Road Cycling - New Wheels - Lots of Flats - What gives??

Just bought a new set of CXP 33's and I have had 3 flats in the last 2 rides.. All of the flats were small pinch flats.. What is weird is that I am using a tire that I had good success with in the past.. Specialized Turbo Pro with Flak Jacket.. Could it be the aero CXP 33 rim or possibly the cheap plastic rim tape that the builder installed on the rims.. I am going to get some velox rim tape tomorrow and see if it is the rim tape.. Anyone have experience with the rims or cheap rim tape as a possible culprit.. Before these new wheels, it has been at least 4 months since my last flat tire..

sometimes those cheap plastic rim tapes have burrs on the edges that can dig into the tubes. I would never use anything except cloth rim tape.

Check for burrs or machining roughs around the valve hole and also make sure nothing is caught inside the tires.

Checked the tire many times.. Even switched to a different tire yesterday and still flatted the same way..

Bad luck Socal,
I second the rim-tape possibility - poorly fitting or sharp rim tapes are useless, especially on double walled rims where the tube can blow out into the cavity in the rim, this has happened to me on new wheels before I knew better.
That said, I have a set of CXP33's and never suffered this problem, since they had decent cloth rim tapes fitted. Check for burrs too, as RacerX suggested
However, if the tires are not new, make sure there are no broken kevlar fibres near the bead that could puncture the tube (this has also happened to me!)

Good luck,

Ed

I doubt that it's the rims. One of my bikes has the same wheels. Right at 8,000 miles and one flat.

I doubt that it's the rims. One of my bikes has the same wheels. Right at 8,000 miles and one flat.

I had the same problem with a Mavic Open Pro I bought used and after truing it. The culprit was the plastic rim tape. When your tires are under high pressure the plastic rim tape gets pushed inside the spoke holes eventually reaching the spoke end that sometimes goes through. Since I switched to a cloth rim tape all is fine, no flat in the last 600 miles.

Hey SoCalRider - it's because you ride in Claremont. Try riding in Montclair. Or San Dimas or Laverne - they have better roads. :eek:

Seriously, check your tube to make sure it's not pinching between the tire and the rim. Sometimes with a new rim, it's take a special touch to get the entire tube under the bead. Good luck and stay out of Pomona.

55/Rad
University of Laverne - 1978/79

Just bought a new set of CXP 33's and I have had 3 flats in the last 2 rides.. All of the flats were small pinch flats.. What is weird is that I am using a tire that I had good success with in the past.. Specialized Turbo Pro with Flak Jacket.. Could it be the aero CXP 33 rim or possibly the cheap plastic rim tape that the builder installed on the rims.. I am going to get some velox rim tape tomorrow and see if it is the rim tape.. Anyone have experience with the rims or cheap rim tape as a possible culprit.. Before these new wheels, it has been at least 4 months since my last flat tire..

I ran into the same problem as you right after I bought my mtn bike a few years ago. I kept flatting despite inflating to max PSI, checking the rim tape, checking the tire bead/tube interface, checking for spoke protrusion and checking for rough edges on the rim. It even occurred on pavement with clean tires. You know what it turned out to be? I was using a 10 year old floor pump that had been banged around a bit in some moves - the dang guage on the pump was wrong by a good 25 lbs!!! Try someone else's floor pump or check yours with a tire pressure guage just to be sure...

Just bought a new set of CXP 33's and I have had 3 flats in the last 2 rides.. All of the flats were small pinch flats.. What is weird is that I am using a tire that I had good success with in the past.. Specialized Turbo Pro with Flak Jacket.. Could it be the aero CXP 33 rim or possibly the cheap plastic rim tape that the builder installed on the rims.. I am going to get some velox rim tape tomorrow and see if it is the rim tape.. Anyone have experience with the rims or cheap rim tape as a possible culprit.. Before these new wheels, it has been at least 4 months since my last flat tire..

With new wheels that is almost surely a rim strip problem. If the rim tape uncovers even the smallest crescent of a spoke hole, you'll have continuous flats. I always use Velox rim tape and be sure that you get the correct width to cover your rim all the way from one flange to the other.

If you are getting snake bites then up the pressure. If the pinch flat is a single hole maybe it's the rim tape, but if you are getting the two little holes side by side across the tube then I wouldn't think it is the rim tape.

What causes the flats? Is it that hard to find out? uhmmm http://www.serif.com/forum/confused.gif

Are you putting the tire on in a way that you can tell if it is the same spot? Line up the colored label on the sidewall with the valve stem. That way you will know exactly where to look for the problem.

I'm going with the plastic rim strips.. Velox tape now installed and going on a ride tonight.. So we'll see what happens.. I pump my tires up to 120psi so its not the tire pressure and it has happened with 2 different tires..

30 miles tonight - new velox on the rims - no flats...

Glad it worked out for you socalrider