Joe Minton

Not mentioned so far is the Panaracer “Flataway” tire liners. These are Kevlar mats that are remarkably difficult to penetrate. I could not get a Goathead thorn through one no matter how I tried. Even a sewing needle held in my vice would barely penetrate the mat, using a lot of force I might add.

They are very light (38g) and adhere to the inside of the tire. Shops are not keen to install them because they are fiddly. They can be reused by spraying a light coat of contact cement to renew their adhesive qualities. They are a bit costly, going for nearly $20 each but last forever & do not damage tubes.

I have them in my Schwalbe 50x622 “Big Apple” and 50x559 “Kojak” tires. They did not affect the excellent ride qualities of these tires in any way I could determine.

Time does march though: I just fitted a pair of the new Schwalbe “Big Ben Plus HS 439” tires to my wife’s bike. These tires have Schwalbe’s latest anti-puncture technology and I suspect they will perform nearly as well as the more fiddly Flataway liners.

One clear advantage of the Flataways is that one can use them to ‘convert’ any tire to near-puncture proof status.

Joe

An Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Panaracer-Fla...way&th=1&psc=1

deegentim

cyccommute:
I work at the Ft Collins Bike COOP and we have lots of other tires I could burn. How many would it take to avoid burning up my Randonneurs?

DiabloScott

The vine is also resistant to most herbicides, and thrives when the road workers cut back all the competing vegetation.

restlessswind

Early this week, I made a grave mistake of cutting around a road block on the grass at a park. When I came back to the street, I was engulfed in goatheads! I lost count on the front wheel at 50 (1/3 around the wheel.)
I was fortunate to have Mr. Tuffy's. They did not leave me stranded. I was able to pluck all the heads off, finish my ride to work (11 mi one way, and park is at mid-point). At lunchtime, I had a flat rear.I still had a handful of thorns stuck in the sidewalls. I ended up having my wife pick me and my bike up. When I got home, the front was soft. A goat thorn actually made penetration through the Tuffy liner.
I spent the greater part of my evening pulling "stingers" out of both tires. The evening ended up with pinch flats on new tubes. My fingers were so sore by the end of the night.
Note to self----STAY OFF THE GRASS!

canklecat

Yup! Probably a form of cockleburr. There seem to be many variations. I still see the oval shaped form with shorter spines but it's been years since I've seen the really vicious type here in North Central Texas. Mebbe the fire ants, nutria or one of our many other invasive species ate 'em all.

CliffordK

Thanks for all the comments and thoughts.

If it was just me, I'd probably go with a latex sealant, but since it requires maintenance, I'm not sure it is time yet. Wait a few years until my nephew is a little older. I did try slime in my nephew's 24" bike, and that is still a possibility, although I've never really liked the green slime.

I'll probably go with the 25mm or 28mm Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires for the road bike. And, the Michelin Protek Cross Max if I do a Cross bike.

Those Panaracer Flataway liners look good.

And, maybe consider the tire wipers too... hit all the bases.

restlessswind, those thorns are exactly what my niece's bike looked like the last time I was up there. So, I spent some time picking out the big ones, as well as all the thorns that had broken off.

CliffordK

We've got some of those coclkeburs. Plants with large leaves? But so far they don't seem to bother the bikes, but I don't do a lot of off-road cycling around them. I also have a gumwood tree. Its seeds also look vicious, but so far they don't really seem to bother anything. Squirrels?

cyccommute 

It's even worse if you try to fool the Goathead Gods! You could endanger us all, you fool!

cyccommute 

The plant actually competes poorly with other plants but thrives in disturbed soils. I've read that the seeds can also lay fallow for up to 50 years and still sprout when the conditions are right.

Nasty little buggers!

canklecat

Heh! That's exactly how I've gotten many flats. Those were all with my hybridized mountain bike wearing Continental Speed Rides. Great tires but only a thin puncture shield. Got half a dozen flats last fall and winter cutting through grassy areas and picking up burrs.

The Michelin Protek Cross Max tires ignore that stuff, but they weigh three times what the Conti Speed Rides weigh. Everything is a compromise.


Get some mosquito hemostats from a military surplus outlet or Micro-Tools. Among other things they're great for plucking tiny thorns, shards of glass and other stuff that gets stuck in tires, especially the sipes between the tread blocks. Better than most tweezers. The mosquito hemostats have a tiny needle nose, textured gripping surface and can clamp down on the tiniest bit of stuff.

CliffordK

I like the leather punch on my Swiss Army knives. I can easily probe the bottom of holes with them. Glass has a unique "feel", and I can usually quickly dig out stuff like thorns, glass, or even those radial wires (although small pliers can help for wires, also on my Swiss Army knives).

And, I don't think I do much damage to the tires.

The problem is if one gets a badly abused tire. I got a cross bike with a used tire on it that must have had 500 pieces of glass in it . And, cleaning my Nephew's and Niece's tires from goatheads and goathead thorns when we went riding earlier took a while

TallRider

One reason I use sealant in my tubes instead of a kevlar-belted tire is that more-puncture-resistant tires tend to be stiffer, which means
a) less comfortable ride, since the tire doesn't deform as easily over road imperfections
b) slower ride, since the deformation of a stiffer tire takes more energy

I should have mentioned this in my previous post.

DiabloScott

That's what I was saying. The tall grasses next to the trail keep the goatheads in check. When the trail maintenance people mow the tall grasses, the vines go crazy.

cyccommute 

Just clarifying.

It usually takes more than just mowing the grass. Grass and vegetation removal are ideal conditions for goatheads. They thrive here in the cracks of bike path pavement and on sidewalks. Newly installed bike paths are probably the worst.

Most roadways here have the vegetation scrapped away from the pavement about 1 to 2 fee by road crews "pulling shoulders" which makes it ideal conditions. I never roll my bike off a road unless I look around a whole lot and even then I might carry my bike.

79pmooney

The sweeping CO does it the day before we get there. It has reduced goathead flats radically. We now leave the road with clean tires. As long as we don't ride until we return, there has been no great force to drive the goatheads we picked up at the lunch stop in. Every one i have brushed off came of easily. I've had one flat in a couple of CO goathead weeks and that one was when I forgot to brush off before I started,

Sweeping the roads as CO does it is very effective. (You can ask the support mechanics who have been there more than 5 years. They remember that nightmare year.)

Ben