I personally have had good luck with my Continental GP3000 tyres. I have only flatted with them once in the last 5 years and that was because I ran that particular pair well past 4000 miles. I am now replacing after about 3500 miles. You can also get more heavily "armoured" tyres such as Specialized Armadillos. Other people recommend some sort of insurance such as plastic liners inside the tyres. Mr Tuffy makes a line of these. Now mind you, I still have seen people running Continental Gatorskins with Mr Tuffy liners get punctures. So they're not totally invincible.


First, I would make sure the bike is properly fitted to you. This includes things like saddle height adjustments as well as saddle fore-aft adjustments. You may want to play with the headset spacers to get the handlebars to a good height. I wouldn't cut down the steerer just yet... give it a little time in case you want to go higher or lower later. You can change the height of the handlebars by swapping spacers from the underside to the top of the stem and vice versa. This of course assumes you have spacers to begin with. You may also wish to rotate the handlebars and/or move the position of the hoods to fit your grip better. Mind you that some of these adjustments can also change over time and sometimes it takes a bit of riding to figure out the perfect position for everything so don't go overboard just yet.

Then make sure things are tightened such as the quick releases. Check the headset to see that it's not loose. Do this by grabbing the front brake and rocking the bike back and forth while observing the headset for play. Also, plink the spokes on the wheels to make sure they're evenly tensioned and stress relieved. Check the pressures on the tyres. Check for bearing play in the cranks by grabbing a crank arm and attempting to rock it perpendicular to the axle. Spin and rock the wheels to make sure the cones are adjusted properly. In general these are things the bikeshop should have adjusted for you. Then I would just ride it but do a shakedown cruise close to home. Put in about a couple of hundred miles in short rides and then return to the bikeshop to have them do a tuneup... hopefully they gave you a free 30-day tuneup like most shops do. Of course this assumes you purchased the bike at a shop. This is to take care of things like cable stretch and minor adjustments.