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I live in what must be the goathead capital of the US--the stupid things are everywhere! Not to mention broken glass and other road junk. My DH swears by Slime in his MTB tubes, but that won't work for road tires apparently. So what should I do? I haven't had a flat yet, but I just got the bike and haven't gone far (just around my neighborhood, in fact). I have heard bad things about Mr. Tuffies, so I didn't want to try those. Any other suggestions?
one word.... LUCK! we also live in goathead country..... the tour de palm springs had SO MANY flats cuz of those blasted things! for roadies... luck....
What are goatheads? I love the title of the post! Imagine you have no idea what a "goathead" is--who could resist opening such a thread? :p
Wow, you are so lucky that you don't know what they are! They are these big fat nasty stickers that are really hard and sharp, and are shaped like a goat's head, hence the name. They are from these short weeds that grow everywhere. They are terrible, and will puncture a tire/tube easily:(
nasty little, SHARP stickers... that have the shape of a goat's head.... and did i say SHARP????????????
Sounds awful. Thank goodness we don't have them here. Glass and sharp tiny stones are bad enough.
I've had good luck with the Stelvio raceguard tires that TE sells but those might not have enough protection for goatheads. Maybe Gatorskins?
There's a website called:
http://www.goatheads.com/
They ARE nasty looking. Ouch.
Karen
When our neighbor across the street saw us out for one of the first times on our new bikes, he came over and chatted with us a while. Paul maintains bikes for the local police force bike unit (when he's not out protectnig our fair city!) Goat heads are evil here too (think 8 punctures in five minutes riding....) I'm not sure exactly what the force rides, but Paul says since he got Armadillo tires (Specialized) for all 16 bikes, he fixes like 30 flats a summer instead of at least 30 a week. He did also recommend the slime. Dunno if he puts that in skinny tires, but then, I don't know if he's got skinny tires he's tending...
(he also recommended slicks, but DH hasn't listened...)
Karen in Boise
Karen,
we took our kids to the Weiser, Idaho old time fiddle festival one year and took their bikes along so they'd have something to do. As we were setting up camp, we gave the kids their bikes and said, go have fun. They were both back in 5 minutes with flat tires. After several more flat tire incidents my husband eventually bought tire liners and flat tube foam (I forget the name of it). My sons also got better at avoiding the goathead weeds.
They are fairly easy to see once you get to know them (ouch, I have) they are very low to the ground and kind of lacy in their habit.
They don't seem to like the cool climate here thank goodness
Road through a field once, flatend both my tires. That was my first experience and thank goodness the last. It is a pain to try and get them out of your tires.
I use Continental Gatorskins on my bike. While I have not encountered anything that nasty, these tires are tough. I have only flatted once on the road it is was due to under inflated tires, not a puncture. I believe the Armadillos are a little thicker, but I have heard the Gatorskins are easier to change a flat on. You may want to look into one of those two types of tires.
and you don't want to be around anyone when you step on one with barefeet! or at least don't want to hear what comes out of their mouth cuz of the pain!
I have armadillos on my bike and have never flatted in over 1k miles with them. Which means I'll be a disaster if I ever actually GET a flat:eek: !
I've had 2 goatheads (on different occasions) with my slime tubes. I pulled out the goathead, spun the tire a bit, filled it with CO2 and was on my way. And, yes, that's on a road bike. One goathead puncture was so bad that the slime literally squirted out the hole. But that slime took care of it. That was actually last month, and I'm still on the same tube and tire. In fact, I did a century on it yesterday!
Yup, Aint Doody, that slime is good stuff when it comes to goat head punctures! I ended up putting a new tube in the day I had eight at once, cuz next day the tire was flat again. Since then, though, the slime has taken care of the holes every time! I have some slime goobers on the outsides of my tires too, just little gobbets. Once I learned the trick of inflating the tire with the valve at the top of the tire, the slime isn't escaping thru the valve and clogging that anymore either!
Karen in Boise