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how often do you get a flat
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this question has crossed my mind because I get one maybe once every 3000 miles or so, which i think is rather infrequent. I run GP4000 23c or Vittoria Corsa G+ 25c clinchers all year, i.e. not gatorskins or anything like that. I was reading something about training tires vs. racing tires for flat protection and I guess I just don't get why people even do this. I know those aren't the MOST purebred race tires, but they're dang close to it and many people do race on them, and I wouldn't ever consider using anything different for training/general use. I guess I just don't understand why tires like gatorskins even exist. But I figure its because some people must flat a LOT without them. I have no idea what's a "normal" or "average" amount of flats.

So - how often do you get flats? whether you get many or few, what do you attribute it to? I would speculate that, despite living in upstate NY with plenty of rough roads and potholes, i get few flats because i avoid riding on busy roads (less car-related sharp road debris), and am a smaller/lighter rider who pays attention to my pressure before every ride.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I think that some people use Gatorskin tires because they don't know how to fix a flat and are afraid.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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Rate: once per 3000-4000 miles
Tires used: Conti 4000/5000 or Specialized Turbo Cotton on my tri and road bike. Donnelly USH or Panaracer GravelKing Slick on my commuter/CX/gravel bike (I run tubes in everything...gasp!)
Pressure used: I go off of Silca tire pressure calculator
Road types: I live in a place with a ‘true winter’ with freezing temps and lots of snow. So rough roads and pot holes are not uncommon. I try to avoid roads with lots of debris and thankfully that is easier here than places I’ve lived in the past. The gravel here is mostly category 2 and 3

I think I only got three flats last year.
- One was when I hit an unmarked ‘shelf’ in the road (the we’re doing construction and suddenly the road was 2 inches higher than the road I had been on). Hit that at at 22-23 mph and pinch flatted on my tri bike.
- The second was a sidewalk cut when I ran over a razor blade (RIP that tire) on my road bike.
- The last was on the CX bike. Not sure what exactly caused it. But basically I was being dumb and bushwhacking and riding off trail Over a bunch of fallen tree branches and shrubbery and when I got back on the trail found my tire was starting to go soft.

Matt
Last edited by: Chemist: Jun 15, 20 8:19
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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So much depends on where I have lived. London England was 6-7 per year. Maybe more. I had to ride through a busy part of town on a Sunday morning, there was usually broken glass from drinkers the night before.
I'm now in Finland and I think I had one in the last 12 months on my commuting bike. I still carry 2 tubes when I'm training as I'm superstitious.
I do get the odd puncture on my cross bike but I'm pretty heavy and run low pressures on sharp gravel.
I have a pair of unused gatorskins in my cellar that I'll put on someone else's bike.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I don't think that's an unusually low frequency for punctures. My experience has been very similar for about the last 9 years.
I used Gatorskins at first and after that GP 4 Seasons, GP4000, Michelin Pro4 SC, GP4000sII and Michelin Pro4 SC and briefly Mavic Ypsilon Pro (between both Road and Tri bikes).
As I recall I got 2 or 3 punctures with the Gatorskins (at least one of them a pinch puncture) in probably just over a year. Then I switched to GP 4 Seasons which had, I think 1 puncture in well over a year. When I moved on to GP4000, which I'd initially considered fragile tyres due to what I'd read places like Bikeradar, Slowtwitch and elsewhere, I discovered they too were very unlikely to puncture. My rate remained less than 1 puncture a year.
I ride on a lot of bad roads. I ride quite often in wet weather. I don't take any particular care of my tyres like checking for cuts or small thorns/glass etc, like I've heard some people recommend from time to time. I just ride. I very, very rarely get a puncture.
Oh, I've usually ridden about 5000km a year, sometimes up to about 7500km. So, on average I'd say I puncture around once every 5000km, so about the same figure you're guessing.

