General Cycling Discussion - bumps cause raceing bike punctures?

i have just got a raceing bike.

and i rode it yesterday and it punctured when i accidently hit a drain. The wheel got caught in the drain and came down strongly on it. it was a very bad jolt.

my question is ...is there anything i could have donme to prevent this. might this be caused by me not pumping the tires to the correct amount(i did take the tire off and repump it the morning before the puncture..because someone on this forum mentioned punctures could be caused by the factory placing the tires on incorrectly)

just how common is this type of puncture on a raceing bike....i have a mountain bike and stuff like that happens all the time with never a puncture in site

I guess it partly depends on a couple of things.

Generally the tires should be pumped to about 120 psi. Much less may lead to failure. Follow the recommendation on the side of the tire.

Tires do vary a lot in quality. A tire such as a Specialized Armadillo will be much less resistant to punctures.

Was this a blowout or a puncture?

I have many thousands of miles on my road bike. I have had two blowouts, both caused by the LBS failing to mount the tube properly inside the tire. So, I do that myself now. I have had a number of punctures (slow leaks), caused by "goatheads" (a puncture vine), and one tire ruined by glass.

I guess with a road bike, it does pay to watch where you are going. They are definitely not a mtn bike in regards to the terrain they can handle.

Hope this helps. I think you just got unlucky!

well first of all i am not sure what it was - it has two small puncture marks - two little airholes on roughly the same part of the tire.

I took the tire from a spare wheel i was given - i maybe spiked it while trying to take it off - with a blunted knife - it maybe weakened the nylon

the other thing is i don't have a pump gauge so i can't test if the pressure is right. I will probably get one - now i know its important.

I guess its just hard luck

i take the point about looking where i was going - i was most of the way - but it was a totally flat - straight - well surfaced road - then i suddenly fell into this stupid, badly designed road drain -

i know race bikes are not mountain bikes but i just wasn't expecting such a jolt on such good road

thanks for the answer

Don't use a knife on your tire! Get some tire levers from your LBS - they're dirt cheap and make it very easy to take a road tire off the rim without damaging anything. When you put the tire back on the rim, use your hands only. When you pull out a tube to repair a flat, you only need to take one side of the tire off the rim. I'd suggest reading the following page at the Park Tools website to learn more about dealing with bicycle tires: http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQtires.shtml

You pinch-flatted the tire by running the pressure too low. Essentially the tire was able to compress and touch the rim, and the rim punctured the tube when the tube was pinched between the rim and the tire (one puncture for each side of the rim). Run the correct pressure in the tire and you'll probably never have this happen again. Definitely get some sort of pressure gauge.

What sort of pump are you using at the moment? If you're using a mini-pump, it's highly unlikely you'll be able to get enough pressure in the tire. It's worth the money to get a proper floor pump.

Classic snake - bite , run more pressure !00psi minimum and check that the rim tape is ok .
Try to get out of the saddle if you get the time to allow your arms and legs to absorb some of the jolt , bunny hop if your able ( I can´t damn it ) .
he´s right get a track pump , and check the pressure before every ride .

Sometimes you'll hit a hole or "the bump" will be so severe that there's nothing you can do about it. Even if the pressure is high enough. Avoid hitting things like that! I had the same problem when I got a road bike after riding my mountain bike. I was used to riding over curbs, over big pot holes and right through glass. Can't do that on the road bike.

thanks every1