Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - How do you prevent flats on a road bike?

Okay - 225 lbs, 6'4" (plus) and 32K miles of commuting on Hybrids and MTBs.

I just got a road bike (poor thing, doesn't know what's in store for it - I kinda feel sorry for it's nice shiny paint and drivetrain - we'll see if it's so happy after it becomes another Oxberger commuter special :eek: ).

Ten miles into my first ride and I get a flat. The tinyest thorn I ever saw let all of my 120lbs of air out in about 2 minutes.

Now on my hybrid and MTB I had great luck with Slime and other such products keeping the air in until I was in the comfort of my work or home (where I could use my nice floor pump). With the MTB I've had great luck with tire liners - they've kept many a thorn or bit if metal tire cord from working a hole in the tube (and let me use the cheapo $2 tubes from performance).

What options for flat-proofing a road bike do I have on a tiny 23 mm tire?

What do you all do to keep the flats to a minimum?

Keeping the tires inflated will prevent pinch flats. Try using a tire with a Kevlar liner like Specialized Armadillo and Continental Gatorskins.

I would say you just had bad luck, I'm 20 lbs lighter on the same tire size and have 1500 miles on the same tubes so far this year. I only run at 90 to 95 psi since reading this article http://www.roadbikerider.com/UArant.htm#The%20Case%20for%20Lower%20Tire%20Pressure

Try using a tire with a Kevlar liner like Specialized Armadillo and Continental Gatorskins.

Yep. Bontrager Hard Case is another good set for this.

Yep. Bontrager Hard Case is another good set for this.

+1 on the Hard Case tires. I use those, keep the tires well-inflated, and have been pretty successful avoiding flats.

Yep. Bontrager Hard Case is another good set for this.

As are the original tire liners, Mr. Tuffys. Stay away from the Slime ones, however. Those cut through my tube in a single ride to work (20 miles) due to a sharp edge on the liner.

...Specialized Armadillo...

EVERY time

For one thing, usually stock tires suck. You mentioned your first ride so I'm thinking new stock tires.

Can you fit tyres larger than 23mm? Say 28's?

I'm fairly sure I could go 25's or 28's but not any larger. I was thinking I'd try the 23's and if they suck I'd move on to 25 and so on.

Thanks for the recommendations - the stock tires are fairly thin/light so I'll be ordering new ones in a few months.

Can you fit tyres larger than 23mm? Say 28's?
Depands on the bike. There is a thread in the Road Cycling forum about a 25mm wide tire not fitting a Scott frame, it rubs the brake bridge. I can't go wider then 23mm on my 2.8 Cannondale, as it rubbed my old RSX front derailluer, but I haven't tried with my new 105 front derailluer.

Okay - 225 lbs, 6'4" (plus) and 32K miles of commuting on Hybrids and MTBs.

I just got a road bike (poor thing, doesn't know what's in store for it - I kinda feel sorry for it's nice shiny paint and drivetrain - we'll see if it's so happy after it becomes another Oxberger commuter special :eek: ).

Ten miles into my first ride and I get a flat. The tinyest thorn I ever saw let all of my 120lbs of air out in about 2 minutes.

Now on my hybrid and MTB I had great luck with Slime and other such products keeping the air in until I was in the comfort of my work or home (where I could use my nice floor pump). With the MTB I've had great luck with tire liners - they've kept many a thorn or bit if metal tire cord from working a hole in the tube (and let me use the cheapo $2 tubes from performance).

What options for flat-proofing a road bike do I have on a tiny 23 mm tire?

What do you all do to keep the flats to a minimum?

Ride a wider tire with larger air volume!!! I had a flat the first week of riding 23mm tires and the same while riding 1.25" tires on my recumbent. For a upright bike, at your weight, you need wider tires if for nothing than to protect your new rims. You might try using those expensive hard skinnies but IMHO you are wasting good money and missing out on a more comfortable ride. And don't let me hear anyone say that a 28mm will slow you down. Big trucks carrying heavy loads have big tires and big cyclers need bigger tires and won't even notice a speed drop, in fact you may ride faster on rougher pavement due to less intense road vibes. Just my opinion after fixing flats on hard skinnies, in the rain, with cold fingers wondering why am I trying to ride these whimpy tires.:rolleyes: :eek:

Ride a wider tire with larger air volume!!!
I agree! Even back in my tri-racing days I ran 25's or 28's depending on how bad the course pavement was.
I'm cruising on 26 x 1.5 semi-slicks right now, and I still out pace some of the 700 x 23 daily riders I see on my commute. Save the high-pressure low-profiles for the lightweight sports car types. A Peterbilt needs big tires.