I know some people live in areas where there's higher likelihood of shards of razor sharp stones or thorns on the road, due to local geology or flora, and for those the answer may be different. However, I agree with you, that for most people, fast, relatively lightweight tyres with relatively little concession to "protection" such as GP4000sII/GP5000 or equivalent spec tyres from Michelin, Vittoria, etc, are a perfectly reasonable choice for everyday use. Cycling should be enjoyable and fun. It's more enjoyable with comfortable, grippy, fast tyres!

Edit:
Just for context. During those 9 years+ I've typicalyl weighed 80-85kg. I used mostly 25mm nominal size tyres on narrow 15mm and 17mm internal width rims at between 80-90psi front and 95-105psi rear. I've also used 23mm tyres on those narrower rims and I've done several thousand km on 25mm tyres with 19mm rims. No noticable difference in puncture frequency between any of them. Of course I've had so few you'd be pushed to spot a pattern anyway.
Last edited by: Ai_1: Jun 15, 20 10:06
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I never get flats, cause I use Tannus solid tires. I use them for racing on my fixed gear / road bikes, just training rides on tri bike since race wheels are carbon.


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Re: how often do you get a flat [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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I live down at the Jersey shore during the summers and used to run Conti 4000s, but due to all of the debris, especially construction debris and broken glass from the party crowd, over the course of four months, I'd typically get 15-20 flats--1 summer I had 26. (I ride about 1,400 miles/mth).

Because of this I switched to gator skins on my training wheels and I get 1-2/summer at most. I'm certainly not afraid of changing flats on the road and I'm actually very fast--maybe 3 minutes for the front and 5 or so for the rear. Besides all the hassle it saves me $100-200 in tubes, Co2 and tires....

The gators are not quite as fast but when I get to race day and put the race wheels/tires on, get my aero helmet, skin suit and aero socks with my specially treated chain its a nice positive mental boost....

Randy Christofferson(http://www.rcmioga.blogspot.com

Insert Doubt. Erase Hope. Crush Dreams.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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Last year I had 2 flats

One in Lanzarote, with GP5000, when I hit a pot hole at 80kph - scary stuff
One on my Vittoria Corsa G+ which had covered 12000km and pretty much worn out and was caused by a screw left in the road. In those 12000km I had no other punctures

I had to replace a set of Pirelli PZero TT tires, after 3000km as they had worn to the threads, however, no flats on them, despite almost no puncture protection

I have a slightly cynical view that puncture protection is not terribly useful, an object which is going to cause a blow out will cause a blow out almost irrespective of the tire
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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A flat where it goes completely dead and I have to put a tube in....maybe a couple times a year. That's with 1000 miles/month average.

I get slower leaks every 4-6 weeks running tubeless that blow some sealant everywhere and then plug up....or it'll last through the ride and then start losing too much air between rides and and I'll have to take the tire off and patch from the inside and reassemble.

Was running factory giant tubeless tires, then some 28mm hutchinsons, now schwalbe pro one's. Have specialized trigger pro on my gravel/commuter bike.

Roads in NM are generally pretty bad, and lots of thorns and roadside debris.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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Around once a year, and i even live in a place with flint in the road!
Using gp 4000.

On my old bikes i almost got a flat every other month, and it has 100% to due woth using tires that are a bit worn out or maybe they were just vad some stock vittoria ones.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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Every 1000-3000 miles probably with GP5000. But, when it rains, it pours. Multiple flats in a week are possible sometimes.

I do mind changing a flat and actually despise it greatly on the road and have become stranded without a shirt on, so I mainly ride a road that is 2mi from my apartment that I can walk back if I get a flat or something. I do repeats out there and the road is mostly clean. But, I have a smart trainer now, so like the convenience of that and no flats.

Sometimes, I get cabin fever on just that one road doing repeats (roundabout every other mile, u-turn every other mile) and I head out to roads with more traffic and more debris, because they link up with some other routes that are pretty fun to ride (Sullivan's Island and Island of Palms). But, coming back to my city on the Isle of Palms connector, there is always all kinds of debris there and have gotten probably three flats on that bridge as they just don't seem to clean the roads.

