Recess

Ok, I'm sure many of you will question my elation here, but I've had a 'hidden' cause of a puncture in my back tire for three weeks now, which pops up its ugly head to pop the same point on the arc of the inner tube every three or four days (hence hidden, it's not always there).

I finally found the little bugger. Tiny piece of glass, small enough to hide in one of the chunky parts of the grip on the tire, but enough that if I hit a stone, it'd peak out like a turd, and puncture the tire.

Now that I had time, and a clear head, I finally took the time to arrange the wheel, tire, and tube in a fashion that i knew the basic area of the tire the puncture was coming from, and started pulling and suqeezing on the tire to look for holes, then saw it - and with a bit of digging with a safety pin, got the little fecker out of there.

I think I should probably go buy some Kevlar tyres now, make sure this doesn't happen again, but I'll have to do some investigation as to what's the best tyre for road and dirt track 'hybrid' commutes.

Thanks for reading, hope you all have the same good fortune in some other manner of your life today.

Avalanche325

On arranging the tire and tube, just in case you didn't know. Always put the tire on so the valve stem is ligned up with the logo on the sidewall. That way, you always know where to look for debris in the tire after you find the puncture.

I'm glad you found it. Those type of things are a major pain.

AndrewP

Also paint a mark on the side of the valve stem, so you know which way around the tube was mounted.

Recess

Good thinking. I read the one about lining up the logo on a previous (and quite odd to read) thread about locating flats. But I hadn't thought about the valve stem thing.

at least I can stop wiping cotton balls around the inside of the tyre now, in the vain hope of finding something.

Have a nice day.

beaverstuff

Hey,
Next time you have a flat, very, very carefully run your thumb along the inside of the tire. You'll find those pieces of glass et al.
Jim

Polonswim

Wow, that is a great idea. I never thought of that. That is why I read these forums, you learn something everyday. Thanks.

becnal

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires. No more flats. Flats go bye-bye.

Recess

I'd actually done that time and time again (well, each time I got a flat before). I knew it was the same place in the tire, as it was always on the seam of the inner tube. But, each time I ran my thumb round it, I couldn't find a thing.

I even tried the 'cotton wool ball' idea, to see if the offender would catch it, and leave a little bit - but no.

It turned out that the piece of glass was so small, it resided inside one of the bumps on the tyre. Which explains why i could go a couple of days without a puncture. I'd hit a rock, or a bump on that exact place, and the force was enough to poke it through to puncture the tube, but it was so tightly wedged inthere, that it went back in again. Kinda like when you need to poo...

I prefer the cotton ball idea to the thumb one as a first attempt though, as you're just as likely to find the offender, and less likely to cut yourself on the glass.

Thanks for the advice though, and for the advice from becnal. I'm looking into the Land Cruiser tyres from Schwalbe, due to the fact that there's a lot of off-road stuff, and only a little tarmac.

Have a nice day y'all.