Complaints about sidewall durability and flat resistance (resistance to flats) is more to with the owner than the tire; These are mostly a road tire, sized for a mountain bike. As such, you simply have to treat them like a road tire. This is my second set of these tires, and when used properly they are excellent, and especially for the money. Yes they are a bit of a monkey to get seated uniformly on the rim, but with patience you can get them near perfect. I suspect that the cause of this is that they are purposely beaded and side-walled flimsy for suppleness/ride comfort. Once you have them balanced evenly on the rim, DO NOT run them low on air and I can almost promise you, flats and other issues will be remedied. I made the mistake of trying to run them soft (the first set) on some trails and quickly found the error in doing so. These ARE NOT a trail tire, but can manage minor off-roading if you use common sense and realize they are a street tire...remember they are "Slicks". Running slicks low air makes no sense at all (unless you're at the local dragstrip!). Once I worked that out for myself after pinching a hole in the sidewall, being a bonehead, the second set will last a very long time, as the first set had countless hours/miles on them before I damaged them. All that said, these wont even fake at an XC tire due to that soft thin sidewall, so if XC is what you have in mind, do yourself a favor and find a sturdier tire. One sharp rock into that sidewall and it's over. Municipal maintained paths...good to go! Road commuting...I can't think of a tire that ever felt better. Even aired-up tight those soft vulnerable sidewalls shine with taking the bite out of your hardtail, and contrary to one person who claimed he didn't understand all the reviews mentioning low rolling resistance...that dude must not be talking about the same tire, or maybe he wasn't fully awake, or maybe just a troll for another brand, as I've spent the past 40 years riding bikes on and off-road, and I know what a sluggish tire feels like, and what a fine roller feels like, and the difference is instantly obvious, and not just with these tires, but ANY comparison between the best knobby vs the cheapest junk slick, the slick will ALWAYS roll better! If that logic doesn't make sense to you, just watch for knobby tires on race cars...you're going to need a bunch of patience, and some pain meds, as you're going to be there a while! These are great cheap tires. Maybe not devoid of a defect here and there...QC isn't going to be as stringent as a tire costing 3x's as much, and that should be for obvious reasons...otherwise you'd be paying a bunch more. Air them up solid, don't down-hill with them, and they are worth every penny! And yes, that IS a Schwinn...cherry pick the big-box better models, bring them straight home and strip all of the low-end garbage off (pretty-much everything BUT the frame) and even with the cost of the bike you basically/mostly just tossed in the trash, you can build a much better bike than you will buy from a bike shop and/or big-ticket direct, for far lower cost. I weigh 280 pounds and have been pounding on this bike for a couple years now, and that frame weighs 4.8 pounds...nearly the same as the RockShox fork I put on it, and the frame takes it. I guess what I'm saying is, you're paying for PRIME anyway, make it work for you...you can build much more bike for the money than you're going to buy. And those tires are a great addition for summer!
