4 rides, 3 punctures... I'm about to give up on this lark.

[Phixion]

The standard cheapo tyres (Vittoria Zaffiro Pro II 28c) that came with my bike lasted a good 2 months before I got a puncture, once I did get a puncture it was so bad I had to replace the rear tyre, so decided to swap both for Continental 4000S II 25c.

Now I know these don't have the best puncture protection, but I figured they would be half decent and at least better than the tyres that came with my bike... how wrong could I have been?

Maybe I've just been very unlucky, but on my last 4 rides, I've had 3 rear punctures... the most recent (an hour ago) has put a nice big cut in the rear tyre meaning I need to buy a new one... less than a week after spending almost 100 quid on tyres and innertubes.

So, am I just unlucky? Should I just get some Conti Gatorskins? Will Conti Gatorskins actually reduce my punctures? Should I go back to 28c? Are 25c tyres more puncture prone?

At this rate I might just start going back to the gym and use the cycle machines...

 

[Smurfy]

Specialized Armadillo Elite work very well for me. I've never touched Continental again after bad experiences in the past.

EDIT: 25s are fine if you follow the pressure recommendations

 

[TissoT]

A cut/slice in the Tire is very bad luck ...
I ride on contis GP 4000/conti tubes and never had any ***ues Keep to the recommended pressures check before every Ride and keep out the Gutter

 

[citybabe]

As @tissot says keep the pressure up
I have conti 4000s and never had a problem in over 2 years

 

[Dragonwight]

Another for the GP4000s, the P fairy likes all of us now and again.

 

[Markymark]

Have you checked the tyre thoroughly that there's no debris stuck inside that's still there abd puncturing each time?

 

[400bhp]

Bit of a childish toys out pram attitude.

Punc tures happen. Factors affecting the likelihood of a puncture are type of puncture resistant tyres, riding style, tyre pressure, roads ridden, amount of checking of tyre done after riding.

 

[Phixion]

The tyres and tubes are brand new, pumped to the recommended 110psi.

After each puncture I've found the offending shrapnel; one being glass, another being a very sharp plastic object and the most recent a huge shard of glass that was mixed in with gravel in my local park. It isn't puncturing in the same spot.

What annoys me more is that I avoided my usual route because I didn't want to tempt fate.

You might think my post was a bit childish, but after spending over £100 on tyres and innertubes in the last week alone and now looking at having to spend £30 on another tyre, well... I'm not made of money.

Are Gatorskins going to help? I'm half tempted to try some cheap £10 tyres because if they fail at least I'm not looking at £30 a tyre!

 

[gavroche]

Specialized Armadillo for me too. I seldom have punctures. ( Now what have I said?).

 

[400bhp]

The tyres and tubes are brand new, pumped to the recommended 110psi.

After each puncture I've found the offending shrapnel; one being glass, another being a very sharp plastic object and the most recent a huge shard of glass that was mixed in with gravel in my local park. It isn't puncturing in the same spot.

What annoys me more is that I avoided my usual route because I didn't want to tempt fate.

You might think my post was a bit childish, but after spending over £100 on tyres and innertubes in the last week alone and now looking at having to spend £30 on another tyre, well... I'm not made of money.

Are Gatorskins going to help? I'm half tempted to try some cheap £10 tyres because if they fail at least I'm not looking at £30 a tyre!

So, you're riding through parks on road tyres.

There's the issue.

 

[andyfraser]

I feel for you. A broken wrist and lots of punctures stopped me cycling for over a year a couple of years ago. I realise now that I was using poor tyres on typical cycle paths (so covered in glass). I've been luckier in recent years thanks to my tyre choice (Marathon Plus 28c then 32c on my hybrid for example) and being much more carefully how and where I ride.

I can't help wonder if something has happened in more recent years though. When I was a kid I was a manic on my Grifter. I threw that bike around and treated it like crap. I don't remember having any punctures despite riding over every type of terrain although my dad would've fixed them.

I had a Raleigh Winner for about five years when I was at school and for a couple of years after and that still had the original tyres on it when I replaced it! I fixed a handful of punctures and replaced the tubes a couple of times. All this I'd regularly go out on 60 mile rides on Oxfordshire's roads in the summer without a spare tube. I didn't have a single puncture on those rides.

My next bike, a Raleigh mountain bike, also lasted for several years with the original tyres. I road that bike to work mostly, a six mile round trip with an off road section near the end. Again I didn't pay too much attention to where or how I was riding and again I rarely got punctures.

I don't know whether it was luck, whether tyre quality has gone down or whether road quality has gone down and the amount of debris has gone up but I've easily had way more punctures in the last five years than I had in the first 15 years I spent on a bike and that's with me having over a year off in those five years.

 

[Peteaud]

As @tissot says keep the pressure up
I have conti 4000s and never had a problem in over 2 years

Ive had the same tyres for 6 months and so far so good, no visits from you know who.

 

[User6179]

Ive had the same tyres for 6 months and so far so good, no visits from you know who.

Expect a few now

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

unlucky... I fitted them back in May and have covered +3,500km on them on that bike without incident....
Armadillos I have had in the past and the inner tube perished before the tyre did causing an unexpected incident....
my winter tyres of durano pluses and I have only had 1 incident in over 8,000km of usage...

 

[nickyboy]

It's where you're riding that's the problem. If you ride on the road cars sweep away debris that causes punctures. The only punctures I've had in the past couple of years (about 10,000km) has been as a result of potholes. Don't bother upgrading your tyres, stop riding through the park