road bikes with skinny tyres and commuting

[galaxy1]

....just don't go together!

while the f**king thing is working it's a joy to ride but that's two punctures in as many weeks and this second ones left a massive gash in the tyre as well.It may as well have been made of cheese.
I have a galaxy as well with marathon plus tyres .It weighs a tonne but in over two years commuting I've never suffered ONE puncture. So I can only conclude that for commuting every day skinny road tyres are shoot!!!

And now I have to take the bus home , I'm not impressed

 

[jimboalee]

Well I commute 28 miles each day on Conti UltraGatorskin 23mm.

The last P* was in Feb 08.

I have to renew the tyre due to wear before I have to fix a flat.

I have to periodically take the rear wheel out and rotate the spindle 90' in the dropouts to unify the cone wear.

I have to sit with the bike inverted and pick pieces of glass, swarf and thorns out of the rubber.


Now I've said all this, wait till tomorrow

 

[MadoneRider1991]

i commute on a road bike with bontrager race X lite AC tyres on about 30miles a day and have no problems

 

[Dan B]

Well I commute 28 miles each day on Conti UltraGatorskin 23mm.

Rather you than me: in my experience they'd as soon go sideways as forwards on any kind of wet surface. Michelin Krylion FTW

 

[Goffins]

I use da da dum.... Conti Ultra sports {700 x 23} and I've done 500 miles without a puncture but I got two in my first week of commuting.

First was down to shard of glass as I was riding too close to the road side crap, second was my ineptitude in fitting a new inner tube, where I twisted the tube during install and it split {after a couple of days} at the valve which is what I would expect it to do seeing as I'm thick.

I always make sure to keep my tyres nice and solid, they tend not to collect all the crap that way {plus you go faster}

 

[thomas]

From experience, it's the tyres you've got on, not the type of bike/size of tyres. The ones my Allez had as default were crap - punctures every single bike ride! The new ones, cant' remember exactly what they are (bontrager maybe) and the amount of punctures has gone down drastically.

 

[Wigsie]

I commute 18 miles each way and like yaphet thomas I have an Allez and have th Specialized Mondo Pro tyres. Although I have had an unexpected deflation twice and both times were my fault, twisted the valve too much and sheared and secondly installed an inner tube with a blister on it instead of going to LBS and getting more inner tubes. Done around 500 miles on them so far.

Have picked a few shards of glass out every now and again but fingers crossed been fine.

 

[Randochap]

All tyres are not created equal, but there's no reason you should get more punctures on a good 23mm tyre than any other, unless it's a crap tyre.

Comfort and safety is another issue altogether though. A wide tyre will be more comfortable and you have to worry less about uneven surfaces and potholes. And, contrary to popular belief, wider tyres aren't necessarily any slower.

 

[Aperitif]

700 x 25 M+ for me and, prior to that 700 x 25 Gatorskins...faster, slippier and prone to more punctures. Keep the pressure up. Always.

 

[palinurus]

I haven't had a proper puncture using either 23 or 25 mm Armadillos since Oct 2005 (once I noticed my tyre was flat when I was leaving work, but after changing the tube I couldn't find the hole in the one I removed so that one doesn't count). I use them on both my main commuting bikes, around 5000 miles/ year.

The only punctures I've had have been on the cross bike (knobbly 35 mm tyres, several in the last year and I don't do much mileage on it. None of them were pinch flats)

 

[gavintc]

I use Conti 4000s on my commuter - no exceptional punctures for me. Indeed, in 2 yrs commuting with these tyres, I have only repaired 2 at the roadside - many thousands of miles.

 

[goo_mason]

Schwalbe Stelvios have done me proud - only two unexpected deflations in a year, and given the crap on Edinburgh's roads that's pretty good going !

The Kendas that came on the bike were worse than useless. A puncture every other day - even the tiniest fleck of glass went straight through them.

 

[Woz!]

Until today I'd have been one of the ones saying they're fine - nothing in about 500 miles from my mid-range 700x28's...until today. When I got three flats in one journey

 

[MrGrumpy]

I suspect tyres not inflated enough, I ride on Mich pro2, I`m sure my next set will be pro3, no big issues with these but then the route i cycle is good quality surface with no broken glass etc.

 

[galaxy1]

I left the bike at work last night and got the bus home . Had a look this morning and theres a nice big gash in the tyre not just a little hole. Theres a bit of a cycle path on my ride which is never ever swept (that's York council for you) which is covered in road debris , broken glass,sharp stones etc and has been for ages. It connects stockton lane to sandhutton (where I work) via the A64 so i have to use the damn thing. I'll have a look at some of the tyres mentioned here but at the moment I'm sorely temped just to get rid of the thing and maybe look into an audax tourer/road bike with proper tyres