Sick of punctures - what sleek tyres can i get

[Alex321]

If you're averaging a puncture every 600km (as your OP suggests) then the issue isn't the tyres you're using, it's where you are riding. That's too frequent to just be one of those things

Unless you change where you're riding (and by that I don't necessarily mean change roads, it could be your position on the roads) then you either suck it up or change to something slow and bomb proof like M+

I know the road surfaces round here are pretty bad, but I'm doing very well if I manage one every 600Km.

Before I put the M+ on my hybrid, I was averaging about one every 100 miles or so. With the M+, I got one in the next 2000 miles.

On my new bike, with the Conti Grandsport Race it came with, I have 5 so far, in 621 miles. One of those was my own fault for not checking the tyre for what caused it, but that is still 4 separate punctures in 1000 Km, 3 on the front, then one on the rear yesterday. The rear went soft on me again today, but that probably means I didn't quite get the patch right on yesterday's puncture, so I don't count that.

 

[Dogtrousers]

If you're averaging a puncture every 600km (as your OP suggests) then the issue isn't the tyres you're using, it's where you are riding. That's too frequent to just be one of those things

Unless you change where you're riding (and by that I don't necessarily mean change roads, it could be your position on the roads) then you either suck it up or change to something slow and bomb proof like M+

But bear in mind if you fit M+ your rolling resistance will be about 30W more than, say, Continental GP5000s. If you're at all concerned about the speed you're cycling, 30W is a massive amount (this would result in my average reducing from 14mph to 12mph)

Fitting M+ is a bit of an extreme measure I'd say. Durano Plus ( of which I have experience) and other brands (of which I don't) provide decent protection without the overkill of M+

 

[CXRAndy]

Tubeless is the way to go to virtually eliminate punctures. It will need a big cut to make tubeless fail to seal. All tiny shard, thorn pin prick holes will stop with a properly setup tubeless tyre. I can go one year to the next and not need to repair tyres.

There is a half way house method. Buy the next width tyre size innertube larger. This means that the rubber is not as stretched when inflated . Then injection in 75-100 mil of tyre sealant in through the valve stem (remove valve core first). This will have all the benefits of puncture resistance, just not the improved rolling resistance.

Also a little tip, apply talc powder to the inner tubes and smooth all around inside the tyre rim. Talc is an excellent dry lubricant and will allow inner- tube to move with much less friction whilst riding. All these little step will help.

 

[Bhitucyclist]

Imho (especially if you are a 'slowish' rider) there is no way in the world that you are going to notice any amount of speed difference on Gatorskins to any other similar width road tyres. If you're not keen on Gators, have a look at Durano Double Defence. If you really really want something a bit lighter something like Rubino Pro are not a bad choice and won't break the bank.

All Conti tyres have a tendency for cuts in my experience just try to dig out flint every now and then. 4 Seasons are nice but quite expensive and will cut up on the edges of the tread pattern, or maybe I have just always been unlucky with them.

My speed (if you can call it that) is 10 to 12 miles /hour. I want to achieve a 13 miles on an average. So possibly a gatorskin might be fine

 

[Bhitucyclist]

Tubeless is the way to go to virtually eliminate punctures. It will need a big cut to make tubeless fail to seal. All tiny shard, thorn pin prick holes will stop with a properly setup tubeless tyre. I can go one year to the next and not need to repair tyres.

There is a half way house method. Buy the next width tyre size innertube larger. This means that the rubber is not as stretched when inflated . Then injection in 75-100 mil of tyre sealant in through the valve stem (remove valve core first). This will have all the benefits of puncture resistance, just not the improved rolling resistance.

Also a little tip, apply talc powder to the inner tubes and smooth all around inside the tyre rim. Talc is an excellent dry lubricant and will allow inner- tube to move with much less friction whilst riding. All these little step will help.

Some really good tip - i need to learn to change inners myself. Possibly that way i will be able to clean the inside and delay the next puncture . When i give it to decathlon to change inner they just replace and give back the bike. I doubt they do any cleaning inside

 

[nickyboy]

I know the road surfaces round here are pretty bad, but I'm doing very well if I manage one every 600Km.

Before I put the M+ on my hybrid, I was averaging about one every 100 miles or so. With the M+, I got one in the next 2000 miles.

On my new bike, with the Conti Grandsport Race it came with, I have 5 so far, in 621 miles. One of those was my own fault for not checking the tyre for what caused it, but that is still 4 separate punctures in 1000 Km, 3 on the front, then one on the rear yesterday. The rear went soft on me again today, but that probably means I didn't quite get the patch right on yesterday's puncture, so I don't count that.

That's an extraordinarily high puncture frequency that you should never experience under normal circumstances. You perhaps need to look at factors other than tyre choice that may be contributing to the high frequency. Start with simple stuff like the condition of the tyre, seating of the tyre on the rim, the pressures you are running, the typical position you adopt on the road, the state of the roads.

