edkruzel

What are the top recommended tires for abuse? Here in West Texas we have a vine like plant that grows at ground level and produces a nasty multi-thorn burr about the size of a pea which has been shredding my tires all summer.

These "goat heads" as they're known are really tough and sharp; I have heavy duty tubes and they are filled with slime, but I still get flats.

twowheelfunman

You might look into getting foam inserts to replace your tubes. They are a real b*?!h to install & do not have the best ride quality but you will get to ride ride ride.

AfterThisNap

stans tubeless.
I just converted and I'm in love. It ditches your innertube for an airtight strip, and uses a few ounces of sealant that seals punctures instantly. For kicks I sharpened a spoke and stabbed my front tire half a dozen times (just like on the video) and it sealed up pretty much instantly. It's not a perfect system, but compared to heavy tubes and slime, it's heads and shoulders better than the competiton.

Funkychicken

+1. sealed up every flat i've had, and it's let me land my full weight on low pressures. very worth the investment.

edkruzel

I'll check into that...

Thanks!!!

WannaGetGood

I just went down to the LBS and picked up the heavy duty tires. Have not had to pump them up for about 5 months

Curtis_Elwood

Continental tires with Protection (kevlar sidewalls). I was slashing tires left and right on the flinty trails around here. Big, 2-3 inch gashes. Been riding with these for 3 months now and they're awesome. No flats and no leaks.

https://www.conti-online.com/generato...folder_en.html

Falanx

But ProTection tyres have no Kevlar under the tread. Just the sidewalls. It's a coarse external net to stop slashes only.

But Panaracer's FlatAways, stuck tot he inside of the tread work very nicely

cyccommute 

Make sure you carry a couple of extra tubes to put in those tubeless tires when the goatheads go through those too. The no-seal stuff is just the same as slime but it's not dyed. Look at the poster's location...New York City! He wouldn't know the difference between a goathead and a cucklebur

Personally, I'd go with kevlar tires or Mr. Tuffys and still be prepared to fix flats...lots of flats 'Tis the goathead harvest season after all.

mlh122

what about Mr Tuffy's? they're like 1/8" hard plastic strips https://www.mrtuffy.com/

cyccommute 

Those are what I've had the best luck with. I still get flats but the Tuffys slow them down a little. A heavier tire with a good casing helps.

Flak

Armadillos run with mr. tuffy's and a slime filled thorn resistant tube.

Heavy? Sure....but you'll flat alot less.

AfterThisNap

New York City!? Get a Noose!

Commute every day on these streets and you'll never complain about goatheads again. And it's not like I haven't ridden all over the west.

Stan's sealant isn't like Slime at all. It's latex based and doesn't have fibers suspended in the goop. Also, unlike slime, it works.
Ditch the tube and you lose a lot of weight, and get a livelier, faster bike. There is no tube to puncture, and you can't pinch flat.
Don't work in the opposite direction and keep adding layer after layer of heavy armor to protect the tube. It may work (not against pinch flats), but there is a much better option available to you.

cyccommute 

Sorry but glass and other junk I can deal with (I do ride in a city ) Goatheads are an entirely different matter altogether. Goatheads are always situated on the ground for the best pickup by anything walking or rolling over them (there's a reason they are called caltrops). They almost never found in a single seed unless some other sap picked one up and it dropped out of the tire or foot or whatever. They are found by the hundreds off of one bush and where there is one bush there are a dozen. The spikes break off in the tire and work their way through so that the ones that don't get you today may sneak up on your a week later. If you don't get the broken off ones out, they sit there and work their way into the air chamber and then rock back and forth, opening and closing and letting a little air out at a time. Without a barrier like the layers of armor you talk about, even a UST would lose air no matter what's inside. Then you have to repair a UST puncture which isn't a trivial operation, hence the suggestion of carrying an extra pair of tubes.

If Stan's was such a godsend, don't you think everyone who lives in the land of the goathead would already be using it? Very few people I know use UST for exactly the reasons that I've laid out. It's easier to pick the spikes out of a tire and put in a new or patched tube, then to try and seal hundreds of holes in an expensive tire.

As for pinch flats, since you brought it up, the only reason people get pinch flats is because they run their tire pressure too low. I'm a big guy who seldom gets snakebites because I alway keep my tire inflated properly. I'd rather lose a little climbing ability then have to replace rims all the time. It gets old, not to mention expensive.

AfterThisNap

I'm really familiar with goatheads from riding out west, and I have used slime, tuffys, armadillos, gatorskins, and ghetto duct tape armor in a pinch.
I prefer tubeless with sealant, mostly because of the noticeable weight reduction, and the fact that it's much more puncture resistant than anything else I've tried. Plus, riding at 20-30 PSI is awesome.
Sure riding on the high side of the reccomended PSI prevents flats, especially pinches, but in the rockier/sandier trails where I found goatheads, I would rather have a little more cush in the tires.

BTW. What field of science are you in?

Minesbroken

I got about 4 flats between saturday and sunday because of all the damn thorn bushes around here dangling over the trail, some thorn resistant stuff would be nice.
not to mention thorn resistant shins and arms hehe

AfterThisNap

https://www.notubes.com/moviedemo.php

Watch the video. I did the same "stabbing" test when I first installed stan's. It really does work, and it's pretty damn amazing.
You just can't do this with slime or any amount of tuffy's or armored casing.

Minesbroken

thats some cool looking stuff, does it work with tubes or just tubeless? because that looks like it would solve my problem, my rims can go either way.

AfterThisNap

Just tubeless.

Roxter

It converts your standard tire/rims to tubeless, you can use any tire(tubeless or not) and any rim. Its only 60 bucks for all the stuff you need to convert. When my new bike arrives i will definetly be doing this, not that i get many flats (i've only every had 3), but if i get a pop in a race i won't have to run it or repair it.

Minesbroken

thanks for the info, that stuff looks awesome and I need to get some.