Originally posted by D*Alex
Buy a tyre that is resistant to punctures. Specialized makes the Nimbus, Hemisphere, and the Armadillo. Any of these 3 are nearly impervious to glass. Sure beats dicking around with those d@mn liners!!
I'm not familiar with the Hemisphere. I have heard a lot about the Armadillo. As for the Nimbus, I had them and they are not at all nearly impervious to glass! As soon as I put them on (26x1.5 to replace my original 26x1.95 inch tires), I started getting flats and all but one were from glass.
I would expect the Armadillos would be much better, but I'm really not sure how much.
I have learned that flats are often just a matter of good/bad luck. For example, my Conti Grand Prix four seasons have always gotten periodic flats, but then I had that period of 8 flats in 11 rides of 25 miles each. What made it even more unusual was that I was making it a point to "take the lane" more, thus staying out of the trash better than before.
Or consider that almost all my flats have been in the rear tire - yet in the past 40 miles I've had two flats and both were in the front. Just bad luck.
I think a lot of people who praise or trash a tire are often just a victim of these unusual patterns. How else to explain contradictory reviews of the same tire?
But the case of the Mr Tuffy liners is different, I think. I mean, you can SEE whether the strip has rubbed a hole in the tube. It isn't a matter of having bad luck. Yet we have highly contradictory reports on them. This makes me think there is something people are doing differently when installing them.
Bob