DataJunkie

Are your streets made of glass shards alternating with nails and goatheads?

jeffpoulin

I had one last winter. Before that, my previous last one was in 1999.

joshwa

I have about 350 miles on my current set of schwalbe luganos which claim to have "puncture protection" and haven't had a flat yet. I feel like I run over some pretty nasty stuff sometimes too.

cerewa

I've had a whole bunch of flats from really small pieces of glass or wire in the Philadelphia area. These things went through my kevlar belted tire (bontrager race lite) AND 2 or 3 tire liners (I used slime brand and tuffy brand).

I switched to mountain bike tires and wheels, and I no longer get flats from these 3-4 millimeter long objects, because the depth of the tire tread and casing is about 5 millimeters. Problem solved! Tuffy liners and slime liners are made of hard/flexible plastic of some sort which in my experience doesn't do much to repel sharp metal or glass objects, although it does help increase the "tube to road" distance.

Big tires are just as vulnerable to nails as little tires are though. In 10 years of biking on a regular basis, I've gotten two flats from nails, one on a typical low end MTB tire and one on a kevlar belted road tire.

fuzz2050

Depends how often my friends get drunk, find my bike and decide it would be funny to stick a thumbtack in my tires (hey guys, that was only funny the first time)

ricohman

My Sherpa came with Kenda Kwest tires.
Small rocks punctured them many times. Worst tires ever made.

rdkopp0153

I get about one flat per month. Unbelievable. I moved to Pueblo, CO about 2 years ago and the flats have been frequent and consistent.
I moved from the Pacific Northwest and went 9-12 months normally without a flat.
Goat heads are everywhere here!!!!
A very durable touring tiring suggestion would be greatly appreciated!

CliftonGK1

I've only gotten 3 so far this year. 1 of which I barely want to say 'counts' since it was due to an act of sabotage, not a "natural course of things" flat.

Got a slow leaker somehow this morning. Been watching my tire slowly deflate over the course of the work day.

truman

On the tour-muter: 4,100 miles without, then two within 10 miles - glass and a piece of tire wire.
Now I'm back up to about 600 miles without.

nashcommguy

Not nearly as much as before SMPs. Schwalbe Marathon Plus. 3 sets. One set @ 700x28mm on my primary commuter. Over 7000 miles w/one flat. A 2" self-starting screw that nothing would've stopped. I ended up having to 'unscrew' it w/my phillips head attachment on my muti tool. That's how deep it was buried in the tire. I rode that tire for another year before developing a slow leak. So, I got a new SMP and have over 1000 commuter miles on IT w/no problems so far. Both issues were w/t rear tire. The 2 sets of 700x25mm have about 2000-2500 miles on them w/one slow leak Turned out to be a pinch-flat under the valve on the front wheel of my road bike. I think I took a corner too hard on a hot day. I over-inflate both sizes about 15-20 psi. That's what caused it, most likely.

So, in over 1.5 years w/about 10,000 miles I've had 3 flats. That's one every 6 months or 3,300+ miles. I'll take that average, anyday. Didn't realize things were going that well...knock on wood.

For the previous 2 years I rode on Nuteck airless where the only issues were broken spokes and greater rolling resistance. Would still be using them, but got tired of the grind. They're 1-3 mph slower depending on the psi rating and size. Still have one bike that's almost never ridden that still has them. I'm keeping it for after Armagedden. So, when I went back to pneumatics I lurked, asked questions and decided that the SMPs were the 'consensus' most flat resistant. One could argue cases for other brands, but I couldn't be happier w/t product performance. They're worth every dime.

Grim

I tell you what, My M400 1 flat from a OLD tube in over 1000 miles.
My T700 with $12.99 Forte Gothams no flats in 900 miles
My R600 that I hardly ride I have had 3 flats in 100 miles and ALL three the bike was in the house and I was pumping up the tires when they happend.

1. leak too close to the stem to fix.
2. broke the thin stem on the valve.
3. hole too close to the stel to patch. (it was the other rim and this tube did not have the threaded stem and that was part of the problem).

Now the good thing was flat number three was last night when I decided the bike needed to be rode to work today. Well I did have a spare tube so I fixed the bike last night but since that left me no spare tube I decided not to ride it. Good thing as the DOT decided to run a pavement grinder down a stretch of my route today for about a 1/4 mile where they are adding turn lanes both directions. I nearly rattled my fillings out on the 700 x35's I would have had to get off the bike if I had hit that on the 700x23's on the R600. Hopefully they will get it paved tomorrow before my ride home. My ride the sidewalk around it or ride my mtb tomorrow.

Metricoclock

rarely ever, and it the last time that it happened..... prolly a year ago it wasn't flat till the next morning. It was on a cheap continental tire. My Specialized Armadillo's are rock solid, i've had the road tear into them and rip chunks out and they still keep on trucking.

Quickbeam

Last year was a bad year for me. It culminated in four flats in one day last fall (yes, four! I was on tires that should have been retired). This spring I put Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my commuter and I have yet to flat. For me it seems like I start getting flats in bunches when I'm pushing the limit on my tires' lifespan. Then I'll put on new tires and not flat for quite awhile.

Jonahhobbes

You need to look at what's causing the flat and then maybe modify your route.

Mine is mostly glass so I avoided the more rundown part of my commute. Also a MUP I traveled on had a wooden bridge with a sort of chicken wire cover, (who knows why it never freezes here), that gave me 2 flats through bits of wire - I avoid that bridge now.

If you are running a hybrid-type bike or mountain bike with larger tires go over them now and again as stuff like glass works it's way into tires eventually causing a puncture.

In the UK autumn used to see hedgerow trimming season, never found a solution to Autumnal Goathead Syndrome.