Punctures
- Thread starter Fatty999
- Start date
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Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
What type of riding are you doing and what tyres are you using?
Are you inflating the tyres to the right pressure and are you sure you are removing the thorns when you fix the puncture?
Are you inflating the tyres to the right pressure and are you sure you are removing the thorns when you fix the puncture?
Supersuperleeds
Legendary Member
- Location
- Leicester
Slap some marathon plus tyres on it and make sure they are pumped up properly and you will be fine
sleuthey
Legendary Member
- Location
- South Gloucestershire
I do a 12 mile round trip for my commute, mainly urban roads not country roads, I have used Vittoria Randonneurs for 5 years without s single puncture. There will be a lot of recommendation on here though for Schwalbe M+.
PaulSB
Legendary Member
- Location
- Chorley, Lancashire
I've ridden Continental Gatorskins, as do many friends, for probably 15 years. Yes I get the odd puncture but nothing to complain about. I once went seven years without a problem.
I would recommend changing to Gatorskins but first make sure you are riding with your tyres correctly inflated. Get a track pump with a pressure gauge. Spend two minutes checking before every ride. Under inflated tyres are a magnet for every sharp object on the road!!!
I ride about 7,000 miles pa mainly on country lanes and back roads. I get perhaps one puncture a year at most.
I would recommend changing to Gatorskins but first make sure you are riding with your tyres correctly inflated. Get a track pump with a pressure gauge. Spend two minutes checking before every ride. Under inflated tyres are a magnet for every sharp object on the road!!!
I ride about 7,000 miles pa mainly on country lanes and back roads. I get perhaps one puncture a year at most.
froze
Über Member
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
Your first line of defense is the tires of course, so you have to find tires that won't let something like thorns get it down. However as the puncture resistance goes up so does the tire's weight, so you need to hopefully find a happy medium. A really great happy medium tire is the Specialized Roubaix Pro, I use this tire and so far after 3 years of use and about 1,200 miles on my commuter and another 2,000 miles on my main bike I have yet to have a flat or even a cut. Another good tire is the Continental Gator HARDSHELL, this one is a lot tougher than the Gatorskin which for me didn't work that well, in addition they don't perform well on wet roads. Another tire is the Schwalbe Durano Plus HS464, this one is a new tire so it has not had any reviews or tests done to see just how effective this tire will be against flats. On my touring bike I use only Schwalbe Marathon GreenGuard, this tire wears like iron, nothing will penetrate it, has great traction in all weather, but it's heavy which seems like a big deal till you find out that it has lower rolling resistance than any touring tire on the market, I have 3,000 miles on this tire without a flat or cut
Second line of defense would be to buy a tire liner, the best one is the RhinoDillo Tire Liner, it's reusable as well; but a lighter weight one is the Panaracer Kevlar Flat Away, this one weighs a fraction of the other liners but it's not reusable.
Third line of defense is the tube, but more specifically what goes in the tube meaning some sort of sealant. Slime does not work with high pressure tires so that one is out for road bikes. What's weird is that the best sealant is the same stuff you would use in a tubeless tire! and the sealant that won all tests was Stan's No Tubes Racing sealant, and this stuff works fantastically in tubed tires as well, in fact it works BETTER with tube tires because it will last 6 months before having to reapply it otherwise with a tubeless tire you have to do it every 3 months.
The last line of defense is the tube, you could try using thorn resistant tubes but those are heavy so why bother adding more weight? I would just use a standard tube and use the sealant.
Another odd little thing which works sometimes is something called the Flint Catcher or also known as a tire wiper or tire savers. They are cheap, see: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Bicycle-Ti...noa=1&pg=2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100623.m-1 Easy to install just make sure they face the front of the bike so that they trail the tire, if you go the opposite of trailing the tire it can bend and fold up under the fork or wherever, so make sure it can't be bent back by making sure it trails the tire, and they need to be adjusted so that they just ever so slightly touch the tire, they should not be putting any pressure on the tire at all, just skimming the top of the tire. These things will catch thorns, glass etc and the pull the offending object out of the tire before the tire rotates again the second time driving the object deep into the tire.
Now this is what you should do with my information, do one thing at a time, like get new tires, ride them and see if you get too many flats you're not comfortable dealing with; then add a liner and see by what percentage of flat frequency you get; then go with the sealant; if still getting to many flats than add the Tire Saver. I have a pretty good feeling that once you get the tires on you probably won't have to go to any further, but if not then use the liner, and those two should pretty much make flats a thing of the past.
