mattk42

I've been getting flats on my Rockhopper lately. But, it is still sporting the Bontrager knobbies that were on it when I bought it used. Maybe it's time for a new set of tires.

I have a friend who, up until recently, had been living car-free for about a decade. He still does most of his commuting by bike. He rides with Schwalbe tires and I'm pretty sure he said to me that he doesn't know how to fix a flat because he's never needed to.

dailycommute

Generally I do not get flats, but often they come in batches. The commute route is littered with broken glass this year, whatever waster hauler is picking up that route recyling is dropping glass like crazy. No kidding you can see piles at every stop, almost like a hole in the truck. So three days in a row, three different bikes, all with a flat (all rear). By day three I had the bike hung on the guardrail and tire off in less than a minute and back on the road in 5. Buggy as hell right now which is a big motivator to change fast all the while cursing the recycling company. On the plus side the road glitters in sunny spots like some golden jeweled beast, beckoning me onwards.

SJX426 

3 flats last week, two as a result of a sliver of glass embedded in the tire such that it only impinged on the tube when the tire rolled over pavement. Hard to find and diagnose.

There is a stretch of path that has a lot of broken glass where I think I picked it up. I have been thinking of going out there with a broom to clear a path through the glass. It ought to be cleaned with a street sweeper at least twice a year.

Jadesfire 

Poetic. I'll be thinking of this on my ride at some point, I am sure .

rhm

Alas, the golden bejeweled beast only beckons me over to the side of the road to play with my patch kit while the headwind sings "We'll meet again, don't know how, don't know when..."

jimmuller 

Speaking of flats, a week or so ago (I fergit 'zackly when now) the front clincher on the Grandis went flat when the valve stem tore off the body of the tube. So I replaced the tube with a newfangled "light race" tube from Continental that had just arrived in the mail. But I rode the Masi to work.

Then two days ago I noticed the Grandis' front tire was low again. Hmm, I figured maybe that "race" tube was latex, but it sure looked like a conventional butyl tube. I pumped it up as a test and rode the Masi again. Last night it was soft again but not really flat. So I pumped it up to 140 this morning and rode it to work. After about an hour on the bike it sure looked and felt soft. Well, that's not just leaky rubber.

When I got to work I tightened the "removable" (which means leak-able) valve core and pumped it up. It started feeling soft again. Okay, time to pull it off the rim and do a thorough search. The hole was extreeeeemly tiny, found only when I held it under water. Resting innocently in the tire was tiny, tiny pointy thing like the tip of a thorn, maybe 0.3mm long, not stuck through the tread, just resting there trying to hide. Were I far-sighted instead of near-sighted I would not have seen it.

I patched the butyl tube, pumped it up, rode home. So far it's still holding air.

bwilli88 

Was fixing up a Cambodian Clunker the other day and went to replace the tube and tire, the UV just kills tires here, and found this...

Prowler 

I also get very few flats as I'm mostly riding paved or unpaved rail trails. However last week on my pre-DNC trip to Philadelphia I felt the rear go flat on the Manayunk tow path. Good timing actually as it was a very nice bit of trail in the deep shade beside the canal and the river. I could have just dropped a line like Huck Finn and fished a while. I did not thought - just lay the bike on the NDS and removed the wheel.

I know the opinions vary about the Pasela PT tires but the folders sure are EASY to work with, easy to slip a bead and easy to re-install. Yes, I had a pair of Lezyne spoons but hardly needed them after bringing the first bit of bead over the gunwale. Found nothing in the tire and, at home, found a wee hole on the ID of the tube. Just old age failure. No puncture. Its great having all the stuff you need to change or patch a tube right there in the pouch strapped to the saddle rails.

Oh, and the wee Topeak Race Rocket pump had the tire back up to pressure in about 100 strokes, only the last 20 being a bit of a push. Under 2 minutes.

bulldog1935

Except on my daughter's upright, which runs 42mm Soma SV and Schwalbe ultralight tubes, I run latex tubes in every bike.
The lowest safe pressure really helps prevent flats.
I was riding fast on my upright with 40 psi in the front 38mm Barlow Pass (latex tube) and heard a 1xR click up front. When I got off the bike, I found a thumbtack planted in the tire. Pulled it out with trepidation, expecting to hear air with it. The latex tube did not puncture, but deformed around the tack.

