Was having a great time commuting over the past month, but recently I keep catching thorns

3 thorns in 2 weeks, after the first 2 I replaced both tires, which were very old CSK 27" gum wall tires, with 27x1 1/4 and 27x1 1/8 continental ultra sports. I replaced both tubes at the same time figuring I'd start fresh with no patches.

Made it through the work week, but today before heading out to lunch from work I noticed another damn thorn stuck in the back tire! I pulled it out and of course heard a sharp little *hiss*
This one was stuck barely off center.

Tire liners? Slime the tubes? Different tires? More pressure?

I'm a big guy, 6'5" 220lbs, and I ride at the max pressure on the tire sidewall

My path takes me along a bunch of very large eucalyptus trees and there's a lot of bouncy ball sized acorns in the bike lane, I avoid them by playing pinball in the lane but these damn thorns are getting annoying!

Gets old swapping to my mountain bike at lunch which is a lot harder to ride fast than my road bike, plus I don't like putting the road miles on my nice WTB velociraptor tires!

If your tires are tough enough you can run pretty much whatever kind of tubes or liners without much worry. I run Vittoria Randonneur Cross tires. Not as harsh of a ride as you'd expect from some pretty tough tires. I think they're a good compromise between a nice ride and durability. I'm looking at less-tough Michelin Pilot Sport tires. 20 bucks says I flat out like crazy and run right back to the Crosses... as stock tires I may be taking them for granted.

i had the same problem. flats multiple times per week...

went to tire liners (tuffy ultralites). despite what you might have read to the contrary, i have had zero problems with them. they are light (about 50 gms per), easy to transfer from tire to tire. allows use of extremely light tires (i've got them on a tires that weighs 168 gm) with no detectable difference in riding quality. actually, you can use them on any tire you choose...

haven't had anything get through them yet. been about 2000 miles.

I have liners in my mtb tires because where I ride, those damn goathead style thorns are everywhere. I asked my LBS about liners for my 27" tires when I got these new continentals, and they said they never recommend anyone to use liners on road bike tires, just run max psi and the thorns will bounce right off. I would have got some anyways but they had none in stock.

You have two choices. You can buy a set of super flat resistant tires, or try installing some tire liners. I would also try lowering your tire pressure a touch below the max.

I'd suggest going with different tires, marathon plus for example, bontrager has a model that has worked well, I think it is called racelite. I don't like linners much. ymmv

if this is the marathon plus they don't make them in 27" for my old bike.
https://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Marat.../dp/B0015UOUJQ

I have the Randonneur Pro. The Randonneur Cross looks interesting.