clengman

I commute every day on roads with a lot of broken glass and debris that is infrequently swept up. I try to avoid puncture hazards, but I'm often on a shoulder or in a lane that's too narrow to allow a lot of maneuvering. When I started commuting I was on some inexpensive gumwall tires that came on the bike when I bought from the used bike dealer. I had a couple puncture flats per month. I switched to some puncture resistant Serfas Secas and maybe got two puncture flats in the next year.

Now I still have a Seca on the front and switched the rear to a gatorskin hardshell. Haven't had another puncture flat since. I still get a rare pinch flat or flat from a spoke nipple or something else rubbing in the rim. For me, it's absolutely worth it. I get to work on time every time. No surprises. Every couple weeks to a month I spend some time examining all the little cuts in my tires and extract a dozen little sharp pieces of gravel or glass shards. Without puncture protection I believe most of those would eventually work their way through the casing. The liner in the gatorskins keep them from doing any damage.

I think it's kind of condescending to post on forum full of pretty experienced riders and assume that they can't tell a puncture flat from a pinch flat from some other cause.

I read the post you replied to:

as saying that he hasn't had a flat in 3 yrs after switching to puncture resistant tires.

jackb

So after all the reading, I decided on the original Schwalbe Marathons. As winter has already set in--snow and cold here in Montana-I won't get a chance to try them for some time. Perhaps a 50 degree day will come along and I'll get out on them and report back. Thanks for all the responses.

seamuis

seamuis

DrIsotope

Prior to a switch to tubeless, my wife was experiencing a flat every other ride. And seeing as she can, in the best circumstances, ride twice a week, this was unacceptable. On one 60 mile ride, between just 2 riders, there were 5 flats. We all ran out of tubes and Co2s. At the time having the only bike with tubeless, I had to ride the rest of the way home and get the car.

I converted her bike to tubeless in August of 2017. Since that time, over roughly 2,000 miles, she has not recorded a single flat. I've pulled goatheads out of my tires before making it even to the end of my street. Without tubeless, I can say with some certainty I would get 2 or more flats per week.

seamuis

Clyde1820

The likelihood is primarily a question of the roadways and level of threats (glass, nails, etc) on them, and secondarily what I as a cyclist can do to minimize the likelihood.

On the roads I travel, the risk is fairly extreme on several of the roads, and modest on many of them. I choose to be fairly cautious in avoiding any visually-identifiable impediment on the roadway, if I've got the time and it's safe to do so. I also happen, at the moment, to have a fairly well-protected tire, which certainly helps.

Haven't always used high-protection tires. At which point, on the same basic roads and sections with similar levels of impediments (glass and whatnot), I experienced a handful of puncture flats.

If the junk on the roadways was much less, I'd likely feel I could get away with a leaner-and-meaner tire. Until then ...

Clyde1820

Yes. Previously, I tended to get a couple of puncture flats every year or so, from crud in the streets. Notably nails, small screws, glass.

But not since I got this set of Conti Ride Tour tires. Beasts, to be sure. Heavier than they probably need to be. But the tread handles the mixed-grip situations I need to cope with, and the added protection layer seems pretty darned effective at keeping punctures out.

robert schlatte

I use supple, comfortable tires in the warm weather months and flat resistant ones in the cold time of year. I don't want to have to change a flat with frozen fingers.

wphamilton

My thoughts exactly. Not only for flats, but the more flat resistant are also more durable and the debris and weather conditions tend to wear my tires down quickly this time of year. Going slower in the cold, I don't really care about rolling resistance. So I can use inexpensive tires, another bonus of that perspective.

seamuis

Clyde1820

But likelihood of experiencing a flat comes from a variety of factors. Including how a person rides, how visual a person is and diligent in avoidance of what can be avoided, etc. Which also changes as the weather/season changes (as in, I can't be as diligent during inclement weather as compared to normal).

