Punture preventative measures

Watch the road more carefully. I don't mean you should focus on the road, but you should make more quick scans of the road surface ahead and things to the left and right of where you will be. Being aware of road conditions and the amount, location, and sorts of debris on the road makes a big difference in puncture frequency.

As for tires. The best clinchers I've found, so far, in terms of the quality of puncture resistance are Maxxis Refuse tires. Great treads.

+1 for avoiding as much junk in the road as possible. Riding in the outside tire track area of the road is generally cleaner than being close to the gutter.

A tire with high puncture resistance is obviously what you should choose. You might want to do some online research on the major-brand websites: most have at least one tire designed for high puncture resistance in their lineup.

Avoiding too much pressure is also important. IIRC, Conti uses 95 psi for the puncture-resistance ratings their website (for 23 mm tires). If you're too heavy for 95 psi on the 23s, consider 25s. Even if you increase rolling resistance a couple %, if you can drastically reduce your incidence of flats, it's worth it.

Probably doesn't need to be said, but just in case- you said you check the inside and outside of the tires- make sure you check the rims, too. There could be a burr on the rim or the edge of a spoke-hole that pokes through the rim tape, or maybe even something embedded in the rim tape. Also, it's fairly rare, but I have seen where a bit of wire or something gets embedded in the rubber and is hard to detect- it only shows itself when the rubber gets mashed- when there's no pressure, it gets covered up by the rubber.
In any of these cases, make sure that you install the tires consistently- most people line up the label on the side of the tire with the valve stem. Then if you consistently get punctures in the same spot you can be pretty sure there's a problem with the tire or rim in that area and you can do a really thorough inspection.

I once got a puncture on a 23mm conti probably because I leaned the bike too far over in a sort of low speed messenger turn. The glass was able to pierce the sidewall.

I like 28's because you can run them at lower pressure leading to better ride, handling, less rolling resistance where it's a bit rough, and less flats.

Hey great racer rob, at what pressure do you pump your tyres? You know that pumping to low pressures (for instance: 6 bars instead of 8) you may puncture a lot, don't you?

Sikhandar said:

Hey great racer rob, at what pressure do you pump your tyres? You know that pumping to low pressures (for instance: 6 bars instead of 8) you may puncture a lot, don't you?

The only threat of puncture, as a result of low pressures, in clinchers, is pinch flatting, and frankly, the threat of pinch flatting is overstated. So long as you've got enough pressure to prevent pinch flats, the tire will be less susceptible to punctures than it would at higher pressures. And what pressure is appropriate is entirely dependent on the rider. A 28 mm tire, for example, will be a lot less likely to puncture at 6 bar than at 8 bar so long as 6 bar is enough to prevent pinch flats. The same is true of 25 mm tire, a 23 mm tire, or whatever tire size tickles your fancy.

Hewerrr, good idea checking the rim tape as you said it's unlikley but I'll make sure to check it later just in case. I like the idea of lining the tyre and valve up consistently, again I hadn't thought of that but I'm going to start doing that.

Sikhandar, I pump up the tyres until they feel rock hard with just a normal bike pump. I have had some problems with pinch flats on the 23's but I didn't realise what caused the 'snake bite' marks until I read something online yesterday. I think the 23's can't take me + a heavy school bag of text books because they've been fine on fun rides.

I'll look around for 26's probably with Kevlar. I'm not sure about slime filled tubes, the slime only sets when it reacts with the air after a puncture but with racing tyres being at such a high pressure can't almost all the air get out before it sets? (obviously it still saves from have to replace the tube but I was just wondering how good they are).
Cheers!

alienator said:

and frankly, the threat of pinch flatting is overstated.

Quoted post said:

So long as you've got enough pressure to prevent pinch flats, the tire will be less susceptible to punctures than it would at higher pressures. And what pressure is appropriate is entirely dependent on the rider. A 28 mm tire, for example, will be a lot less likely to puncture at 6 bar than at 8 bar so long as 6 bar is enough to prevent pinch flats. The same is true of 25 mm tire, a 23 mm tire, or whatever tire size tickles your fancy.

in both the two sentences, you don't give a single motivation for what you say.

Could you please explain why you firmly believe that the threat of pinching is overstated? Or why one should puncture more at 8 instead of 6? I think it will be interesting... 🙂 🙂 🙂

Sikhandar said:

in both the two sentences, you don't give a single motivation for what you say.

Could you please explain why you firmly believe that the threat of pinching is overstated? Or why one should puncture more at 8 instead of 6? I think it will be interesting... 🙂 🙂 🙂

There's nothing interesting about it as it's all dead simple and proven.

