four punctures in four rides

[velosam]

I must confess I am fed up. Have commuted 4 times over the last 2 weeks and four punctures. One on every trip, of which 2 were in the front.

Not riding any differently and am still out of the gutter even more than usual.  Is it due to me pumping the front up too much, or just because its wet or both?

On the plus side, I finally figured out what the cut outs on a tire lever are for (putting on the spokes - and all this time I have been struggling to get tires off!) and the marathon managed to get on without tire levers.

[Blodwyn Pig]

I managed to puncture my 26 x 1.5 spec nimbus armadillo yesterday, with the mother of all flints, quite small, but neolithic mammoth skinning type.

[Torslanda]

Sometimes it's like that. No consolation, especially when it seems that all life is 6/4 against . . .

I have noticed that Marathons seem to have a finite life and become as susceptible to faerie visitations as much as any other 'reinforced' or 'protected' tyre once over halfway worn. Armadillos, particularly skinwall, have an annoying habit of tread separation. Likewise whatever the Bontrager equivalents are.

I guess nothing lasts forever.

[finch]

Slime tubes ?

[hellymedic]

Wet weather and bad luck. Punctures are like London buses...

Old tyres puncture more easily though.

You might have no more for ages...

[vorsprung]

remind me what type of tyres you are using?

[bumper]

Lots of hedge cutting around here over the past week or two, millions of thorns everywhere.

Get conti tubes with removable valve cores and stick some stans inside the tube, works for me. Pulled two big thorns out on Sunday, just fizzled and sealed. It still works with tubes as well as tubeless.

[tiermat]

Lots of hedge cutting around here over the past week or two, millions of thorns everywhere.

Get conti tubes with removable valve cores and stick some stans inside the tube, works for me. Pulled two big thorns out on Sunday, just fizzled and sealed. It still works with tubes as well as tubeless.

EUGH! As long as you don't mind replacing the tyre when you reach the point that the tube will no longer seal due to it resembling a swiss cheese.  That, and having to lever the whole lot off the rim.

[bumper]

It rubs off easily if it leaks. They're nowhere near as messy as tubeless.

[velosam]

remind me what type of tyres you are using?

Marathons, not plus.  All punctures due to glass or v small bits of stone.

[Jayjay]

I realised recently that a wet tyre picks up and retains grit so I expect it gets more chances to stab the surface. My last attack (on M+) was a flint resembling an arrow point, and it had gone in long pointy end first.

[rafletcher]

Well I had two in one yesterday!  The second (though I thought it was the first and only) was a classic "snake bite" pinch flat (with a bang!) on my back wheel as I rode over a small pothole.  I thought it was because I'd only put 6bar in the rear (lower pressure, more grip scenario as discussed elsewhere). Walked the 800m home. When checking the tyre for any damage, I noticed a large Hawthorn thorn in the tread. And on checking the tube found not only the snake bite, but a tiny puncture by the thorn. Looks like I had a very slow slow puncture, and that lowered the pressure enough for the pinch flat, not so much I noticed. Good job it was near home, I needed pliers to pull out the thorn!

[LEE]

I use basic Marathons, 700x25. (About £15) Easy to get on and off, unlike other Marathons I've heard about (I never used any other sort of marathon).

I expect to get 4 punctures in 4000 miles in a year on Hampshire/Wiltshire flinty lanes (the tiny arrowheads described above).
The rain has washed a lot of it into the lanes right now so I'm riding over endless "skog" including flints I imagine.

If I commuted then I may consider slime tubes, just so I could get to work without hassle, and fix the problem there.
If I commuted I wouldn't look beyond a Marathon tyre of some flavour.

No tyre can fend off the flints round here but I'd stick to Marathons and/or Conti 4 Seasons because that's what my club uses and we don't get an unbearable amount of punctures between us really.

The only Snake-bite puncture I ever had in my life was on a Gatorskin.  Marathons may be a slightly harsh ride but that's because they have a bomb-proof sidewall so don't seem prone to "pinch punctures".

[T42]

I had serial punctures at the beginning of the year, riding on Conti GP 4000s that still had wear on them according to the telltales.  I finally put new tyres on and haven't had one since, touch wood.

In the workshop I now have a box containing about 100 patches and 8 or 9 new tubes, plus a great festoon of tubes that I'll get round to mending when hell freezes over.

