new tires

ride4him said:

My main concern is puncture resistance. I would like all suggestions, good and bad experiences. I ride 80% bad city roads and 20% crushed stone trails with loaded panniers. Thank you

Look at Specialized's line of 700c "Armadillo" tires including:
Infinity Armadillo
Nimbus Armadillo
Hemisphere Armadillo
Crossroads Armadillo

Scotty_Dog said:

Look at Specialized's line of 700c "Armadillo" tires including:
Infinity Armadillo
Nimbus Armadillo
Hemisphere Armadillo
Crossroads Armadillo

Is there one that you personally have had a good experience with?

ride4him said:

Is there one that you personally have had a good experience with?

Based on your concern for puncture resistance, I picked those four because they come in a comparable size to your present tire. The entire Armadillo line is well known for their puncture resistance. I would go to Specialized's website, read the description for each of the armadillo tires, and make a choice based upon your riding habits.

Just my 2 cents, but there are plenty of other tires and opinions to choose from.

Scotty_Dog said:

Based on your concern for puncture resistance, I picked those four because they come in a comparable size to your present tire. The entire Armadillo line is well known for their puncture resistance. I would go to Specialized's website, read the description for each of the armadillo tires, and make a choice based upon your riding habits.

Just my 2 cents, but there are plenty of other tires and opinions to choose from.

Thanks for the info

I have some experience with the Specialized Nimbus Armadillos in a 38 size. I just finished the C&O canal towpath on those with fully loaded panniers. That path can get pretty rough in parts. Tires performed like a champ with no flats.

Mister C said:

I have some experience with the Specialized Nimbus Armadillos in a 38 size. I just finished the C&O canal towpath on those with fully loaded panniers. That path can get pretty rough in parts. Tires performed like a champ with no flats.

I'm not familiar with the c&o towpath. About how many miles would say it was with no flats?

(Warning: Performance Jocks won’t like this)

Next time your sitting in the freezing mud changing a flat tire next to a busy road because you trusted one of the tire liners like Green slime or Mr tuffy or Spin skins remember this story.

I used schwalbe marathon tires (with Kevlar belts and spinskin tie liners) For a year with out any punctures, it looked like they had another years worth of tread on them. Then one day the rear tire developed a bulge when I took it off the wheel I discovered that a piece of glass had torn threw the center of the tread and the tire liner and half way threw the tube which pushed up into the hole. If I hadn’t been using a thorn resistant tube I would not had gotten home with out considerable misery.

Well then I had a wild idea that I could use the marathon tire inside another tire of the same size as an affordable heavy duty tire liner.

I had to cut off the bead (which reduced the weight by half), but it fit the other tire I had. If you want a lightweight liner, use a primo commit with Kevlar belt.

I checked my tires again after several months and found several glass cuts and some even went threw, but non of them went into the second tire!

This won’t protect your outer tire but it will get you home with out the misery factor. I now have 6 tire on my bike and 8 on my trike.

WARNING! Tires are not standardized sizes. A 1.5" primo comet will not fit into a 1.5" schwalbe marathon, but a 1.25-1.35 will. A 1.5" marathon will fit into a 1.75" 70psi marathon and a 1.5" comet will fit into a 1.75" marathon plus. And a 1.5" Michelin transworld city tire may fit into a 1.5" marathon but not the other way around.

The green slime may work for low-pressure tires but all they can do is add thickness, not resistance. The other two have been known to move around and even cut the tires casing threads. There is a goop that will stop punctures but is so motion sensitive that it has to be replaced twice a year.

Specialized Armadillo tires are very puncture resistant but even those have been know to be punctured. They also have a problem with the tread coming off, so they have a lifetime warranty.

I still think they should make a steel belted bicycle tire, Kevlar doesn’t work very well. I looked at industrial tires and saw nothing but a poorly made solid tire whose tread wears fast.

ride4him said:

I just bought a new GT Transeo. The stock tires are WTB All Terainasoarus which I really don't care for. My main concern is puncture resistance. I would like all suggestions, good and bad experiences. I ride 80% bad city roads and 20% crushed stone trails with loaded panniers. Thank you

I would suggest you to buy a Schwalbe tyres. I like the marathon series and big apples. These are great in terms of punctures. Have special kevlar bits belts that protects the inner tube. In the past I also found very good Ritchey tyres (speedmax) ideal for slight mtb and road. It's a type of semi slicks

Love Schwable Marathons

I've had great luck with Scwalbe kevlar tires, 3000 miles of whatever and no flats. Continental Town and Country is also a good tire, but heavy as all get out. Currently running a set of Specialized Nimbus Armadillos (only reasonably good road tire I could get) and haven't had any problems with flats in 1500 miles (1.5 months) only time will tell with these.