Flat tyres!!!

1) Run a pair of "puncture resistant" tyres with or without sacrifice in other performance parameters eg. Conti Ultra GatorSkin, GP4000 amongst other brands.
2) Wipe down and examine your tyres after each ride. Pick out those embedded glass/metal fragments.
3) Make sure your tyre pressures are correct to minimize the risks of pinch flats.

Last year I started getting flats at the rate of about one (or more) a month, whereas previously I might have gotten one a year. I checked all the obvious potential culprits, but could find nothing to account for it (no burr on the wheel, hole in the tire, foreign matter stuck in the tire, etc.). After about six months of this, it struck me that my problem seemed to start about the same period of time when I got a Joe Blow pump, which is an atomic bomb of a pump. It enabled me to pump the tires up to about 110 or 115 psi (or more, though I didn't), instead of in the 90s like before.

So I started riding (training) on pressure reduced down to about 100, and the flats stopped. So, at least in my case, 10 psi made a big difference. This might not a factor at all in your case, but it's worth considering.

sogood said:

1) Run a pair of "puncture resistant" tyres with or without sacrifice in other performance parameters eg. Conti Ultra GatorSkin, GP4000 amongst other brands.
2) Wipe down and examine your tyres after each ride. Pick out those embedded glass/metal fragments.
3) Make sure your tyre pressures are correct to minimize the risks of pinch flats.

4) Be lucky.

Luck has a lot to do with it, last year I got my first flat in July, this year I've had 10 flats already.

I'd suggest that you are due for new tyres and tubes. Buy good puncture resistant tyres and be lucky.

mikesbytes said:

Luck has a lot to do with it, last year I got my first flat in July, this year I've had 10 flats already.

I'd suggest that you are due for new tyres and tubes. Buy good puncture resistant tyres and be lucky.

Luck and timing. Rain increases the odds of a flat. Here, we have a monsoon, so for three months of the year we have cactus needles, glass, nails, goatheads, and other fun sharp edged stuff being washed out on the road. Last year, during the monsoon, I flatted 10 times in a two week period, on both tubies and clinchers. The rest of the year, it's a crapshoot.

One thing you can do to help yourself is continue to scan the road surface. Paying attention to things on the road will help avoid quite a few flats.

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wineandkeyz said:

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Brandyman said:

What the hell is bump?

You know.....

[img]t-nation.com946629.1140868781345.bump.jpgOpen ↗[/img]

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