Where were you the last time you got a flat tire?

[PotomacCyclist]

To tell you the truth, I’ve never had a flat tire in my five years of riding.

[ColumbiaHeights]

Wow! What type of tires/tubes do you have, and where do you do most of your riding? Thanks!

[PotomacCyclist]

I posted the tires on the other thread, but I’ll repeat it here. Vittoria tires on the triathlon bike originally. Now Continental tires. On the MTB, the generic tires that came with the bike. I swapped the tires for cyclocross tires this winter since I don’t do any serious off-road riding.

Tubes? I don’t have a clue. Whatever the store put in the bikes before they sold them to me.

On the tri bike, I ride on paved roads and bike paths only. I do run into the occasional gravel patch. If I come across a patch of sharp rocks or debris, I sometimes get off the bike and walk the bike across.

On the other thread, I posted about my practice of brushing off debris from tires, as well as inflating skinny tires before every ride.

It may also help that I weigh a lot less than most people. That could make a difference in whether debris causes a puncture or not. But brushing off debris probably helps a lot too. Paying attention to the road and avoiding obvious patches of broken glass and potentially sharp stones helps as well.

[hozn]

@PotomacCyclist 47687 wrote:

It may also help that I weigh a lot less than most people. That could make a difference in whether debris causes a puncture or not. But brushing off debris probably helps a lot too. Paying attention to the road and avoiding obvious patches of broken glass and potentially sharp stones helps as well.

I think weight is a big factor here; at least anecdotally heavier riders (175+) I have known (including me) have had many more flats than lighter. And where and how much you ride, of course. I have had 1 flat on my road bike in last 2 years, but when I would ride on roads up in College Park, I would flat almost every ride. On the mountain bike I flat a little more, especially racing, but there is an strong correlation there with riding skill and flatting less (I have room for improvement).

[JimF22003]

Just outside of Marshall, VA on Rectortown Road. They need to repave that one bad…

[ShawnoftheDread]

This morning in my kitchen. My wife woke me up late last night and told me my rear tire went flat all of a sudden and quite loudly.

[Brendan von Buckingham]

Memorial Bridge. Love the cyclist community though. Just about every passing cyclist asked if I needed anything.

[jrenaut]

My last one was well documented here – at 15th and S NW, I ran over a large nail. It went through the tire, the tube, the rim, and the fender. It was spectacular.

Tires do make a ton of difference. With the Kendas that came with my old Giant, I got half a dozen flats in a couple hundred miles. With Specialized Armadillo Elites, and now with the Continental Gatorskins (which I LOVE), it’s been 3000+ miles and two flats, one from a poorly installed tube. The vast majority of my miles come in downtown DC, too, so it’s not that I’m riding on pristine MUPs or anything.

[Tim Kelley]

@ColumbiaHeights 47680 wrote:

If anyone knows how to throw together a crowd sourcing type map, that would be even better! Maybe we can identify locations where street sweepers aren’t doing their job, etc.

FYI, if you ever notice a street in Arlington that could use a good street sweeping, you can use the same “Report a Pothole” form to let the County know about it:

http://bikearlingtonforum.com/showthread.php?38-Report-a-Pothole

[mstone]

I’ve got continental contacts on the commuter, had a few pinch flats with them early on until I got the pressure dialed in, nothing in over a year now. I’ve had one non-pinch flat, some kind of freak splinter that didn’t penetrate the no-flat layer but caused enough of a dent for a slow leak. Maybe from one of the wooden bridges? Don’t know, it was a slow leak and it took me a while to notice. I’m not light.

Edit to add: I suppose time isn’t a good measure. That’s something around 3k miles on that set, rear tire is getting to where I’m thinking about replacing it sometime. I think the flats were within the first 1k miles.

[bobco85]

Near North 27th St/North Jefferson St in Arlington last fall. Ran over a staple that decided to “staple” itself to my tire. 2 tiny holes were made in my tire, but I had Gatorskins so a quick inner tube replacement did the job.

@ShawnoftheDread 47696 wrote:

This morning in my kitchen. My wife woke me up late last night and told me my rear tire went flat all of a sudden and quite loudly.

I’ve had that happen, too, while sitting in my apartment. Mine happened just an hour or so after I had replaced a flat (just what I needed after a flat, ANOTHER ONE). Turns out it was a pinch flat because I did a poor job when I replaced the previous inner tube (I have since then learned to take the time to fully inspect the tire for any pinches before inflating the tube).

[aflapr]

Tim – thanks for the tip. Fairfax County refers you to VDOT’s site, which is here:
http://www.virginiadot.org/travel/citizen.asp

I just used it to report debris in the bike lane on Gallows between Cottage Street and the W&OD trail. Very easy to use.

[Tim Kelley]

Perfect–I’ll add that to the sticky as well.

[creadinger]

My last flat was a slow leak that I was able to patch at home fortunately. Thankfully because I have gatorskins and vittoria randonneur tires, flats have been severely minimized recently.

You don’t need a map to know that there is a serious over abundance of glass on the roads in SE DC though, primarily east of the Anacostia. They supposedly have schedules for street sweeping over there, but either the recycling/trash trucks lose a lot of stuff as they drive along the roads, or people toss their s$%t all over the place on purpose, the street sweeping isn’t doing near enough to get it all.

[cephas]

@bobco85 47705 wrote:

Turns out it was a pinch flat because I did a poor job when I replaced the previous inner tube (I have since then learned to take the time to fully inspect the tire for any pinches before inflating the tube).

Hmmm… maybe that’s my problem. What’s the best way to inspect? It’s so tight…

[Author]

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