Bicycle Mechanics - tiny holes in tube - need new rim tape?

Bikeforums.net is a forum about nothing but bikes. Our community can help you find information about hard-to-find and localized information like bicycle tours, specialties like where in your area to have your recumbent bike serviced, or what are the best bicycle tires and seats for the activities you use your bike for.



PDA
flooshee
05-20-07, 06:58 PM
The back tube on my road bike went flat on yesterday's ride. I started to patch it, and I found 3 sets of tiny holes. Each set has 2 holes a few millimeters apart.

I stayed on decent roads, but the last patch of pavement had some small gravel in the bike lane that I rode over.

It looks like my rim tape is really old (I bought the bike used), and it practically fell off when changing the tube.

Does this sound like something that would've been caused by the spoke heads? I'm definitely replacing the tape, but I'm curious if that's the real problem or not.

Thanks!

cooker
05-20-07, 07:21 PM
Are the holes on the inside or outside of the tube? Tubes sometimes can be twisted, but usually they sit pretty straight, so if the holes are on the inside they might be from the spokes and if they are on the outside maybe you ran over a carpet tack strip or a stretch of broken glass. Check the tire as well.

If they are paired holes like "snake bites" on both sides of the tube, that is from an underinflated tube being pinched between the rim and a hard edge in the road.
flooshee
05-20-07, 07:48 PM
Hi cooker,

Thanks for the quick response. The holes are all on the outside of the tube. But the "snake bite" description & image is exactly what they look like. Maybe I got a leak from something else, didn't realize it, and the under-inflated tube was pinched a couple times to get those other holes.

Weird