All this is very interesting - but when I tried the Mr Tuffy's, I kept getting flats. Where the hole was, you would always see a wear mark going across it - apparently from the strip rubbing on it.

I read stuff online about people having this problem, yet others swore by them. I tried to find out what was making the difference, without much success - some said to grind down the end to get rid of the thick edge. Some said to cover the overlap with electrical tape. But no matter what I did, I kept getting those flats from apparent rubbing.

I noted that most people didn't say much about what they rode. It is possible that the problems vary with tire. As I recall, I was riding 700x25 tires (Conti 4-season I think).

Oh, and while I'm posting, I'd like to mention a pet peeve of mine - people often make comments about flats based on how many rides between flats or how many days/months/whatever. Well, that doesn't help much because people ride different distances or number of days a week.

For example, I typically ride 4 times a week and will always be over 30 miles - often over 40.

I think it is better to think in terms of miles.