Bob Ross

I kept reading about what a nuiscance goatheads are here in the desert, and after ~18 years of vacationing in Tucson to cycle, and then two years of living here part-time, and finally two months of living here full-time, I was perplexed: What are these goatheads the local cyclists complain about, and why have I never encountered them?

Yesterday was my comeuppance:

~20 miles in to a 65 mile supported ride (GABA's Tumacocori Metric Century) I -- in hindsight, foolishly -- rode over a 20-foot section of grass and dirt to get to a porta-potty.

Grass and dirt and goatheads, apparently. 100 yards later I've got a double-flat. I pulled eight goatheads out of the back tire, and four out of the front tire! And all twelve had fully punctured the tread and pierced the tubes.

:::shakes fist at sky:::

SW84

Welcome to our world.😀

LesterOfPuppets

oof. Never take shortcuts!

They're often worse after wind events as the breeze can blow them out into the MUPs and streets. Also when on neighborhood streets beware freshly trimmed bougainvillea, mesquite, etc. as such pruning activity can scatter thorns in a pretty big radius.

RCMoeur 

The first post-COVID El Tour de Tucson (2021) was overall rather good except for some miles of needed-to-be-repaved roads, except one rest stop aid station was situated in a location where some of the area was laden with goatheads - too many to easily sweep away. As a Bike Patroller, it took me a while to clear that location after all the "patronage" I received at that site. I don't think it was as bad in 2022. There is also a problem along part of the route that the shoulders are laden with goatheads, so someone pulling off to take a break might be there longer than they planned. :\

SoCaled 

I have had one experience with goatheads, and it went great! Went to hit an off road area with the neighbor and their kids and kids friends. Pulled the bikes out of the truck and car and ride down a grassy bank to some, half under construction, dirt and rocky areas with boulders and obstacles. Almost as soon as we get down to the flat area one of the kids stops, then dad, then another kid, all stopped? Everyone has two flat tires. I was riding a Peugeot Canyon Express I had bought used, that was a bit small for me and hadn't been out much. I looked down at my tires and they were studded, all the way around, with goatheads. There were easily over 50 in each tire, but the tires were still fully inflated. Neighbor and the kids loaded their bikes back into the truck and went home, I spent another hour and a half riding around exploring the area. Turns out the previous owner had equipped the Peugeot with Botrager Hardcase triple punture protection tires. When I got back to the car after riding around on goatheads for 2 hours the tires were almost covered in goatheads, many required pliers to remove, tires still fully inflated. I was impressed!
They make these tires in a road version but would have to assume that like most puncture protection tires they ride like rocks?

SW84

Is it me or does that rim looked cracked?

79pmooney

That's just the butt. Rims start as straight channels, get bent to form a hoop, then the two ends aligned with pegs or similar or get welded. This rim is not welded. So those ends were just pushed together and perhaps held with a press fit by the aligning pins. (Different manufacturers have used a wide variety of pins and the like Details hardly matter other than some rims are better than others for braking smoothness at the joint.)

All the weld or pegs have to do is keep the two ends aligned. Once the wheel is laced up and the spokes tightened, the compression force around the rim is huge. Nothing is going anywhere. Mavic made probably hundreds of thousands of those and similar rims and I don't think I have ever heard of one of their joints failing. I've ridden dozens of their rims into the ground (well battered, pothole dented, brake surfaces sometimes worn all the way through ...) The joints? Never an issue.

The joint in that photo will live through that rim's next few reincarnations. Probably looking worse for each one.

Desert Ryder

SW84

I spent 7 years in Vegas back in the late 70's to early 80's, and was glad to leave those beasts behind. Then I move up here to Pasco, 20 years ago, and take up riding this year, only to discover that they're all over the place. Worse than LV too.

locolobo13 

Almost always check my tires when leaving dirt to get on the pavement. I've learned to spot them most of the time while riding and try to ride around patches. All that and I still pick up a few here and there.

LesterOfPuppets

Almost moved to Tri-cities a couple years ago. Whew, dodged that bullet

Thinking about riding the Columbia Plateau Trail on the fatbike next year, better make sure my tires are topped off with sealant I reckon.