SkipdiverJohn
Deplorable Brexiteer
- Location
- London
i can certainly recommend Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard or Delta Cruiser+. Marathon seems to roll better out of the two. I have had 4 visits from the P*ncture Fairy in two years, one front and one rear in the same type of cheap Far East hybrid tyre, one rear (small sharp thorn from woods) in a cheap knobbly MTB tyre, and one rear in a Michelin Club Tourist road tyre. Zero visits from the Fairy so far to any of my Schwalbes. Mile for mile, Marathon is probably the cheapest tyre money can buy, because they last so long. Mine have got no visible wear on them whatsoever.
I've experimented with tyre liners on unprotected MTB tyres, and they seem to work if fitted properly, which means rounding off the corners/edges and ensuring the liner stays in position. I've stuck mine in using double-sided adhesive tape, and I'd also recommend running double inner tubes; i.e. slit open a scrap one along its inner circumference, cut out the valve and place it between the tube and the carcass so the liner doesn't abrade the tube you want to keep the air in!
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cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
each to their own i found gators a bit poor used to get 6-8 punctures a year on a similar commute 10 miles each way on counry lanes and a glass strewn cycle path
I now use vittoria zaffiros pros and had 2 in a whole year which is good for me .
cyberknight
As long as I breathe, I attack.
- Location
- Land of confusion
Does the OPs bike support tubeless ?
i doubt the wheels on a standard hybrid will be tubeless compatible ?
marathon plus and slime inner tubes should cover it .
i doubt the wheels on a standard hybrid will be tubeless compatible ?
marathon plus and slime inner tubes should cover it .
froze
Über Member
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
I forgot to mention that my Marathon Greenguards after 3,000 miles look like they can roll for at least another 3,000 because they don't look worn at all. Thanks for bringing that up because it's important to know that these tire wear like iron, they don't cost much to buy but the cost per mile is dirt cheap. I too tried several other touring tires that were the higher rated variety and they simply don't cut the mustard. I do carry a Panaracer Pasela Tourguard tire as a spare when I tour because this a lightweight touring tire, but it's only for emergencies and I need to put a tire on to get to the next bike shop to get a better tire. My Pasela Tire is an older version they now call it just Pasela and it's about 1/2 the weight of the Schwalbe, which when on a fully loaded bike might be able to run maybe 2,500 miles before it would be worn out, but it's the flat protection that has me concerned because it's lighter construction. If I had a flat on the rear Schwalbe I would remove the front Schwalbe and put it on the rear, and put the Panaracer tire on the front. Those Panaracer Pasela tires are very good tires when you consider how light they are.
The tire liner that I mentioned called the RhinoDillo Tire Liner has one end with a soft edge which when placed in the tire is the edge that is against the tube, this prevents the liner from rubbing away at the tube over miles and putting a hole in the tube like the Mr Tuffys can do if you don't sand one edge down to a thin edge. I learned to sand the edge of a Mr Tuffy after I got a flat caused by the liner! But RhinoDillo liner is a all around better liner anyways than the Mr Tuffy.
I do use a Rhinodillo liner in my rear tire on my touring bike that has the Schwalbe Marathon Greenguard on, I did this because of two reasons; one was I had never used the tires before so wasn't sure of their ability to ward off flats; and the second reason was repairing a flat on a rear of touring bike fully loaded with fenders is a pain, I rather not do it if I can help it, so I added the liner to reduce the odds of getting flats, I didn't put one on the front because there are no panniers on the front just a fender and so it's a lot easier to fix a flat, plus front flats are rare anyways.
I don't buy into the double tube thing, that will weigh as much as a Rhinodillo liner and be far less effective. I guess the only advantage of the double tube thing is the cost, used tube is virtually free, so if money is a problem then ok but it won't work near as good as a liner.
froze
Über Member
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
If this is a high pressure road tire slime inner tubes do not work, they will only seal leaks once the psi drops below 65 anything above that and the slime is just blown out of the hole. Stans sealant works a lot better than Slime in high psi tires.
froze
Über Member
- Location
- Fort Wayne, Indiana
By the way, there is a new anti flat product on the market, but right now it's in limited sizes, it's looks promising but I think it's too heavy, anyway as an optional thing to look at see: https://tannusamerica.com/collections/hybrid-commuter/products/tannus-armour?variant=31125075034223