Do you see a lot glass on the road?

[mimitabby]

What is your major cause of flat tires? is it glass, nails, goatheads?

If it's glass, could you post below and let us know what state you are riding in?
thanks

[mimitabby]

I'm very curious to seek if states where there is a return on bottles have less glass!

[sundial]

I don't encounter glass on my travels. I do pass by pliers, screwdrivers, bungees and a host of other goods dropped by the farmers.

Mimi, I really like your avatar.

[mimitabby]

I like yours too, it inspired me to change mine! What state do you ride in?

[vermonster]

I see a lot of glass on the road on my commute and on my long weekend rides. I'm in Vermont.

[Becky]

Here in Delaware, at least in the urban areas, there's a great deal of glass on the roads. Also, debris of all types, sand and gravel and every imaginable piece of scrap metal known to man. But I've had good luck with emailing the DOT and asking them to sweep certain sections that are particularly bad.

Oh, and did I mention how much I love my Panaracer Pasela tires in the urban jungle? *knocks on wood*

[sundial]

I like yours too, it inspired me to change mine! What state do you ride in?

I ride the farm roads of Arkansas.

I want to dive into a pool every time I see your avatar, Mimi. I hope you don't post a pie in your avatar 'cause I'll want one.

[Jolt]

I see some glass on the roads here in MA but the two flats I've had where I've pulled an object out of the tire have not been from glass (one was a nail, one was a big staple). A lot of the glass I find is pretty well pulverized so it's less of a flat-tire hazard.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I'm in a rural part New York. I see occasional glass. Way more road kill than glass.
I've only gotten one flat in about 6 or 7 thousands miles of riding all kinds of roads, both paved and gravel....it was from a small triangular piece of glass that had gone directly into my tire like a tiny knife.
I have really good tires that get me over the roughest sharpest gravel and stones.
Then again, we don't have goathead thorns here- i hear they are a big source of flats.

[GLC1968]

I hardly ever see glass on the road here in OR. I did see it pretty often in NC, but it wasn't usually from bottles. It was often safety glass from autos.

I've only had one flat since I started riding and that was because of a piece of something metal that I hit in a parking lot when it was dark.

Starting next week, I'll be riding through a couple of more urban areas on my commute, so I'll update my 'glass report' if necessary, then.

[Aggie_Ama]

I see a lot of glass here but it hasn't been my source of punctures. Only flats are pinch flats or staples used for building.

[sfa]

Most of the glass I see (suburban Maryland) is from car accidents, and only occasionally from bottles thrown out windows. I've never had a flat while riding the roads around here; while touring I had three flats, two from nails/metal and one from a piece of glass.

Sarah

[IFjane]

Very little glass here - I voted in "other" because most of my flats have been tiny shards of quartz or some other rock. Usually late winter/early spring when the mountain rock has been freezing & thawing on the side of the roads, pieces have fallen & leave tiny razor-sharp tire busters.

[Blueberry]

Interesting - Just east of where GLC was in NC (~ an hour), we don't have much glass. An occasional broken bottle or wreck remnants, but not too much...

CA

[Crankin]

I hardly ever see glass here in MA. I am mostly riding semi rural and suburban roads. I don't ride in the city at all. I have only had 3 flats in 8 years; two were from riding in the same place in Maine, 2 years apart! One happened a week ago, but I guess I am assuming it was from the same spot (the road to Nubble Lighthouse in York Beach). My tire was fine while I was riding, but when I got home, it suddenly deflated as I was cleaning the chain. The first time, something actually cut my tire during a century on the same road. I had to use a dollar bill for that one. My other flat happened on a road in my old neighborhood. The tire really blew out. I think the tube was just old, I never found anything in it.