12strings

***Disclaimer, if you believe in Fate, Karma, or simply "knock-on-wood"...then you can expect me to have a long string of flat tires following this post***

So...I have been commuting regularly for about 3,000 miles now, summer and winter (when it wasn't snowy or icy), using the cheapo 28mm "Choa Yang" Tires that came with my bike. My commute takes me on pavement, chip-seal, and the dreaded "shoulder" (I know some people would rather take the lane on 45-55mph roads with shoulders, but I don't). I simply ride though the grit, gravel, cinders, and occasional broken glass that comes up, doing my best to avoid the big pieces.

In that time, I have had exactly ONE flat tire, and it was a slow leak, and it was after about 2,000 miles (original tubes too, no extra flat protection).

So...are flat tires just blind luck? Are cheap tires more flat resistant cuz their rubber is thicker and harder, but slower to ride? Is there something I am doing "right" unintentionally...that i may stop doing and suddenly get a lot of flats?

There...Knock-on-wood...

chas58

I find with a properly inflated and maintained tire, flats are pretty rare for me.

Most of my flats seem to be from riding in the rain.
Go figure...

Sixty Fiver

When you ride in the rain the tyres pick up more debris and the odds of that causing flats gets a little higher.

My road bike is the most flat prone bike I have but then it rides on some rather lightweight tyres while the rest seem to avoid that.

jfowler85

If one did subscribe to the tenets of karma, then this would indicate that your past life was lived in such a manner that you are now experiencing good tire karma.

Hub Spanner

You are doomed. Never speak (or write) about flats.

jbarham

First rule of flat club ...

Short Cut

I think generally the tires these days are a lot better at preventing flats. Like Sixty I've had them more often on lightweight road bike tires and then nearly always on the back. Not exactly sure why, but my guess is the front tire flips the object upright and the rear hits it. I think a Mr. Tuffy in the rear only will go a long way to reducing flats. I'd suggest one wait until the next flat then install the tuffy with the patched or new tube.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...ords=Mr.+Tuffy

no motor?

No kidding. It wasn't long after my last comment about flat tires that I was changing one of my own.....

chas58

you hit the nail on the head (so to speak). The front tossing debris up causes the majority of flats in the rear. This is even more pronounced in the rain. Works the same for cars as for bikes.

I ride with light race tires in the front, and something with a little more flat protection in the rear. I think the only flats I have ever gotten in the front have been from a side wall tear or a pinch flat.

HardyWeinberg

My wife talked for decades about NEVER getting a flat, since she got her nice schwinn at an LBS in 1989. Anyway, she got a new bike this spring and had her first flat 2 wks ago. She was shocked. But close to work so she could walk it there and wait for me to come fix it.

Leebo

Got a "good" flat last week. Pick up a thumb tack in the rear wheel. Heard a tic, tic while pedaling. Stopped and looked, kept pedaling the last 8 miles. Zero loss of air until to pulled it out on the work stand.

no motor?

Well after posting this I finished my first week of riding 5 out of 5 days, and left my new gloves out on the front entrance to the condo complex after getting home Friday. Guess what was gone Saturday morning when I went looking for them?