Orange Gato

I'm a novice and have zero bike knowledge. My bike came with Vittoria Randonneur puncture resistant tires. Is there such a thing as true puncture resistance? Am I able to ride over broken glass or a tack without getting a flat? I assume not, and I assume that as the tires wear, they will be more prone to punctures?

10 Wheels

There are items on the road that will give you flats no matter what tire you have.

RonH

No tire is puncture proof. Even the most expensive tires will get a puncture, although some tires are VERY good at preventing punctures. Just watch where you ride and enjoy the bike.
BTW: would you purposely drive your car thru glass and trash?

D1andonlyDman

Of course nobody is intentionally riding over broken glass or debris, but the fact is, often a broken bottle appears where you don't expect it and have time to react to it - and in such a situation, it's nice to have tires that are better at resisting a flat. In the past year, I've gotten exactly two flats on the road, and each of these was when I was using a tire that was light weight that didn't have any flat protection built in. Just yesterday I inadvertently ran over some broken glass that I did not see until it was too late to avoid, and thankfully, my tires (which happened to be a pair of 25c Continental Ultra Sport II on that bike) shed the glass without being punctured. I pulled off to the side of the road right after, to see if there were any imbedded glass fragments in the tire, and there were a couple which I brushed off that had cut into the surface tread superficially, but had not penetrated the casing. So a rugged tire definitely prevented a flat for me yesterday. And considering that I was riding in hot/humid weather, I appreciated not having to fix a flat on the side of the road 12 miles from my home.

BobbyG

I commute and I use tire liners on two of my three bikes. I will put them on the new bike at some point. I think I bought Mr. Tuffy's. They put a firm barrier between the tire and the innertube at the expense of suppleness. I had been having problems with goat head thorns and the tire liners did the trick. However I had a 6 inch roofing nail go up through the sidewall last year. I have had innertubes wear out on their own, which ends up being like a tear; and I experienced sidewall separation on an old pair of tires. But with the tire liners I have had no thorns, nails or glass puncture the innertube through the tread. The two drawbacks are a slightly firmer ride and potential extra difficulty changing innertubes.

Retro Grouch 

1. There is no "puncture proof" there is only "puncture resistant".

2. Bicycle tire manufacturers often offer tires but with varying degrees of puncture resistance. The best tires relative to rolling resistance, ride quality, and road holding tend to have very light, supple sidewalls. Tires with the best puncture resistance tend to have very stiff, heavy sidewalls. When you buy tires you get to pick whichever is more important to you.

pdlamb

Well, there is no puncture proof tire on the market that I know of right now. But before Mr. Dunlop invented pneumatic tires (tyres?), you could ride solid rubber tires which were puncture proof. The new tires are so much more comfortable they put solid rubber out of business.

dave42

Knobbies.

Bmx-lookin' mtb tires.

Wide, slow, and heavy.

That's what i've been running lately.

With a heavy load, I was trashing tires at an alarming rate on my road bike, riding glassy, gravely shoulders at night.

Now, it's good.

But, there's nothing like the feel of a road bike, and I miss it.

rebel1916

I have thousands of miles since my last flat on the road, and I run fairly sporty tires. You'll be fine whatever you choose.

MichaelW

Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) is a standard measure of reliability.
Compared to 1970 tech tyre, kevlar protected ones have much longer MTBF. I would estimate MTBF for old tech to be about 3-6 months and for modern everyday tyres, 12-18 months. High protection tyres such as Schwalbe Marathon Plus are effectively puncture proof, inc small tacks and pins but fail with massive metalwork.
MTBF will vary according to local nasties such as goat head thorn or flint shards.

trailflow1

Tannus tyres are puncture proof but they don't use an inner tube. They are solid rubber.

Tannus Tires - Solid Bicycle Tires

spdracr39

Flat tires are part of the hobby just accept it, pay attention to what debris is ahead of you, and ride around it when able to.

bikecrate

I have Gatorskin Hardshells and they are about as puncture proof as I have experienced, but they can still get flats. Make sure to keep your tires inflated to the proper psi to avoid pinch flats and carry the right equipment so you can change/repair your tubes if needed.

JanMM

We're coming up on the first anniversary of our first-ever on-the-road tandem bike punctures, after riding twicers for 14 years. A small piece of wire (from a radial tire??) made it through the kevlar belt of the Primo Comet tire. Couldn't find the cause of the puncture until ten miles down the road, where it happened again. (Found the wire that time.) Have had good luck with 26"/559 Comet Kevlars but did switch to Schwalbe Marathon Supremes later in the Summer, based on recommendations as rugged, good performing tire. But not puncture-proof like the Marathon Pluses. (We've had no more punctures.)
Punctures happen - be prepared. And look closely at your tires on a regular basis.

mozad655

Not only do puncture resistant tires exist, puncture proof tires exist aswell. Now ofcourse this is within reasonable sence and a knife, big nail or stuff like that will get through any car tire yet alone bicycle tire. But these are very rare exceptions. Generally there is a huge difference between tires.

When I bought my cx bike I had a ton of punctures on the pre-installed tires. After a year or so I replaced them with some supposedly puncture resistant Gatorskin tires that cost quite a bit. They weren't that good so I replaced them too and bingo. I found Schwalbe tires and bought a set of 25mm Schwalbe marathon plus. These things are amazing. I can ride through pretty much anything, glass, very sharp rocks, in the woods etc. I have not had a single puncture on these tires since I bought them 2-3 years ago.

So there is a big difference between normal tires and puncture proof tires, and even between different brands of puncture proof tires. Some really are puncture proof and its worth every penny to pay for them. I am a customer of Schwalbe for life. What's the catch with these tires? There is more friction compared to normal tires and handling is a bit different. You get used to this and forget about it within days. I cannot recommend the marathon plus series enough. They really are puncture proof.

MRT2

Punctures are a funny thing. My wife got a slow leak from a piece of wire embedded in you Panaracer Urban Max tires on her very first ride with the tires. I spotted the leak but couldn't find the source. Suspecting the cause was maybe a defective tube, I returned to the bike shop. Bike shop found the really tiny wire embedded in the tire and removed it. Hasn't had a flat in two years.

On my Panaracer Ribmos, I seem to be averaging one flat every 1,000 miles. In neither case did I find the source of the puncture, which is kind of strange. Both times was on the front tire, which gets less wear than does the back tire.