General Cycling Discussion - Punctures during winter...

Is it my imagination or do you tend to get more punctures towards the end of winter, than say the rest of the year. Could high-puncture rates be a seasonal thing? My LBS says he repairs more punctures in the months of Febuary and March than the rest of the year.

For the record, I had 3 punctures in 3 days last week. I did take care in replacing the punctured tube on all occasions, and yes I did remove the offending puncture causing item/s from the tube/rim/tire.

I remember being told once that the constant freezing and thawing of road surfaces causes smaller sharper stones to "rise", thus increasing the risk for punctures.

Is there truth in all of this I ask you.

I think that in damp conditions things tend to stick to tyres more so might get forced in.

All kinds of old junk is collected in urban snow. This snow is then shoved to the side of the road, where it collects. Then you get to ride in it when the snow melts.

Is there truth in all of this I ask you

I'll take a stab at it.

A bike will get more punctures during winter as there are more car crashes due to the slippery hazardous conditions, and bad driving, which leaves more glass on the road.

CHEERS.

Mark

When the gritters drop the rocks on the road, there will be a very large number of them at the end of the winter before traffic clears them away, some may be sharp enough to puncture a tire.

What is a gritter?

I think they drop rocks on the road ;)

All kinds of old junk is collected in urban snow. This snow is then shoved to the side of the road, where it collects. Then you get to ride in it when the snow melts.

This sounds the most plausible so far to me, much more so than the my own "rising stone" theory :D

I think it is just colder out and more of a PIA in winter so you get more punctures.. Murphy's Law :)

I've never really thought about this, but now that somebody mentions it, the majority of my punctures have occurred during the summer months. Admittedly, it might just be because there are more summer months than any other kind around here (1 October-31 March), but it might also be because of the tourist season and so on.

In 2002 I got four punctures in two days in November (including three in one day - and incredibly I'm thinking of one day returning to the Grampians). That's twice as many as I had for the rest of the year in total.

I live in Florida where it is always warm and have had more flats here than when I lived in NY. The problem down here seems to be the bubbas throwing beer bottles out the windows of their cars. In 3 months here I have had 6 flats which is about double what I used to get in the northeast in a year.

If your getting flats from glass,change tires.