Which Tyres?

What is the correlation between tyre width, pressure and glass punctures?

The lower the pressure, the less likely a glass will pierced through, the wider the tyres, the more surface area = weight distributed more evenly, lowered the likelihood even further.

Actually I would expect the opposite, viz. a more stoutly filled narrow tyres to be slightly less prone.

I assumed the same decade ago from listening to old timer sprouting conventional wisdom, only to realised recently it's actually the opposite.
The likelihood of getting punctured is still higher due to the higher pressure and smaller contact point, meaning a glass will very likely pierced through when it does, and people still get punctured on skinny tyres to this day despite the advanced in technology.

Belts and construction would, I suspect, make much more of a difference.

Only to a certain degrees, the stiffness and weight is the downside of such tyres, the less flexible the carcass is, the more chance of getting punctures, so it's a catch-22, once the tyres finally gotten strong enough to actually resist getting punctures, it'll be very heavy and stiff, making it less enjoyable (I'm looking at you Durano Plus).

That is why the Conti Competition is much less prone to flats than their Giro.

Doesn't the Giro come only in 22mm? I refer you to the first comment.

The Gatorskin uses a Poly-X breaker. It is much less effective than the Vectran breaker featured in the Competition, GP-4000S etc.

Yadayada marketspeak, what matter is whether it deliver enough grip in the wet, feel fast and doesn't get cut up easily (although cut up does not equal bad tyres), the majority of time is really luck, some people managed well with it, some got repeated punctures on the very same day.

The whole point of the Gatorskin is the DuraSkin sidewalls. These are relevant to defects but not to glass punctures. The Competition ProTection has both Vectran breakers and DuraSkin sidewalls-- as well as, in some variants, a thicker inner-tube. Panaracer, if I recall, used a Kevlar reinforced nylon belt breaker. Kevlar might be the stuff of bullet proof vests but it is quite ineffective against glass shards.

Continental spokesperson >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Just on a pair of 28c gravel King on the rack bike, really impressed, so far I've run a variety of tyres including gp4000s, clement strada and paselas, think the gravel King are my favourite so far. Swapped out the gp4000 for the clement strada which I loved but then both (front and rear clement) tyres failed whilst still a fair bit of wear to be had out of them, then paselas which are a good solid tyre but not that pleasant to ride. The gravel King feel awesome so far, the ride of the clement but with the build quality of the pasela is my first impression. Will report back after further abuse. Definitely recommend them, they're all black but have nice decals, and gumwall is pretty over now eh.

I remember people talking of Maxxis Refuse being pretty good? My Gravel Kings have been great but time to move on in a bit.

Vectran sidewalls

Yeah marketing speak vs real world...

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The lower the pressure, the less likely a glass will pierced through, the wider the tyres, the more surface area = weight distributed more evenly, lowered the likelihood even further.

Has this actually been tested anywhere ?

People used to claim the 320tpi Vittoria's where less prone to punctures because as they where supple they deformed around any nasty objects in the road. In my experience they're the most puncture prone tyres I have owned
Anecdotally the rubber compound, the amount of rubber and the puncture protection strip make far more of a difference.

Good question -I'm up to 2.000 miles on Vittoria 320tpi (open corsa cx 25c) @80psi with 3 punctures total.

'... relative to other tyres with the same thickness/performance'

Race tyres - team car or live by sword die by the sword.
Just remember that you need to finish before you have a chance to win.
No risk, no reward.
...
continue with the metaphors, similies, bollocks ad infinitum "compromise"
/thread

Race tyres - team car or live by sword die by the sword.

I don't really agree. I've found many "race tyres" by and far less prone to defect than any of the so-called "training tyres" I've tried. A standard Continental Competition is 22mm wide and ~260g. The Sprinter weighs around ~275g. Their Giro weighs ~300g. Of these three tyres the Giro is the absolute least reliable by a significant factor. The most reliable is the Competition--- and the newest variant with "Black Chili" and vectran breaker is indeed a bit more reliable than the previous incarnation. In a race-- with or without support-- I'd choose the Competition anyday over the Sprinter-- and would refuse to ride a Giro. Even with a team car I'd never choose a tyre that I did not feel I could depend upon to complete the course fault-free.

