Weakbikr

I live in a rural are, I have fought flats the last month or so. Seems every ride I'm replacing a tube. My rear tube ha been replace twice.i feel there is still something in the tire I can't find. Put a new front tube in yesterday. Seems to be holding up fine. Either way I'm looking at replacing the tires. I've been looking at the gatorskins for the puncture resistance. I now have 700x23 vittoros on the bike. I'd like to go up to a 25 or possibly a 28mm width. There looks to be plenty of clearance either way. My question is which would be a better choice? Or is that purely preference? I'd like to run 28s for the added comfort but will the difference between 25 and 28s make it feel really slow or heavy? Also if I use 25s I already have tubes and a spare where if I go to 28s I'll also need new tubes as well. I weigh 215 if that would makes a difference.

rms13

Puncture resistant tires are heavier then non resistant tires . Weight between 25 and 28 gatorskin is 20g so not a huge difference. If you're getting a lot of flats and ride rough roads I would just get 28 gatorskin. I think 28 is the sweet spot for road riding. Have you taken your current tire and tube off and checked to make sure you don't have some road debris inside that's causing the flats? Or even a bur on the insoin of the rim?

seau grateau

You don't need different tubes for 28s versus 25s.

Weakbikr

yes u have checked the rear, when I put the first and second tube in. Can't feel a thing. Rear will be flat in a week of sitting.

Weakbikr

the tubes I have say up 25c width. I have 700x23 on there now.

Weakbikr

doing some reading g looks like folks use smaller tubes in 28s quite a bit, is this correct? I'm still very new and have a lot to learn.

seau grateau

Yeah, they'll just stretch a bit more to fit the tire. It's a negligible difference at that size, and works 100% fine.

Weakbikr

Man that's awesome thank you.

bruce19

I'd start by determining what is causing the flats. The answer may inform your tire buying decision.

Colnago Mixte

+1 Get under a really bright light (or the sun at midday) with a magnifying glass and carefully examine the tire on the outside and then the inside. You might have glass shards, a thin metal wire from a car tire, or a thorn spike still lodged in the tire causing more punctures. It's PITA, but worth doing to prevent future flats from occurring.

OR, just get new tires and tubes and start from scratch if you don't have the time or patience to do that.

I made a thread about my favorite 28mm flat resistant tires, but these are getting difficult to find, so Gatorskins might be a better bet:

Best Anti-Goat Head Tire I Have Found