The tire that just keeps on truckin’

Last summer and fall I was having the mother of all issues with flat tires.  I was flatting about once every 10 days.  Seriously.  ONCE every 10 days, sometimes more.  The good news is I got damn good at changing a flat.  The bad news is that I got damn sick of changing flat tires (tubes, technically).

A cycling friend of mine was putting in a bit order for tires through his team.  So I had him order me some new ones for the winter.  They only cost $10-20 with the discount, so heck – anything was better than whatever stock stuff was on my bike.

Since December when I put them on, I’ve logged about 1,700-1,900 miles on my bike (I haven’t got around to fully putting all my trainer rides in the log).  About 50-75% of that mileage has been outdoors.  As in outdoors in the crappy, cold, winter weather.  Through the snow and ice, through the gravel, occasional accidental off-roading (with a road bike), and just general riding.

However – after all that, I have yet to have a SINGLE flat tire all winter long.  Not a single one, it be awesome!  While I do take a slight hit on the increased resistance/drag of this particular tire over my previous ‘racing ones’, I more than make up for it with not having to change flats all the time.

I don’t know where to buy these things, or even anything about them other than what’s on their page.  All I know is that they make me happy.

IMGP3355

They’re billed as an all-weather tire, made by Maxxis.  The digits on the UPC say: “Re-Fuse TB86336000  700x23C – 60 TPI – Black”

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Here’s the information that’s on the back of them.  Not ideal for racing.  But that’s fine at the moment – they don’t flat.  So that’s all I’m caring about.

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22 Comments

  1. thanks for the heads up…

    you have really put them through their paces….

  2. SLB

    Waoh that’s some serious mileage, my LBS says tire only last about 1000 miles…hmm me thinks some sales ploy going on here!

    I had Hutchinsons on my old wheels and they were bomb proof but the new wheels came with Continentals so we’ll see how they fair.

    I have Maxis on the MTB and they’re rock solid!

  3. I use whatever the bike store puts on. I’m probably getting suckered 🙂 But I flat only rarely, so I’ll take it!

  4. Nice job, but can you beat 4800 miles on a front tire.

    My training tires are Bontrager Race lite Hardcase tires. Triple kevlar puncture protection. They are slow and heavy but durable.

    I’m still upset at the lack of topless girls for your race.

    I’d be willing to discuss cycling across country with you. Time and place. I’ll pull the first half 😉

  5. They sound as good as my Continental Gator Skins. I have had them on since 2006 and I had my FIRST flat on Sunday night after the ride, lol.

    Now the bad part is I am slow at changing tires.

  6. Cool. Thanks for the recommendation.

  7. so you REFUSE to flat anymore? no wonder you got so good at changing them. it was god’s little plan to help you….

  8. i also ride gator skins. they’re hella tough, and when you start flatting, it’s generally a sign that the tire has seen its day. i also learned that you go through 2 rears for every front and no point in rotating them. makes sense with the braking. so yeah, more resitance to train with, but man oh man do my race tires feel like a dream, and now i’m hella strong.

  9. Oh, I’m sure you’re glad to have found these! Amazing! I’ll keep them in mind!

  10. Doug B.

    I think most if not all manufacturers have what you might consider a “bomb-proof” tire. I began using the Continental GatorSkins years ago from my LBS recommendation and can confirm they’re the real deal for flat-prevention. Not to say other tires aren’t as good or better, but the Conti’s are what the shop had in stock so that’s what I bought. Not looking at my log, but I’d guess I have over 3,000 miles on these and last summer they handled a 2-3 mile stretch of gravel road at the Garrett County Gran Fondo.

    No matter what brand you ride, it’s great to have the confidence that your tire won’t flat. I flatted quickly on my first tubular with some race tires. That was a sunk cost and I’m not willing to risk a flat on race day so I immediately went and bought GatorSkin tubulars for that set of wheels. Yes, heavier, but again the confidence level and the worry-free mindset on race day is immeasurable in my book.

    • morten reippuert knudsen

      I second the Gatorskin tubulars. i used them for a 1600km fast touring trip from Montpellier til Bilbao: No flats. Used them for comuting 2000km this winter in the Copenhagen area: No flats. They have done +4500km now without a flat but the rubber thread on the rear is gone and still no flats.

  11. That’s a really great price. Puncture resistant tires from specialized (all-condition) are $70 down here.

  12. Eric

    Front tire will usually last forever wear wise. The rear will wear out mostly due to traction driving the wheel. The front takes most of the braking force. Flatting is independent of age unless you wear down to the protective layer.

  13. Carl

    Thanks for the fantastic web site. I am a tri and bike newbie, having come from running (was a national 60+ age grouper), so this site is particularly useful to me. My bike was originally bought as just a cross trainer from running (so ultra cheap). It had Michelin Dynamic (discontinued for Dynamic Sport) which were speced at 430g/tire. It turns out the Maxxis Re-fuse with Maxxis Ultralight tubes would cut 362g of the weight of my tires and with the durability you described! (assuming weight specs are per tire…correct?) Wouldn’t this be a high value improvement!? Also, I checked out the Maxxis web site and they have a racing tire (Courchevel) which is advertised as using the same anti-puncture technology as the Re-fuse which we might expect to have good durability as a racing tire. If I went with this tire it would give me a net 472g or 1.02lb saving over my current setup! Happy Day! I can’t wait to try out some new tires.

  14. JD

    Try Zipp Tangente. They’re thick and heavy compared to other race tyres (so haven’t flatted on me over about 3,000km) but at least they pretend to have some aero benefits so you don’t feel like a complete grandma.

  15. dan h.

    What is it about these that makes them not ideal for racing? Im a noob so maybe it would be irrelevant to a guy doing his second tri in June.

  16. Christian Mogensen

    Hi, I live in Denmark where the roads contains lots of flint, which is very rough on your tires.
    I use Conti GP4000 which should be a fairly good racing tyre with low rolling resistance etc. However I do combine it with an inlay/liner, a piece of plastic approx 1 mm thick to go loosely around the inside circumference of the tyre, this highly increases the puncture resistance , and does not effect the rolling resistance negatively, do add a little weight though (70grams or so..)
    I did about 5000 km on the rear tyre, with only one flat at about 4500 km…(at 5000 the tyre was totally worn out.) Without the liner I would have had at least 5 flats.

  17. Michael Ayling

    I switched my commuter hybrid from 32mm puncture magnets to the 23mm version of the Maxxis Refuse. They have never punctured. I now also have these (25mm) on my flat bar-converted road bike. Never had a puncture.

  18. doug

    gravel roads!!!

  19. Greg Soon

    Only flatted once with Conti GrandPrix 3000’s I think. Do they still make a liner called Mr. Tuffy? Used them on my touring bike wheels and never had a puncture. Not sure that they would work well in a race bike tire, but maybe they make one now?

  20. Jon

    Just came across this article and the link to the maxxis product page goes to a 404, they have a new url: link to maxxis.com