Covalent Jello

What's your opinion, in the context of a nonracing commuter on a relatively crap roadbike with a top priority among others to prevent pinch/puncture flats etc?

Blackdays

Gatorskins

ENEMY

I've had great luck with my Bontrager Race Lite Hard Case. I use them on my Cannondale that I ride as a commuter and group ride bike. No flats yet.

Covalent Jello

Someone else recommended the Bontrager Race Lite Hard Cases...so that makes 2, good to know. And I'll look into the gatorskins.

It'd be nice to just buy normal inner tubes, but not sure if those need to be special too...getting thick tubes helped a lot with thorns/pinchflats with mountainbiking, but then again, the mountain bike has relatively normal tires on it.

B100

Schwalbe Marathon

ENEMY

Im running normal $5 tubes in my bike withe Bontragers

thompsonpost

I line my 'fat' tires with a second and, sometimes, third inner tube. It isn't bullet proof, but is cheap and effective.

frail1

Get some cheap, but durable, road tires, cheap tubes and put some Mr. Tuffy's in them.

I would flat monthly on my commute, and then put these in 2 years ago, and voila...no flats since. Really, an incredible piece of gear, IMHO.

bigdaddy10028

700x28 armadillos here. Very heavy and slow tire but they are bombproof. I'm looking at trying gatorskins next time around. one thing that i really like about the armadillos is the stoutness of the sidewalls. i bought a pair of pasela tourguards which are much lighter weight and came highly recommended but i hit a very small edge of a sidewalk and it gashed out the sidewall. We are talking about a bump that was only about 1 to 1.5" high and i hit it without my weight over the back wheel when it happened.

gnome

If your priority is preventing flats on a commuter it is hard to go past the Schwalbe Marathon Plus. They are a bear to mount, heavy and slow but extremely puncture resistant. I'd recommend getting a second wheelset so that you can have some nice fast tyres on them for fun riding.

zonatandem

Maxxis Re-Fuse.

banerjek

Schwalbe Marathon Plus if the goal is flat resistance -- nothing even comes close. I've put many thousands of miles on gatorskins, armadillos, and hardcases.

However, the marathon plus is the slowest tire I've ridden and they're the hardest to mount. The other 3 tires all have decent flat protection. I detest the armadillos as they have the worst ride of any tire I've ever ridden and are the second hardest to mount. As a flat resistant tire that's better balanced, I'd go with the gatorskins, and then the hardcases.

Don't worry about the tubes -- focus on the tire.

mooncricket

I like the Gatorskins.

My problem is with the tubes. Got several batches of bad ones. I run 110psi road 700x23. Pinholes develop at the weld seams (not punctures). Very little success patching these as more seems to develop right nearby the patch, along the weld seams. All these tubes were from Nashabar, Specialized, and Bontrager--all made in Taiwan. Appear to be one manufacturer putting the tubes into boxes of different brands.

Anyone with tube recommendations (reasonable cost with good reliability)?

andrewluke

The Bontragers are good but I prefer the Gatorskins myself. They have a couple different models but I run an Ultra on the front and a hardshell (I think?) on the rear that's a little stiffer. I live in the desert so hot pavement in the evenings softens up rubber a bit more and I eat rear tires down the center.

echappist

michelin. if you want fancy ones, you can shave 15g on get the aircomp for ~$5.50 per, shipping included, from pbk. i just got a bunch of the less fancy ones for about $5 each shipped.

squamish5

many 1000's of miles.........very few flats

Impoliticus

I highly recommend these tubes from performance.

ElJamoquio

Gatorskins are a great compromise.

If you live in a scheisse-y area with road debris, Armadillos won't have a problem when Gatorskins will. But it's still tough to recommend them, because as others have mentioned, they ride pretty harsh.

Soloist Assassin

I use Michelin Krylions, and Bontrager Tubes. I hardly ever flat. I rode 2k last year, and had maybe 2 flats. I've already rode over 2k this summer, and I've had 2 flats. Also in the tire's defense if I would of replaced it after the first time it flatted, it probably would of prevented the second. The tire was pretty thin at that point.

Covalent Jello

Predominantly Roadbike LBS says basically Gatorskins are #1, Armadillos are #2, Specialized are #3, and Bontrager doesn't make good tires

Covalent Jello

If anyone cares, weight isnt an issue to me

Covalent Jello

Good info thanks

Covalent Jello

The tires need to be 27 x 1 1/4" by the way.

anthony691

Schwalbe Marathon Plus.

AMFJ

I've been using gatorskins and the tubes you get on price point in bulk for around a year and I've had one flat that was totally my fault.

I realize I shall now have 40 flats on my next ride for typing that