Puncture proof tyres

[Pottsy-Too]

Sorry to have mentioned the dreaded "P" word so early in my Cycle-Chat career. I'm thinking of commuting to work again. It's a 12½ mile journey each way. I'm a self-confessed idle, out-of-shape, complete cycling amateur.

I tried cycling into work and back, a year ago, but gave-in. I think the devil has got it in for me. As I was the unfortunate victim of MANY punctures. This regular occurance eventually took it's toll

I'm now want to return to cycling, but do not want to become the devil's laughing boy again! For a long time, i've joked about getting solid bike tyres. But recently, i've genuinly been looking at "so called" puncture proof tyres. I saw an ad on Ebay that contains a video of these.

I've been looking at verious manufacturers of these such as Amerityre or Greentyre . A work friend of mine recommended Cycle-Chat as a good place to get other cyclist's oppinions. Any of you good people got any experience/opinions/etc with these puncture proof tyres?

 

[DLB]

you will likely get loads of different opinions to your question.
FWIW i have continental contacts on my road bike and armadillos on my hybrid. Both are excellent at being 'pun***** proof'

 

[rich p]

I've put Schwalbe Stelvios on £50 a pair and they feel bullet proof -slightly heavier but worth it for the extra protection. So far so good after 3 weeks use!

 

[Amanda P]

I've not tried them, but I have read reviews of puncture-proof tyres of various kinds.

If they're truly puncture proof, it's generally because they aren't inflated like a regular tyre, so thorns and the like do no harm. However, this type can be barstewards to fit, are generally heavy, which affects the handling of the bike, and don't roll as easily as proper tyres. So probably not reccomended for a 25 mile round trip.

The other type are things like Schwalbe Marathon Plus. These have a really thick layer of tough stuff sandwiched between the casing and the tread. They're heavier than regular tyres, but probably as close to being puncture proof as you can get and still roll something like a normal tyre.

I (and a lot of people) run regular Marathon tyres. I rarely get punctures, which suggests you're either unlucky or perhaps you need to take a bit more care?

Here are some hints:

Pump 'em up good and hard. Use a pressure guauge and you may be surprised to find how hard full inflation pressure is. The bike will go faster with tyres pumped hard as well.

When you arrive at work or at home, lift the bike with one hand, spin a wheel with the other and then let the tyre run through your hand gently. This will help you find bits of flint, glass, thorns and so on lodged in the tyre. Then you can pick them out before they work their way through to pierce the tube.

Watch where you ride. If you avoid the gutter or the edge of the road where thorns get left by those tractor-mounted flail mowers, you can avoid 90% of the stuff that causes punc... erm, catastrophic deflation events.

Carry one or two spare inner tubes. It's much quicker to switch tubes than to fix a puncture. (Make sure you remove whatever it was that caused the damage from the tyre before you fit the new tube though - or you'll have another puncture in the same place from the same spikey thing). Fix the punctured tubes at your leisure when you get home. Or, if you're wealthy, bin 'em and buy new ones.

Actually, if you're not used to it, a 25 mile commute is quite ambitious anyway. Go for it, but maybe one or two days a week to start with.

One of my colleagues likes to cycle in, but it's too much to do both ways in one day. So he puts his bike in the car and drives in on Monday morning. Then he cycles home Monday night. Come Tuesday morning, he can't wimp out of cycling to work - he's left his car there - so he has to cycle in to work. But then he has the option of driving home or cycling, depending on how he feels, what the weather's doing and so on.

You could try something similar to break yourself in gently.

 

[Ranger]

I had a very similar problem to you when I first started commuting on my bike, in fact at one point I was carrying 4 inner tubes and running out some days. I tried slime tubes, slime tyre liners all to no effect and in the end invested in a pair of Schwable Marathon Pluses and for good measure put the tyre liners in as well.

Four years later I began to worry if inner tubes perished as I never had to take the tyres off again (except for the time I rode over some barbed wire). So my suggestion is Marathon Pluses and a set of tyre liners, they may (apparantly, I have nothing to compare with) slow your bike down but not as much as getting a puncture

 

[Tynan]

you probably had old/shoot tyres

most modern commuter tyres have puncture protection, there's no need to go for anything fancy unless you find you need them

schwalbe marathons have seen me fine for six months of proper commuter miles

 

[HLaB]

I've got Continental Contacts on my commuter and I've only had one p###ture on the front and none on the rear in just over 2600mls and I could of avoided that, failed to see the broken bottleneck in the middle of the cycle path. I've also got Spesh nimbus on my flat bar road bike (the rears an Armadillo) and Ive just had one, on the rear in the last 2000mls, before that I can't remember. For p###ture protection I like the Armadillo but I'm going to change these however for something more grippy, I've ordered conti 4 seasons.

 

[HJ]

Solid tyres are horrible, that is why the pneumatic tyre was invented, the is no need to turn the clock back a 150 years. You don't say what size of wheel you are using to it harder to recommend which tyre is right for you, but I swear by (and not at) Conti Gator Skins. I no longer worry about glass strewn urban streets in commute over, as it is over two years since last had to change a tube and that is riding pretty much every day. Also consider Schwalbe Marathons...

 

[frog]

Schwalbe Marathon Supreme. Got a pair in June last year and have done around 4000 miles on them. Back one hit a pot hole at about 25 mph yesterday morning and the inner cloth has torn. Having said that I rode a further 20 miles on it and hardly noticed the difference.

When it came to taking it off the rim hardly any air was left in the tube but the bike still rode well. I've ordered a replacement.

There aren't the ranges of sizes with this particular model as there with the others but I look on them as money well spent.

 

[John the Monkey]

I really liked the Bontrager RaceLite XL hardcases I had on my old bike - one unplanned deflation due to a sliver of staple getting through the kevlar belt, and that was it. I ran a Panaracer Pasela TG tire on the back wheel of that bike too, and had nothing other than a pinch flat from hitting a pothole a bit too hard.

One thing mused about on ACF was whether different catastrophic deflation event protection tires were better at different things - people riding in areas where lots of flats were caused by flints liked tires other people didn't, for example. Might be worth heeding local advice a bit.

 

[summerdays]

Another vote for the Schwable Marathon - I've had one "event" - caused by a drawing pin in a year, cycling on roads with glass on near a recycling centre.

 

[Pottsy-Too]

Hi all,

I really do appreciate all of the comments. I think I forgot to mention something. My cycle route is entirely along a canal ...and twice per year (trimming time) it becomes totally hawthorn-strewn. This 12½ mile (each way) perilous journey also often houses a selection of rustic hobos. Miscounting my fear of their manic dogs, they also have a tendency for dropping bottles of beer. Glass bottles should carry a sur-charge of a fiver, refundable on return!!!

I really do HATE punctures!

 

[John the Monkey]

Sounds like Schwalbe Marathon plus is the thing then - they have a thick layer of rubber under the tread (the guy at my bike shop demonstrates them by shoving drawing pins in them - the rubber is too thick for them to penetrate). They're quite a heavy tyre though.

 

[Ranger]

My cycle route is entirely along a canal ...and twice per year (trimming time) it becomes totally hawthorn-strewn

This is exactly what my old commute in the Midlands was like and the hawthorn was causing the problem. The Marathon Plus seemed to solve it and I had the fun of pulling all the thorns out of the tyres once a week, used to amaze me how long some of them were (probably blackthorn to be honest)

 

[fishheads]

i have specialised armadillo on my mtb and have never had a punc----- and hardly ever need any inflation,