Anyway. Yes, I do better-protected tires. And I ride the same, and on the same streets with similar crud, much of the year. And there has been an elimination (so far) of puncture flats since going to the better-protected tire. So far as I can tell, no other change in riding characteristics (attentiveness and whatnot).

In the end, it's impossible to know, either way. Works for me. Might well work for others. Hence the data point.

clengman

1) A rider riding without puncture protection gets flats. Same rider riding in the same conditions with puncture resistant tires doesn't get flats and your conclusion is that the puncture resistant layer isn't helping to avoid flats? Intriguing.

2) You use puncture resistant tires yourself, but you keep going on and on about how no one should really need puncture resistant tires? Intriguing.

seamuis

KraneXL

Its not a simple question over one being better than the other. Rather, that there are pros and cons to each depending on the type and location of riding you do. If your main concern is speed then you chose the lighter tire. However, if you're primarily a commuter, and you ride on bad roads than you can better believe the advantage will go to the puncture resistant (PR) tire.

Of course there are many reasons to why people get flats, and no PR tire will protect you from all of them. However, its has been my experience that flats occur a lot less often with PR tires than without.

BTW, if I only road on smooth well-maintained roads or had a racing specified bike, I'd choose a lighter, faster tire. However, LA has some pretty beat-up roads with broken concrete and I have run over nails, screws and glass shards that dug well into the tread but did not result in a flat. I need a tire that can take this punishment. So for my riding, the advantage goes to PR.

wolfchild

I choose tires with flat protection, it's better to be prepared than to be fixing flats on the side of the road. Some people in this thread greatly exaggerate when they say that tires with flat protection handle like crap and have too high of a rolling resistance.

DIY masochist

Seriously. I carry a tube and pump, but I basically don't want to have to fix a flat ever. Ever since I put Schwalbe Marathons on my bike 2 years ago, I haven't had to. Before that, I had a folding gravel tire on the back and got 4 flats in 2 weeks of riding around Philly. The way I deal with rolling resistance is by getting stronger legs. Problem solved.

Oso Polar

This is the thing: you got 4 flats in 2 weeks and now you *know* that you need better puncture protection. However, if all someone have ever used were heavy bulletproof tires, how will he know that he really needs them? He may be paying penalty on every ride for nothing.

IMHO an idea that everyone needs super puncture resistant tires is ridiculous, it all depends on the road conditions. No sane person will advise anyone to get a FS mountain bike for riding perfectly paved roads only, it just makes no sense. The same with the tire choice, the only difference is that one can easily tell which road is good for road bike and which one will require FS MTB - and one can't know what level of puncture protection is really needed unless one tries different tires (or has friends that have done the same and are riding in the same area).

Witterings

If you had stronger legs and less rolling resistance imagine how fast you'd go :-)

Don't worry though I'm in your camp of thought ... hate flats!!

Clyde1820

It's easy enough to query friends and others about the relative risk of crud in the roads along one's chosen route. Or, to even see for oneself, based on what's there.

True, one won't know the actual likelihood until traveling that route. But one can get a good idea.

Retro Grouch 

If you regularly ride with a particular group of people, check out what kind of tires they use. If it's a group that rides together a lot, you'll probably find that they graduate to the same thing. Get the same thing.

I don't know if they'll be any better or not but, if you ever have a puncture while on a group ride, you won't have to put up with the lecture about what crappy tires you use while everybody is standing around waiting for you to fix your flat.

Dave Mayer

Wow - there is a whole bunch of angst in this thread over preventing flats. No matter what tires you're on you'll be carrying a spare tube and air, so why constantly suffer riding on tractor tires?

For me, 28mm tires are the upper end of what I need, regardless of the road/riding conditions. And yes, the fat 28s on 500 gram clincher rims do ride like a tractor compared to the 23mm tires on carbon tubular rims that I love to ride.

I spent most of 2018 riding on 25mm tires on dirt and crappy chip-seal roads close to the Arctic Circle. No flats. No angst.