Just thought I'd put this up after a pretty successful run on a set of Specialized All Condition Armadillo tires (700x25) on my commuter. I started commuting last September and started on a pretty fresh pair of these tires. I had bought them at the local shop because they were wire bead tires that were relatively cheap (35 bucks a piece) and I was putting them on my '87 Sirrus that I was rebuilding as a grocery run bike. So they had some miles on them, but not much, by the time I started commuting.
I rode these bad boys over some awful, awful roads for months. I eventually moved and found a smoother route, but will occasionally return to my old route if I need to get to that part of town for some reason. I'm talking terribly cratered roads that would regularly have a broken bottle or two along the way. And no, I wasn't one of those folks that scrub their tires with their gloves when they run over glass (notice the past tense. I do this as of Saturday.
)
Anyhow, all that to say that I really put these tires through the paces in terms of pinch flat opportunities and punctures and in all these months of riding, I have only had one flat on these. That's right, just one. During the semester I was riding 4-5 days a week even through winter. This summer, a little less because I'm starting to hate the heat. And the flat finally came when, of all places, I was on a leisurely ride with my wife and her parents on an MUP (Trinity Trails in FW). And even then, I sort of noticed the front tire was low towards the end, but it had to sit overnight to fully flat, so I got to change the tube in the comfort of my apartment. It was a tiny, tiny piece of wire that had finally gotten in and punctured the tube.
So after about 10 months of serious commuting on these tires, I gave them a close inspection for any glass or whatever might be embedded into the rubber and found a few bits here and there. But my rear had finally worn almost to the second layer which was peaking in a couple of spots, so I finally replaced it. The shop didn't have the wire bead tires, so I had to shell out for the kevlar bead. It was the same tire, but the "elite" model. That was 63 bucks (hence the reason I started cleaning my tires with my gloves after running over glass).
After some internet consulation, I put the new tire on the front and put the worn front tire on the rear.
Anyhow, kind of long, but I just wanted to share my pretty positive experience with these tires. Almost a full year of commuting and I've yet to do a road side flat repair.
EDIT: A link to the tire:
http://www.specialized.com/se/en/bc/...jsp?spid=57076