I have a mountain bike with knobby tires and thought it would help me avoid flats. But riding in the desert with tumble weeds and other sharp needle like plants are killing me and I’m not enjoying ridding anymore. Many years ago I bought my son "puncture-resistant" tires and even they got flats although not as often. I could take the bike to the beach and probably never get a flat, but it’s a really long way from home driving in unbelievable traffic.

2 words: tube less. Or one word: tubeless.

I accept they will be heavier and use thorn resistant inner-tubes .. inside a already heavy tire with puncture resistant tire cases..


But I'm not in your climate.. I skip flats for Years, here..

Do I have to buy a whole new wheel for tubeless?

It depends on what you have. A lot of new rims made in the last 10 years have been "tubeless ready".

If not, some people have had success using tubeless on ordinary rims. Others don't recommend it.

See this thread:
Tires for goatheads?

Two different approaches you might consider.

Really thick tires. Hopefully thicker than the length of your thorns.

Also suggested in that thread were Panaracer “Flataway” tire liners. A bit expensive, but they're supposed to be the best.

Finally, if you really don't like flats, consider the Tannus Solid tires. I think Specialized may be selling them now too, under their own name.

Tanis solid tire

NO FLATS.

A bit different of a ride. I have the narrow tires on one bike, but they have wider ones available. A bit of a pain to install, but you do it once, and they should be good for a good long time.

Don't forget tire liners like Mr. Tuffy's. I've been using them for years.

The Bicycle Tire Liners are interesting and I'm checking out YouTube videos on them now.

Thanks I found them on Amazon, but they don't have my size so I have to look somewhere else.

I tour on a gravel bike with 35 mm tyres. The tyres I used are Schwable Marathon Tour Plus as well as puncture resistant tubes. We have goat heads all over the outback in Australia and I can honestly state that I have not had a puncture in over 6000klm. I am not sure up to what size width you can get in these tyres, but they are the gold standard for bike tourers. They are expensive but they are the best. Mine are 700c but I think you can get them in any size. You will not regret buying them!

Another vote for tubeless.

+1
Another vote for tubeless

Well I just ordered the Mr. Tuffy liners on eBay. Everyplace else that had them said they could not send them to my zip code. I'm not sure why unless they are illegal in Southern CA

if this doesn't work, then I'll have to try the tubeless.

Even tire liners aren't flat proof when things go wrong. A couple of weeks ago a cyclist on our monthly casual group nighttime ride got two flats in a row within a mile. She had tire liners. Just bad luck along a stretch of road with fairly ordinary broken glass and construction debris. Then the valve broke completely off the replacement tube so we patched the first tube. And we removed the liner because it was hindering repairs with cold hands. All together about a 30-45 minute delay on flats in chilly weather.

I prefer tires designed to be flat resistant. No liners to mess with, bunch up, uncurl, or accidentally pinch, deform or wear the tube prematurely.

If you don't absolutely need knobbies, check out Michelin Protek Cross Max. It's an aggressive chevron tread, excellent grip on anything but wet, slimy black gumbo and red clay. Toughest tires I've ever used or seen that also ride remarkably well. Besides the thickest tread of the Michelins it also has their thickest 5mm Aramid shield (basically Kevlar).

Never a puncture flat in more than two years, including on some ridiculously bad roads. The tread has been slashed down enough to reveal the yellow puncture shield beneath. I've pulled out goatheads, locust tree thorns, chunks of glass, staples, nails and drywall screws that didn't puncture the tube.

And they don't roll like lead filled balloons. In a single day I've compared the Michelins with Specialized Hemisphere and Innova tires, both with similar but shallower chevron tread and much thinner puncture shields (several flats with both of those sets of tires). The heavier Michelins rolled as well, my average speed and effort were the same, and they felt more secure in all kinds of conditions.

But if you decide to go tubeless most folks I know who've gone tubeless have nothing but praise -- as long as it's set up right to begin with.

I use these Schwalbe Marathon Wired Tyre with Greenguard Reflex, yet to have a puncture and they have done about 500 miles so far (on and offroad)

Tubeless is superior to liners and really the way to go

seating them can be a pain you need a compressor

Once set up they are worry free

you can run tires at lower pressure to improve comfort and traction as added benifits

Another vote for Tubeless, and a suggestion to use Stan's Race Day Sealant.

It's possible you may need to buy new rims and tires if your rim's aren't tubeless ready, but it's worth it. Low end tubeless ready wheels can be found for about $200/set (Forte Titan II at Performance Bike), and they actually hold up remarkably well. I've been using them as my daily "heavy" training wheels for about a year now. Many wheels coming as OEM's from bike mfgs are tubeless ready now.

I would however avoid using the Stan's cross rim strips to convert normal clinchers to tubeless. I did it about 10 years ago and it was more trouble than it was worth. Makes the tires infuriatingly difficult to get on the rim and to get properly mounted.

Marathons are great. But they are slow to roll and hard to mount. Really hard. Read this.
Curtis Corlew in Bicycle Land: Schwalbe Marathon Plus mounting and review

I've never had a goat head flat with them. But I did have a very very odd puncture once...
Curtis Corlew in Bicycle Land: Death of a Schwalbe Marathon Plus

More like tubeless or more tubes.

^this and then get this: Dynaplug® Tubeless Tire Puncture Repair Tools and Accessories

You should get less flats and the ones you do get should be much easier to fix.

J.

WOW! I used to have flat kit years ago when my 10 speed was my only transportation, but this is pretty cool. I'm going to buy one of these for my tool collection. Thanks

Yeah, they work pretty well. You can put more than one plug in a bigger hole too. I would think that between the plug an the sealant in the tubeless tire, you ought to be much better off. I would guess most of your punctures are pretty small if they are due to thorns.

J.

Ride on the road . . .

Excuse me for my ignorance, I've never used tubeless bicycle tires. But if the OP is experiencing the flats as a result of punctures from the likes of thorns, cactus needles, and other pointy things in the desert, how will tubeless prevent the flats? Are tubeless tires thicker, more resistant to such punctures from such objects? If the tire gets a hole punctured in it you still get a flat...right?

Regarding solid, or "airless" tires (airless, not tubeless)...I'm strictly a roadie, but I have a couple of sets of solid/airless tires that I used several years ago. I initially got them so that I wouldn't have to worry about flatting on my way to work when I was commuting on a road bike, or during my quick lunchtime workout rides. But, I stopped using them mostly because I just didn't like their performance. There is a weight trade-off. Solid tires are heavier. But, there's no need to carry a pump, spare tube(s), tire tools, etc. They have a much greater rolling resistance than traditional pneumatic tires...noticeably in lost MPH. But, off-road that might not be as much of an issue. However, on bumps, the solid tires don't provide the impact absorption and distribution around the wheel that pneumatic tires offer. That can result in more isolated impact on the wheel and more likelyhood for damage to the wheel. I would only use solid tires if I were riding on very smooth surfaces, with no potential for bumps, where the reduced rolling resistance (i.e. speed) is not critical.

My suggestion is for tire liners. And if the commercial off-the-shelf liners aren't working out...maybe it's time to think outside the box and create your own, or use multiple tire liner layers.

Dan

Wow. Thanks so much for your polite and worldly recommendation. Where might one find this Google thing?

Dan