There is nothing worse than not knowing what something is called, but I am intrigued enough to make a fool out of myself.............just call me the intriguing fool

An older gentleman cyclist from our area just happens to sell bike stuff out of his home - tubes, tires, etc. Tonight I purchased tubes from him - he even delivered them to my home - not the point, just wanted to comment on the nice gesture.

So we were talking about flats - I am on my fifth flat since I started riding outside. All of my flats are due to goatheads. He commented that he has a part on his road bike and could not for the life of him remember what it was called. This part sits just above his tire (he has one by the front tire and one one by the back tire) and it removes, or scrapes the goathead thorn from the tire before the tire can revolve again and puncture the tire. It doesn't touch the tire. He is an older man - I'd bet he's 68 or so. He said he purchased them years ago. Again, he for the life of him could not remember what they were called. He said he has not seen them in stores, either. He also said that he only gets about 2 flats an entire season, and he rides nearly every night, 20 miles.

This was a new one to me. Has anyone else heard of this?