Got a puncture on the way to work today, used my spare tuber to get me going again (I was covered in road grime and now so are the inside of my gloves). Then got another one on the way home and didn’t have a spare tube as I’d used it on the way in.

Having never got a puncture cimmuting before but knowing I’ve always just commuted in fair weather in the past is it the extra winter road debris that’s caused this or just a massive coincidence that I’ve got two today?

Can anyone recommend some pretty puncture proof road tyres that don’t add rolling resistance so I can still use them for centuries at the weekend etc?

How old are the tyres? IME old tyres have punctures new tyres don’t. There will always be the odd exception granted.

Conti Gatorskins

One theory is that in wet conditions the water acts as a lubricant meaning objects can puncture the tyre more easily. Extra debris won’t help.

As for puncture proof tyres without lower rolling resistance? Moon on a stick I think.

When you say road tyres are you talking road bike like 700×25 or touring width. For tourers I’ve found Marathon Supremes a good compromises between punture proof and speed. Widths from 700×28 upwards. Actual roadie tyres, no idea.

A spare set of wheels for the weekends with fast tyres might be the best though not cheapest answer.

I was covered in road grime and now so are the inside of my gloves

Worth carrying a pair of latex gloves in your bag.

Then got another one on the way home and didn’t have a spare tube as I’d used it on the way in.

Carry two tubes, and if getting a lift home is likely to be a problem, patches too.

Can anyone recommend some pretty puncture proof road tyres that don’t add rolling resistance so I can still use them for centuries at the weekend etc?

As above, new tyres tend not to puncture, old ones do. Wet weather makes punctures more likely.

It could just be bad luck, but did you definitely find and remove whatever caused the first puncture?

Conti 4 Seasons are well nippy and dam puncture proof.

Are you sure that there is nothing still stuck in your tyre? I’d be checking thoroughly if I had two in one day.

Sometimes it’s pot luck, and you just have a bad day. Most of the time I’d say 2 punctures would be something stuck in your tyre. But also, an old set of tyres could be holding a lot of glass and flint. Once they get to a certain age it’s a good idea to go over them fully and pick anything out of the rubber with a knife – otherwise you’re playing roulette.

As for tubes. I normally carry a tube and a set of instant stick patches. The patches take not a lot longer than fitting a new tube. And if the instant patches fail for any reason, I usually carry a proper repair kit too. With glue and stuff. That’s last resort and summer days though.

Few questions to answer.

I mean proper road bike tyres, I’m currently on 23s but interested in going wider. Commuting on my only road bike (drop bar bike).

The tyres came on the bike (Bontrager r1 700x23c). They have only seen about 600 miles so don’t think it’s the age of them.

I can get a lift and yes will definitely carry two tubes in future.

Latex gloves is a great shout! That’s experience coming through!

Definitely not the same thing causing the puncture as they were different wheels. Rear on the way to work, front on the way home 🙁

twicewithchips – Member
Conti Gatorskins

Sure, if you’d prefer dying* to having a puncture.

*this may be an exaggeration.

I use tubeless for all my tyres these days. No punctures in 21000+km.

Don’t know anything about the Bontragers, but standard tyres often have awful puncture protection. Get something like Conti Gatorskin, or Schwalbe Durano if you want decent protection. GP4 Seasons if you’re feeling flush. Durano Plus if you care not a jot about performance. And commuting….28mm+ all the way, if your bike will accommodate it.

Conti 4 Seasons

are brilliant but as has been mentioned once you start to get punctures just replace them. Tubeless would be brilliant but I would need new rims 🙁

+1 for the 4 seasons – nice tyre that v rarely punctured on my commute. In the longer term I’d look at tubeless – road tubeless seems pretty sorted nowadays.

I punctured on the commute this morning as well (defo more common in wet weather IME), on a tufo tubular. Added some sealant through the valve, inflated, and that was it fixed. Which was nice 🙂

Once a month deflate both tyres and pick out the pieces of glass and grit, then glue up the cuts with superglue. Leave for an hour or so then reinflate.
When I was commuting just under 40 miles a day across London I used GP4Season which lasted very well, and with a bit of care (as above) didn’t leave me at the side of the road.
On my Brompton I use Schwalbe Marathon Plus which are very puncture proof but also feel like cycling on solid tyres. But changing a tube on a Brompton is extremely painful so it’s worth it.

