Lots of flats - is it time for new tires?

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I have about 1300 miles on my road bike, and went about 800 miles
without a flat. Since then, I have had at least 6 flats, 1 in the front
tire, all the rest in the rear. About half my riding is on hilly roads,
some of which could be in poor repair.

In all my flats, I have never seen any evidence of what caused the
flats. I have Bontrager Race Lite 700x23 tires, and I inflate them
before each ride to 120psi.

Is this just a run of bad luck, or is it time for new tires? The tires
look fine to me. How do I know when it is time for new tires?
Typically, how long do tires last, and are any brands/types of tires
better with regard to flats than others?

I weigh approx 185 lbs, and I have seen suggestions that at this
weight, I might be better off with 700x25 or 700x28 tires.

Thx,

Atri

[Mike Kruger]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> I have about 1300 miles on my road bike, and went about 800
miles
> without a flat. Since then, I have had at least 6 flats, 1
in the front
> tire, all the rest in the rear. About half my riding is on
hilly roads,
> some of which could be in poor repair.
>
> In all my flats, I have never seen any evidence of what
caused the
> flats. I have Bontrager Race Lite 700x23 tires, and I
inflate them
> before each ride to 120psi.
>
> Is this just a run of bad luck, or is it time for new tires?

It is likely that you have something in the rear tire that is
causing the flats.
It helps to always mount the tire in the same way (for
example, have the "B" in Bontrager next to the valve) so you
can tell if you are always getting the flat in the same place.
This narrows down the area to be searched.

There's also good material on flats in the FAQ's.
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brandt/

I'm unfamiliar with these tires so I can't comment on their
life, although 1300 isn't impressive.

[araby]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
>I have about 1300 miles on my road bike, and went about 800 miles
> without a flat. Since then, I have had at least 6 flats, 1 in the front
> tire, all the rest in the rear. > In all my flats, I have never seen any
> evidence of what caused the
> flats. I have Bontrager Race Lite 700x23 tires, and I inflate them
> before each ride to 120psi.
>
> Is this just a run of bad luck, or is it time for new tires?
>
Have you checked the rim tape? Maybe a spoke end is piercing the tube.

Roy.

[Roy Zipris]

The front and back tire aspects of your tale may be coincidence, but
the 5 rear flats suggests there's something there that you may have
missed. During a ride, rushing to get going again, it's easy to miss
the culprit.

Last weekend, I flatted twice, both in the rear. First time, a check
revealed no stone, glass, or other obvious cause, but then we found a
snake bite, although I swore I had properly inflated the tire before
the ride. About 20 miles later, another flat, but not a pinch flat this
time, and again no obvious cause. Later, at home, I took the tire off
and checked it more carefully and found a tiny, small, teensy (get the
idea) shard. (A water bath revealed a tiny hole in the tube, and
because I line up the tire decal with the stem, I focussed my search on
the corresponding area of the tire and thus discovered the little
devil.)

Moral #1 of this story is: check again, microscopically, for something
in the rear tire. Not a bad idea to check the front tire, too, for the
source of that flat, just to make sure.

Moral #2 (obvious to me now, but not before that ride): A pinch flat
may be the sign of something in the tire that caused a slow leak.
leading to the snake bite, and not just an underflated (ie,
operator-error) tire. --Roy Zipris

[maxo]

On Tue, 10 May 2005 18:02:45 -0700, atri.ind wrote:

> I weigh approx 185 lbs, and I have seen suggestions that at this weight, I
> might be better off with 700x25 or 700x28 tires.

If your brakes can clear 28s, you'll probably like the ride better, and I
doubt you'll really feel much of a resistance difference. A slightly wider
tire is going to be more resistant to pinch flats too. I've got a ton of
construction and nasty rail crossings where I live, so riding anything
less would be terrifying.

Those tires only weigh 235g--so my gut says that you may simply need
something with a little more rubber between you and the road.

What type of flats anyway?