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2010-11-01 2:23 PM
in reply to: #3189043

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Master
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Sedona, AZ
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
AndrewMT - 2010-11-01 11:32 AM
RockTractor - 2010-11-01 1:18 PM I used to get flats regularly (once or twice per ride) until I swapped to liners, gator-skins, and heavy tubes... none since. I'm not sure the answers are relevant without taking into consideration location... Goat heads out here are a real problem!


Goat heads?


Nasty little pricker-things that can penetrate a tire and tube. Really rough on MBT's because they grow along trails and shoulders. You can even see them stuck in auto tires sometimes if they've gone off road. Never seen them on the asphalt though.

I've had two flats this year - once due to stuff on the road (broken toy or something on the road during a tri, but the flat actually occurred afterward) and once due to a faulty valve stem-tube interface.


2010-11-01 2:39 PM
in reply to: #3189165

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Expert
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Albuquerque, NM
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
MonkeyClaw - 2010-11-01 1:23 PM
Never seen them on the asphalt though.


The goat heads are the seeds of the plant they grow on - when the plant dries up, the seeds detach blow all over the place - I doubt there is a road shoulder or MUT here (Albuquerque, NM) that doesn't have it's fair share waiting to ruin your ride.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tribulus_terrestris



2010-11-01 2:40 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Pro
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Baton Rouge area
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I was going to state the I refuse to answer because it will guarentee a flat.  But I figure just by reading the thread I am hosed so put me down for one sometime in the next 3 months.
2010-11-01 2:53 PM
in reply to: #3189023


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Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
ChrisM - 2010-11-01 1:21 PM

edit, should read the thread before posting a jinx comment

To answer, not often enough to know how often






I agree this is good way to answer the question without "Jinxing" onesself.

I do use Conti Gatorskins on my commuter bike. I ride back country roads in all kinds of weather and often in the dark. If I can reduce the chance of getting a flat on a dark cold evening on the ride home it is worth taking the precaution. So far it has been working.

I use Conti GP4000s tires on my race bike and my luck has been holding up over the past few years as well.

I do check the tire pressure before every ride to make sure it is in normal range to avoid pinch flats. I also check the tires once a week for cuts or to see if anything is stuck in them when I clean my bike.
2010-11-01 3:07 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Pro
5761
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Bartlett, TN
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I flatted 5 times in Ironman Branson 70.3 this year. Had to DNF. It was all due to the rim tape, which I had never even thought about checking.

Lesson learned.

***And Branson 70.3, I will be back to kick your azz in 2011!
2010-11-01 3:13 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Champion
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Brooklyn, NY
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I had a ton of them this year. I got one in April when I went riding with my family around Brooklyn, another during a century in May, another the day before a tri in June, and then two on the same ride in August.
Other than that, I would say that I haven’t gotten more than a handful in my life. Almost all of them have been on my MTB.


2010-11-01 3:23 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Extreme Veteran
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SW Florida Gulf Coast
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I have not had a flat in well over a year and more than 3,000 miles worth of cycling (and still counting).  I'm sure I just jinxed myself by writing this and will probably flat at B2B now.  I'm using a set of Conti GP4000 at the moment.
2010-11-01 3:26 PM
in reply to: #3189314

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Pro
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Baton Rouge area
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
shellabree - 2010-11-01 3:23 PM
I have not had a flat in well over a year and more than 3,000 miles worth of cycling (and still counting).  I'm sure I just jinxed myself by writing this and will probably flat at B2B now.  I'm using a set of Conti GP4000 at the moment.


Are you running 650's?  If so we can share as I am hoping not to flat there.
2010-11-01 3:40 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Expert
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San Gabriel Valley, California
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
The ride immediately after I stated (and I wasn't even boasting) that I hadn't had a flat in three or four years.  There are a lot of doomed people on this thread. 
2010-11-01 3:40 PM
in reply to: #3188918

Iron Donkey
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, Wisconsin
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I've flatted about a total of 3 times in the last 4 years.  2 occurred because of a tiny, sharp piece of gravel on a country road.
2010-11-01 3:45 PM
in reply to: #3189358

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Elite
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Spring, TX
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
LeahDD - 2010-11-01 3:40 PM The ride immediately after I stated (and I wasn't even boasting) that I hadn't had a flat in three or four years.  There are a lot of doomed people on this thread. 


I must be even more doomed for starting it....but I don't believe in that kind of stuff!


2010-11-01 3:53 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Master
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PNW
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I've been riding for 6 years now and I think I've had a total of 4 flats?  One was due to running over a broken bottle that the rider in front of me failed to warn me about.  I swerved, but only saved the front tire...the rear was toast (gatorskin, too).  I had to change the rear tire, in the dark, on the side of the road in the rain and the cut in my side wall was HUGE.  I folded over an expired car insurance card to boot it and it held the last 15 miles home.

In fact, three of my four flats have been on my commuter bike on which I use gatorskins or some other such flat-protected tire.  My road bike, which just runs 23cc slicks has had only one flat in > 8,000 miles - a blowout at the end of a ride due to a severely overworn tire.  My new tire hadn't arrived yet and I wanted to do that ride anyway so I knew I was asking for trouble.  It made it 61.5 of a 64 mile ride!

I think where you ride (type of road conditions) really makes the biggest difference in flat occurance.  That, and luck, of course...
2010-11-01 4:20 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Extreme Veteran
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London
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I got a slow puncture on my road bike earlier this year but other than that not much in the last few years. Possibly because I run GatorSkinz but I do most of my riding through central London so have no option but to ride in gutters etc where all the crude ends up.
2010-11-01 4:26 PM
in reply to: #3188936

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Champion
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Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
when i was training at my parents/school, over 4 years, probably 4 total (and two of those were in the same ride due to blowing out a sidewall on an old tire).


Currently, around one every month or two. Living in the middle of philly and the first and last 8 miles of every ride are in an urban area with a LOT of glass/rough roads. I'll hit glass multiple times per ride, so its not too bad considering.

No special tires.
2010-11-01 4:41 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Regular
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Fort Myers
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I had never had a flat until I read this thread and went for a ride (getting home about ten minutes ago). Although I've only been riding for a month anyway, it's hard to think this didn't have something to do with it; and I didn't even post a response.
2010-11-01 4:52 PM
in reply to: #3188918

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Pro
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, New Hampshire
Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
So far this year and last year, not a single flat (did about 5k this year and about 7k in '09). One flat in 8k in 2008... and the roads I've been on has not been good. All on GP4000S


2010-11-02 8:16 AM
in reply to: #3188918

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Extreme Veteran
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Subject: RE: How often do you get flats?
I have been down on my luck with respect. I have been going through a phase of getting a flat about every 30 mi. My tires are mid life and I do inspect regulary. My local streets suck (not in a bike friendly city) I am thinking of some amadillos - yes my spelling sux
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