Originally Posted by
MattTheHat
Tubeless road tires have basically solved flats for me. I had two or three flats over a two or three day period that did it for me. I've now got over 40,000 tubeless miles. I've suffered many, many dozens of punctures that sealed without intervention. (I can tell by sealant goo on the rear triangle of the bike when I wash it.). Three or four punctures didn't seal completely, but two of them were HUGE. There have been two calls of shame. This all on thin-wall "racing" tires.
I'm glad that tubeless is working for you! I may go that route someday, if I can afford it and can increase my miileage. I've had 4 or 5 flats in 12,500 miles with tubes - NOT running heavy tires, Gatorskins, tire inserts, Slime or anything crazy. I ride about 85% paved roads (complete with potholes, gravel, debris, cracks, etc), about 10% mixed surface greenways and about 5% gravel and dirtpack - I don't/can't ride on soft surfaces like sand, mud, loose dirt with my tires.
Worse case I'm averaging about one flat every 2,500 miles or so, which for me equals approximately the most I've ever ridden in a year. If I was racking up miles the way you do, three, four, five flats a year would drive me insane! But since I'm not - unfortunately - then I can live with one flat every year or so.