I had my first flat in almost two years yesterday.

I was riding out to my dad's house to meet up with him for a ride on the SLT. I usually cut through the local airport that he lives on and ran over something on the edge of the taxiway.

Thankfully it was a pretty slow leak so I was able to get to his house without any issues, but once I got there I realized that I didn't have the right size tube in my saddle bag, nor a patch kit. Turns out that my dad didn't have any of the correct spare tubes either. They were the right size but he had mistakenly ordered a big bunch of tubes with schrader valves :rolleyes:

Eventually I put my bike in his truck, drove the 3 miles home to swap bikes, and my dad met me there and we had a nice, uneventful 17 mile ride together.

Only real downside is I'm not sure if the tire is still good to go, it got a bit torn up when I was digging a metal shard out of the tread. Super bummed because it was a Veloflex Master with a lot of life left in it :(

Maybe some shoe goo will let me get some more miles out of it.

Okay, I've had a few recently. Had a sew-up flat a few weeks ago, couldn't get Stan's to work. Been saving ujp tires to send to Tire Alert so it was time.

Earlier this week I rode a clincher bike to work. On the way home I notice a liberated crank arm on the MM Bikeway. A hundred yards later I found the stricken bike, a Limebike rental. Whoever was on it at time just left it and didn't bother going back to find the crank arm. So I went back, picked up it, dropped it by the bike. Then my rear tire went flat. Here I was, trying to do the right thing and that's the thanks I get. It was a tiny curved thorn of metal, I think, as from the claw of a nano-sized robo-mouse. Swapped out the tube, will patch it when I get a free minute, probably next year some time.

I got two flats yesterday: The first when my rear wheel struck a glancing blow to a small rock. A few miles later, I could feel air coming out of the tire against my ankle in regular rotations. I was just a couple of blocks to where I was going, so after my appointment I inspected and found a severe cut to the sidewall of my fairly new Vittoria tire. I booted it with the wrapper from my spare tube and made it back home.

Later in the day, I was working on a new project, installed new tires, pumped up front and rear and went off to do something else. A few minutes later I heard the unmistakable sound of air expelling from a pressurized space: the front tire was completely flat. When I pulled it, I discovered a kind of gaping hole near the valve stem (a cheap latex tube from Nashbar; same thing happened to the other one of the pair I bought).

I'm hoping I've filled my flat quota for the riding season.

Yesterday, I rode quite a few miles around the city on my only bike with tubular tires. I forgot to bring my spare. And I didn't get a flat!

Lucky man, Tom. How long do you think you can get away with that?

[MENTION=190941]jimmuller[/MENTION], probably another half mile.

Finally... walked out to the bike room to grab my ride for some courier playtime. Rolled it to the door and knew the back was flat by the feel. It went down overnight from something I picked up yesterday. So I can finally say I have had a flat with out being on the bike at the time.

No problem, grabbed my trusty hard charging Schwinn Volare for the days fun.

It wounds my pride to admit this, but I've had a rash of flats lately on the rando-commuter. Three since last Saturday's long ride, all on the rear tire. Panaracer Pari-Moto 38's at about the 3500 mile mark, so I shouldn't be too surprised or disappointed. The first was a tiny little sharp somethingorother that had burrowed its way to the tube. I took the opportunity to find and pick out a few other tiny little sharp bits in the tread. Next, a slow leak that turned out to be a pinhole right next to where I had patched the tube -- I was able to just top it off occasionally to get through Wednesday's club ride. And then today, I discovered that my tube was leaking out under the patch by a seam.

Clearly, I've been a little too smug about my ability to skirt punctures and patch tubes.

I just ordered a Loup Loup Pass and a fresh tube so that I can hopefully take a break from flats soon!

My flats always follow a theme these days: I get a small cut in the rubber, and over time a tiny bit of rock/glass gets stuck and gets slowly through the rubber and casing to puncture the tube. Usually results in a slow leak, which most times I don't hear but instead feel.

The last one was on the first leg of the Mystery Tour just after we left the Preston/Fall City gravel trail. A sharp sliver of rock had wedged itself into a cut no more than 1/8" wide.

Always a rear tire - and I'm grateful, because you never know what's going to happen with a flat on the front.

DD

About a half mile from my turnoff to the middle of nowhere, I haven't seen a car on that road for the last 5 years, I hear a clack, clack, clack ....

Rusty nail sticking out of the rear, and no tetanus shot. Sealant won't hold and I forgot to bring a spare from home. Nice old lady gave me ride to the cabin. I'm going for a swim.

I love summer stories

Old tires need to be made into beautiful knives before they lead to something so horrible, we dare not utter its name.

Lolll...I rode 15 miles then my tubular went down...walked allllll the way home as it was a Sunday and the bus service was sh*t and no bike shops were open..I hate flats ESPECIALLY when youre riding tubular and NOT prepared..

