Need better tyres. 3 punctures in a month during bin strikes!

[Grant Fondo]

As above, Gators (32c) on for 3 years, zero flats.

 

[T4tomo]

Is there christmas amnesty on calling out zero punctures on my XXX tyres or are you guys just laughing in the face of fate itself?

 

[ianrauk]

I used to exclusively ride Armadillos, puncture protection was pretty good. But I had a spate of the well reported delamination of the tread a while back, so switched over to Durano Plus. Which although has just as good protection, they do roll better,

 

[Alex321]

Is there christmas amnesty on calling out zero punctures on my XXX tyres or are you guys just laughing in the face of fate itself?

I did wonder if I was tempting fate a little

 

[matticus]

Is there christmas amnesty on calling out zero punctures on my XXX tyres or are you guys just laughing in the face of fate itself?

I think they've all been on the sherry.

 

[boydj]

I used Conti GP 4 Seasons for my commute and many longer runs - they're reasonably light and have good puncture protection as well as having good grip.

 

[toffee]

The Armadillos do not have the same degree of flat protection that several Schwalbe models have, but in particular the Marathon Plus, these are so good you can say goodbye to flats which is why Schwalbe claims they're flatless, would I believe that 100%? I don't know, but I have the lessor Marathon Amotion tires that after around 3,800 miles have had zero flats, so I have pretty good faith that the Marathon Plus should be flatless.

Got pluses on our touring bikes. In over 8 years of touring over many thousand of miles we must have had less then 5 punctues. However trying to get one thorn out of the tyre with the temperature just hovering over zero was very painful on my frozen hands.

However I can attest that they do not respond well to over heated rear wheel rims. The tube disintegrated and the tyre split although it held out for another hundred miles or so.

 

[froze]

These are great but just a little too "tready" for me. It's really mostly road. But thanks.

Actually, those Schwalbe tires roll with less rolling resistance than the Specialized Armadillo's despite the tready design!
The old Greengard tire is now called Marathon Plus this tire is the most flat-resistant tire on the market, Schwalbe says flat proof, but that tire is heavy, lighter tires like the Almotion and the Supreme both have lower rolling resistance than the Plus tire. The Almotion is tready but it uses the least watts in rolling resistance of any highly flat resistant tire, thus it would also use less battery power if these are going on an Ebike; so, don't let the tready look make you think it doesn't roll good. If for some reason the tready look is simply a look you don't like then go with the Supreme, it rolls better than the Greengard but not as good as the Almotion, but it is an excellent tire without the tready look.

If neither of those float your boat then take a look at the Panaracer Gravel King, they do make a smooth tread folding Gravel King that is quite robust against flats but not as good as the Schwalbe's mentioned.

If flats really worry you, and you want to all but guarantee a flat, get one of those highly flat-resistant tires like the Almotion, then simply install a pair of Clean Motion Rhinodillos Bicycle Tire liners, these are supposed to work better than the Mr. Tuffy's because they use a two-ply system instead of a one-ply system. On my touring bike, I use the Almotion tires, and I use the Rhinodillo flat liners, a bit an overkill, but I don't want to mess with a flat on a loaded bike if I can help it.

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[Alex321]

I still haven't had a flat on the armadillos. The winter before last I was riding my hybrid on marathon plus. I had one flat in a well over 2000 miles on them.

What I did find with the Armadillos was that they aren't particularly durable. After about 1400 miles, the rear was totally shot - I hadn't really been looking at them much, and got a big unrepairable puncture, which when I looked was probably at least partly accused by the fact it was worn out.

The front last another couple of hundred, but was very obviously badly worn.

I now have marathon+ both front and rear. Those on my hybrid have done well over 2000 miles, and still look to have quite a bit of wear.