yeah, they don't grow ON the pavement, but NEXT to the pavement, and if you veer off at all into a patch of dirt/weeds or take a short cut through a vacant lot you can pick them up--- I steered around a couple walking on the sidewalk, went into grass/weeds for about ten feet, and when I looked down again my tire was covered in goatheads.

The closest thing we have to that would be the thumbtacks that some jackass thinks are cute to throw on the road. No kidding, I don't ride that ride very much anymore, but I do know from time to time, there are several people who will flat-out because of them.

Sorry didn't mean to jack this thread.....

That's a real arsehole of a thing to do.

There is a lot of construction in my town. I've had a lot more flats in my car than on my pushbike. Unfortunately they cost more to fix. :-/

The police in this area have issued a statement in a couple of the local newspapers letting the culprit know that they will be charged with felony reckless endangerment if caught.

This person strikes when local centuries are held. I have been lucky and have not been a victim.

I have however stepped on one of those goathead things once. When I was little. Man did that ever hurt. Sandspurs in Florida are just as effective at flatting you out 50miles from home...

They don't sprout on pavement but they will certainly spread across pavement, sidewalks and other hard surfaces. Considering that the plants don't do well in competition with other plants...they prefer barren disturbed soils...the hard surfaces may be ideal for them. I've seen the plants up to 8 feet in diameter with large amounts across hard surfaces.

Of course when people run off into the weeds and collect them, they also spread them all over the path where other cyclists pick them up

I was riding my old MTB (I think it must have been 3-4 months ago) and I was practicing riding without touching the handlebars. I veered off into the dirt off to the side of the Highline Canal trail in Denver (cyccommute might know where this is; near the golf course, where the highline canal meets the cherry creek trail) for about 10-15 feet, and I must've had 10-15 goatheads in each tire. I noticed them on my front tire as it was spinning, so I pulled over and checked to make sure they were really goatheads. Indeed they were. This was before I started using SLiME (works great) in my tubes and started carrying a patch kit. I rode for about 3 miles after I noticed them, and then the tires got too flat to ride, so I called me mom and she picked me up. She was at an appointment, so I just walked my bike until she could pick me up (about 3 miles, and I was half a mile from home).

Where's that? Denverite here...

Nasty... Evil... things...

My solution was to use kevlar belted tires, liners and slime. It wasn't a 100% solution, but my flats turned into slow leaks that could be managed with weekly, then eventually daily pumping.

Geez that's 300% of what I'm doing... I'm just using slime, and it works just fine for me.

When I decided that I wanted to start over, I got myself new tubes, and re-inflated the old ones. I counted nearly 70 punctures before I gave up. I've since moved north of the problem area, so I don't face them anymore.

Colorado Springs. Town to the south of Denver. A place where few from Denver ever go There really aren't dragons south of Castle Rock

Yeah, folks think Colorado Springs is too much of an effort to type, and it often wraps a line in a small space. Also known as Colo Spgs and C/S.

I've never heard it called COS. I've only heard it called Colo Springs. Never abbreviated to the extent of COS...

COS also happens to be the airport code here. Not that there are any real useful flights originating here.

Last fall I got a goathead flat on the road. Like an idiot I decided to wheel my bike over to the nearby grassy area to fix the flat. About 20 feet in I noticed I now had a dozen goatheads on each tire. I now carry two spare tubes instead of just one, even for short rides.

We have quite a few goatheads here in SE WA. Just yesterday while tooling down a sidewalk next to a vacant lot I suddenly realized I was in a minefield -- picked out a half dozen goatheads from my tires. No flat though

Thorn tubes are the single most effective thing you can do. Not 100% effective, but only every 10th-20th one will get through instead of every one. Slime or the equivalent will fill most of the holes. Yeah, it's heavy but not as heavy as pushing your bike home.

Kevlar tires with the thorn tubes are about the best you can do. That, combined with watching where you go is about as goathead-proof as you can get.

I remember on the Cycle Oregon 2009 (Jefferson State) ride, we got into a mess of goatheads like you wouldn't believe. At one point along the ride (day 4, if memory serves), I passed over 60 people with flats. I was thrilled that before doing the ride, I remembered the problems I had with goatheads living in Ashland. I invested in new kevlar tires, thorn resistant tubes, and slime.

My bike was easily the heaviest standard bike on the ride, but I didn't get one flat on the whole trip (and I was one of the heaviest riders).



Fortunatly for me, the flaws in the belted tires didn't cause problems until after the ride.



I'm now riding on Specialized Crossroads tires

Not this year, but a couple of years ago when I purchased a new bike, I had three flats within the first 4 days of my purchase. I quickly got sick of it and purchased a set of Specialized Armadillos for my Allez. Goat heads are numerous, but around here, we also have an added problem with the amount of sharp rocks and objects pushed to the bike lanes and curbs. And the chipseal that is favored for most roads is extremely harsh on tires and riders.

I installed Mr. Tuffys on my 23 tires on the road bike this weekend. Just purchased a Felt hybrid, too, and the reviews on the Conti Contact tires are good. They are burly 37's.

Goatheads are not that bad in the Fort Collins, Loveland, Colorado area yet.

I've also noticed that they are worse after they disturb/plow the soil right next to the roads here.

I only ride on the road, and the worst place to get them is in places with lots of sandy-gravel on the side of the road. No way to avoid it sometimes, and goatheads seem to accumulate in there...

last fall I had a flat every day for one week because of those guys got tube liners and they stopped

After reading this thread I realized I should make an appointment for the bikes 100 mi birthday and get new tires put on at the same time this coming weekend. Not really fond of the Tioga city grippers anyway.

Too late, picked up my first one on the way home last night. Hopefully the new tube will last two more days. Will go with whatever tires the LBS has, just as long they are bomb proof.