Bicycle Mechanics - Tire problem

Hi,

I just joined this forum in the last couple of minutes and want to ask for your help.

I live outside of Kansas City. One of my sons is a sophomore at Ohio State and is on a track scholarship. He just called me to say his back tire on his bike is flat and the flat rubber liner that lies against the rim is protruding slightly out from between the rim and the tire.

I tried to explain to him that he would need to push in on the tire with one hand and try to put the liner back in the original position and then inflate the tire to see if it would hold air.

While he was home this summer he rode his bike a lot as part of his off-season track workout. He had a flat tire at one point so I made a point of walking him through the process of fixing a flat. He at least has a basic understanding of how to fix a flat.

What I'm wondering is how common is it for that liner to protrude like that? I grew up riding bikes and fixed many flat tires and performed other repairs but never remember having that problem. What could cause that and is there anything special that needs to be done to prevent it from happening again?

Thanks for your help!

Dan

Buy some New rim tape.
http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/14573-343_SETRT5-3-Parts-74-Tubes/Accessories/Sette-Rim-Tape-offer?utm_source=Googlebase&utm_medium=datafeed&utm_campaign=FTP&offer=IN210GLB.htm&zmam=3075515&zmas=1&zmac=30&zmap=343%20SETRT5


http://www.ehow.com/how_2122394_install-bicycle-rim-tape.html

Nothing ever moves when the tire is inflated. The pressure within ensures that by pressing everything firmly to the outside. But once the tire is flat, all is slack and stuff can slide around. Riding or even walking a bike with a flat tire can cause his problem.

I suspect that what he's seeing isn't the rim strip but the tube itself that once flat was worked under the bead of the tire and is peaking out. Pushing it back into place before inflating is necessary, but odds are there's a puncture someplace and it'll have to be patched.

There are lots of good tutorials on flat repair and tire mounting available on the internet, and there's even a few i-phone apps. I suggest that now that your son is in college, you cut the cord, and point him in a direction where he can get the help he needs for himself.

We frequently have people come into the shop with their tire liner hanging out because they continued to ride it while it was flat. One guy even had the liner wrapped around his cassette cogs because he just kept riding.

Likely if the liner is sticking out, it will need to be replaced. It usually won't come out like that unless it is broken somewhere.

Your son should ask his buddies at University for help. They can see the problem and work with him to solve it. All you can do is offer empathy and advice based on not seeing the problem. If he can't get a friend to help him fix it, he should take the wheel off the bike and take it to a LBS. Or he should just take the whole bike in.

He was riding a flat tire. You say he was riding a lot this summer--did he pump the tires up very frequently? Tires lose pressure just from sitting with the weight of the bicycle on them, and they need to have their pressure checked on a regular basis. In addition, in summer, when temps are much higher, tire pressure is higher. If fall temps come in and you don't check your tire pressure, it's likely the tires have lost significant pressure. Whenever temperature drops significantly, a person needs to check the tire pressure.

it's all irrelevant. remove tire; replace tube and rim tape

And he's a college student...

If he is new to repairing flats, he may have fallen into the 'new tube' trap. If a person does NOT partially inflate a new tube before inserting it in the tire/wheel. it may stick out, and cause another flat.