My plan was to ride the 23mm tires - they won't last long anyway. If I have trouble with too many flats or bad handling I'll move to 25mm tires. More trouble? Move to 28mm. No way could I go higher than 28mm (not even sure I can do 28's).

The link to "lower air pressure" provided by cminter has me thinking I'll drop 5 psi on my front and rear tires each week and see if a problem pops up. Maybe head toward 100 psi and see what happens.

At 120 it's a bone jarring ride for sure.

Really you can't prevent flats. Accept it.
You can reduce them:
Bigger tires.
Industrial heavy duty tires like these (http://schwalbetires.com/bike_tires/road_tires/flatless) jobs.
Run tires at max PSI rated on the sidewall.
Inspect/inflate them frequently.

My plan was to ride the 23mm tires - they won't last long anyway. If I have trouble with too many flats or bad handling I'll move to 25mm tires. More trouble? Move to 28mm. No way could I go higher than 28mm (not even sure I can do 28's).

The link to "lower air pressure" provided by cminter has me thinking I'll drop 5 psi on my front and rear tires each week and see if a problem pops up. Maybe head toward 100 psi and see what happens.

At 120 it's a bone jarring ride for sure.

Do not drop the air pressure, that is the only thing that protects your rims! Get a larger volume tire or stay on smooth roads and avoid sharp objects.

The fact that you experience a "bone jarring ride" is proof that those hard skinnies aren't our cup of tea for serious riding on multi surface roads that exist in the real world.
Racers have team cars with extra wheels following them and they are racing after all and need every tiny advantage possible, plus they often weigh under 160 pounds, so for them, 23 mm or narrower tires are fine. If they had to ride like they did when racers had to maintain their own bikes with no outside help you'd see wider tires again. Look at some of the older photos with riders carrying two spares wrapped around their shoulders and see how wide and puffy the tires were. The roads of course back then were much rougher but the point is, we "civilian riders" are exposed to different conditions than racers of today and should not be riding narrow high pressure tires, if we want to avoid flatting so often, especially if we are big and heavy.
I suspect that your fork hasn't the clearance for a wider tire and that fact is what led me to buying an older steel 27" and converting it to 700c,touring frame off E-bay because I couldn't afford a Rivendell. Now, I notice you can buy a decent, reasonably priced,steel bike (Fuji, Surley, Trek 520, Bianchi etc.) that can take wider tires including fenders and so it makes riding in all weather and all road surfaces a much more practical endeavor for normal people of average or even above average weight and size.
Sorry if I am ranting its just a frustraiting subject for me since I wasted alot of money trying to make myself fit the common "road bike" that seems to be sold in every store across the country until I got re-educated and revisited what I instinctively knew based on my experiences of twenty years ago. The fact is,the bike makers are starting to wise up and offer more sensible practical bikes and thats a good thing.:)

Ten miles into my first ride and I get a flat. The tinyest thorn I ever saw let all of my 120lbs of air out in about 2 minutes.

I used to have "tyre scrapers", loops of wire attached to the front and rear forks that skimmed the tyre. The idea was that they'd knock off any slivers of glass or thorns you picked up before they got driven into the tube. Of course, it wouldn't help if you ran over a tack or the like, but it would if it's something that gets caught in the tread and doesn't actually penetrate till you've done a few revolutions.

Am 6' 1" 223lbs commuting on a Jamis Aurora......running Schwalbe Marathons 700x28's...I keep the rear at 95 psi and the front at 90 psi......no flats in the last 1300 miles......before that I got about 600 miles on Gatorskins before industrial staples dropping from construction trucks got my sidewalls on both front and back...(within 3 days of each other) staples did not penetrate the Kevlar, but ripped the sidewall open.......ran a stock tire while waiting for the Schwalbe's to arrive.....have never gotten more than 100 miles without a flat on a stock tire...I live in the land of construction heaven......