Pinch flatting: one pinch flat is understandable, maybe, if you go about determining minimum pressure by trial and error. After that, if you pinch flat, it's because you're lazy with the pressure guage or you depend on the 'ol "squeeze test." The squeeze test is almost the most unreliable test possible to use, second only to the whip cream test, where you measure how much the tire deflects when you set an oz of whipped cream on it. The squeeze test is stupidly and wildly inaccurate, especially when you consider how little your thumb and forefinger can deflect a full tire. Anyone who says they can accurately "guess" their tire pressure using the ol' thumb and forefinger is either delusional or a liar.

Once out of pinch flat range, higher pressures are more likely to result in punctures than lower pressures because:

1. At higher pressures much more of the force generated by a puncturing object goes into penetrating the carcass. At lower pressures, the force generated by that puncturing object is partially attenuated by causing the carcass to deflect (the carcass don't, comparitively, deflect too much at higher pressures.).
2. If you generated a stress/strain matrix for a given material--a matrix that defines how much that material deflects in a given direction per unit stress applied--you'd find that as the preload (air pressure) on that material increased, i.e. as the stress applied to that material increased, the critical stress for that material would decrease in any given direction (unless certain direction were independent from others in terms of stress/strain....which isn't the case for tire carcasses), meaning that it would be easier for an object to penetrate.
3. Prove it to yourself:
   1. Measure how much force it takes to poke a hole in an empty balloon with a needle.
   2. Measure how much force it takes to poke a hole in a partially inflated balloon.
   3. Measure how much force it takes to poke a hole in a fully inflated balloon.
   4. Can you guess which will require less force?

Racer_Rob said:

Hi I have been getting a stupidly large amount of punctures lately and was wondering if anyone here has ideas for preventative measures?

You really need to figure out what's causing the stupidly large amount of punctures because the cure and prevention will depend entirely on that.

Learn to know what a pinch flat looks like. Learn to avoid pinch flats by pumping up the tire to the minimum pressure appropriate for your weight. Use a air pressure gauge, don't guess. Wider tires can carry you with less pressure than smaller ones.

Learn to figure out exactly where the hole in the tube is in relation to the wheel and tire. - will show you if it's a road hazard, rim tape, sharp valve stem hole, etc. Learn to mount the tire exactly the same every time so you have a reference between the tire and the tube when you remove it. The general rule is to place the tire label on the right side and center the label on the valve stem. For cool points and to maintain a consistent reference.

If it's road hazards figure out what kind and how to avoid.

You can't avoid all road hazards but you can mitigate hugely by being aware of simple habits to minimize. See glass before you run over it. Clean your tires with your gloved hand after exposure to sharp stuff like glass. etc.

You can also get toughter tires (e.g. gatorskins). I don't believe in tougher tubes - light have never been worse for flats - for me - than heavy. I would never consider using things such as slime. But I've never had a lot of problems with road hazard flats.

Racer_Rob said:

Hewerrr, good idea checking the rim tape as you said it's unlikley but I'll make sure to check it later just in case. I like the idea of lining the tyre and valve up consistently, again I hadn't thought of that but I'm going to start doing that.
Cheers!

The main reason for lining up the tire label with the valve stem is to facilitate finding the puncture in a tube. If you pull a thorn or something that caused the flat out of your tire, just count spokes from the valve stem to the puncture. Then when you've got the tube out you can line it up and count the same spokes and that will get you close to where you'll need to put a patch. No need to search the whole tube when you're out on the road and don't have a tub of water.

alienator said:

Pinch flatting:

Apart from your considerations, my post was appropriate, since the author of the thread didn't tell us anything about his pumping method... so why saying "the pinch problem is overestimated?" The pinch problem is overestimated if a person pumps up properly, but who did know?

Quoted post said:

Once out of pinch flat range, higher pressures are more likely to result in punctures than lower pressures

It's true, but the dependence of puncture occurring is not linear with the pressure of a tyre. At low pressures the pinching rulez... but it has an influence much more heavier on the puncture occuring rather then having a tyre too much inflated. The most important thing is to avoid pinching, after that, the influence of a too much inflated tyre on the puncturing is almost negligible (I have statistic data for that, but I can't tell more). (Of course when pumping over the top pressure indicated by the tyre you'll lose performance when turning...and also a - negligible - decrement of rolling resistance).

Sikhandar said:

It's true, but the dependence of puncture occurring is not linear with the pressure of a tyre. At low pressures the pinching rulez... but it has an influence much more heavier on the puncture occuring rather then having a tyre too much inflated. The most important thing is to avoid pinching, after that, the influence of a too much inflated tyre on the puncturing is almost negligible (I have statistic data for that, but I can't tell more). (Of course when pumping over the top pressure indicated by the tyre you'll lose performance when turning...and also a - negligible - decrement of rolling resistance).

