Got a flat tire?

[Art Deco]

From @PedalUma. He wrote this up and it's been picked up in various California media. It's free to share with attribution to PedalUmaeBikes.com.

It is Thorn Season for cyclists in Northern California from August 7th through to the first rains in November. The best solution is to not go off-road with your bike during Thorn Season. One bike today had 50-80 thorns in each tire. The thorns are barbed and break off in the tire and only go one way, in.

What are the plants that cause the vast majority of bike flats in our area during Thorn Season?
Goat heads, Tribulus terrestris, or bad land in Latin. Stay far away from areas with this plant.






Yellow Star Thistle, Centaurea solstitialis in Latin, or yellow star. Satay away from areas with these. The barbs are microscopic and the thorns long. A landscaping crew can weed wack these and rake them, but that disburses the thorns by bike paths.






Wild Blackberry, Rubus moluccanus in Latin, or Spice Islands Blackberry. Even when you do stay away from growing blackberry bushes they are still often along creeks and bike paths. Crews will cut them back and use power blowers to clean up, thus spreading the thorns out on to paths and trails.






Although not a plant, avoid riding behind restaurants that serve wine, such as their alley ways. It is nice to avoid cars by using alleys, but those wine bottles drop out of their bins on recycling pick up days, spreading shards of glass. Brown beer bottle glass is especially hard to spot. During Thorn Season it does not rain in Northern California, and this glass accumulates behind restaurants with nothing to wash it away.
Photos to follow. goat head above
Wild Blackberry below

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us.docworkspace.com

 

[Gionnirocket]

Thank you so much... It never occurred to me to not ride over thorns and broken glass.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Blackberry thorns up here are plentiful to say the least. Regular Stans did it for me.

 

[Art Deco]

Blackberry thorns up here are plentiful to say the least. Regular Stans did it for me.

Not a seasonal issue here. Broken glass is year round but usually easily avoidable . Never used a sealant, but asked @PedalUma about them. He's building a bike with both inserts and liners now.

 

[Chazmo]

I know I’m gonna’ jinx myself, but I’ve got almost 3000 on my original tires/tubes on Fättie and I haven’t had to deal with a puncture problem here in central Massachusetts, let alone even having to pump my tires up. Even riding on the roads in the winter. But, yeah, punctures were always an issue on my mountain bike, and I always carried a spare tube. I think I’m just lucky that most of the gravel trail riding I do is not likely to cause punctures.

Those frickin’ thorns look nasty!

 

[6zfshdb]

I've had good luck here in the east running Schwalbe Marathon+ flat resistant tires with liners and Flat-Out sealant. No goat heads around here though thankfully.

 

[Art Deco]

More from @PedalUma in response to my questions about liners and sealant:
I am making a Pashley Prospero handmade Reynolds 631 gravel bike with a DM02 motor for a 71 y/o woman, to ride with her tent from Seattle, over the Cascades, over the Rockies, and to Maine. Much will be on gravel roads. One goal is to do it all without a flat.

She is getting Schwalbe Hurricane double green guard tires with extra-thick tubes filled with 2 Oz. of Muc-Off tube sealant. It makes polymer strings. When you see that you have a hard pink string coming out of your tire, you know that you would have had a flat. She is doing it after the snow thaw in the Spring of ’26 and will post daily on FB. That is the best I can do to prevent a flat.

 

[Gionnirocket]

This topic has been beaten to death on here.
So what's with the implied novel approach when what's being said is straight outta

 

[Art Deco]

Flats are always a topic for newbs, much like saddles. Since he took the time to send it to me, it seemed worth posting ( he's not on the forum much anymore).

 

[Gionnirocket]

Flats are always a topic for newbs, much like saddles. Since he took the time to send it to me, it seemed worth posting ( he's not on the forum much anymore).

Fair enough...
But probably better if the newbs learn how to use the search function.
What happened to Pedalina? He fall into a vat of his biodegradable, all purpose, cancer curing soy wax

 

[Art Deco]

He and I still email. He built my bike, after all. The ads turned him off, but he will be back mid September, I think.

 

[harryS]

Been victimized twice by broken bits of beer bottle on the sidewalk near home. Drivers like to throw their empties there. At least the whiskey bottles, big and small, are plastic. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but I often pick all that crap up.

 

[Gionnirocket]

I figured he was taking a break.
How are the bikes working out? Last we spoke about them you were still getting them set up.
You might have to upgrade it to the new ToSeven DM02 motor now that the programming has been figured out!

 

[Art Deco]

I figured he was taking a break.
How are the bikes working out? Last we spoke about them you were still getting them set up.
You might have to upgrade it to the new ToSeven DM02 motor now that the programming has been figured out!

It's a better bike than I am a rider so far, so I haven't messed with it. My health (especially lower body strength) deteriorated very badly the last few years. I might have to get the other controller with a throttle at some point, but not yet, dammit .

 

[Gionnirocket]

It's a better bike than I am a rider so far, so I haven't messed with it. My health (especially lower body strength) deteriorated very badly the last few years. I might have to get the other controller with a throttle at some point, but not yet, dammit .

Yeah.... We're all getting there. A little easier with electrons.

 

[Art Deco]

Yeah.... We're all getting there. A little easier with electrons.

Electricity is cheap, they make it every day, but a younger body?
Not so much.

 

[Gionnirocket]

Electricity is cheap, they make it every day, but a younger body?
Not so much.

You can buy a younger body to feel better... But the risk and moral dilemma make it a non starter for me.
You can just ask Jeffrey Ebstein