I used those tire scrapers on my old road bike (about 20 years ago) - hard to say if they worked or not but I didn't have any flats while I had them on (they rusted out and broke).

personally I had alot of prob with flats and 23's, I got a rear 25 Gator Skins and havn't had a flat since. I still have a 23 up front though.

Check your tire pressure every single time before you go out.

I agree with the other posters about using wider tires. I had a lot of flats on my 23s, too. I got sick of fixing tires alongside the road and put on some 35mm Panaracer Paselas. I have a Lemond Poprad cyclocross bike which gives me lots of clearance. These bikes actually make a pretty good road bike. That was the end of the flat trouble for me. Now I've got Avocet Cross K 35mms on and expect good performance from them, too. Incidentally, the new Bicycle Quarterly has several articles on rolling resistance of tires. They found that a wider tire can sometimes actually roll easier. My Cross Ks scored pretty well in spite of being a wide heavy tire. It's a really interesting article if you get BQ (great magazine if a little expensive).

I'm a big dude. I ride on average 300 miles a week. The streets of Philadelphia are pretty unforgiving.

Flat are unpreventable... but, I have found certain things that really cut down on how often you get them.

a) TUFFY LINERS. Get them. They're worth the $15 or so that they cost.
b) Thick specialized inner tubes. About $7 a pop, but well worth it.
c) Decent tires. I am particularly partial to Conti Gatorskins. I have to change them about every 3-4 months because they end up looking like they did a tour in 'Nam. But, they are well worth the money, IMO.
d) While riding, if you notice you ran through some sparkley glass. Reach down and hold your hand on your wheel to remove excess glass before it becomes lodged in there. Also, reach around with your foot and do the same to the rear. If you're not comfortable enough to do that... get off and do it. It'll save you more time than it will take to have to change a tube.

Between kevlar tires, thick tubes, tuffy liners, and keeping an eye on what you run through... your wheel should be pretty bombproof. You can pretty much set that all up for under $90.


PS: Nice to meet yous all. My first post here. First time I've ever had a stable internet connection.

sorry to revive this old thread, but I am having a problem with flats. I am 6'5" and 245lbs and am getting about 1 flat a week. I am riding a cheapo schwinn road bike ($200). How can I tell what are the biggest tires the bike can use?

What are the best puncture resistant tires?

Best puncture resistant tires: Continental Ultra Gatorskin, Specialized Armadillo, Bontrager Hardcase. I prefer the Conti's, personally, but they're all good.

sorry to revive this old thread, but I am having a problem with flats. I am 6'5" and 245lbs and am getting about 1 flat a week. I am riding a cheapo schwinn road bike ($200). How can I tell what are the biggest tires the bike can use?

What are the best puncture resistant tires?

Bring the bike to your LBS and they can help you with the max. tire size question.

As for the best, you'll get 5 different answers from 5 different people. Everybody's partial to their favourite. I like Conti UltraGatorskins; I'm just having to replace my rear tire after 2750 miles (I'll have over 2800 on it by the time I actually replace it) and I weigh the same as you.

It looks like there are a bunch of different types of armadillos. Which one is best considering my size and that I use it just for street biking, usually in good weather?

and what about Schwalbe tires? I hear they make some pretty flat resistant tires.

Hi transponson, we'll need to know the year and model of your bike before we can really assist with that.

I would also like to point out the OP from two years ago had a puncture flat which would have happened if he had 23's, 25's, or even 32's. A crappy tire is a crappy tire regardless of size.

It is a shwinn 700c prelude. Here is a link for it at amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-Prelude-Mens-Road-Wheels/dp/B000KZ1GHQ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1219243671&sr=8-1

as far as the year is im not sure, but i bought it a few months ago. I got it on clearance for $50.

Also, where is the best place to buy gatorskins or armadillios?

Also, where is the best place to buy gatorskins or armadillios?

Take your bike to your LBS. If you can, try to go when they're not terribly busy, so they've got some time to talk with you. Middle of the morning is good for my stores. They'll help you figure out what will fit on your bike, and sell you a decent aramid (kevlar) belted tire. Continental, Schwalbe, panaracer all make nice tires, so do others.

Does anyone else feel that getting one flat in the first 10 miles and jumping into researching flat protection schemes is a bit of shooting from the hip?

