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Thorn season
Last Post 09/21/2015 01:58 PM by 79 pmooney. 13 Replies.
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 08/29/2015 09:47 AM |
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Two flats yesterday. Blazingly hot (98o). No shade. Second one I was about 3 miles from home. I pack two tubes, so I was prepared. Changing out the second tube I felt dizzy and lightheaded after standing up after bending over. Probably on the verge of heat exhaustion. Almost out of water. Those little tiny thorns from the star thorn thistles are out and about this time of year. With the lack of rain in Ca you'd think they would not be a problem this year. Wrong! Three flats in two days. I tired tire liners, but the little suckers go into the side of the tire casing. I've had the big suckers go right through the tire liners. I'm finished ranting.... |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/29/2015 05:37 PM |
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zoot, what tires do you run? When I ride tires with harder rubber. I get far fewer flats from thorns and those tiny steel wires not much thicker than a hair (and sometimes less than 2 mm long so they can sit completely hidden between the tread and tube; I think they are from the steel belts of car tires) when I use those tires. (I dislike those tires in general for their poorer performance in the wet.)
When I rode my first Cycle Oregon, I have been hearing horror stories about the goat heads. Rode Vittoria Rubinos. No flats, And boy did I see a lot of flats! (I don't like those tires at all and backed off on the downhills big time because of them.) Recently I have been riding Vittoria Open Corsa. They seem to be a very good compromise.
Ben |
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 08/29/2015 06:32 PM |
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| I was using a Conti Ultra Sport folding 700x25. The roads I ride are rough chipped sealed and it's beer drinking season. I don't like spending a lot of money on tires. I had to chuck my front tire as it had a bad cut. I dug up a half worn Clement Strada LGG, I don't recall ever getting a flat with one of those. Best puncture proof tire was a Schwalbe Refuse, however it was like riding with a concrete tire. I just ordered some Michelin Lithions (on sale for $20 at biketiresdirect). I repaired a tire using a Lezyne glueless patch and it came off my front tube while I was starting a descent. I lost all my air at once. Pretty scary. My flats tend to come in bunches. Yeah those little pieces of wire that come off blown tires can cause havoc. On one part of my ride I'm alongside the freeway and those big rig blown tires can travel quite a distance. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 08/30/2015 12:40 AM |
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zoot, there's a way you can do near permanent high quality repairs on badly cut tires. Visit a sailmaker when you are in a city with a large body of water. (Oakland/Berkely/Richmond) and ask for a scrap of dinghy sailcloth, say for a Flying Junior sail. Make a patch that run from almost bead to bead and an inch or two beyond the cut n both directions. Glue in place with contractor grade contact cement.
Even if you cannot make the cut close, it will not spread. Sailcloth is strong stuff. That repair is probably going to be good for another 1000 miles as long as the patch itself never sees the road.
I used to do this years ago when I was racing sailboats. I had forgotten about this trick completely until someone here reminded me, quite likely our friend dkri. I have gotten good mileage out of those very cut prone Vittoria Open Paves since I started going this. (But still NOT the tire for your area!)
Ben |
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Gonzo Cyclist
Posts:568
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| 09/11/2015 09:36 AM |
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Goathead season here is going to be ugly, a lot of moisture here this year, and they are going off!!
Here we use tube with removeable valve cores, and we inject an ounce of Stan's in there, works very well about 98% of the time.
What is really amazing is, going tubeless really makes a HUGE difference. My Cross bike's and MTB's are all tubeless, and when I think about it, it's been like 18 months since I have had a flat? and the last flat was because my Orange Seal Latex in my tires needed to be re-charged, and somehow I hit a 16 penny nail, right through the tire, and sidewall, if the latex had not dried out, it most likely would have re-sealed |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/11/2015 10:05 AM |
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You just reminded me that i will be in goathead country Sunday. Eastern Oregon, western Idaho. When I rode that are in '10 I used Rubinos. I hate their ride, but they pick up nothing and I had no issues at all. Now I've got new Open Corsa SCs. Nice, nice tire! We'll see how they do with the thorns. They don't seem to pick up much, so maybe (knock on wood) I'll be OK.
