Juancestevez20

New to the forum and fairly novice bike rider.

Last Friday I had my rear tube replaced at the local bike shop. That night I had the front go out so I took it back and they replaced the front tube. I put it on he bike rack and when I got home they were both flat. Took it back to the bike shop and they changed the rim tape and replace the tubes again. The following day I went out for a ride and had a slow leak in the rear. Had the rear changed on Monday and this morning the front is flat again!!! The puncture is in different places (sometimes on the inside sometimes on the side). I checked the rim and the tire and can't find anything. I weigh about 210 pounds and I am running 700x28 tires at about 80-85 psi (85 is the max) does anyone know why this is happening. IM going crazy! The only thing I could think of is getting a tire that has a higher max psi to support my weight.

Scooty Puff Jr

210 pounds on 80 psi tires shouldn't be an issue, and I'm assuming the tube punctures aren't from getting pinched on the rim. How old are your tires ? Maybe they're getting a little dry rot on the inside and causing the tube puncture ?

Larry77

I had a similar problem a few years ago and I fixed it by replacing my rim tape...have you checked the tape?

stoplight

Few months back same issue..every ride a flat. Marked the tire and tube with a red marker so once I found the puncture I could match them up and investigate the tire. I ran my finger on the inside, nothing, used a magnifying glass, nothing, used a cotton ball on the inside of the tire hoping something would snag it, nothing. I had an extra roll of rim tape so replaced it, nothing. Three rides, three flats, bought a new tire, problem solved. I admitted defeat and moved on.

curbtender

I'd say you got into some thorns and didn't get all the debris out of the tire. Could be a spoke poking through. Might be installer error. Could be you're going crazy, but I'd use that as a last resort...

Juancestevez20

The tires are about 2 years old. They are kenda kwest tires that come stock on the purefix cycles. They look fine inside. The old tube I took off is a bontrager 700x35-44 could that be the issue. That seems a little big

Juancestevez20

Yes. The bike shop changed the tape after the second set of flats

Juancestevez20

I noticed they used a 700x35-44 tube so I am going to put the proper tubes on myself and see if that solves the issue. If not then time for new tires.

Scooty Puff Jr

Oh yeah, those tubes are to big for 28 wide tires, any tube meant for a 35 or smaller should work just fine.

dsbrantjr

stoplight's cotton ball technique is a good one, but I would suggest turning the tire inside-out first to put the inner surface of the tire under tension. This will tend to open up any tiny holes where a sharp item like a shard of glass or the tiny steel wire from a tire belt may be hiding.

BobbyG

I have Kenda Kwests 700x32 and I notice the tread pattern tends to hold small stones. I run tire liners. No flats.

tyrion

If the punctures are in different places on the tubes, and happen on both front and rear, that seems to rule out something on the rim or in the tire. Maybe you're just in an area with lots of thorns or tire wires or something. If that's the case you'd want strong puncture resistant tires.

In any case if you keep getting flats try to remember where every puncture is on the tube for further detective work.

Juancestevez20

The issue is that flats happened when the bike was either wasn't ridden at all or it was ridden very minimally and in completely different areas. I am going to thoroughly inspect the tire before installing the new tube but I think the bike shop was using too big a tube

AnkleWork

I can't guess the causes of your first two flats, but I'll speculate that the subsequent flats were caused by deficient work by the bike shop and/or defective tubes sold by them. Maybe find a different shop.

tyrion

If so that's a big mistake on their part.

canklecat

Flats seem to run in phases for me. I'll go months without any then have several in a row. I had one on a new front tire on my mountain bike in September, due to a big chunk of glass hidden under leaves. Then another flat on the same tire in December, this time a tiny shard of glass. Then five in one week on the same tire, each due to grass burrs. But I've been riding off road, and some really rough rural roads and chip seal, so it's not unusual to encounter lots of sharp pokey stuff.

I finally swapped to a new tube filled with Slime. Hopefully it'll help with the slow leaks caused by the tiny nicks from grass burrs. If it gets me home without needing to stop to patch the tube, I'll be satisfied. I don't want to use liners on the lighter mountain bike tires. I like the handling now.

I'll keep the oft-patched tube for the errand bike, which wears heavy duty puncture resistant tires and has never had a puncture flat.

wschruba

A PureFix? Real narrow, aero rims? If so, I'm willing to bet money that you're getting flats from the tube being forced to expand down into the (very narrow) rim cavity.

You probably won't like the best solution.

Retro Grouch 

I once had a customer have me install new tires for me and immediately took a ride in the park across the street from the shop. He came back about 1/2 hour later with 8 thorns in one tire. I shope that I got them all.

It sounds to me like you have covered all of the typical things that I'd suspect. If I had an old set of tires laying around, I'd give them a try. If the flats stop, and I couldn't find anything in your flat cursed tires, I'd bite the bullet and replace them.

Juancestevez20

I went ahead and ordered the right set of tubes and new tires. I am going to change them myself because I've lost trust in bike shops. It's my first time doing it but it looks pretty simple.

bikeme

I had that happen to me too! Drove me nuts. I swapped the tire for a new one and no more issues. Something microscopic was causing it. Normally, I'd save an old tire for boots but I happily threw it in the trash.

SkyDog75

What kind of rim tape or strip did they use?

If it's a rubber strip and you've got a double-wall rim, the strip may be allowing the tube to expand into your spoke holes. Rubber strips are intended for use on single-wall rims.

If you've got cloth rim tape like Velox or Newbaum's, or a plastic strip meant for high-pressure tires, is it wide enough and applied on-center? If it's too narrow or it's not centered, your tube may be expanding into spoke holes and rupturing.

stevel610 

What kind of tires did you get?

canklecat

This. Went through it with one of my bikes about six months after installing a new double wall rim. The tube extruded through the thin rim strip in several places. I replaced it with cloth tape (Velox or Nashbar, I had both).

Juancestevez20

700x28 thickslicks

Don in Austin

It can be a tiny piece of wire or thorn, etc. and be very hard to see. If all else fails just by a new tire. You can mark the tire with White-Out at the valve core to let you know where to inspect the tire extra well.

Don in Austin