Too many flats!

[Greenbelt]

So after a relatively flat-free winter, I’ve had 5 flat tires in the last 4 months. I don’t know what the difference is, or if it’s just a coincidence. Almost all were caused by tiny nails or tacks (one was caused by a broken earring 😡 ).

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So last night I finally put on the kevlar. After the earring flat, I ordered some Armadillos, and got them on the bike last night. A little harder to install for me (they’re quite stiff), but so far I’m very pleased. The ride is definitely firmer and less grippy, though, so I’ll have to be more careful on the gravely or sandy spots. The new tires are more of a touring style than a knobbier CX style like I had been using — mostly slick with little rain channels. They’re nice and wide though — I got 700 x 35, which just barely fits the clearance on the commuter bike. (If the rear wheel goes slightly out of true, the 35 tires will start to rub the seat stay. But I like as wide as possible for handling the bumps and road creases along the way.)

Hoping for a flatless rest of summer and fall.

Topic

[bikesnick]

@creadinger 18777 wrote:

So I put the Gatorskins on. … They’re wire rim tires and OMG they are hard to put on and take off! I’ll need at least 2, maybe 3 tires levers to get them off if I get a flat. … and knowing how to fix a flat won’t be at all useful if you can’t even get the bloody tire off.

getting them off is not that difficult, but getting them back on is; have strong hands.

[jrenaut]

In my somewhat limited experience, I find that brand new tires are the worst – once they’ve broken in a bit, it gets a lot easier to take them off and put them on.

[Dirt]

There’s no real consistency to wire tires or folding tires being tighter. Some tire brands are tighter than others. Some rims are tighter than others. Specialized have a reputation for being pretty tight on some rims. Salsa rims have a reputation for making even tight tires feel loose (in a bad way). Many modern rims are designed with a groove at the center of the rim that make it easier to install and remove tight tires. Basically sliding the tire bead into the center portion of the rim allows tight tires to be installed easily. Then when the tires are aired up, the tube pushes the tire bead out to the edge of the rim where the bead fits the rim much tighter. It is a nice design feature.

Some tire/rim combinations are brutal. There are a few Vittoria touring tires that were so tight on my Julian rims that when it came time to remove them, I cut them off. I was happy that I almost never got flats on those tires.

[Author]

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