Downhill tires and twice the sealant as normal?

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Tubeless DH tires really are not much more puncture resistant than other tires. The tread is just rubber, and the thorns will go right through. The knobs may be a little bigger, but the thorns will get stuck in between the knobs.

Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any tubeless MTB tires with kevlar belts. The Schwalbe Marathon Plus MTB tire is said to work pretty well with tubes, but it is not tubeless, and the widest width is 2.25".

 

Always just threw extra stan's in mine. Never really had any issues once I went tubeless about 15 years ago.

 

Tires with closer/tightly spaced knobs.....less space for thorns to penetrate.

Wide open tread patterns leave lot of casing space for thorns.

 

Sealant works great for round puncture holes and low pressure mtb tires. Holes in the sidewalls will not seal as quickly because the sealant spins to the center of the tire while you're rolling. I would add extra sealant and give it a try.

 

Thicker, heavier tires do help. That and extra sealant seems like the best solution to me.

Even better would be to avoid those areas if at all possible, goatheads seem to mostly follow motor vehicles and livestock and even in really infested regions all the good trails are mostly free of them ime.

 

I want to ride to the dinosaur tracks at Picketwire Canyonlands in southeast Colorado. It is a miserable hike in summer not only because of heat, but because of mosquitoes and biting flies, but it would be an awesome, easy ride if there weren't goatheads. Last time I hiked it, I ended up walking over two hours in a horrendous surprise thunderstorm that had lightning hitting within 50 feet and the trail flooded out with 18 inches of water in places. On a bike, I would have been back at the trailhead in under 30 minutes and missed the storm completely.

Here is a blog from a guy who does ride there:
https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=1mr&page_id=423087&v=7S