Enough with the flat tires already!!!

[azfiddle]

It's the end of our summer rainy season in Tucson, which means lots of sharp little pieces of sand and thorns have washed into the bike lanes just waiting to pierce innocent and unsuspecting tires.

My front tire, just the stock tire that came on the Ruby, has over 2000 miles on it, so okay, it's about time to swap it out, but after 4 flats in the last week (100 miles), two of them today () I am done with this tire and will fork over the $ for a new kevlar Gatorskin on the front. The back already has a Gatorskin

[Tri Girl]

I feel your pain. With the super dry summer here it seems there are more thorns/goatheads than normal (those seem to be the only thing surviving).
I have gatorskins on my bike and have had a ridiculous amount of flats this summer. Ugh... enough already. There has GOT to be a better system for bike tires than tubes that have to be replaced. I'm convinced there has to be...it just hasn't been invented yet.

[westtexas]

I have some really slick Vredestein tires (meant for racing and not durability) and I've put about 500 miles on them so far, without a flat (knock on wood). This despite loose gravel roads, tons of glass, tumbleweed thorns and god knows what else I crunch over all the time. However, I put tire liners in my tires. Makes getting the tire mounted on the rim and changing tubes a little more annoying, but I have only had one flat ever with them in. Before I got these tires I had some Specialized stock tires - my front wheel had the tire liner insert and the rear did not - my rear tire had about 8 flats. I put the tire liner back in and.... no more flats.

I am a definite subscriber to the Church of Tire Liners!

[luv2climb]

I am a definite subscriber to the Church of Tire Liners!

Me too! I've been using them on all my bikes for years. I've still gotten flats from nails, tacks, and the very rare super tough thorn that somehow works its way through, but they've prevented plenty of flats.

[azfiddle]

I have really had quite good luck with the Gatorskins in the past. I had one pair that lasted about 4000 miles, and didn't start to get flats until the last few hundred miles (when I decided to replace them).

[nscrbug]

I have 2 words for all that are troubled with frequent flats...TIRE LINERS! I started using tire liners on the suggestion of my riding buddy, and it's been the best advice I've heeded so far. Sure they won't prevent every flat from happening, but I am convinced that having them in my tires has prevented quite a few. I've picked out tons of glass and sharp debris from my tires, that would have likely caused a flat had it not been for the tire liners.

[Seajay]

At 2000 miles....you are starting to get flats frequently because you have hardly any tire left. It's not really the tire's fault. It's worn out.
I'd be EXTREMELY nervous about anyone riding a tire with the 4000 miles you had on your old tires. Not for flats...for control, cornering, braking and the possibility of blow outs at speed.
Please don't try to set mileage records on tires
That said...The Continental is a nice replacement tire.

[OakLeaf]

She said she had 2K on her front tire. I easily get 3500 from a front, and I typically replace mine well before it's down to the wear indicators.

Two thousand on a rear would be getting towards the end of its life, IME. On a front, azfiddle is perfectly justified in her frustration!

[azfiddle]

I appreciate the suggestions and cautions.

Enlighten me about wear indicators, if you would be so kind, since I don't have that much experience.

I have been riding just over 2 years, and after my encounters with goat's heads in fall of 2009, I switched to gatorskins on my old bike. I am taking off the original (Specialized) front tire from my Ruby (March 2011, about 2200 miles), but I completely mangled the rear tire not that long after I got it, and have had a trouble-free experience with the gatorskin on the back.

I will give some thought to the liners.

[OakLeaf]

Not all bici tires have wear indicators. The GP4000 is the first tire I've used that has them. I don't know about the rest of the rest of their line. On those, it's just two little sunken dots kind of offset from each other, one closer to the centerline and one closer to the sidewall.

(The other thing about the GP4000 is that they have directional tread, but the difference in the tread pattern is subtle, and the arrow on the sidewall is really hard to see. They've gotten installed backwards more than once after a roadside flat, both by "helpers" and by myself. If I remember, I write over the directional arrow with a silver Sharpie when I install a new tire. Again, I'm not sure whether all of their road tires are directional or not.)

[azfiddle]

Tire update... the new front tire is doing just fine.

Today, however, today the back tire went flat as I neared the end of a ride. I couldn't find any sharp objects or obvious cause but it has a few nicks and cuts than I remembered. I'm just going to retire it today, especially as my DH alerted me to the fact that there is a brand new tire just hanging in the store room, waiting for a friendly rim.

[PinkBike]

really coincidental you should bring this up. DH and I were commenting about all the flats we've had recently and I have my own theory. They seem to have heightened since the Big Haboob, and I think a lot of stuff was sent into the street from the desert.

[azfiddle]

Pink Bike, the general consensus in Tucson is that the monsoon tends to wash a lot of junk into the streets and flats are more common. I am looking forward to a nice, flat-free period now with 2 brand new tires.