Ben |
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 09/11/2015 06:32 PM |
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| I bought some cheap Nashbar Prima 2 Plus wire bead tires ($14.99). Solved the problem with flats. I had just bought a new set of Michelin Lithions. Those little thorns go through them like butter. I will wait until the winter hits and put them back on. The cheaper tires with the hard tire casing seems to work better for flat prevention, although you pay a little bit in the ride department. Those Open Corsas are great tires. Wear out a little too quickly for me. I had to inflate them to 120psi or they felt real squirrelly when descending. |
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Nick A
Posts:625
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| 09/14/2015 09:12 AM |
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Ah goatheads. Having lived in Albuquerque for 15 years. I know them all too well. Aside from a year in Fort Collins Colorado, my life has been east of the Mississippi, with no goatheads at all. My friends back there don't understand!
We all have our method, but for me, on my road bike, I have found Continental Gatorskins (folding) with standard tubes to be the best compromise. I carry two tubes, a patch kit, and real full size frame pump.
A goat head will go through them. However, I have successfully wiped, or pulled them, when I see one before it's worked it's way in, and avoided a flat. Also, I can pick some broken off ones at home, and the tire will still hold air. Decent rideability, but I do get flats, and have gotten two in a ride, although two is pretty rare.
I buy my Contis from Total Cycling in Ireland. They're about $15+ dollars cheaper per tire there. Just goes to show ya what BS pricing on bike stuff is. There's a small credit card fee for a foreign transaction. Shipping is not too bad in regards to time, and cost seems to hit about $30 right away, but stays there for quite a large order. So I buy a minimum of six at a time, and it's well worth it.
For the commuter, it's 26X1.5 Spez Nimbus Armadillos with slimed tubes, but that's a whole nuther animal. LOL.
Nick
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/20/2015 06:28 PM |
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The new cheer for Cycle Oregon (though it hasn't caught on yet). Go Ted!
I picked up two Tuesday morning; at the ride start then again 3 miles out. Good thing is that they are easy to find and don't damage the tire. I got better at brushing off my tires at each start and never was another. Murphy?)
Ben |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/20/2015 06:31 PM |
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Zoot, I rode CO with the Open Pro SC tires. Yeah, at the 105-108 pounds I normally ride, they felt squirrelly but when I added 12 more strokes of HPX for the big descent last week, they felt great!
Ben |
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SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 09/21/2015 12:41 PM |
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Has anyone used the flexible wire thorn pullers that attached at the brakes and lightly touched the tire? I used to see those when I was younger, but have not seen them lately.
I hate flats, so went with overkill, Conti Gatorskins with Mr Tuffy liners. I had had a flat every 200 miles when I first resumed riding, I've only had one this year since I switched to my current setup, and that was a slow leak from a blackberry thorn. Some of that may be because they cleaned the vines off the trail to work. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/21/2015 12:57 PM |
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SideBy, you can make them with coathanger wire or old spokes. The ones I remember had tubes of plastic joining the "U" over the tire and the "V" running to the brake nut. I bet a good hardware store might have something that would work there or know where y0ou might be able to get it.
For modern brakes/frames with recessed nuts, get Sheldon Nuts for fenders from Harris Cyclery. They are about $10, high quality and Harris ships fast.
Ben |
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SideBySide
Posts:444
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| 09/21/2015 01:10 PM |
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| Do they really work, or is it too late by then? |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 09/21/2015 01:58 PM |
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They work. They also spray your seat tube with crude and your front brake and fork crown will get blow back. But in serious thorn or glass country, they might well be worth the downside. When sew-ups cost a lot and took lots of time to repair, they were worth it!
Ben |
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