UKC

I have a road bike and use it to commute to work. I get a lot of flats due to the roads! I was thinking that some different wider wheels would help prevent this. Can anyone help confirm or deny this? If its true what type of wheels would help.

Or should I just get some solid forks for my mountain bike and sell the road bike?
Thanks in advance

In reply to Fat Tim:

Are you sure it's not sharp things bursting your tyres? I've never had a puncture through potholes on a roadbike, but have collected quite a few burst tyres from glass etc. Maybe try better tyres? The standard ones are crap in many cases...

In reply to Wee Davie:
Not had anything sticking out of my tyres, the last one was a pot hole. upgraded tyres and got the innertubes with sticky stuff in them to 'plug the hole' a while ago. Neither worked....

In reply to Fat Tim:

What pressure are you running them at?

In reply to Fat Tim:

By wider wheels do you mean wider tyres?

Tubeless is an either/or system not a mix of the two.

The most likely candidate is worn tyres. As the rolling surface wears down it can get small cuts and pieces of glass or bits of metal can get stuck in these. When you roll over an edge, say of a pot hole, if that cut happens to be the point of contact the sharp is momentarily pushed through to puncture the inner tube. When you repair and run your fingers round the inside of the tyre you don't find anything but a while later you puncture again. My wife had three such punctures within a couple of hours.

Some questions:

What tyres are you running with?
What pressure are you running them at?
Are the punctures "pinch flats", i.e. are there two holes either side of the tube?

In reply to Fat Tim:

Trying not to be rude,Fat Tim

But are you carrying a 'bit of timber'.

Maybe a contributing factor to your snakebites.

In reply to Fat Tim:

I've only ever got snakebite punctures when my tyres have been soft. Are you pumping them up hard? Like proper hard?

See if you can get Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres to fit your bike. Expensive and heavy but I did about 10,000 kms on one pair without a single puncture. Getting a puncture on the way to work is a total hassle, so they may be worth the investment.

In reply to Bob: I agree - as tyres age they get more prone to punctures. I've also had the bead breaking down and piercing the tube on older ones. I've found not letting them get too old the most reliable remedy, along with keeping the tyres up to pressure.

I'm not sure wider tyres wil help and may exacerbate the problem as it's usual to run fatter tyres at lower pressure.

In reply to Fat Tim:

All good points apart from Andymac (78kgs, and 6 foot)I am a lean mean climbing machine, O and drinking...

Makes me aware that I don't know what I am talking about.
I am sure my tyres are hard. I know the sheffield road are covered in potholes.

I think maybe new tryes are the way to go. The Schwalbe Marathon Plus smartguard came up first seach. Will let you know what happens if I get another puncture....

In reply to Fat Tim:

checked your rim tape?

In reply to Fat Tim:

Where are the punctures occurring? (no smart alec comments about on the tyres!)

If they are in the same place(s) each time then you need to check *exactly* what the rest of the wheel/tyre state is in that area.

How are you pumping up the tyres? Without a track pump it's really hard to get tyres to typical road pressures. If you are using CO2 then be aware that inner tubes are quite permeable to the gas so need deflating and reflating with air ASAP, they are for emergency use really.

Finally what's your riding style? Are you heavy on the bike or do you float over obstacles? It's a long while since I've actually ridden through a pot hole and its usually because I didn't see it in time.

In reply to Fat Tim:

Hi Bob

I used to mountian bike a lot in my teens so I can't help but 'float'.
I'm not sure about where they are occuring, its been about 2 years since I used the road bike and was always getting punctures. I used it the other day and got a puncture on the way home after hitting a hole I didn't see! I use a track pump to pump them up.

On reflection I think I should talk to my friend who borrowed the bike for the 2 years I wasn't riding it!