This morning's ride (welcome to Monday) featured a flat that rendered flat my Specialized Nimbus tire with a Slime tire liner. I did roll through a broken bottle field, but that is not what did me in - it was an industrial staple

Thankfully, I was carrying my floor pump as I was bringing it back to work. I keep one there for just this reason - this morning it was threaded through the top of my pack. It's a really light, gaugeless Zefal, but it sure beat a mini pump (also in my pack).

This has been the Year of the Flat Tire for me, so why not start a thread that will allow us to share our experience?

Tell us how far you were into your commute, morning or night, what flatted your tire, and did anything good come out of it? Pictures are good, too.

5:45 a.m.
2 miles from work
Staple
Had my floor pump (dumb luck)

Dummmmmmmb

We all flat.

Everyone knows that you don' talk about flats. It only pisses off the flat gods.

Jinx thread!!

I'm probably doomed now for even pointing this out!

With the number of flats I've had this year, there is no jinx - I have proven it false.

...and if you believed in one in the first place, your doctor probably still uses leeches.

Vice, glad you took the time to comment

I got the first flat in a long time a couple days ago on my way to the grocery store. I was heading to get ice cream. I figured it was a slow enough leak I could just pump it up with my hand pump before I left and I would be fine.

I went in, grabbed some tasty ice cream to share between my wife and I, came out, to find the tire entirely flat with no hopes of revival until I got home.

Walked the 1.6 miles (took about 25 minutes). Fortunately, it was a cool enough night, the ice cream didn't melt.

The culprit, a little tiny piece of glass that had worked its way through the tire.

---

My wife on the other hand, has had numerous flats. All because she never looks for the root cause of the puncture. The last time, she got two flats in a row in the same spot before she checked the the rim strip and found a nipple poking through.

There's always the guy in every thread who has to brag about his wife's nipples poking through.

The first time I flatted, was during that heatwave we had this summer, and was around the afternoon, and I was trying to bike out of Co-op City. I had 5 puncture holes in the rear tire due to glass. I blame the puncture due to being under inflated which I knew I was but not carrying my hand pump.

Yeah, but how many guys say their wife covered up her nipples with rim Velox rim tape?

I rarely get flats. My last flat was due to a puncture in the tube of which I could not find the cause. I ran my fingers along the inside of the tire, but felt nothing. Got a new tube, inflated, and it's all good. My last flat which I could find the cause of was when my ****ty plastic rim tape stretched so much that it tore (double-walled rim). Upgraded both rim strips to Velox. With my Serfas Seca tires, my amount of flats has significantly dropped. With my old no-name tires, I would get flats every 50mi or so. Now, I get them every 250mi or longer.

In Soviet Russia, flats get you!

Rarely get flat now =) I always recommend tire liners !

I got one last night. Rode into work just fine. I closed the restaurant after a long shift, loaded up my clothes and gear and got my lighting ready. Hopped onto the bike pedaled a few strokes and my bike felt funny. Checked tires and my front one was flat . No biggie I thought, I brought a spare tube and mini pump. Took the tube out felt inside of tire for culprit and couldn't find anything. Put the new tube in and went to inflate and my pump was broken...
So I called my girlfriend and got a ride home. Today I went to my LBS and bought a co2 inflator with 2 cartridges. Told them about my flat and they said (after I described the tube, which had a bunch of raised bumps where the spokes touched) that I needed rim tape. Purchased that and now I'm ready to make any future repairs if need be. Long post huh?