Originally Posted by
tjspiel
You know one thing I've kept hearing through this whole discussion is people worried about flats with road bikes. I've run anywhere from 23's to 28's and never had a pinch flat. My understanding is that unless your tire is underinflated or too narrow for the rim, the chance of getting a pinch flat is pretty small. My weight runs between 150 and 160 FWIW.
Intuitively I understand the fear but I heard one comment that any gain in speed from using a road bike is lost in changing flats. I'd have to have flat almost everyday for that to be true. I've seen other people change flats, I've had slow leaks due to a tiny puncture but the one blowout I witnessed on my commute home happened to a guy running knobbies on his MTB.
My brother gets flats all the time on his MTB and doesn't even commute, though he does ride a lot. He is slightly over 200 lbs.
Yeah, that's complete rubbish. I've ridden almost 3,000 miles this year and at least 2,000 of that is commuting and all of it was on a road bike with 700x23 tires. I've had exactly 2 flats and only one of them was on a commute home. I keep my tires properly inflated and check them frequently and I am always watching the road ahead for hazards but even so I've run over glass and other debris but overall I have very few flats on a road bike.
BTW-My entire front wheel weighs about 630g (without a tube/tire).
