Definetly getting Mr Tuffy liners today. I put my Specialized Armadillo tire on before my ride this morning and got no flat but the bike was crawling. Went fom 18mph to 16.5.

I typically get a flat every 2k-3k miles. sorry to hear you guys have such rotten luck.

I have tried and discarded Tuffy's. Slime liners work better, but around here even that is not enough. I just carry three spare tubes and have a patchfest when I get home.

In fact I am running a slowly-leaky rear tire right now. Have to add about 15 psi each time I ride it, but it stays put during the ride. Tired of prying tires off of my Titans. Those rims grip a bead like no other.

+1 on the GatorSkins - I was a chronic flatter- swapped out the Armadillos for Gators...

perhaps you didn't install them correctly? I've picked glass and staples out of tires which did not penetrate a tuffy. goatheads are trivial to them.

I used to get about 6-8 flats in 2000 miles of riding. I switched to tubulars and now it's *maybe* one. I typically wear out the tire before it flats.

Part of it might be that I run with a little sealant in the tires but I have only had that be a noticeable issue once (hearing the hissing and then it stops - find the plug).

At any rate, I really like the ride and I really, really like not having flats hardly ever. I also don't have to pump my tires up every day - maybe once ever week or two.

J.

Not to sound braggadocios but I don't get flats. In the past 10 or 15 years, I can count them on one or two hands. I use tufo sealant on my clinchers and tubulars. My last flat was with the tubular and I pulled out a lumber staple, from the side of the tire, cursed it, squirted in half a little container of Tufo sealant, pumped it back up to 110psi, and off I rode. That was last season and the tire is still fine and does not leak. Sure, I have in the past had some awful days. Flatted out both front and rear tires at the same time by hitting the same damn rock. One time had five or six flats in the same day, same wheel. Clearly a bur or spoke issue, can't remember anymore, but I finally started to hitch hike home and a cool guy in a pick up truck pulled over, I threw my bike in the back and climbed in the cab. He handed me a joint and all was good in the world.

Rode this morning on the kevlar Specialized Armadillo tire. Went 26 miles and came home. Checked the tire a few hours later and much to my surprise the tire was flat again.

These have to be pinch flats and I must be doing something tragically dumb to get 4 flattires in 4 rides. Went to LBS shop today and my friend there said it has to be user error. Hopefully I getthis corrected. Im still laughing so at least my stupidity is keeping me entertained.

Been doing this a while, my friend :-) I have simply had better results with Slime liners. They cover more of the width of the tire than Tuffy and are gooier. We must have a more robust goathead here in Colorado, and we ceretainly have more road debris than we used to even five years ago.

I had a long stretch when I was getting a flat a week, with only about 60 miles. I've had a couple of other summers when I did not get a flat at all. We might be able to rule out being dumb or intelligent as the cause of either stretch. I didn't notice any swings either way.

Even when it's a short story, it's nice when it has a happy ending. Enjoyed that. :)

Get thicker and wider tires. Last year I flatted every 100-150 miles on thin slick road tires. Then I put on some cross tires, 700Cx40mm, Just hit 1300 miles with them today, still no flats.

Some people ***** that 40mm's are too slow. Well, if I get no flats and you spent 10 minutes fixing one... who's faster then?

It is usually pretty easy to diagnose a flat. Where is the tube punctured? Is it punctured in the same place every time. Is there a defect in the wheel?

Pinch flats are highly unlikely if you inflating the tires properly.

I don't think I have had 5 flats in the last 30,000 miles with good tires, proper installation, proper pressure before every ride, etc.. The times I have flatted are often because of user error - tried to get too much life from older tires, forgot to check the pressure, etc..

My tires, tubes and wheelset were all put in this wednesday so this is not an overuse issue unfortunately.

I luvs me my punctures :love::D

My punctures are like bike herpes. They just wont go away.

Easy to diagnose underwater. Not that easy if trying to patch out on the road, takes more work.

I think some people pinch the tube when seating the bead. I've done it before, years ago.

Never had a flat rear tire. It's always the front but that's cause my local roads are frickin pig trails. I keep a handful of tubes on hand and swap em out every time I get a flat. I've finally figured out exactly the path to take on every road so I don't get many flats these days.

Do you guys like the Tuffy liners more than the Stop Flats brand?

Makes me smile. I didn't catch "....contact with air..." until I read your second (this) post.

I dunno what the heck you guys are doing to get all these flats. If something punctures the tire like a thorn or glass then that's one thing, but if your tires are just flatting for no good reason there IS something you are doing wrong or are not aware of. Example- I have this friend that I recently started riding with, and he was having all sorts of problems with flatting. He claimed it was the rear that was giving him problems and that there was nothing wrong with the wheels. He said the LBS checked them for burrs and put new rim tape on after checking all the spoke holes as well. They didn't find any problems. So then one day while doing a group ride l happened to be behind him when his tire went POP. A few of us stopped to wait for him while he changed the inner tube and I watched anxiously because I knew I'd catch him doing something wrong. Sure enough, he put the tire and inner tube on at the same time rather than putting one side of the tire on first then putting the inner tube in. Watching the process was painful with how many times I saw him pinching the inner tube between the rim and tire lever. He somehow managed to get everything together and started pumping up the tire. I waited for an air leak, but there wasn't one. Instead, as he was almost done inflating, the tire went POP again. I couldn't help but laugh, but then I offered him an inner tube and a quick lesson. I showed him how to properly install the inner tube to make sure nothing gets pinched and we were off. No flats for the rest of the ride and he even did a century a few days later without any problems. Previously, he couldn't go 30 miles without a flat. It's been a few weeks now and he still hasn't flatted with the same tube. The point here is that user error is often overlooked when it comes to flats.

Stop riding so close to the edge of the road. Tons of junk there.
Don't ride in the bike lane, its where all the trash gets pushed by cars.
Stop bulldozing over everything in your path and dodge debris.
Stop hammering over railroad tracks and holes, raise up/bunnyhop to unweight the rear.

I don't know how some of you guys have such terrible luck with flats. Maybe it just depends on the area you ride in. 4 years and no flats here.

How many miles do you ride each year?

how many bridges do you ride over OP? if like around here and your drunks are using bridges for target practice there maybe tons of glass near them. I'm always scanning the ground for shiny bits and it's always shiny around bridges. also the goathead plant grows very low to the ground and spreads out very far, it has little yellow flowers. often a shoot will make it out to edge of the road. more often car tires will pick them up and dropped them once on the pavement, so be wary of entrances to fields and lots and such.
other than that you might try practicing making yourself light on the bike when going over bumps. you don't need to execute a full bunny hop but try getting off the saddle and balancing the weight if an impact with an object is emanate. good luck.

This is good stuff. I tried to not ride the bike path this morning and stayed to the far left when I did. The traffic was light so I got away with it. I walked the bike over all three sets of RR tracks I encountered and I checked the tires twice during the ride for punctures. I was able to go 37 miles and no flats.

I put a new tube in last night and made sure I could not see the tube before I pumped up the tire. I had one spot that was very challenging and I had to take the tire off the rim twice to make it sit correctly. I think I have been careless when installing my tubes in the past.