Pinch flat risk is overstated because it's so easy to prevent and doesn't happen nearly as often as the tales say.

As for your data, show it. There's nothing in the theory that would say high pressures make for less punctures. While you're showing your data, you'll need to show how it was collected, what variables were held constant, the variance of the data, and how the testing was relevant to the question. Peloton mythology and folklore doesn't count as data.

It's put up or shut up time.

alienator said:

As for your data, show it. There's nothing in the theory that would say high pressures make for less punctures.

Also in practice...! I didn't tell that the tendence is not observed, I told that it's almost negligible. So please read well before posting or spitting out things like "it's shut up time"... thanks a lot, american 🙂🙂🙂

(And sorry, but I can't divulgate data of my company, I don't want to understeem the amount of people reading threads, you know :p)

Sikhandar said:

Also in practice...! I didn't tell that the tendence is not observed, I told that it's almost negligible. So please read well before posting or spitting out things like "it's shut up time"... thanks a lot, american 🙂🙂🙂

(And sorry, but I can't divulgate data of my company, I don't want to understeem the amount of people reading threads, you know :p)

I read well enough, so [censored] off, and while you're at you might take all those preconceptions and biases you carry and stuff up your self-important ass. Since you're the master of bias and preconception, is this where I should make some statement about Europeans? Does that sort of thing matter? Apparently it does to you, turd.

alienator said:

I read well enough, so [censored] off, and while you're at you might take all those preconceptions and biases you carry and stuff up your self-important ass.

It's only a name like another, I have no preconception and biases on you... really! I just said that you misread what I've written, and that my post was appropriate, nothing else :o:o pat pat

Thinking better maybe you're a bit more sensible to the theme, so I apologise for the name, I didn't mean any harm to ya...sorry

(Warning: Performance Jocks won’t like this)

Next time your sitting in the freezing mud changing a flat tire next to a busy road because you trusted one of the tire liners like Green slime or Mr tuffy or Spin skins remember this story.

I used schwalbe marathon tires (with Kevlar belts and spinskin tie liners) For a year with out any punctures, it looked like they had another years worth of tread on them. Then one day the rear tire developed a bulge when I took it off the wheel I discovered that a piece of glass had torn threw the center of the tread and the tire liner and half way threw the tube which pushed up into the hole. If I hadn’t been using a thorn resistant tube I would not had gotten home with out considerable misery.

Well then I had a wild idea that I could use the marathon tire inside another tire of the same size as an affordable heavy duty tire liner.

I had to cut off the bead (which reduced the weight by half), but it fit the other tire I had. If you want a lightweight liner, use a primo commit with Kevlar belt.

I checked my tires again after several months and found several glass cuts and some even went threw, but non of them went into the second tire!

This won’t protect your outer tire but it will get you home with out the misery factor. I now have 6 tire on my bike and 8 on my trike.

WARNING! Tires are not standardized sizes. A 1.5" primo comet will not fit into a 1.5" schwalbe marathon, but a 1.25-1.35 will. A 1.5" marathon will fit into a 1.75" 70psi marathon and a 1.5" comet will fit into a 1.75" marathon plus. And a 1.5" Michelin transworld city tire may fit into a 1.5" marathon but not the other way around.

The green slime may work for low-pressure tires but all they can do is add thickness, not resistance. The other two have been known to move around and even cut the tires casing threads. There is a goop that will stop punctures but is so motion sensitive that it has to be replaced twice a year.

Specialized Armadillo tires are very puncture resistant but even those have been know to be punctured. They also have a problem with the tread coming off, so they have a lifetime warranty.

I still think they should make a steel belted bicycle tire, Kevlar doesn’t work very well. I looked at industrial tires and saw nothing but a poorly made solid tire whose tread wears fast.

Standard GP4000 or Pro 3 Race works for me. I do a roadside puncture repair about once a year on those.

Re above old tyre as a TYRE LINER.

I got wind of doing this and cut off the beading of an old 23mm and put it inside my training bike back tyre(I almost never get flatties in the front tyre) = no puntures but slower riding!

I told my friend who commutes 39kms a weekday and usually gets at least 3 puncture a week(and he's careful where he rides but there is a lot of glass).
He tried it - last I heard = over a year and only one puncture🙂 - a builders staple went through both rear tyres!!:o

For lightness I've go to a Mr Tuffy strip inside my rear tyre = no punctures (yet). 🙂