SChwalbe marathon mondials for me or slime inner tubes. I don’t want to deal with the hassle of punctures on a commute.

Worth the extra weight for a “work bike”

Thanks guys, lots of opinions on tyres here.

I didn’t even know you could get tubeless road tyres? I’m literally a walking salesperson for tubeless on mtbs, love it so much! Take it you need specific rims on a road bike to run tubeless?

As for the tyres..they really do need to roll well as I have a century planned for every Sunday between now and May and I need it for that plus 2 commutes and one Hill reps session each week for the next 18 weeks (Fred Whitton training). Some of the lads I’m training with are already faster so running dragging tyres will see me right off the back!

Really don’t want to keep changing them to sunday tyres nd two wheel sets is out of question and budget.

Anyone tried most of the above suggestions? I’m also torn on sizing but thinking 25c is the way forward.

Honestly. Most tyres you will notice negligible difference in performance, if any at all, whether they’re 23mm, 28mm, pucnture protected or not. They’ll all be fast. You will notice a more sure footing on wider tyres, have more peace of mind with better puncture protection…

I’m currently on 28mm Schwalbe Duranos, which I think I prefer over the Gatorskins (which can be skittish in the wet, as mentioned). Have raced TTs on both. Something like the 4 Seasons may give you better performance, but they’re not cheap. As long as you don’t get Marathon+ or 40mm something or other, you will be fine…

You can put Stans fluid into your inner tubes. No faff unlike tubeless and sorts out all the thorn/flint puncture issues.

How on earth do you get stans into a 23c tube?

I run a Schwalbe Durano Plus on the back of my commuter, still using the blizzard or lugano or whatever it came with on the front. No issues in over 10,000 miles.

On my 2nd Durano now, won’t bother with anything else while I’m commuting, it’s not worth the hassle. Rolling resistance doesn’t seen any worse than any other race tyre I’ve used, they’re heavier than Conti 40000s but cheaper and I got 6000 miles out of the last one. My commuting wheels weigh a tonne anyway.

chilled76 – Member
How on earth do you get stans into a 23c tube?

Assuming the valve cores unscrew, I push it through a syringe and bit of rubber hose (cut from a spare brake bleed pipe).

You could inject stans into an inflated tube with a syringe.

That was meant to be a joke, but thinking about it I can’t see why it wouldn’t work.

I keep a spare tube in my desk drawer at work for the ride home. From experience.

Another good idea. Thanks.

Any other commuter tips like that?

+1 the repair kit in the bag and +1 spare tube in the desk drawer. 🙂
gatorskins were slippy in the wet, gp4 seasons are good but expensive,
conti ultrasport cut quite easily, recently went tubeless so time will
tell !

As an all weather commuter the only time I get a puncture is in the rain! 🙂

I had two punctures on the way to work, one very rainy day, on 2 month old tyres, so it’s not always the age of the tyre. I now use a slime tube on the rear only, to keep the weight down, and carry 2 spare tubes plus patches. Also use CO2 to reinflate so that I’m not held up too much.

I preferred the Schwalbe Durano’s to the 4 seasons for no particular reason than they looked faster 🙂

As others have said, any puncture resistant tyre seems bullet proof for about 2 years then suddenly they seem to either ware out or puncture regularly.

I’m running some 32mm Vitoria randomneur pro at the minute, very reassuring but not very fast

How on earth do you get stans into a 23c tube?

Using pliers unscrew the knurled end of the presta valve.
Using a 2m allen key push the valve core into the tube, but hold it with your fingers – don’t let go!
Inject the stans fluid into the valve – get a syringe and plastic pipe – like windscreen washer pipe.
Push the valve core back into the valve.
Connect a pump and give it a few strokes.
Remove pump, the air in the tube will push the end of the core back out of the valve.
Screw the knurled end back on.
Re-fit tube and tyre, inflate and go ride.