I almost forgot to tell about this one:

7:30 PM July 11 I started a 1000 km brevet around Lake Ontario. As we were approaching Oswego I felt my rear tire getting soft. Pumped up twice before we got into town, where I replaced the tube. I found a tiny bit of wire embedded in the tread of the Rat Trap Pass tire. I think this is only the third time I've seen those tires punctured in thousands of miles of riding.

I have really irritated the flat demons...... 3 flats in a week..... and on top of it I got one yesterday, put my spare tube in and started pumping.......it didn't hold air . fortunately I carry 2 spare tubes and a patch kit. Second tube held air.

I really love how the corsa G clinchers I have ride and handle, but may have to consider something else, but I really hate to lose that feel. Any suggestions? I ride 28mm

meanwhile I will try some orange seal hope I had my my share of flats to help everyones flat karma

Yeah, I wonder about that. A lot of my clincher flats are from tiny tiny tiny shards of somethingorother which work their way through the tread to produce such small leaks that the only way I can find them is put the tube under water. Maybe a worn tread is a contributing factor.

I like to commute on sewups because Tire Seal works so quickly whereas swapping a tube can take 15 minutes or more. Lately I've be riding on new sewups and have been having good luck,l probably because of the thicker tread. Of course not that I've mentioned it..oh no, wait, I didn't mention that at all. Noop, never said a word.

2 in 2 days after a few magical years without. The first made itself known on my return from Coney Island last Saturday at the corner of Houston and Bowery in downtown Manhattan. A bit of glass in my rear Bon Jon Pass. Then on Monday I hit a construction plate on Central Park West near the newly-buffered uptown bike lane and got snakebites on my Sports' apparently underinflated rear. Like Tom above I had no tube, levers or pump. But NYC has great transit and I was one block from the subway and two blocks from home when I got out. Now there are supplies in my work bags.

Since installing thorn-resistant tubes, I have not had a flat. When I race in the tour de France, perhaps I will switch them out.

Last Friday on Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party (RSVP), we got little rain going on from around 10AM and when I got to Chuckanut, some 10 miles to Bellingham mid point got a flat when climbing.
Ok, that is life and didn't find any external rock chip, glass anything after trying to look the wet tire. There was a single puncture in the tube, so some nail or some thorn????
Put on a new tube - only had one with me - and rode close to the bag stop for the day.
A block before getting there I notice I am losing pressure again on my back tire...
Just walked to the bag stop- I had another tube in my bag - this time was a defective tube that got a hole in a thin section,
REI was two blocks from there, so got extra 2 tubes.
No issues on next day that was much more pleasant with no rain and nice cool weather for bike ride.

I got a previous flat on the road 2 years ago commuting home and another this year with a defective tube close to the presta valve - this one I notice in the garage.

Oh, I just had to go and read the flat tire thread last night! Now look:
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ae9e17d350.jpg

Good thing I had a fresh spare tube and my Zefal HPX. The tire is fine, and it was still a good ride.

[MENTION=314122]wilfried[/MENTION] and I rode the NYC Century ride yesterday. I was riding my Lemond with the 650b wheels and Pari Moto tires. I got a flat on the rear just a few miles into the ride. I had my usual tool kit which has 700c spare tubes and no 26" tubes. I could have used one of my spare tubes, but it seemed riskier than the proper size tube, so I made him wait while I patched it. It didn't take long, and the patch is holding.

I ran out of time to finish the ride, so I did a total of "only" 87 miles. The good news is that I was surprisingly fresh after all that.

A few weeks ago a Corsa G+ (rear) suffered a wonderful roofing staple suture-puncture! Neither sharp end of which actually made its way past the kevlar, cotton, or whatever it is Vittoria puts under its magic graphene rubber... I suppose the inner tube eventually punctured as a result of being repetitively wacked by the alien object that sewed its way onto the tyre!
Picture next post hopefully!

[MENTION=214603]Ausberger[/MENTION], that tire isn't going anywhere. Very impressive.

I rode my Masi to work yesterday. Three quarters of the way there the rear tire went soft. It's a Veloflex Criterium sewup, not so much worn but carrying a zillion tiny cuts. It's a rough world out there.

I tried pumping it up, hoping Stan would fix it. But it didn't seem ready to hold air and the bit of Stan's which seeped out from the valve stem seemed old and browned. Stan does say to refresh every six months or so. So I swapped in an older Vittoria, the very first sewup repair I ever did. The tire holds air but the ride isn't so smooth. When I got home I pumped up the Veloflex and it held air just fine, but I put more Stan's in anyway before remounting it on the bike. It seems okay this morning.

Poll:

Is the trade-off of not having flats worth the heavy, stodgy, unresponsive ride of Schwalbe flat-less tires? My perspective of "heavy, stodgy, unresponsive" is comparative to lighter tires for sure. Schwalbe makes a darn good tire, and that's what I ride on my tourers.

Second Poll:

Do you get more flats in the country or the city? Interesting.