I am a newbie as far as road biking goes. I have ridden 350 miles in the last 6 weeks and have had 3 flats already :( (One as I was removing my hand pump after airing up my tire). I keep my tires at the recommended 100 psi. I avoid all rocks and debris that I can. Is this normal?

I use Continental 4-Seasons puncture resistant tires. My last flat was over 5000 miles ago.

It all depends on things like the road surface you're riding on. I get flats every 40-50 miles, but the surface I ride on has tons of these thorn bearing burrs. Even though I am on a vigilant watch, flats still happen. I just put a liner in my tube, so hopefully that'll help some. Flats are an expected part of doing biking for me.

In the past, I've gone on surfaces that didn't have these thorns (at least not as much) and I might go several hundred miles without a flat. Personally, I'd be happy with an average of one flat per 100+ miles right now.

Just rolled over 800 miles on my new baby after about a month, 3 flats. 1 by small staple on rear tire.
2 on front by thorns. Thats was a while back.

Our tandem has only had 1 flat in a year and 1,400 miles, front flat caused by thorn.

My guru has had 2 flats in 2000 miles, both at same time by what I believe was glass. That happen at about 1000 miles, hasn't happened since.

Tires used......Vittoria rubino pros on singles or Vredstien tri-comps.

Conti, Gatorskins on tandem.................

I haven't had a flat in literally years and I've suddenly just had 5 this month already.

I have about 800 miles on my Lemond Tourmalet and I guess I have been lucky with no flats. I ride in a rural area and mainly stay on road but do ride shoulders when available.

Installed Specialized Armadillo tires on March 3.
Since then, 3096 miles with no flats. And I've pulled some nasty stuff out of those tires, too.

Make that 4 flats in 400 miles!!! This is ridiculous... It seems I am spending more time with the tires in my hand than my Arss on the seat!!!

How long is a rope?? Consider all the variables.Sometimes you get a run of bad luck and then one of good luck.Some seem to get all the bad ...YMMV.

I had a bad streak lately as well. I had ridden about 2000 miles on the current tires I have and I was thinking about how long it had been since I'd flatted. Well, I've had 4 flats in the last 3 weeks with 3 being on the rear. I replaced the rim tape and I now think I have that problem fixed.....

I agree but I also think that flats often seem to generate more flats. It pays to take your time and to be very particular each and every step of the way when repairing a flat tire.

I have Michelin Axial Pros with maybe a couple thousand miles on em, no flats yet.

Tips:
1. Look for the thorn, etc that punctured the last time
2. Check your rim tape
3. Mount tire correctly
4. Inflate tires correctly
5. Ride in the road, not on the shoulder

I really think you ought to check out some good liners. On my thorn laden bike route, I have riden now for 200 miles without a flat. I've noticed three thorns, but none have punctured the tube. This would have been unimaginable before. One more thing, those thorns can be almost invisible when they're lodged in your tire. I always check where the puncture occured and carefully inspect to see if there's anything still in there.

I can ride about 300 or 400 miles (on various tires/tubes) without a flat, then I'll get 4 or 5 flats within the next 100 miles

Could be your rim tape isn't seated right and a spoke might be causing the problem. Or maybe your rim has a sharp edge or something like that. As for tires, I'm having good luck with Continental Gator Skins.

After my 5 flats in under 300 miles, I must say that riding the shoulder is the worst idea ever. Ive been riding on the road and having very good luck...

The worst is when you hear some odd noise, look at the tire and see something attached. You pull over and you see a thorn. You pull it out and you hear air coming out...ARGH! what a PITA

My main problem right now is thorns. I just cant avoid them. Ive been riding on the road more and have been getting some decent luck :D, 50 miles with no flats :)

maybe 100psi isn't enough for your tires, weight, and the kind of riding you do...

I run my tires at 100 psi. I have 2 flats in 100 miles on the original rubber (Bontrager Race X-Lite tires) then no more until I had to change at 1000 miles, 1 flat with Continential GP3000 in 1000 miles (I had to change at 1000 miles as threads were coming through - very disappointing). I now run Vittoria Rubino Pro's and so far no flats in 600 miles (also limited wear!)

I have had 3 flats in the last 3 weeks, but before that I hadn't had one in over 5,000 miles. I use to run Vittoria Rubino Pro Slicks, but recently switched to Vittoria Open Corsa EVO CX, but both of them are excellent tires. 2 of my recent flats were caused by a rock I ran over that cut the side wall and when I changed the tube I didn't see it, but the hole in the side wall cut the second tube.

I use Armadillo tires. I can’t say how long it is between flats because I have not had a flat since I started using them – 4,000 miles ago.

Close to 3000 miles, since I changed to kevlar Bontrager tires.

I've had 4 flats in a week, and then no flats for a thousand miles. Flats always seem to come in bunches for me.

I have 700x25 Bontrager Race X-Lite tires. No flats in the last 4,000 miles or so and I ride on the shoulders a lot. No goatheads where I live so this helps. The other day I pulled a construction staple out of my rear tire that was about 3/8" in almost right in the middle of the tire. It was making a ticking noise on each revolution. I rode about a block or two with it in there trying to figure out where the noise was coming from. No flat resulted. I could hardly believe it. Perhaps I've been blessed by the patron saint of bicycle tires.

this has been my worst season for flats. I think I am on #5 and am at around 2k miles. hope my luck turns around soon.

I get a couple per summer. I pay attention to where I ride and rarely, if ever, get a flat from a puncture on the road. Usually it's because of things like I pinched the tube when installing it, or my tire wore through because it's old, etc.

I have a friend though who is a beast who doesn't pay a lot of attention to gravel and such on the road. He gets a lot of flats, and breaks a lot of equipment...