Bicycle...and D

This is really pretty simple:

Can anyone tell me if there is a tire, or tube, that is truly puncture proof?
I have the heavy duty tubes with puncture goo added, but the thorns are winning.
27" X 1¼" tires.

Thanks for any and all help.

JayKay3000

Tannus solid tires.

dsbrantjr

No tire is puncture -proof, merely puncture resistant. Once a thorn or whatever gets through the tire carcass no tube will stop it. You might try to see if you can find tires with Kevlar belts in your size.

tyrion

https://www.schwalbetires.com/bike_t...s/marathon_420

Not puncture proof but Schwalbe Marathon has extra protection and comes in 27x1 1/4.

ups

I was thinking the Tannus as well. On their site that didn't look like they come in 27 in. If you could get a 700c wheelset the Tannus or Marathon pluses would work well.

otherwise the 27 by 1 and 1/4 marathons that have been suggested and thick Schwalbe tubes.

Iride01 

Thorn's? It's a road bike, not a mountain bike for riding through the woods.

If you are actually removing thorns from your tires, then I guess that says it all. But if you are just getting punctures and assuming thorns, then there is a lot more to find out. Because a lot of flats aren't even the result of punctures from road debris and other stuff you run over.

Trevtassie

These^^^^^^
Tubes with Slime or a non drying tubeless sealant like finish line.
Checking the tire regularly and picking out broken thorns with a fine screwdriver or pointy thing before they work their way through the tire. That's why the green band in the marathons is good, it gives you some leeway.

Bicycle...and D

In response to a couple of replies. Arizona is cactus country and lots of growth that's not cacti still has thorns.

Bike is being used on roadways or paved walkways and I check for thorns after every ride. Sometimes even in the middle of a ride.

The thorns are generally pretty small but strong and the occasional bigger one gets in...see pic.

The tires are standard issue Kendas but the tubes are Goodyear heavy duty and are Slimed.

Pressure is kept between 85 & 90 P.S.I..

ramzilla

https://www.performancebike.com/mich...93474?v=333740

Andrew R Stewart 

Sounds like you have never ridden is thorn country. There are numerous stories about tourists going through all their spare tubes in a day in some parts of our country. Do you hang out in this forum's Touring sub?

Side bar story- When I had my bike shop in Cleveland in the 1990s we had a large family that lived 2 blocks away as customers. A couple of the kids kept getting thorn flats. I suggested they look at their neighbors front yards and sure enough one had bushes along their driveway with thorns. The kids learned to turn the other way as the rode out their driveway and saved themselves a lot of hassles with flats. Andy.

Trevtassie

Looking at that I reckon the Schwalbes are your best bet, 3mm beats 1mm in terms of protection.

canklecat

Ditto, Michelin Protek. Good, tough and affordable. I've had a set of Michelin Protek Cross Max on my errand bike for about 4 years, never a puncture flat.

Any flats were operator error and neglect -- failing to deburr a valve stem hole, using the wrong rim strip after switching from single to double wall rims, etc. Always from the inside of the tube facing the rim, never through the tire. I've pulled staples, brads, chunks of glass, steel radial tire wires, etc., out of the Protek tires, but never a puncture. The tread has been slashed down to the yellow Aramid fabric puncture shield still no flats or failures.

But the Protek Cross Max has both their thickest tread and thickest Aramid puncture shield. The Protek Urban or whatever they're calling it now would weigh less and roll better.

In somewhat less beefy tires, there's the Schwalbe Marathon Green Guard, and Continental Sport Contact II (I think they renamed it the Contact Speed). The Conti has decent rolling quality, good puncture resistance and good grip in the rain. Not my favorite tire but a good commuter tire for my hybrid. I prefer the Conti Speed Ride but it's available only in 700x42, no typical road bike sizes although it might fit some gravel bikes.

tomtomtom123

The Marathon Plus (with blue strip) has thicker protection than the regular Marathon "greenguard". $20 vs $12 per tire here.

ups

He has 27"/630 wheels. The Plus only available in 622.

Iride01 

Okay, I'll believe you!

Although I've never used them, Continental makes a Gator Hardshell and Gatorskin tires in a 27" x 1 1/4 (32 x 630). Might be hard to find. When I had a 27 inch tire bike, it was a pain trying to find tires for it in the later years. Kenda's were easier to get hold of and they worked well..............at least when not mixed with thorns.

