Kevlar belted, puncture protection this, safety something that, all sorts of titanium coated guarantees. They've all popped at sometime or other on everthing from a thorn to a bit of flint.

By design, no tyre that contains air under pressure covered by a felxible membrane, can ever be absolutely puncture proof. That said I have never had a puncture in a kevlar belted tyre-on any sort of road or track. It is a fact that most cyclists-of whatever experience, keep their tyres underinflated. Pump them hard.

A few weeks ago I completed a nine day tour in South Africa from Mossel Bay to Stellenbosch, some 500+ km, mostly on gravel roads. Unfortunately two days before SA had some of the worst flooding ever in the area, washing away bridges and road surfaces. Horrendous conditions. Only one idiot on a road bike (using Conti Gatorskins)out of 500! NO punctures until last day!.Punctured within 2km on tar! Moral: keep tyres well inflated.

Puncture proof tyres?

The community bike recycling project I co-ordinate in Adelaide Australia, uses standard inner tubes, with that gloopy additive inside that comes in fluorescent colours, green or yellow. We started it, after a few months of kids turning up with punctures, and us spending all week-end patching them. Then seeing the same kids back the following week-end. Kids ride on grass - full of thorns - they get punctures quickly. Once the additive was in, the kids stopped turning up. We buy it by the kegload, and in bulk price is economical.

How are we so sure it works? My daytime job is medical science, and in that field one standard type of study, is called "Case control": you study your patient on their own; then give them the drug (or whatever) and give them the same tests, compare before and after. Our bike experiment, is pretty similar - study puncture rate before additive, and then after it, for the same riders and the same bikes!

It is excellent for small punctures, but some things it does not handle. It sits round the outer rim of the tyre, so a puncture throuhg the side wall will not seal. Nor will a large puncture on the outer rim, or blow-out, or one of those pinch punctures where the tyre is soft, you go over a stone, and the inner tube gets nipped between the metal rim and stone. But it saves a lot of hassle. Punctured tyres lose air at the time; pump them up, spin the wheel a few times, and see if it holds. It usually does, at least enough to see you home. The gloop gradually wears out: every time the tyre gets a hole, a little of the gloop is forced out, so what's left inside eventually depletes. Other disadvantage - if the tyre does get a big hole, it's hard to patch, as the gloopy stuff stops the patches sticking. Easiest to throw the whole lot away and start with a new inner

Myself: ridden several thousand km of Australian outback roads with this stuff plus tough tyreliners. They work well with barbed wire, thorns, broken glass, bits of wood, the scraps of metal and broken glass scattered around homesteads, etc. Others use "thornproof" inner tubes - that have thickened rubber on the outer rim.

As for solid tyres; have seen those, 1 or 2 of the 900 bikes donated to the project, had them. Remove the inner tube; then there's A rubber solution you inject into the space between tyre and rim that sets solid. If you want the biek just for going to the shops and leisurely rides, you'll soon get used to the heavier wheel.

Other option is thornproof inner tubes, made of thicker rubber. In Aus, at least one outback project uses these in all its bikes. They reduce punctures a lot, but don't think abolish them. One manufacturer admitted as much - it sells thornproof inners, with the gloop already installed inside, for anything that gets through.

So in my view, the gloop is well worth it. Costs a bit more, makes the wheel a bit heavier, but saves you lots of hassle - hassle that usually comes unexpectedly, and when you really do not want it.

I can ride over broken glass in the urban wastelands of our capital with my 26" Schwalbe Big Apples at 60psi without so much as a scratch.

I cannot ride one mile in the Welsh hills on my 700c Schwalbe Marathons at 80psi without being defeated by the humble hawthorn...

Specialized armadillo. I ride twenty miles a day to Hyde from my home in central Manchester. I haven't had a puncture in years, except for a 6 inch nail once! I won't use anything else around the city.

Gloop is now the standard repair and prevention for ride-on mowers, a great improvement !

Does it make a difference to the weight/balance of bike wheels ?

Conti Gatorskins saved my life. Actually that's an overstatement. My sanity.

Crewe & Nantwich will once more go to the polls

This time it’s for a referendum on the views of cyclist!

At present councillor Roy Cartlidge is appointed Cycle Champion by Cycling England and Crewe & Nantwich Borough Council.

He says I have enjoyed being promoted to this position, I have promoted cycling issues and organised events with the help of Sustrans the cycling charity and the CTC (cycling touring club) connect2 scheme was the success of 2007,
But of course it will be short lived, because the borough council will be in demise in less than a year and I feel it’s only right that local cyclist have their say if they still wish for me to continue in this role on the New East Cheshire Unitary Council.
A Ballot Box will in use on the Crewe Town Square on Saturday 14th of June 2008.
To coincide with the start of National Bike Week, with bike safety checks undertaken by Dr Bike initiative.

If people are unable to attend they can email their vote via the internet and written support by sending an email to cllr.roy.cartlidge@crewe-nantwich.gov.uk

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Shanaze Reade who was the sporting celebrity who fronted the campaign for connect2 cycleway in Crewe & Nantwich and we won.
She became the sports personality of the year at this year Mayors Oscars event.
Her wining ways are renowned and on Saturday the 31st of May she struck gold at the BMX World Championships in Taiyuan, China this can only bide well for this year Olympic Games.
I like to thank her for all she as done for cycling in this part of the county and ambassador skills she as shown on the international scene.
I wish her well in her endeavours to go for gold for Great Britain.

Councillor Roy Cartlidge can be contact on 01270 211166 / 07929568590
Cllr.roy.cartlidge@crewe-nantwich.gov.uk
www.crewe-nantwich.gov.uk

I've always ridden conti gators or 4 seasons however I am going over to armadillo's as I have had 3 punctures in 4 days. Have ridden some of the vittoria rubino's - beautiful ride when I wasn;t standing on the side of the road fixing the punctures they attracted. Conti's fared much better on those roads. Have just moved and the local roads are just awfull, glass, rocks more glass. LBS swears by the armadillo's and pooh poohs conti's.