Deontologist

One guy told me he stopped bothering with puncture resistant tires (Gatorskins) and tire liners as the former didn't work too well and the latter really slowed him down. So he just buys tubes by the 100s now since that's how many he needs in a year.

How does anyone get that many flats ? There aren't even goatheads or any nasty thorns in this part of the country ...

I've only had one actual puncture flat ... and I only noticed after the tire had been leaking all night ... the rest have been pinch flats due to either a) underinflation, four counts or b) unable to avoid HUGE pothole, one count. These were with puncture resistant, bead to bead Aramid belted tires. Hell, even on my no-name brand BSO bike the tires were never pinched but only punctured once, and that took overnight for it to drain.

V73

If he goes through that many tubes from punctures, one would think he also goes through a massively expensive amount of tires... maybe he should avoid riding through construction sites, piles of razor blades, and pits of metal spikes...

Generally when you are having a recurring problem of this scale that others are not, it may be time to rethink your approach. Crazy guy.

-V

GP 

The best way to avoid flats is to look ahead and steer around debris. Your bike will follow your eyes. Don't look at your front tire.

cafzali

This plus common sense things like the proper tire inflation. I'm convinced there are a ton of people who don't take their weight into account, underinflate their tires and then hit objects that result in the classic pinchflat. If more people went to 25s from 23s and maintained proper inflation, the problem would largely go away. And that's even without going tubeless.

fietsbob

Location matters . is breaking glass bottles on the MUP a local Hobby?

Deontologist

So if I fitted 25s on my wheels I'd get fewer pinch flats? I currently have 23s.

Or do you mean I need to get wider rims?

cafzali

You should easily be able to run 25s on your rims.

Going to 25s isn't going to be a cure all, but pinch flats will almost certainly be less common and the increase in volume will mean you can run at lower pressures. Gain comfort, reduce pinch flats. Win, win.

Leebo

Never had a pinch flat with my 35's.

Little Darwin

I am a very large rider, and have never had a pinch flat. I also ride 35s. I'll see how I do next season since I plan on riding 28-32mm tires.

I have had 5 flats in 10 years. Two happened after I went to narrower high pressure tires on my old 26" wheeled hybrid, and both happened a couple of days apart while the bike was sitting in my apartment in the evening after a ride. Replacing both rim strips fixed the problem. Another one was a goats head that I picked up about 1/2 mile before the end of a ride (I got back to the car and fixed the tire that evening at home). Two were due to lack of use, and I had to replace the tubes before starting a ride... One exploded when I improperly inflated with a CO2 cartridge, the other was low from sitting around, and wouldn't inflate due to a faulty valve, so I replaced the tube.