Andrew R Stewart 

I do ride the Gator Skins on a few of my bikes. having said that at work we see "needle shaped objects" weave their way through woven type of barrier protection all the time. More often bits of wire (steel belted auto tire wire I believe) and sometimes nature's thorns. So often that I qualify my claims of flat protection with Kevlar and the like belted tires. Andy

Le Mechanic

The best thing I've found is putting tubeless tire sealant (Stan's, Orange Seal, Bontrager TLR, Etc.) into my inner tubes. I started doing this about a year and a half ago (32-36 miles round trip) on my daily commuter and haven't had a flat since (knock on wood). I've found it works better than the super heavy duty tires that are designed to be "puncture-resistant" and the ride quality doesn't feel like you're riding on a garden hose for a tire! I've made a couple videos of the process and the tires used and such.

WizardOfBoz

I was wondering why no one had mentioned this. Good info.

What about just running tubeless with sealant? Or would that be more susceptible to thorn leaks?

A hint. If you have a leak that you suspect is a thorn, often worth it to take the tire off and invert it (turn it inside out). Then use your fingers to see if there are any protrusions or sharp spots still in the tire. You can also run nylon hose over the inside of the tire to check for thorns and other sharp things (use hose that already have a run in them, not your significant other's favorite pair of pantyhose!) This avoids having the same thorn puncture the tube twice.

Le Mechanic

Tubeless tires are great in mountain bike tires. I've had really good luck with tires down to 32mm wide or so, but tubeless in road tires is still suspect to me. For every person that say they haven't had an issue with road tubeless, there's another that has had nothing but problems.
The main benefit for me putting the sealant into tubes is that I frequently swap tires depending on the situation (dry, rain, snow, ice, Etc.) and it's a lot cleaner having all that goop inside the tube. Plus standard tires are much easier to get on and off if you do have an issue with a puncture orcut tire. It's no fun struggling with trying to remove a tubeless road tire in sub freezing temps (or anytime out on the road for that matter).

Leebo

27 " tires? From like 2 decades ago? Yes I realize they still make them, all the science and product lines have moved on. As said tubeless and a 700 C wheel set. The 700 c are slightly smaller, should be able to fit your frame?
And some kind of marathon tire, they make like 30 should fit the bill.

Bicycle...and D

Slime works to keep a tire from going flat out on a ride. Even with the thorn in the picture, I made it home without a flat. However, little thorns get in the tires quite frequently and when you pull one out, the hole starts oozing Slime and continues to do so until you patch the tube.

Slime, however, does spray out on your hands and rim when checking the air...and the stuff stinks, too.

squirtdad

Slime is not the best sealant. check out orange seal, stans or my fav caffelatex. less effective with high pressure than with lower IME

LesterOfPuppets

For the truly puncture-averse Azironians, the only solution is the belt and suspenders and another belt approach: Gatorskins + Mr Tuffies + removable core tubes with Stans fluid in there.

Use Schwalbe ultra super duper marathon garden hoses if you like, but Gatorskins ride a little better (even they're too garden hosey for my taste)

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...inch-road-tire

I just ride roadie tires (currently Michelin Pro4 with Mr. Tuffies.) Got a puncture in Glendale today, just shrugged, got out the tube and the tire levers, flipped the bike over, and was back on my way in less than 10 mins.

cpach

So the only genuinely flat proof tires are airless tires like Tannus. They have gotten meaningfully better, and they definitely have some legitimate uses, but they are still heavier, more expensive, feel worse, and roll slower than pneumatic tires and are a fair pain in the ass too install. Better puncture resistant tires legitimately help a lot--probably the best you can do is something like Schwalbe Marathons with sealant in the tubes. In my opinion heavy duty tubes do little except be heavier.

If you ever shop for a newer, higher end bike look for something with tubeless compatible tires and wheels, as tubeless does really well with thorn punctures.

Bicycle...and D

Well, I ended up getting what the local shop(s) had to offer.
New Kenda tires with Sunlite super heavy duty tubes and Slime tire liners.

The combination seems like it will be as close to impregnable as anything out there...or so the shop guy claims. My decision was pushed a little by a thumpy front tire. (see pics)

New question: This bike is French, early seventies. Are the threads on the spokes/spoke nipples the same as today's spokes? Can I replace a couple of rounded off nipples with new ones, or do I need to replace the spokes as well. Sorry, not familiar with the terminology for this. Are there numbers/sizes specific to this stuff.