[velosam]

I now carry 2x tubes in the bag, leave 2 at work and 2 at my parents.  My oyster card is also at standby!

[citoyen]

Marathons, not plus.  All punctures due to glass or v small bits of stone.

How old are they? How many miles have they done? Even Marathons wear out eventually...

Tubeless definitely makes sense for commuting. When I eventually get round to putting my fixie back together, I may well go tubeless.

[velosam]

Less than 500 miles. I was just unlucky with triangle shaped flints and glass, all on damp surfaces.  They just nicked the tube.

[zigzag]

<...> Marathons may be a slightly harsh ride but that's because they have a bomb-proof sidewall so don't seem prone to "pinch punctures".

certainly rough and tough tyres, but not invincible. this sidewall failure happened when riding over an inset manhole cover at night..

[Mike Conway]

Going on 2 years now on Gatorskins - probably around 30,000km (2 pairs of 25mm and 1 pair of 23mm) through 2 x typical British winters. Not one puncture. The only 2 times I did get punctures is when I used GP Classics and then Open Corsa SC's (OK they had worn passed their 1000km life-span). Instant punctures. Back to Gators and the good times keep rolling.

I think they are made with some sort of black magic actually. Probably a few screaming puncture fairies get ground up and added to the pot of liquid rubber the tyres are made from...

[Somnolent]

Schwalbe but not Marathons
I uses the regular Durano now - close to 5000km before suddenly experiencing a rash of punctures.

[Nelson Longflap]

Three in the last four rides for me around Hampshire and W Sussex. All on Gatorskins (on two different bikes) and all back wheel. As Lee suggests there is an infinite supply of flint shards in the fields that get washed onto the roads whenever there's heavy rain, and most seem to be razor sharp with a magnetic attraction to bike tyres.

I like the idea of making puncture resistant inner tubes; sounds like it should work against minor nicks at least ... thanks bumper 

[Kim]

And on checking the tube found not only the snake bite, but a tiny puncture by the thorn. Looks like I had a very slow slow puncture, and that lowered the pressure enough for the pinch flat, not so much I noticed.

I can't remember the last time I dealt with a pinch flat that wasn't a secondary effect of a small puncture, other than that time barakta rode her trike straight over a nasty pothole that she'd failed to spot at 30mph+.

So if there's a snakebite, still check the tyre.

[Bledlow]

I've seen three pinch punctures in the last year which seemed to be pure hitting a hole matters. One of mine, which dented the rim & split the tube. Mrs B had one a few weeks ago, when she fell into a massive water-filled pothole on a wet night, with the road covered in water. And one on Sunday, when someone went straight into a big pothole because she missed the warnings from those of us ahead of her as we swerved around it.

I can't definitely say there was no other problem with the latest one, but mine & Mrs B's really were pure pinches, with no pre-existing bit of flint, glass, thorn, etc. Tyres were clear. I didn't know Mrs B's was a pinch straight away, because I didn't see it & she didn't tell me until I told her I couldn't find anything in the tyre.

[Mike Conway]

Really odd hearing about punctures on Gatorskins. I do about 30% of my riding in the Chilterns where the lanes are often very mucky and flinty, and the rest of it in Herts and Essex. Still, zero punctures in 2 years.

I weigh about 80kg and generally pressure is around 110psi rear and 90-100 in the front. Gators are a bit sketchy in the wet, but I'm extra careful around corners at this sort of pressure.

[Nelson Longflap]

I went for a 70 km ride today and no p(^&%%res  My rate has dropped from 75% to 60% in just one ride. (Like politician-speak statistics can magnify claims by manipulating the start date - it would be a very different story if I counted rides since last February, which was my previous deflation). Yep - Gatorskins are not immune; tiny flint arrow heads lubricated by rainwater slice through rubber like the proverbial hot knife through butter. Lots of tyres in these parts die from multiple lacerations rather than tread wear.

However ... I do agree the Gatorskins have been pretty good at resisting visitations. I'm running mine at 67F and 100R which feels relatively plush at the front end compared with a much harder tyre. I think grip may be better at the lower pressure, but am not anxious to test it practically. I'm aiming to try 60F and 90R for even more comfort as the back end of my Genesis Day One can feel a bit bouncy with a 25c Gatorskin at 100psi (I do tend to move around a lot on the fixed wheel). All my recent p*^&$£res have been back wheel, despite the front wheel running at 2/3 the pressure. I'm relatively light at 65kg.