So Many Flat Tires - Advise on New Tires?

[mschwett]

What I really don't get is why roadies would ride thin, none lined or protected tires, just to save on a few ounces of weight. Yet they get lots of flats and have to work along side the roads to fix them. Makes no sense. Is a few ounces tire weight more important than spending time and trouble fixing flats? I sometimes ride with a bike club and they won't even use Slime! Too much extra weight. Lol

i read about a lot of flats here on all sorts of tires.

i’ve ridden my road bike on “thin,” nonlined, super lightweight and super fast tubeless tires for 4,000 miles or so now and haven’t gotten a flat. the rear is just about down to the cords, very squared off, time to replace.

i’m sure i’ll get a flat someday but it seems to me that my narrow, smooth, fast tires ridden (relatively LOL) thoughtfully on decent roads are actually less flat-prone than most of what i read about here.

there must be other more important variables than tire weight. like perhaps tire width (tire twice as wide is twice as likely to hit something?), tire profile (a big flat contact patch also more likely to hit something?), tire texture (lots of grooves and knobs more likely to “catch” something into a penetrating position?) and perhaps most importantly weight or load. a front tire with 50lb of load on it (a lightweight bike and rider with their weight over the pedals) ridden over a thorn is pushing the thorn into the tire with half the force of a tire with 100lb of load on it (a heavy bike and rider leaning on the handlebars.)

the only flat i’ve gotten this year is my hub-drive commuter which has big fat schwalbe tubed tires. that bike has 1/5 the mileage of my road bike.

 

[Johnny]

It all comes down to how hard you want to work to get over that. Some, like me, prefer letting the motor do most of the work on the hills. Others like the extra workout, and like to do more of the work themself. We have steep streets here, and if I had to do alot of hard work to clear every hill, it would no longer be fun a run imo. I didn't buy my bike so much for exercise as for the fun. I use the treadmill and gym for exercise. Also, most ebikes have just 7 gears. Not enough for underpowered ebikes to clear those big hills. The ebikers I ride with appreciate the extra wattage for the hills. So, to each his/her own. Hate to see people spend alot on underpowered ebikes and find out they can't take on hills.

250W is more than enough as long as you have a large enough cassette/ small enough chainring that you can ride at a cadence >60 while being slow enough.
Ebikes are great at adding cardio to your daily routine while commuting.
I do hills like that on the picture on eco when I don't care about the speed and want to have more exercise.
If you like to climb fast that is a different story.

 

[Robspace1]

Most ebikers I've ridden with in the bike club never work up a sweat on hills or flats. I think, imo, most ebikers are out there for the fun above all else. I have heard anyone say how good of workout they got riding an ebike. When i ride the flatlands I do 70% and let the battery do the rest. On hills I use more battery. I normally cruise at 15-16 mph in mode 3. That's the beauty of this machine. To get as much or as little exercise I want. I do work much harder on the treadmill. Then again I'm 72 years old.