First flat
 

1.5 miles from home my rear tire flatted. A sliver of glass sliced through my kevlar hardcase tires and punctured th etube. It took me an hour to fix the flat because the tire wouldn't come off without a fight. I spent 2 cartridges and wasted a lot of gas. Rode home in the rain.

Maybe I should switch to non-hardcase tires

Bummer dude. Outside of the not coming off and the cartridges giving you problems were you pretty confident you'd just fix her up and be on your way? Do you carry tire bars or was it the tire that made even them useless? How about the cartridges, what was the deal? I carry one and a little insight might help me/ Does anyone know if a pump is the way to go to limp yourself to a station or even as a back up? Chin up brah.

...and it certainly won't be your last.;)

Do you carry a good set of tire levers? They're very useful. And a pump.

Some tires on some rims are really tough. Other tires practically fall off. If you don't have tire levers, that's what you need.

There's was this whole debate about pumps vs cartridges in a recent thread. I'm a fan of having a pump for a variety of reasons. Something that comes up at least a couple a times a year is encountering somebody else with a flat. I can feel free to help them out without putting myself at risk for not being able to fix a flat.

If you have a decent pump, you should be able to fully inflate your tire to the correct PSI level.
I prefer a frame mounted pump, since I can't predict how many flats I will have on a particular
ride. And as another poster mentioned, you'll be able to help a fellow rider.

Get three tires levers, not two. Park Tool has a set of three. Make sure you know how to use them -- there's a reason there are hooks on the ends. Practice at home so you can fix a flat on the road easier.

It's ok...everyone has struggled like that at least once.

It was the tire itself. It's a hardcase so getting it off the rim was a pain. I fixed a flat on my other bike that had poorer tires but never a puncture. Odd that these hardcase tires would flat after 400 miles.

Also, there is a small slit on the center of the tire where the glass went through. It's a hole and i can see it clearly. I'd post a pic but I don't know how on here. Anyway how do I seal it up? If glass went through the kevlar and all the fancy flat deterrents on the Bontranger Hardcase Race Lite tire...

I bought some cartridges but they always gave me problems. once I got stuck 50 miles from home b/c my cartridges misfired. several people offered a pump but I didn't have a presta adapter. sucked. now i carry a pump everywhere. yeah they look dorky but stuck 50m from home is more dorky

I almost always have trouble removing and putting on new tires. They loosen up a bit after they've been taken off a few times.

No tire is completely immune to flats (other than solid tires, and you don't want those). I have Schwalbe Marathon tires on two of my bikes. I put over 5000 miles on those tires before I had a single flat, but it did happen.

I also run wider tires at lower pressures, which may help some.

When I first started riding, I bought one of the Bontrager Hardcase tires. I couldn't mount it on the rim. I took it back.

FWIW, everyone has a flat and they happen differently, but my Bontrager hardcases I had on my old schwinn would come off with two levers. Probably has as much to do with the rims as the tires. And a pump is the only way to go for commuting unless you are just packing a seat bag. I have a planet bike mini versair that is tough to get on the stem of shraders but it works for schraders and prestas. Never know when you might need to lend a hand, and my tandem has prestas.

I'm experimenting right now running mr tuffys under a cheap set of tiogas, no flats in the last 100+ miles or so since they went in. Before that I had two in one week, at the very beginning of goathead season.

If it's more than about 1/4", you'll need to boot the tire. I think your LBS has Official Park Tire Boots, or you can get a piece of FedEx envelope. Slather it with tire patching glue (or rubber cement), and stick in on the inside of the tire. If it's a small cut, that repair should last the life of the tire. If it's an inch or two long, keep an eye on it, as you may have to replace the tire.

Not diggin' on the hate for CO2 here. I was staunchly a pump guy, but every time I was at the side of the road pumpingpumpingpumping for, like, 15 minutes at a time to get going again, I wondered about CO2. Then I tried a cartridge once... Super quick, no muss or fuss, back on the road in record time after a flat. Excellent for commuters worried about getting in to work on time or home in reasonable time.

