xizangstan

I'm becoming a huge fan of the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires on my mountain bike (26x1.5). But after being a victim of the Colorado goat head thorns, I also use Slime tubes, carry a spare tube, pump and patch kit.

One good thing about carrying a pump and patch tools/kit is, you're ready to offer assistance to good looking young ladies in distress! Works for me...

Dan Burkhart 

Another devotee of the Marathon Plus tires here. I'm running them on 3 bikes, and the regular Marathons on 2 more.
When I was in Paris last fall, I checked out the rental bikes the city operates. They are all equipped with Marathon tires, not Marathon Plus. I'm sure reliability ranks high on their procurement criteria.

cranky old dude

Marathon plus on my Tour Easy and Volae Tour, Marathon studded winter tires on my Trek. Schwalbe has become the first tires I look to when shopping for tires.

outwest5

I have used my pump a bunch of times on the hybrid, but never for own bike. People would see it as I rode buy and holler to borrow it. It's nice to be able to help out. On the road bike, as I mentioned before, I just carry CO2- two of them.

contango 

Maybe a bit of both, although I suspect it also speaks volumes about the value of half an inch of solid plastic lining the tyres as well. Seriously, I'm not sure what these "goat heads" are that people talk about (I live in the UK so we probably don't get them here), but I've cycled over broken glass, hawthorn cuttings etc and never had any trouble. Every once in a while I pull something out of the tyre that stuck in the rubber but didn't get any further.

The one time I did a long tour I was with a friend who had two flats, one caused by a piece of glass so small he nearly missed it when checking the tyre. I guess the second was caused by a sharp stone because there was nothing stuck in the tyre. That was the time I subsequently pulled an inch long thorn out of my tyre that hadn't pierced the tube.

cccorlew

I torn over puncture proofing.

I like riding my bike. I like it more when I feel like I'm clipping along at a reasonable rate.
I have a commuter bike I have installed pig-fat slow extra thick tires on because I need to get to work on time and not fix flats in the rain.
Before the anti-rolling tires it was fun to ride. Now, not so much. Better than driving a car, but lacking the joy of actual bike riding. I just slog out my commute like a diesel-powered truck going uphill.

I sometimes, on nice days, ride my other bike with skinny tires of paper-thin rubber. They're 180 grams of pop-if-you-even-see-glass.
They are also a delight. I roll. Heck, I even rock. They actually coast. Applying more power makes the bike go faster. I smile more.
But I know it's more of a gamble. But when I roll the dice and win, it's so very sweet.

I don't think I'd ever want to wreck my fun rides by making my bike feel slower. I'm slow enough already. And I need every ounce of "ahhhh" I can get my aging hands on.

Allegheny Jet

Somewhere this thread went from beating up the OP (justifiably by the way) who has probably fled to the hinterlands and will never ask for our collective blessing again.

Relating to the new subject of the thread, preventing flats. has anyone used these?
https://www.loosescrews.com/index.cgi...id=70485586165

I'm aware they won't fit all bikes. I used them way back in the 70's when we ran sew-ups on our bikes. Avoiding stopping, cutting the casing open, patching the tube, then sewing up the tire was a moment to avoid.

twobadfish

outwest5

Well, those are nasty looking little buggers.

twobadfish

My tires go flat just at the sight of them.

rdtompki

Three goathead-induced flats in 1.5 miles a year ago

colpatrick

Which Library? I know a lot of librarians!

mulveyr 

Penfield here. We should have a BF group ride. ;-)

Phil85207

What your wife is really telling you is that:
She doesn't want to be stranded alone somewhere while you ride two hours to the car, and
She doesn't want to ride for two hours alone to the car and have to heft her bike on the rack alone to come back and rescue you.
I've never been married and I can still understand wife-speak. Quote;

I find that remarkable. I have been married for well over 50 years and I didn't pick up on that at all. Very intuitive.

tsl

Rochester Public Library's Arnett Branch, 310 Arnett Blvd between Genesee St and Thurston Rd. I work the Circulation Desk from just after lunch to closing time on Monday–Thursday. Drop by!

tsl

Or join me on a Rochester Bicycling Club ride. I'm scheduled to lead five regular rides this season.

I also lead (and ride as many as possible) RBC Day Rides. The Day Rides aren't scheduled in advance like the main club ride calendar is. We go with the weather and what seems nice. Most of the Day Riders are 50+ and retired. I'm one of the few still working.

Meanwhile, I'm working on a BFN 50+ list for Rochester and Monroe County.

colpatrick
crankyolddude
Gyro
mulveyr
tsl

contango 

They don't look very nice, they look vaguely similar to something I encountered on Chincoteague Island VA a couple of years back, a kind of spiky seed that got caught on my trouser legs and had very sharp spikes on it so they were difficult to remove, and then difficult to remove from the ends of my fingers.

They still look like things that would break off when faced with the plastic lining of a Marathon Plus.

Bob Ross

...while being pursued by ninjas.

xizangstan

The problem with Goat Head thorns is, those spikes you see, like the yellow one in the center of the group in his hand, are really dense and harder than oak. They don't easily break off. Not until they've penetrated super-deep. They're extremely hard, dense, durable and anxious to penetrate your tires to their core.

I've been all around the country, and have seen this type of thorn mostly at higher elevations like Colorado, Wyoming and Utah. The plants are fairly low-growing and often one plant will have dozens of the little buggers on it.

TromboneAl

I got some armadillos, and was shocked at how heavy they are. I think I'll use them in the winter, when the roads are wet, and something lighter in the summer.

Next time I ride in Colorado, I won't be looking at the scenery, I'll be watching the road for thorns.

DnvrFox

Mostly, they break off from the plant on their own and single goatheads blow around ad they please - sprouting wings if necessary to get somewhere a bicycle is moving.

And, right - that needle like thorn is a s tough as a steel needle.

alcanoe

The mountain bikers use tubeless or tube-type with Stan's conversion. Done properly with Stan's fluid, it immunizes them from goatheads. The only time I've had Stan's fail is when I had a 1/4" hole punched through the thread area by a sharp stick. Had I known better, I did not have to insert a tube. You just squeeze in a small piece of cloth and Stan's will seal even a hole that big. Some report that it sealed sidewall gashes enough to get back to the car.

Al

chipcom 

It's good that at least one of you does, maybe you should follow her lead.

contango 

As long as they don't exceed about 1/2" long they shouldn't penetrate the plastic. Having not seen them for real I wouldn't put money on that, but I'd hope a tyre that can withstand a thumb tack to withstand a thorn.

DnvrFox

They will work their way down through the rubber and into the tube making a very tiny, but leaky, needlehole in the tube, simply by the flexing of the tire.

Next time I see a few, I will mail them to you and you can try them out.