Road Cycling - Road riding, and flats

I'm in the process of getting a road bike. The rig I pound the pedals on is a mountain bike, with knobbies (Panaracer Fire XC), and I've yet to experience a flat with them. I hear a lot of people warn me about getting tons of flats while riding a road bike, and it worries me. Probably my favorite ride so far is up a local canyon and back, and near the bottom the road frequently has rock debris, and occasionally some glass (which I avoid like the plague..I'm not that stupid :rolleyes: ). Should I be very concerned with flats, and if so...what are good ways (other than not riding on crap that will puncture a tire) to combat poor riding conditions?

Colin

2700km, no flats. you decide.

sd

There are a few things you can keep in your mind to minimize flats.
1) Keep tire pressure at maximum or little over(if the maximum is 110, for example, keep it 115 or 120).
2) Get Kevlar belted tires. It's the most efficient way to avoid flats with minimum weight sacrifice.
And of course, these are just my opinion.

I certainly have had my share of flats on my road bike. The best thing is to make sure you have what you need to fix a couple before you head out.

There are some things you can do, but they all have a weight penalty.

I used Specialized Armadillos as my road tires on my MTB. No flats on those.

I'm in the process of getting a road bike. The rig I pound the pedals on is a mountain bike, with knobbies (Panaracer Fire XC), and I've yet to experience a flat with them. I hear a lot of people warn me about getting tons of flats while riding a road bike, and it worries me. Probably my favorite ride so far is up a local canyon and back, and near the bottom the road frequently has rock debris, and occasionally some glass (which I avoid like the plague..I'm not that stupid :rolleyes: ). Should I be very concerned with flats, and if so...what are good ways (other than not riding on crap that will puncture a tire) to combat poor riding conditions?

Colin

It depends on where you ride, I guess. I figure that I get about one flat in 1000 miles. My figure is probably higher then most people's because I do a lot of rides predawn and in the dark, glass is hard to see and avoid (even with a headlight). But even 1 flat per 1000 miles is tolerable. Most people figure they are doing quite a bit of riding to do 2000 miles per annum and 2 flats per year would not be a big deal.

blah, ive gotten more pinches on the trail with the mtb than i've ever gotten on the road...

actually, i've never flatted on the road (knock on wood)

I wouldn't let the thought of flats scare you off [road]. For me, flats depend on the type of tire I run. I had some Armadillos and you could run over anything but they were as heavy as a log. I've got training tires on my bike now that have a kevlar belt and weigh only 210g and haven't had a flat in 1500 miles. The unfortunate thing is that at $25 - 40 tire it's sometimes expensive to find out what tires work well for you...

...the road frequently has rock debris, and occasionally some glass (which I avoid like the plague..I'm not that stupid :rolleyes: ). Should I be very concerned with flats, and if so...what are good ways (other than not riding on crap that will puncture a tire) to combat poor riding conditions?

Colin
I ride in the streets of Atlanta and encounter glass, metal debris, and all sorts of trash in the road every few blocks.
My main ride has Continental Grand Prix 3000 tires. I average ~1500 miles between flats.
My other bike has Vittoria Rubino Pro (kevlar) tires. Just under 800 miles on these tires and no flats yet.

Both tires are on sale at Colorado Cyclist (http://www.coloradocyclist.com/common/products/displayproductlist_v2.cfm?&CGRFNBR=319&CRPCGNBR=319&TextMode=0&CI=1,224) and the Contis are on sale (same price as CC) at BikeTiresDirect.com (http://www.biketiresdirect.com/continental.htm).

Armadillos rule!
I went from frequent flats to no flats for the last 1500 miles.