 

[Alex321]

That's an extraordinarily high puncture frequency that you should never experience under normal circumstances. You perhaps need to look at factors other than tyre choice that may be contributing to the high frequency. Start with simple stuff like the condition of the tyre, seating of the tyre on the rim, the pressures you are running, the typical position you adopt on the road, the state of the roads.

Well they are brand new tyres - they came with the bike, which I had on the 8th of August.

I've been running them at pretty high pressure - 95-100psi. No problem with the seating of the tyre. But a lot of the road surfaces round her are pretty crappy. And I'm pretty sure the last puncture was caused my me coming through the lane a few hours after hedge trimming. That road gets so little vehicular traffic that it will be best not to use it for a while

Anyhow, I've just ordered a pair of Hutchison tubeless tyres and the kit to set them up.

Hopefully, that will be as good as the Schwalbe Marathon + were on my hybrid in terms of punctures (Just one in 2000 miles), but without the performance hit.

 

[Spoked Wheels]

Gatorskin has come up multiple times. But i am a bit skeptical - i am already a slowish rider and dont want to go further slow. Look forward to hearing how your bontrager fares. Some one suggested self sealing slime inner tubes. I am thinking of getting them first before changing the tyres . Any exp with self sealing inners ?

After a 50 miler ride I think the Bontrager tyres definitely feel much more like the Michelin Pro4, the grip is probably the same, they feel comfortable. The Gatorskin I used last Sat were on my SS bike that I use occasionally for riding around town and they felt terrible on a longer ride.
This morning, moke up 6am and tried to order a backup set of Bontrager but they are out of stock, bad luck.

 

[neil_merseyside]

Well they are brand new tyres - they came with the bike, which I had on the 8th of August.

I've been running them at pretty high pressure - 95-100psi. No problem with the seating of the tyre. But a lot of the road surfaces round her are pretty crappy. And I'm pretty sure the last puncture was caused my me coming through the lane a few hours after hedge trimming. That road gets so little vehicular traffic that it will be best not to use it for a while

Anyhow, I've just ordered a pair of Hutchison tubeless tyres and the kit to set them up.

Hopefully, that will be as good as the Schwalbe Marathon + were on my hybrid in terms of punctures (Just one in 2000 miles), but without the performance hit.

I've just fallen out with Hutchison TL tyres (Hutchinson Tyres PV527721 Fusion 5), my most recent tyre had several (4+) 'warts' on it, and also every spue appeared to be a sealant wick to outside world, I'd binned the previous exact same tyre from a huge hole it died from which was beyond plugging, or even patching internally so I'm guessing that was probably a popped wart.

 

[Alex321]

I've just fallen out with Hutchison TL tyres (Hutchinson Tyres PV527721 Fusion 5), my most recent tyre had several (4+) 'warts' on it, and also every spue appeared to be a sealant wick to outside world, I'd binned the previous exact same tyre from a huge hole it died from which was beyond plugging, or even patching internally so I'm guessing that was probably a popped wart.

All the reviews I have seen have come out pretty well.

We'll see what mine are like when they arrive.

Mine are the same tyre, just in a 28mm whereas yours were 25.

 

[neil_merseyside]

All the reviews I have seen have come out pretty well.

We'll see what mine are like when they arrive.

Mine are the same tyre, just in a 28mm whereas yours were 25.

Hopefully it's a batch problem only on 25mm, pictures attached.

 

[Alex321]

Hopefully it's a batch problem only on 25mm, pictures attached.

I hope so. Those don't look good.

 

[Alex321]

Hopefully it's a batch problem only on 25mm, pictures attached.

So far, so good.

Took a bit of doing to get the rear seated - the front seated easily with my track pump.

Finally got them properly seated on Wednesday evening, too late to go for a proper ride, and didn't have time for one on Thursday.

I've ridden 30 miles on them today (commuting, so 15 miles in the morning, another 15 late afternoon). I'd last pumped them up yesterday lunchtime (after finally getting them fitted Wednesday evening), and they had stayed up sufficiently to ride in and back, so I'm happy they are now fully sealed.

I'll have a good close look at them in daylight tomorrow, but I haven't seen any sign so far of those issues you had.

 

[Ridgeway]

My last set of GP5000 lasted just under 10k km and were ridden through Winter, the grip well and the only puncture i had was when i'd worn through the outer carcass.... but some sealant fixed that pretty quickly. As for punctures, not sure what they are since going TL

 

[neil_merseyside]

I'll have a good close look at them in daylight tomorrow, but I haven't seen any sign so far of those issues you had.

You'll probably need a few hundred miles before you spot anything, I check my bike thoroughly every clean and it was only after 2 cleans so roughly 4 rides (as it's summer/not dirty) so around ~250/300 before I saw anything amiss.