I used to ride out and about a lot more, but generally hate being stranded and don't ride with a shirt on a lot of the time, so it puts me in a difficult place as sometimes male Uber XL drivers will refuse to drive my bike and I all sweaty, so my anxiety goes up anytime I get a flat as I know if I can't change it, I could be stranded there for a little bit. Typically girls will drive me in their Uber XL no problem with a shirt off. Now, if I get stranded on my bike and get an Uber, I'll message them when they are on the way so they can cancel if they want to.

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney
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Re: how often do you get a flat [bluntandy] [ In reply to ]
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bluntandy wrote:
So much depends on where I have lived. London England was 6-7 per year. Maybe more. I had to ride through a busy part of town on a Sunday morning, there was usually broken glass from drinkers the night before.
I'm now in Finland and I think I had one in the last 12 months on my commuting bike. I still carry 2 tubes when I'm training as I'm superstitious.
I do get the odd puncture on my cross bike but I'm pretty heavy and run low pressures on sharp gravel.
I have a pair of unused gatorskins in my cellar that I'll put on someone else's bike.

This.

When I lived in Philadelphia or NY, I'd get dozens of flats a year (always in 3s!). I was a gatorskin/armadillo only guy, unless racing. The last year in MN, i dunno, 2 flats.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [jimatbeyond] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond wrote:
I think that some people use Gatorskin tires because they don't know how to fix a flat and are afraid.


So far this year I have gotten 5 flats and recently switched over to gatorskins to help. I can switch a flat in less than 5 minutes but it ruins the ride, really hate getting off and having lactate pool. Used Conti ultra sport prior

Depends on where you live. I live in CT north of Hartford

Strava
Last edited by: rsjrv99: Jun 15, 20 11:21
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Re: how often do you get a flat [rsjrv99] [ In reply to ]
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Can't remember the last road flat, but off road I get them all the time.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I probably shouldn't answer this, but oh well...

On a ride - 1 time, ever. And it was a slow leak that gave me just enough to get back to the car. This is over about 10 years or so, and happened at least 8 years ago.
In general, when I first started riding I would get pre ride flats constantly, usually at the stem connection to the tube due to my novice self not installing the tube correctly.

I have lived in GA for 8 years now, and I have not flatted here at all. Only change the tube out when I change rubber, just because. Mostly riding GP4000.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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Usually about 1 flat a year. Just flatted today so hopefully I'm done for the year. Last year I hit a rock going down a hill and pinch flatted. Luckily it was toward the top of the hill so it didn't take me out. Today's flat was a staple. No hissing but heard something tapping against my frame as the wheel turned. Got off the bike and saw the staple. As soon as I touched the staple it started to hiss. Got to practice my tire change which is always a good thing to practice. I run gatorskins for all training just because I always have. Could change to something else but when I'm training I don't care about speed so why change.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [djhuff7] [ In reply to ]
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djhuff7 wrote:
I have lived in GA for 8 years now, and I have not flatted here at all.

Wow 8 years? What kind of miles do you think that is?

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I get a flat about every 3000mi. In virtually every case it's a pinch flat because I was lazy and let my tire pressure get a bit too low. It's been years since I had an actual puncture due to road debris.

I run Conti 4000s IIs, FWIW. Tried some Vittoria Rubinos about 5yrs ago and flatted 3X in my first four rides....never again.

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
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Re: how often do you get a flat [plant_based] [ In reply to ]
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plant_based wrote:

Wow 8 years? What kind of miles do you think that is?

I have no idea, 3 Ironman Builds where 2 of them were mostly outside riding. 2018 I switched to almost exclusively riding indoors, probably 1-2000mi outside since then.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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I usually can't remember the last time I got a flat but when I do it is a run of three in quick succession last time due to a cut in a tyre I didn't notice after first changing the tube and then another year plus goes by again... I've been running Conti 4000 and now 5000 with even Vittoria Corsa on a set of road bike wheels.
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Re: how often do you get a flat [PBT_2009] [ In reply to ]
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How often? As often as when I start thinking "hmm ... I haven't had a flat in a long time"

Or ... the frequency with which I forget to stick the mini pump in my pocket.
Last edited by: BrianB: Jun 15, 20 14:56
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