Puncture Hell...

euan1984

Hi experts,

I seem to continually get punctures on my road bike from shards of glass when commuting and also out on social rides... It's starting to drive me a little mad so please can you let me know what I can do to limit the amount of punctures I am getting - they are all from glass shards and I remove them every time I finish my ride / get a flat!

I have some fairly new tyres and use standard tubes but the glass seems to just eat straight through the tyres...

Am I best looking at getting kevlar belted tyres or just using liners on my current tyres??

I'm also thinking about getting some new rim tape just to be sure but I am 99.9% sure that it is just the glass from the dirty London streets that keep getting me...

Any advice is gladly received!

Euan

u05harrisb

mabye start running slime tubes or protective tyres like armidillo or gatorskin tyres? either way your gonna add a little more weight to your wheel set so its up to you how much protection your after and if your prepared to pay the weight penalty

yocto

My wife was getting regular punctures on the way to work and back (through London). I didn't mind repairing them but was getting an ear ache from her complaining about them. So I fitted Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. One year later and not one puncture

They are slower than what she was previously using (Schwalbe Stelvios) but she's not really into SCR so no big loss. A sacrifice will have to be made somewhere...

yaya

Also make sure to keep the tyre pressure up. A hand pump usually (with a lot of work) can get you to 80-90 psi but 110-120 psi will be better so use a track pump

Bobbinogs

I stuck some of the standard Marathon Kevlars onto my wife's bike for the same reason. She uses cycle lanes which just seem to attract broken glass and dog siht.

The Kevlars are a bit of a compromise in that they are not as tough as the Marathon plus tyres but they are a bit lighter (and cheaper). They seem to have held out quite well to date. Careful of the pressure though because I am sure they won't take anything like 120 PSI (not that I would want that, personally).

Ulitmately, nothing is going to stop glass shards so if you keep getting the problem then you need to change your route, although I accept that may be dumb advice if you have no option.

jejv

Kevlar might stop thorns, but not glass or flint (IME). Marathon plus is about as puncture resistant as it gets. But not invulnerable. Some London folk on these forums have Schwalbe Durano+ - a much lighter, road version of M+.

If nearly all your punctures are in the back, you could try D+ on the back, and something lighter on the front.

Not slime.

sungod

what tyres?

i commute in london every day on gp4000s, they aren't the most puncture resistant, but i don't get many, maybe one every 3 months (frantic touching of wood at this point)

get some decent tyres with a protective layer

ensure they are inflated correctly - if you look at the sidewall the pressure range will be shown, as a guide run the rear at maximum - 10psi, and the front 5 or 10psi lower than the rear - check pressure at least once a week and top up

don't ride too close to the edge of the road, that's where all the crap is, especially on corners

jejv

sungod wrote:

don't ride too close to the edge of the road, that's where all the crap is, especially on corners

Yes, but it isn't always that simple.
5 years ago, I got hardly any punctures. My work moved about a km, and I started getting lots of punctures, sometimes 3 a week, even two a day (yes, I do know about taking out whatever caused the puncture). Stuck M+ on the back - down to a puncture every few months. I did try different routes too. Work moved again, a couple of km. 1 puncture a year, on Stelvios, which aren't super-tough. My riding hasn't changed much.

The OH never gets punctures, even though she rides in the gutter a bit. She goes in a different direction.

huuregeil

All the advice to run the tyres with higher pressures is bad advice!!! The OP is suffering from penetration punctures from glass, not pinch flats - you want to lower your pressure, not increase it! In a similar vein, consider running 25mm tyres too: wider tyres means lower pressures without the pinch-flat risk, means lower penetration puncture risk. I do a fair few miles on London roads with 25mm PR3s (i.e. not the best in terms of puncture protection), without a puncture problem. Any decent tyre (e.g. the ones mentioned here) at an appropriate pressure should be fine - Marathon Pluses seem to be the solution to puncture issues, but I can't imagine these riding nice/fast. Consider your riding style too - look well up the road and avoid riding in the gutter.

dilemna

OP - What tyres on your bike - Continentals ?

lenclume

In my experience to date, Vredestein Fortezza TriComps are resistant to punctures (and - to my enormous relief - whacking great potholes) and fast, too.

The only downside is their minimum recommended inflation pressure is 8 bar. At 23mm wide, that's not ideal if you're on bumpy roads.

tenor

In my experience to date, Vredestein Fortezza TriComps are resistant to punctures (and - to my enormous relief - whacking great potholes) and fast, too.

+1 Best tyre for balance of ride/speed/durability for UK conditions in my experience.