I got my first flat yesterday on the Ridley I bought last July. You would think as light as a CF bike is that it would float...no....hover over the road hazards, and the flat gnomes would give us riders a break, knowing we had to bargain with the devil (our wives) just to be able to get one.

At least it was a slow leak. I discovered it with a about a half mile left to ride, so I crossed my fingers, gave the tire a shot of co2 and took off for the end. I made it without any problems, but the tube feels like it has negative pressure in it today.

Well, you should have sprung for the CF tires.

C/f bicycles DO NOT get flats . . . however the tires/tubes do as they are not carbon fiber!!!

And tubes!

I have a steel bike and find that steel tires do not get flats.

My first 4 years I had zero flats. In year 5, i got 4 of them.

"S" happens.

Don't forget, "flat" is a 4-letter word.

So is bike.

The tires on a c/f bike are meant to go flat. They are designed to absorb and dissipate the environmental hazards that would otherwise cause an instant asplosion of your c/f frame and fork.

This is the dirty little secret that The Bicycle Companies do NOT want you to know.

If you weren't hovering, your doing it wrong.

It didn't go flat, you wouldn't have made it home on a steel bike.

I havent had a flat all season with my ALUMINUM bike.

I was wondering this past summer about my getting a flat 'cause back in the old days I never got road bike flats. Then while cleaning out some old bike stuff from well over 20 years ago I ran across a kept for a spare tube with over a half dozen patches on it. Old age misremembering is a wonderful thing.

I never got flats, either.


And, selective memory is a myth.

I hate to tell you this, but the chance of getting flats has nothing to do with whether it's a carbon fiber bike or not. It's all about how whether it's raining and hard it is going to be to be to get the tire off the rim.

My (dismal) record is 4 tubes on a single flat. One tube had a faulty stem, one I pinch-flatted, one the good Samaritan who stopped to lend me his spare tube pinch flatted and the final one was the original, nicely patched.

That one is still on the bike, I think.

I get flats on my carbon bike, my steel bike, my aluminum bike and my titanium bike. I get them when it's cold, it's raining and in beautiful warm sunny weather.

There is no escape.

Rick / OCRR

Aw, NOW you did it! Duck, here comes the Flat Fairy(tm)!

And probably during a record smashing ride up our favorite hill (Wildwood).

I certainly get flats, especially since I am a larger rider, but it seems I never flat on a long steep climb when I really could use a good "reason" to stop for a while.

We shy away from mentioning the "F" word in public. Bad juju.

The only time I have ever gotten a flat on my bicycle is when I was riding it, never seem to get one when it is in the rack.

So, I'm going to do my birthday ride tomorrow (a day early), and I'm thinking since apparently I'm too large to hover over road hazards right now, I'm going to fill my tubes with helium and see if that helps.

I'd try to lower the air pressure like Tom Brady did (allegedly), but I suspect it might have the opposite result.

I'm thinking of buying a pair of wheels from a friend's Giant carbon bike for my steel Genesis. Does this mean I'm not going to get flats?

I could contribute and speculate but we all know what will happen if I post something about having or not havingflats. For those who are looking for solutions, refer back to the drone thread and find a way to capture a few of them. Tie them to your frame and give it a shot. Send me a picture if it works out.

My Ridley flatted 9.2 miles out on my first ride. I considered trading it in for something from Walmart! Mr. Noah has behaved after stern discussion and trading the Mavics out for a pair of Hutchs.