There are heaps of blackthorns where I ride so I've converted both MTBs to tubeless which has dealt with puncture-overload.
But have had two punctures on the new CX in as many rides.
So...
Do I convert the 700c tyres to tubeless or is the extra PSI not a good plan?
Or should I just go for a beefier tyre...if so, which one (must have tread for muddy bits)?
Thanks all.
Sits back and waits with baited breath
Am having the same issues (except sharp,gritty, sandy New Forest) and must fix at least one flat every time I ride my CX bike, to the point where I spend more time on the road riding it than off road.
By contrast, rode the SDW a week or so ago and had 0, zero, nada, nil, zilch flats on cheap Smart Sam CX tyres.
for CX tubeless insights have a look over on justridingalong.com
If it's just for riding you can't beat the Slime Strip for keeping out thorns. We suffer from them here, it's not unusual to get half a dozen punctures in each tyre.
Bump for the late crowd... Any thoughts?
This won't be much help to you at this point, but I'm running some Crest 29ers on a cross bike and the plan is, at some point, to try running some Maxxis Raze tubeless converted.
From JRA's site, it looks like Hutchinson do tubeless-specific cross tyres with carbon fibre beads, which sounds like an option, but probably a heinously expensive one...
Then there's [url= http://www.justridingalong.com/news/2010/10/maxxis-raze-cyclocross-tyre-review/ ]this[/url] - running Raze on their Alpha rims at 40psi.
i guess the obvious cx tyre of choice with puncture resistance is the schwalbe land cruiser, thinking of biting the bullet on these for commuting and and all round cx riding apart from races in the winter as i only got 1 700c wheelset, idealy i'd have another set with slicks for commuting.
i have been using the slime filled tubes for a while not had any punctures for a while also just had a week in the new forest with no punctures
but i did have one which was on the inner side of the tube which was about 3 or 4 mm which the slime wouldnt seal couldnt patch it either kept leaking running kenda small block 8
I have had great punctureless results with Sammy Slick CX tyres - may be luck but one puncture in 2.5k miles of mixed on/off road commuting. A staple finally got through.
US ebay or amazon for 'thorn proof' inner tubes, 700x whatever your tyres are, they weigh about 3 times a normal tube but work well. Two or three brands, they all look the same. That plus a liner will almost completely eliminate pinch and thorn flats. You might even be able to fill them with slime or similar! Not light though, but fine for normal cross riding and especially good for 'using cross bike as an MTB', just not racing.