Conti >>>

I don't really agree

Quelle surprise

People used to claim the 320tpi Vittoria's where less prone to punctures because as they where supple they deformed around any nasty objects in the road.

By that logic the Vittoria Pista Evo CS must be the totally reliable :-)

I don't want to start on a rant about the marketing of TPI-- kind of like clock rate in CPUs but with the added twist that some vendors count each layer-- but higher thread count does not lead to higher defense against sharp objects like glass. The point of high TPI is, in concept, to allow for thinner, lighter casings and to reduce the tread contact patch, whence reduce rolling resistance and improve "ride feeling". High TPI tyres are, however, more rather than less prone to fault. To get around this vendors tweak the rubber mix (adding nano carbon or graphene) and add special breakers under the thread.
Where "flexibilty" does indeed lead to lower fault rates is with the inner-tube. A thick latex inner-tube weighs around the same as a thin butyl but has a distinct edge in fault resistance-- latex has, however, a number of issues that make the decision not as clear cut as this statement might make things appear.

Conti >>>

I could have gone though the list with Vittoria--- the Giro, if I'm not mistaken, comes from a Lion Tyre factory.

I remember people talking of Maxxis Refuse being pretty good?

You remembered correctly, the only disadvantages is that they're hen's teeth at times.

I have to say that I was always quite sceptical of Jan Heine's research that says that a wider tyre at lower pressure is more puncture resistant, but given that I've been commuting on 32c tyres for the past 2000 miles, which do not feature any sort of puncture protection layer, without suffering any unwelcome deflations, I'm thinking that perhaps he may have a point (cue a nasty puncture on the way home now!)

The tyres in question are early 1990's Conti Top Touring ones, in 27 x 1 1/4" format that I bought new back then, and then hardly used for the next 20 years. Thinking about it, on my 15 mile round trip commute to school, back in the 90's on 27x 1/1/4 tyres, I can't remember ever once getting a puncture, despite there not being puncture protected tyres back then.

My thoughts are that anything that's sharp enough to puncture such tyres will do so, whether or not there's a puncture protection belt, unless you've got a layer as thick as those in Marathon Plus tyres. The thin aramid/vectran etc ones don't really do much.

I'm with Mr Scoble. Wide supple tyres are the way forward....

Higher TPI isn't about p_nct_re resistance it's about making the tyres more supple, lower rolling resistance so they're faster.

By that logic the Vittoria Pista Evo CS must be the totally reliable :-)

Some people tried them at our local (outdoor) track league. Generally lasted a couple of meets before letting go

Bikeinn seems to have them whom I've used before and all was well.

Some people tried them at our local (outdoor) track league. Generally lasted a couple of meets before letting go

They are excellent tyres and great value but really fragile. I keep them as special purpose tyres. For just doing rounds I favor Continental Tempo, Sonderklasse or even road tyres like Conti Comps, Veloflex Carbon etc.

I just orded one of these in a medium. Apparently comes with 27.5(650b) hutchinson cobra airlights on it which come in 2.10 and 2.25 flavours.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/verenti-movement-or04-singlespeed-2015/

Firstly are they decent tyres and then what do I put on after, would 27.5+ be a no go area?

Have @edscoble been notified?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI7cniRBsNc

What do you expect me to do with a video?

You also need to take in consideration that the tyres they ride are vastly different, especially two factor; tubular and hand-made, those mean you can run it high and still be quite supple to ride.

Secondly, latex lose pressure quickly, so if you run em high at first, it'll likely to lose maybe 10-15psi in an all day race (anyone know how much losses?).

Thirdly, I don't think racers cared, unless they're the like of Cavendish.

Just pulling your leg ;)

So, is Pave pretty much all year round tyre?

Yes. I've used them all year round for a year and a half and they're dreamy. Three punctures.