Road bike and rough terrain? Will I get a puncture?

[Annon12345]

New to road cycling and I want to head out on the quiet country roads but a few have bits of loose gravel and mud while I'm confident of riding on them I'm worried about punctures? Do road bike skinny tyres puncture really easier or shouldn't I be so worried? Thanks

Put kevlar tape inside the tyres?

This stuff

I use slime in my tyres. Not foolproof but does work on smaller punctures.

Really depends on the tyres.

Some road tyres are very easy to puncture, and others such as schwalbes marathons are practically impossible to puncture.

But they're heavy so you lose a little bit of speed.

All swings and roundabouts.

Schwalbe Marathons are crap for grip. I don't chuck my bike around the corners descending in the wet or dry like I do on my best bike. They are great for puncture avoidance though on gravel trails.

Conti Gatorskins are a good in between. I always used to use those on my training bike. Would get about 1,000 (puncture free) miles out of the back one before it needed replacing.

Make sure you pump them up to the recommended pressure every time just before you go out.

If you can... go tubeless though 👌

I second getting Gatorskins. Not countryside but commuted on busy dirty London roads for years without a puncture.

Make sure you’ve got them inflated I have 80 psi in mine
take spare tube tyre levers and pump ( stay away from co2 canisters there a knack to them and you only get 1 shot ) I have mine in a bag that clips under my saddle

I’d recommend slightly wider tyres,(you don’t say what your frame can fit, but if it’s modern it should take at least 28mm I’d guess, I have a full aero race bike that will fit 32mm if I wanted), ideally run tubeless and ideally run at a lower pressure. High pressures of old are not really the done thing outside of the velodrome because the road surfaces are so bad and a softer tyre will mould a bit more to the lumps and bumps. I recommend using this calculator for tyre pressures. I run as low as 65psi in the wet on my road bike and I’m not light. CX racing goes down to the mid teens PSI nowadays!

if you are not running tubeless and have standard inner tubes then stay away from the tyres like marathons/gatorskins. Flint and glass will go through them just as easily as a fast rolling road tyre eg Pirelli Pzero or conti GP5000, and you’ll have a much worse time getting them on and off the rim when a puncture does happen. I’ve only once been defeated by a tyre at the side of the road and that was a gatorskin in winter. 2 snapped tyre levers later and I had to get a cab. Punctures are inevitable, at some point, though not overly common even on terrible UK roads as long as you can avoid ploughing into pot holes. Best set yourself up for it to be an easy fix rather than trying to avoid them entirely.

https://axs.sram.com/guides/tire/pressure

sorry the link didn’t paste before