Hello everybody!

I am considering buying new tyres after having numerous punctures with my Specialized All Condition tyres.
These only happened to my REAR tyre. I've never flattened my front tyre so far (Keep fingers crossed...)

I noticed that pieces of glass, metal and little stones often get stuck in the rear tyre and make their way into it until they reach the tube.
I need to check regularly the tyre to make sure they are not there. I don't weigh too much, around 80 Kg, so I don't have specific weight needs.

However I am considering trying an anti-puncture tyre for the rear wheel.

Specialized All-Condition Armadillo, Continental Ultra GatorSkin, Schwalbe, Michelin or others?



Any advice is more than welcome!!

Thanks a lot!!

The best combination I've found so far are Armadillos/Gatorskins with Mr. Tuffy tire liners.

I really like my Schwalbe Marathon Pluses. They are heavy tires, but worth it to me. They may not be to you. Also fairly spendy, might just go with regular marathons when these wear out.

Schwalbe Marathon rules!!!

I've used Continental Ultra Gatorskins, Panaracer Ribmos and Maxxis Re-Fuse.

I've only got about 125 miles on the Re-Fuse, so I can't say much about them except that they are inexpensive, they ride nice and they get some decent reviews.

The Gatorskins are decently fast rolling and mine were good against punctures for about 2000 miles, but then they started flatting pretty often.

I've got just over 1000 miles on my Ribmos. They feel a bit slower than the other two, but not bad. They aren't heavy. I've only had one flat, and that was from a big, nasty construction staple that would have flatted anything this side of the Marathon Plus and maybe even that.


What you need to do is figure out your priorities. You've decided that you want something puncture resistant, but now you need to decide what kind of trade offs you're willing to make in terms of speed, comfort and price. By all accounts the Schwalbe Marathon Plus is the most puncture resistant tire you can buy, but it is extremely heavy and will necessarily slow you down. A lot of people are OK with that. If you want to go fast and are willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort, I think the Gatorskins are the way to go. The Ribmo is still reasonably fast, but I think it gives a bit softer ride than the Gatorskins. If you want a cheaper tire, the Maxxis Re-Fuse is worth trying.

I'm sure other people will fill in their own experiences with other tires, but I'd like to suggest that the key things worth mentioning are the trade-offs between speed, comfort and price.

Oh yeah, I've also got a set of Schwalbe Marathon Supremes in the 29x2.0 size. They weren't cheap (about $100 for the pair), but they've definitely got the comfort thing going on, are surprisingly fast and light for their size and Schwalbe claims they've got great grip on wet surfaces. I've only got about 100 miles on these, so no personal experience on the flat resistance, but they're supposed to be good.

Within the past 9 months I put Marathon Plusses on both of my bikes. I have not had one flat in that time. I commute daily at least 5 miles, often much more. I would guess I'm doing around 100 miles a week = 400 miles a month = 1,600 miles with one flat. That's the first time I crunched the numbers. That ain't half bad. I haven't seen any signs that the tires are getting worn, either, but then I have two bikes, so one is always "resting."

I agree with Andy K. You have to make your trades. I'm not a speedy rider, and both of my bikes have hub gears, meaning no quick release tires. I'd much rather have a little extra weight than to have to deal with changing a flat on the road, so I went for the toughest tires I know of.

i've only had 1 puncture this year so far, carrying a spare is more convenient than riding a heavy tire.

because even with those tires, you still get punctures if it comes from the side, which is exactly how i got mine

all of the above mentioned methods, are only for the part of the tire that touches the road, not the side walls.

Bontrager HardCase came on my Trek Valencia and I have been real happy with them, no flats so far and I ride through a lot of glass.

Years ago a company had these little devices that attached to your brake bolt and they gently rode on the tire, flicking off glass before it became embedded. I made some more recently and I think they work. A few design considerations make them work best. If interested, email me.

I think Andy K hit on all points I was thinking of. But one thing I would ask is what are the road conditions you are riding in? I've been looking for new tires and the Specialized Armadillos and Schwalbe Marathon Supremes are the ones that really stick out for ultimate flat protection. However if part of your commute is over gravel or dirt roads you may be looking for a tire with a different tread pattern, but again it all depends on your road conditions.

You might consider regular Schwalbe Marathons - I haven't had a puncture in over a year of moderate riding conditions. Marathon Plusses are, by all accounts, completely bombproof...but if you are interested in a lighter tire that is merely bulletproof, you might want to check out the standard Marathon.

Schwalbe has a helpful website that gives comparisons of its tires based on speed, grip, protection, and durability, and then breaks these categories down further into sidewall protection vs. puncture resistance, etc.

the 2 things that matter in my experience are having some belt or similar protection system, and having high thread count. The thread count is so little things have a harder time getting through the casing.

And of course, the thicker the rubber, the less flats, longer life, higher weight and slower ride.

Lite weight, durability, low price; Pick any two.

I really like the Conti GP4000 and haev as many flats as I did with the Bontrager Racelite Hardcases and Armadillos. The Contis roll so nicely though. I have had 1 catastrophic failure on each of those tires I listed and maybe 2 instances when glass got through. I do 15 miles each way to work through relatively rough roads and debris and I think I have fared pretty well.

Tire pressure makes one of the biggest differences in preventing flats.

Wear gloves and wipe your tires occasionally as you ride.

I run specialized armadillos 700x28 and have been very happy. They are light and fast and plenty of grip for me. No flats so far, I ride almost exclusively in bike lanes which means all of the debris from the road like gravel and broken glass finds its way into my path.

I never tired the Schwababies (huh?), anyway, I use to live in high desert area of California and goatheads that thrive there were tire destroyers. The only tire I found tht work was the Specialize Armadillo All Condition, and they worked so good a tire liner is unnecessary! The Gatorskin failed miserably when goatheads attacked it. Slime tubes also don't work well in high pressure road tires, the pressure of the tire is too great for the Slime gunk to seal before all the air leaks out, if you air the tires up to less then 65psi then Slime works.

Since moving from that area the Armadillos are an overkill, so I switched now to Conti GP4000 with the duraskin sidewall on the Trek and so far so good. I was using Specialize Mundo's but didn't like the way they felt or handled, so right now I've only used the Conti for about 600 miles but already I like the way they feel and handle. By the way, I use no liners and use ultralight tubes.

Here on the West that is not practicable.

Too many thorns, commonly known as "goatheads".

Years ago when all we had were tubulars, they use to make a U shape wire thing that fastened to the front brake just barely touching it, so that as you rode any thing you picked up on the tire the U thing would scrape it off before you rolled over it again puncturing the tire. I haven't seen this thing in years and can't even remembered what they called it, but it worked pretty good-way better then your hand, didn't prevent all flats but prevented most of them.

You can't wipe goatheads?

The OP mentioned glass, stones, and metal, so wiping should help.

I've got the Panaracer Ribmo on one bike and Bontrager Hardcase on the other. Both have been pretty resilient so far . I haven't had any punctures yet, just a slow leak from hitting a pot hole at speed and a pinch flat from under-inflation. The only thing about the Ribmo tires is they feel slow so they may be better for a commuter bike or something like that.