduced my number of flats by occasionally inspecting my tires and pulling out the bits of debris.

venomx

Is going tubeless the way forward in resisting punctures?

Digger Goreman

One or two a year, either from morning MUP commutes in the dark (broken glass) or getting too close to the gutter (nails).

Currently running Schwalbe Impac economy tires, 1.75 x 26, 65 psi.