Sounds fiddly but I’ve done hundreds (shop mechanic) and can do each tube in a couple of minutes now.

Worth carrying a pair of latex gloves in your bag.

I’ve recently come to the conclusion that it would probably be more useful to carry a few individually wrapped wet-wipes: I find it bloody difficult to change a tube with gloves on – if they don’t tear, then the ends of the fingers get stuck in the tyre bead (admittedly these are nitrile “examination” ( 😯 ) gloves, rather than latex, but they are very close fitting). It’s also really difficult to get get glass or thorns out of a tyre with gloves on.

I really must go tubeless before the next round of hedge cutting :-/

Hmm I used brand new Continental GP 4000S II tyres for a crit race in the rain on Saturday. Punctured.

I think it’s pot luck to be frank (assuming your tyres aren’t threadbare).

But I carry; 2x latex gloves, 2x co2, 2x tubes, glueless patches, levers, 5nm torque wrench with all the bits you’d ever require. 😆

Wider tyres dont increase rolling resistance, they reduce it. Contact patch goes from long and thin (so affecting larger section of tyre carcass) to shorter and wider.

My commuter came with 25s and I’ll probably go 28 when they die.

And +1 for a spare tube at work (plus 2 in the saddle bag). Oh and the ONLY time I’ve snapped a chain was the 1 day I loaned my decent multi tool to other half so have a suitable tool and a spare power link.

Also stay out of the gutter and white cross-hatched areas as this is where crap gets swept by car tyres.

It’s also really difficult to get get glass or thorns out of a tyre with gloves on.

that’s what the pliers are for on your Leatherman!

I am tubeless on all my bikes (including road) except my commuter which has Marathon Supremes (which are a great balance of weight/rolling resistance/puncture resistance IME). I’ll definitely go tubeless on the commuter as well next time I buy some tyres now the Schwalbe tubeless gravel, etc tyres are available.

Schwalbe Marathons if you want bombproof but by heck they don’t half suck the zip out of a bike!

I run 35c on my commuter but about a third of my commute is canal towpath and you say that you don’t want the hassle of two different tyre widths which is fair enough.

It’s worth checking your tyres regularly (monthly) as they do wear and thin. I only get “unexplained” punctures on older, thinner tyres – sharps get embedded in the carcase then momentarily pushed through to puncture the inner tube. When you take the tyre off and run your fingers around the tyre the sharp is hidden back in the carcase so you don’t find it.

Get an old fashioned puncture repair kit, they are better for high pressure road tubes than the stick on patches. If you do puncture on the way to work then you’ve a chance of fixing it during the day

My almost new 4 Seasons have punctured twice in a week, too much glass on my commute. Think i’m going to have to go up to Schwalbe Marathon 🙁

Are the Marathon Supremes going to be better than Continental 4Seasons?

I tried Vittoria Hyper, they were worse than the 4 Season for punctures but more slippy.

The “problem” with Marathons is that they last so bloomin’ long that you don’t get much chance to try anything else! I’d put 8000Km on mine before the moulding whiskers disappeared 😛 One them is on its second bike!

Some people have mentioned gatorkins and one person mentioned rather dying.. are they really that bad?

They’re ok, but they’re a bit ropey in the wet.

Durano plus are gripper, more puncture resistant and last longer (and cheaper I think)

As said, winter in the wet is definitely worse for punctures. I’ve been using Schwalbe S-Ones (full name: Schwalbe S-One Evo Microskin TL-Easy Folding Road!), tubeless and the file tread is nice n grippy and confidence inspiring in the wet (went from Hutchinson Sector TL which often had some scary slides!).
Not had puncture with the Schwalbes but with the previous tyres I only lost about 5 psi before the sealant did it’s magic.
Only thing about them is they are called “Tubeless Easy” which massively contravenes the trade descriptions act!! Absolute nightmare to fit, but once on, great.

Can you go tubeless on a road bike with normal rims? Bontrager oem ones?