'Course the CO2 inflator I'm using is also a pump. Just in case.

Years ago I was in the middle of nowhere in Wisc. Got a flat. Patched the tube, but the crappy mini pump I had could only get to 60 lbs. and it was hot to the touch. I thought I was very clever in bringing a presta valve converter, so I rode to a gas station to use the air to get up to 100 lbs.
As y'all probably know, gas station air compressors are a bit fiesty. The ensuing tire explosion was quite embarassing.
Had a guy in a pickup truck haul my sorry ass to a bike shop to get a new tire. Good times....
So OP.. don't sweat that first flat. There are much worse. :o

....and a pump. IMO CO2's are for racers, not commuters, as they have limited utility (a pump has an endless air supply). Quality counts. A crappy pump is not a pleasant thing to use. a good pump makes the task pretty easy, and might take an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute when compared to cartridges.

Bummer about the flat.
I really like my Schwalbe Marathon Supremes - excellent road feel as well as fantastic flat resistance. I will not specify how many miles I've ridden flat free so I don't hex myself :D

Sounds like you have the wrong kind of pump. I have 1.5" tires that take 100PSI and it doesn't take me 5 minutes to get them up to pressure with my Avenir Combi pump.

Funnily enuogh I WAS at a gas station. It took me 45 min to change my first flat because 30 of which I spent trying to get the tire off and on. For some reason the edge of the tire wouldn't come off the rim. I had to brute force it off. I went through my first cartridge which exploded at the end and left my punctured tube presta valve white. So I ditched that tube altogether and used my spare. The 2nd cartridge I sort of used and got my rear tire to like, 70-80psi I think. Even though it's a 28mm tire my rack had a pannier with 15-20lb of stuff in it.

I think I will go with a pump. Found a decent one for like $25. The Marathon Supreme tires list at like $70 each. Is this true? My tires were $40 each. And I'd say the cut is about 1/5" across on the tire. The slit doesn't go all the way through the tire but obviously the glass shard poke through enough to cut the tube. My patch kit has some huge rectangle patches in it as well as the small circle ones. I think those are for the tire not the tube?

Schwalbe Marathon Plus, Topeak Road Morph w/gauge, Pyramid METAL tire levers(file down the edges), tire cleat, extra tube, patch-kit and you're covered for any puncture emergency. Alot of difficulty in hardcase tires not coming of the rim has to do w/t flange height. That's where having metal tire levers comes in handy. I'm in agreement w/an earlier post stating CO2 systems are for racers not commuters. Afa a pump goes http://www.bikeisland.com has the TPRM for 35.00 shipped. I've got one on each of my bikes.

Yes.
I put a high priority on my tires, so the cost difference is not an issue for me, especially considering that even with heavy use, my tires last 2 years (I use studded Nokians for 5 months of the year, for better context).

Tires make such a difference in the ride quality, and it is hard to find a tire that has excellent road feel as well as excellent puncture resistance. to me, an extra $20 or 30 (0r 50) dollars per tire is well worth it.

I used to race, so perhaps this has influenced my choices - I have certain expectations now for ride quality, regardless of the style of riding I do.

CO2 pumps are for anyone who doesn't want to waste time inflating a tire with a conventional pump out on the road. that could be a racer, or it could be a commuter trying to get to work on time.

It's great that we have the choice of using cartridges or pumps to inflate our tires. But I can pump up a tire in less than 1 minute so it makes much more sense for me to use a pump and have an 'endless' supply of air rather than pay $4 and get <55 seconds quicker to work.

You beat me to it.

when i used a frame pump, i was never able to get up to 120psi in less than minute, more like 3-5 minutes (granted, i had a lower grade planet bike pump that was not really up to the challenge of getting to 120psi).


biketiresdirect routinely has unthreaded CO2 cartridges on discount for 2 bucks a pop. considering how infrequently i get flats on my commute (it's been 8 months since my last one, knock on wood), that's chump change for me.

I disagree, the only advantage of CO2 pumps is weight.