Anti-Puncture Tyres At-a-glance

Gluing the cuts.. never thought of that.. nice one..

specialized armidillos are sick. fuck the rest.

I like the cut of your jib.

i just bought 4 more sets of armidillos. i had a few different ones on for a while, and they either were all weighted funny, or they wore quickly, or just straight punctured. with the 'dillos i don't even carry a patch kit or an extra tube anymore.

I've come across an interesting anti-puncture strip called Spin Skins. So I've included that as well as Panaracer's Flataway strip and Mr.Tuffy's Tire Liner.

The SpinSkins look ideal for making light fast tyres very puncture resistant.

Something missing from the tire list: Hutchison_Fusion 2 (top of the Hutchison range for race performance and punture protection from Decathlon) currently 2 for 1 £33.00
I've used them for about two months and I'm very impressed thus far. Whilst I don't have the weights to hand, they are lighter than the gator skins and the Hard cases (which disintegrate once they begin to wear).
There is another cheaper Hutchison alternative to the fusion2 in decathlon which are billed as being extremly punchture proof.

Hope this helps

i run conti gp4000 and have never had a puncture in them, had gators before and got a few in them! love the gp4000's just wish i had brought a coloured pair not all black!

i pulled a fucking huge thorn out of my armadillo the other day. I only noticed it because something had become lodged onto the thorn and was hitting the seat tube every rotation of my rear wheel. I thought i'd snapped a spoke or something.

The thorn was like 8mm long, and it was RED - as if my tyre was bleeding!

I've never* punctured an armadillo, and i treat them like shit - I skid them hard, swear at them, offer them sweets then whip them away at the last minute.

*I have punctured them once, but i pulled a neolithic flint arrowhead from the tyre, then rode it till there was a half-inch of red puncture layer all the way round.

Swear by 'em! (As well as at them)

red layer, pfftt, there are about 12 layers after that!!!

well to offer a bit of balance to the armadillo jerkfest that's goin' on mine did basically explode on putney bridge yesterday afternoon. The casing seemed to be torn to shreds at one point and I think it was causing the inner tube to clip against something.

Then again it wasn't new by any means and it saw me to Cambridge . Plus I was given it by none other than Hillbilly, the tyre tryer himself.

i think the newer versions are shit. i've got a stock of older style ones.

PJS - have you seen hillbilly skid? he goes through every single layer of a tyre in one go! :)

I've kept the armadillo, i think i might put it back on. I can only see the threads in a couple of places.

The basic rule is - if it starts to bulge, take it off! (saying that, my rubino pro on the front of my beater is bulging in several places...)

I just wanted to contribute asm. It's been days since I've locked horns with anyone around teatime.

TTBOMK Hillbilly hadn't ridden mine but we both agreed it was a used tyre. Any tyre Hillbilly had admitted to putting on his rear wheel would be a tyre I would pass on. Them kind of tyres is for Hillbilly only in my book.

How's the NE btw?

I rode over a drawing pin last week. I rode the 4 miles home with ok pressure... just left it in!

my cats breath smells like cat food!

Very useful thread GA2G, thx. For wot its worth:-

I replaced my old patchy 'red' armadillos' a month or so ago (5000ish miles on em) with the new version and got a flat front within a week.....vicious piece of flint put a big hole right through it. So popped on an old Gatorskin which I never much liked, but its been OK for a few weeks now.
I don't think the new armies are the full ticket though.
Also, on my road bike (touring really) I've been using Roubaix armadillos (they're 23c/25 so very comfy for long rides). They did a solid job on my LeJog in 2006 when they were new, but have just started to puncture......they've not done more than 2000 miles. So I'm gonna get some Roubaix Armadillo Elites and see if they're up to 1000mile puncture free touring. £24.99 each they wanna be!

I'm just about to replace my Continental Grand Prix 4000 tyres. They've been in use for over a year and have about 4,500 miles on them.

I'm only replacing them out of caution as they've not punctured once and the outer does show a number of marks but nothing substantial. I'm a firm believer of replacing before something it fails.

I'm replacing them with the newer Continental Grand Prix 4000s. Hopefully they'll prove as good as the ones I'm taking off.

No prob Kipsy.

By the way, it seems that quite a few people have noticed that the "new" armadillos aren't as strong as the old recipe. I use the red-sided armies, and might change to something else instead, when mine have worn through. I think I'll try either of 3: Gator Skins, Re-Fuse, or the Hard Cases.

But, given that VB has used Conti 4000s for a year without a stoppage, then I'd also consider those, but with SpinSkins inside for extra insurance. Should be a total of 219g each tyre+strip. Way lower than my 405g armies.

@kipsy, CONdor gotta a special on the army elites £19.99 :)

If ever useful to you, could you give a (really) short reply?
Obviously you don't have to - statutory rights and all that. Cheers.

Endoraement for 4000s's, 22 months no puncture, and with long rides to Kent.

Endorsement of almost every tyre that's ever been manufactured, based on anecdotal evidence from thousands of cyclists.

Warning to steer clear of almost every tyre that's ever been manufactured, based on anecdotal evidence from thousands of cyclists.

And in other news...

Not had a puncture on my Ultra Gatorskins yet. Got them on the 11th of last month and i've done 842miles on them. Not had a puncture at all and they are pretty grippy aswell, been round some tight courners fast on them aswell and not come off with them yet.

what's good in a 650c? anything puncture proof?

Anyone know shops in London/ Cheapest online place that sells Continental Top Contact tyres, they look tough as nails wanna give em a go.

thanks

Conti can usually be found here..