I got my first flat on my Bonty race-lite hard cases (28) that were stock with my pilot within like a month of buying the bike. I started thinking 28 was too narrow for a clyde and that I was going to need to go gatorskins or something else.

Fortunately I was poor and kept riding them.

In 1k miles on 17x1.25 gator ultras on one bike and 1300 on 700x28 bonty race lite hard cases, I had 8 or so flats on the gator skins (about half pinch half puncture)

and 2 on the race-lites, both in the first 400 miles on them, and none since.

There's nothing wrong with trying to keep as flat-protected as possible, but I'd get a little more statistical evidence on my tires before I write them off.

My 2 best pieces of advice are: 1) use decent (butyl>latex) tubes and 2) RELIGIOUSLY check/maintain pressure. (before every ride)

+ 4 krazygluon

It may be just plain bad luck that you got the flat so fast, unfortunatly it is something that happens. Just a bit of a heads up, be ready to shell out 80-100 bucks for this set of tires.

nashbar (http://nashbar.com/profile.cfm?category=6000121&subcategory=60001254&brand=&sku=1632&storetype=&estoreid=&pagename=) has a set of gatorskins on sale 14% off

I used to get a ton of flats riding Conti UltraSports, but when I switched to Gatorskins, they stopped happening.

I just got my first road bike ever and I got three flats in about five days on the 23's that came with my 925. I ordered some 28 panaracers with the kevlar and so long as I keep up with my tire pressure (around 110 psi) I have yet to get a flat (pinch or any other type) well over two months later. And I'm closer to 250 lbs and ran straight through some glass tonight I was sure was gonna ground me. Just saying. It ran me close to 80 bucks for the pair, but I've had no flat headaches since.

Does anyone else feel that getting one flat in the first 10 miles and jumping into researching flat protection schemes is a bit of shooting from the hip?

Me, very much so. Remember that a puncture from the outside is only one of many ways that a tire can get flatted. My gut feeling is that rim problems, faulty installation, failure to keep properly inflated and even failure to use a pump properly account for many more flats than punctures. If one of those things is wrong, it doesn't matter how much money you spend on a "puncture-resistant" tire.

I'm a big guy at 6 - 2 and 260 lbs. I rode about 850 miles on my OEM tires, then got two rear flats in three days - couldn't find what flatted 'em, pin holes were in the tread side of the tube, and I inspected the tire very carefully for a thorn or glass chip, whatever. I did notice that the rear tire was getting very thin - I could see pinholes of light through the tread area.

I replaced both tires with Schwalbe Marathons ("unplattbar" as the Germans say). No problems since.

Since your bike and tires are new, I'm betting that it was just bad luck to get a flat so soon, but be sure to inspect the inside of the tire while you have the tube out, and make sure that you know if the hole is on the rim side or the tread side of the tube - if on the rim side, it could be a spoke or a problem with the rim tape.

Shwalbe Marathon Plus for me too. Never had a flat in 8 months vs one a week before. Now have a new bike with Maxxis Detonators -- don't know how good they are but haven't had a flat in a month. When these wear out I'm back to Schwalbe. The reflective sidewalls are nice too. Kept the Schwalbes to give to my daughter when her stock tires wear out.

Shwalbe Marathon Plus for me too. Never had a flat in 8 months vs one a week before. Now have a new bike with Maxxis Detonators -- don't know how good they are but haven't had a flat in a month. When these wear out I'm back to Schwalbe. The reflective sidewalls are nice too. Kept the Schwalbes to give to my daughter when her stock tires wear out.

Man! I don't know if I'd buy a tire called a "Detonator"! Seems sort of counter-productive.

Does anyone have any experience with the Schwalbe Marathon Supreme?

I average a flat every other day, always in the tread, and I always find the offender. Always in a different spot, and I'm now buying patches in bulk.

I ride a Specialized Crosstrail with 700X45C XC Pro Burrough tires. Always at 85 PSI (except when flat). The rims are 23mm internal width, and I am considering going to 38s or 40s in the Marathon Supremes. But, I would go to the Plus if it was really that much more flat resistant.

Most of my riding is on pavement, with a little aglime, and a teeny bit of gravel. Mostly MUP, with few surface streets and highways. I try to do 42+ miles every day, for sanity and health. 62 year old retired male, 6', 185(and still losing)

wow, a flat every other day. any consistancy to what you're finding in the tread?