Keep getting punchtures, rubbish tyres or unlucky?

saracen fan

I got Continental mountain king 2.2's, running at 50PSI, I weigh 16st.
Ride mostly road 3miles a day to and from work, with a couple of dirt/gravel tracks.
Got 4 punctures in as many months. I like the tyres because there light and seem quite fast, but there seems to be no punchture resistance and im fast getting fed up with wipping the tubes out for repairs......am I unlucky or is there a tyre that will offer more 'punchture resistance'?
its those chuffing thorns.....

robertpb

If you were getting 4 per day then there would be room to complain.

But 4 in 4 months most of us would think that the puncture fairy was looking after us.

I've had as many as 6 in one day.

missmarple

Make sure you've got your rim tape fully covering the rim, same thing happened to me and it was due to my ignorance with the rim tape. Failing that, do you use the same brand tubes? Does it happen in the same area?

sailor74

mountain kings are more puncture prone than other tires i have used

Raymondavalon

I weigh the same and have had my fair share of flats, including my commuter which uses Schwalbe Big Apple tyres lined with Panaracer Kevlar anti puncture gators

S_J_P

I used to run Kenda tubes and tyres and used to suffer at least one puncture per ride, I swapped to Schwalbe tubes and Panaracer tyres and reduced the puncture count by around half, but it wasn't until I went tubeless that I resolved the problem

What you can do to help the situation is make sure you have decent tubes, avoid OEM and low thread-count tyres, and run a reasonable pressure - 50psi's pretty high, I'd drop to 40-45psi if I were you, there seems to be a tyre sweet-spot where you won't get pinch-flats & the tyre has a natural resilience and resistance to thorns and the like. Going higher seems to make punctures more likley again.

joshtp

4 punctures in 4 MONTHS! thats nothing! id be chufed if i got that few!

.blitz

saracen fan wrote:

its those chuffing thorns.....

No tyre is thorn proof. You could put some sealant in or go tubeless but it will deflate eventually.

While I understand how annoying it is, four flats in four months is pretty good for a mostly tarmac commute. Earlier this year I got a weapons grade ring-pull thing stuck in the rear tyre of my R1. The tyre had done about 700mi and cost £100+ arrrrrrrrrrrggggghhh...

Surf-Matt

That's bad!

I have (not on the bike) the same size Conti MKs but Protections - I still used to get too many flats and ran the sameish pressures (and I'm only 11.5 stone!)

Now running 1.8" Spesh Sauserwinds (with no puncture proofing gubbins) and get hardly any.

Also had one Conti go completely porous in the sidewall - very weird!

Jenks66

Used to have some IRC tyres which were rubish for punctures, think the ruber was about the same thickness as on a condom!
Got so bad that in one ride the slime tube I was running used up all it's slime trying to fix the holes.
So yes tyres can make a diferance as can where you ride.
Now run tubless with sealant just pump the pressures up now and then.

colintrav

And it 's pain in the baws when the council cut hedgerow s and the fkin thorns are lying over the road

And not a mini road sweeper in sight ...

Mccraque

I used to average 1 or 2 a ride...got to the point where it was beyond a joke. Traded up to a Zesty and have been running Tubeless since July. And some bonty juice in the tyres.

Not had a single flat since.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

No instant deflations in over 18 months... Marathon Plus 700x25 and 26"x1.75"

They easily cope with mild offroad tracks too...

JamesBrckmn

i've had no punctures at all in about 3 years!

robertpb

JamesBrckmn wrote:

i've had no punctures at all in about 3 years!

Must try harder.

schmako

JamesBrckmn wrote:

i've had no punctures at all in about 3 years!

You're doomed now you've said it though.

slimboyjim

I picked up a Maxxis freeride tube for my rear which is running Conti Race Kings. I've gone from regular punctures (1 a fortnight) to none since I fitted it (approx 2 months). I've not been to Wales on them yet but they doo seem MUCH better. Cheaper than buying a number of standard tubes too.

I also found a slightly higher tyre pressure helped - my punctures were of the pinch variety rather than thorns. Search the forums for details of which is which and how to tell the difference... (Basically, if you get the punctures going up kerbs/across trail features it's likely to be pinch - where the inner tube is 'pinched' between the tyre and the rim)

Alternatively, if you buy Continental tubes (and Schwalbe I believe) they have a presta core that unscrews from the cylinder - you could always buy some tubeless sealant and pour it in for self sealing tubes.

Lastly, you could go full tubeless although it is a little more expensive...

Best of luck!


James

bike-a-swan

i managed to get a group of 10 many miles round normandy for two weeks with only one puncture between us on the last day (obviously!). i had managed to destroy a nobby nic on it's first outing just before, and shortly afterwards finished off a razer, so i think i'm even with the fairies.
i'd also like to nominate the most punctures in any single moment as being the five my mate got coming down the broken road on mam tor- a double pinch and normal puncture, for a total of 5 holes

accrington guy

I got 23 puntures in both wheels in one go last summer - came along a road and into what the farmer had left lying after cutting his hedges - my tyres looked like an early version of a wheel such was the amount of twigs/thorns stuck to them..and it was the day where I had only 1 spare tube and mobile left at work.... man was that walk home a pain in the arse!

pte1643

Not had a single "Off-Road" puncture, in approx 18mths of proper off road riding.

Was out with my Daughter a couple of weeks back, cycled down the seafront, and copped a puncture from the Tarmac cycle path! :?

Only thing was, I never bother taking spares/tools while out with my daughter, as we only cycle along the coast wall. Had to walk back 3 miles.

Bloody Typical. :roll:

astro_nomenoff

Did a Stan's conversion 2 and a half years ago, only had one puncture! Pulled the thorn out, sealed itself, topped up the air, that was 6 months ago.

Most punctures in a day was 16. I had some specialized Ground Control kevlars on Mavic MA40MB rims - notoriously tight fit! I almost threw my bike away I was that pissed off!