pelotonracer

I've heard stories of never getting a flat with these. Is it true?

55/Rad

No. But that is the difference between thorn "resistant" and thorn "proof".

They do help though. And if you combine them with a good kevlar belted tire, your odds of not flatting are increased. There's a price to pay though - weight. Thorn resistant tubes can weigh near 300 grams each.

55/Rad

Blaireau

Yeah, its a trade off, you will gain weight if you want to avoid flats (or rather your bike will...)
I have thorn resistant tube, covered by Armadillo tyres --This added weight and makes for a bumpy ride. But so far no flat.

Psimet2001 

Riding in El Paso when I was a kid I had to put some of them on along with good tires, and tire liners to keep the thorns that the tumbleweeds had in them out of my tires. They worked fairly well. At the time I didn't care about the weight, but rather the time lost repairing flats.

The same works for moving from ultra-light tubes to regular tubes. I routinely pursuade people to ditch the ultra-lights. The weight to benefit ratio is great in this area for that situation.

johnny99

Puncture resistant tires like the Armadillos work much better than puncture resistant tubes.

instigator

Just get Downhill tubes.

terrymorse 

Thorn resistant tubes also increase rolling resistance, since they contain more rubber. But they will stop just about any thorn, since the thickness of the tube is greater than the length of a thorn.

They won't stop anything longer than the tube is thick, though. Thumbtacks, for instance.

froze

Your first line of defense against flats starts with the tire not the tube. A thorn resistent tube is almost useless...and no they are not as thick as a thorn unless the thorn is very tiny. I use to live in the Mojave desert area of California and I can attest that Goatheads will penetrate most any tire and any tube. The only thing I found to stop a Goathead was the Specialized Armadillo and then I used a ultralight (ie very thin) 65grm racing tube and never had a flat again...except when a faulty tube ruptured and when I ran a Armadillo down to the cords and something made it's way through the treads to the tube. But that was all the flats in over 15,000 miles of riding using Armadillos!

Blaireau

Using both the Armadillos AND the puncture resistant tubes, is the best bet

pgoat

yup - I use Conti Gatorskins with the thorn-proof tubes and they are plenty flat resistant (as in never had one). But yes, they do add some weight and rolling resistance. Not horrible but on a weight-weenie bike they'd be noticeable.

johnny99

The tubes add more weight for less benefit. Folding Gatorskins are not noticably heavier than many high performance tires (though they may be a little stiffer).

mugaliens

Not to mention the heaviest...

pelotonracer

I'm not too worried about actually THORNS, but how about their effectiveness against everyday flats?

I'm pretty sure there's no cactuses in Canada... Maybe on Parliament Hill?

terrymorse 

It may help to know what a goathead weed looks like, since it's about time for the thorns to mature. It's more commonly called "puncture vine":

https://www.naturesongs.com/vvplants/puncturevine.html

I worked at a bike shop on the Stanford campus from grade school through college, and I never saw a thorn puncture the thorn-resistant tubes we carried. They were very thick tubes.

Al1943

All of those puncture resistant things add a lot of weight at the worst possible place to add weight.

Al

froze

You all are going overboard here. A Gatorskin with a puncture resistent tube will weigh about 450grms while a Armadillo with a racing tube will weigh about 420grms and the new Armadillo weighs even less. With the Gatorskin and a puncture resistent tube you still WON'T have the puncture resistence of an Armadillo and a ultralight racing tube! PLUS the Gatorskin sidewalls are very thin whereas the Armadillo is thick and puncture resistent as well.

2nd thing is that is a tire can survive the Mojave desert Goathead, then everyday flats are a thing of the past. Those little goatheads will penetrate a Gatorskin AND a Mr Tuffy! I know I tried that combination amoung others. But a standard tube with a Mr Tuffy and a Gatorskin will still weigh about 530grms so your even heavier still!

And with Armadillos you don't need puncture resistent tubes.

Look guys, I knew a RAAM race team called Team Action Sports out of Bakersfield Calif and the team rode on the old style Armadillo's (with ultralight racing tubes-the same ones I used, matter of fact their the ones that told me about this set up) last year and won their 4 man division...WITHOUT a single flat going across the entire nation! Their thought process was that if they did not have to stop for as many flats as others they may place high in the finish...their not sure if that worked or not but they won. And yet we get folks out here on the forums who say these tires aren't for racing...hmmmm.

pelotonracer

OK great! So basically, Armadillo+thorn resistant tubes= very few flats= me very happy!

Now what's the cheapest place to get Armadillos online?

FarHorizon

I've tried Slime tubes (and found them wanting) and "thorn-proof" tubes (which I've had better success with). I've never tried the Armadillo tires, but they sound good.

pelotonracer

Oh, by the way, do the thicker tubes make it harder to mount tires?

And, are Armadillos a particularly tight fit?

Blaireau

An emphatic YES to both questions. It was a bi-atch to install, but hopefully won't have to do it very often...

ElJamoquio

What are the new Armadillos called, again? Armadillo Elite?

pgoat

If I recall my armadillos were tough at first, but they loosened up with use as do most tires. but they are quite stout compared to lighter tires.

DannoXYZ 

Only if your flats are caused by thorns. Flats due to snake-bites from underinflation won't be helped by thorn-resistant tubes. Neither is hitting rocks and potholes. Here's my recipe for my last 8,000 miles of flat-free riding:

1. tyre-savers, the best against thorns and glass
2. kevlar-belted touring tyres, the extra belt works better than kevlar in the casing alone
3. Mr.Tuffy tyre-liners
4. thorn-resistant tubes
5. Slime

The combination of all of these measures combats all the different type of flat-causing mechanism.

froze

Actually because of the stiff flat resistent sidewalls of the Armadillos the likelyhood of a pinch flat or a snake bite flat is less likely then with any other tire. I ran a worn out Armadillo with a ultralight racing tube for 5 miles FLAT (I weigh 160lbs) and the tube did not suffer any damage from doing that-nor did the sidewalls! On chip and seal roads I lower the PSI on the Armadillos to just 60 pounds in the front and 65 on the rear and never had any problems, again using nothing but ultralight tubes.

I have not tried the new Armadillos Elite because where I live now flats are more road debris related and not thorns so I've switched to All Condition Pro because they offer a similar flak jacket protection in the tread (but not in the sidewall) in a lighter tire.

Squint

I haven't had a pinch flat in like 10 years and I was running 700x20C tires back then (when they were popular).

I haven't had a flat in like 15,000 mi, mostly due to Armadillos. With the 'dillos, I don't think any other measures such as Slime or thorn-resistant tubes are necessary. They add very little extra protection and come at a cost, i.e., the messiness of using Slime.

Tire liners will make a regular tire slow and heavy like 'dillos but can chafe tubes and cause flats. An Armadillo tire has its puncture-resistant belt molded into the tire to avoid that problem.

I rode Armadillo Elites for a few thousand miles this season. I took several direct hits from goatheads and never flatted. They aren't as heavy as the regular 'dillos but they are almost as slow. I original got them for Roubaix-style races with lots of dirt roads but they have too much rolling resistance for racing. I wouldn't race on them unless punctures were very likely.