Every bike I carry a fold-up tire 2 tubes, and flat kit alternative - 1/4-oz Zap-a-gap and 2 oz. Stans. with a valve core tool. I've used this on tubulars, but also on clinchers. Every time, the Stans repair has lasted as long as the tire tread.

noglider 

On Saturday, the weather was extremely hot. Despite that, my wife and I decided foolishly to ride five miles to a swimming pool, swim for a while, and ride five miles back to the house. We survived, but after we got home, we were spent for the rest of the day. I think I might have incurred a bit of heat exhaustion.

On the trip back, my wife got a flat in the rear. She had to get back in good time, as she had scheduled a rehearsal with other folks at the house. She said I better ride home and get the car and bring her home. She had forgotten that I'm pretty good at fixing flats on the road. It took about five minutes to change the tube and get her rolling again. She was impressed. No biggie, though. I came prepared.

rowebr

Coming back from a Sunday morning 50 mile ride, I was in the city just cruising back to my house and stopped for a red light. As the light changed and I got back up to speed, I saw some rocks scattered in the road and tried to get out of their way, but clipped a baseball sized one with the front wheel and instantly heard the hiss of air rushing out. Darn rock sliced my tire open from the rim sidewall up to the middle of the tread. My first tire failure in about 6 years of riding. I could have booted the tire, but figured I was close enough to home so I just walked. It only took 20 minutes to get back, and I congratulated myself for using walkable SPD shoes. Now I can install a fresh tire in air-conditioned comfort with the bike in the work-stand, instead of sweating on the sidewalk in 99 degree heat.

rhm

Yesterday evening, just before turning in, I checked my bike over to see if the tires needed air or anything, and found the front tire completely flat.

Pulled out the tube and put some air in it, found a puncture right in the middle of an older patch. This was a new tire, so whatever caused the first puncture was long gone, but I checked anyway. Nothing. I put another patch over the first.

Three hours later, tire flat. Patch wasn't holding. No surprise, I put in a new tube.

jimmuller 

I ask myself what else would a tire need besides air? Apparently yours need love, conversation, attention, whatever.

Ooh, you really should vary your routine a little from day to day.

rhm

And then I rode to the station... 5.5 miles. A hundred yards from my bike locker, suddenly my front tire started making noise, rubbing at one spot on every location, and a few revolutions later the tire blew off the rim. Then my train came in. I had to run with the bike to stash it in the locker and get on the train before the doors closed. I assume I just didn't have the tire seated right....

DiabloScott

I don't get enough flats to complain... but tread cuts on new tires really hurt.

noglider 

Damn, @rhm, I hate blowouts!

This weekend, I checked the tube of the flat my wife got the previous weekend. I had to immerse the tube in water to find the puncture. It was small. The tube had an old patch which is still holding. The new puncture is on the rim side of the tube. Normally, I would check it, but the new tube in my wife's tire is holding. The cause of the puncture may strike again, but I'll leave well enough alone for now.

I guess this is our collective flat tire blog, eh?

noglider 

@DiabloScott, what caused that nasty cut?

DiabloScott

Didn't notice it at the time, but I think I remember running over some hunk of metal in a construction zone on the previous ride. Noticed this while preparing for another ride... happy to have a backup bike because I didn't have time to change the tire.

Also - I did have a new tire in the inventory but it was the $*@*#*$&%(# tightest install I've ever done... got a blister on my finger and it took two days of stretching out the bead to get it on. Bonus... I now have a new "stretching out the bead" procedure to use in the future.

noglider 

If you have tight tires, you should carry this. It makes installing them easy, and it's safe from pinch flats during installation.

tire jack

DiabloScott

yeah, I used to have the VAR version of that



but it broke years ago and my tire mounting technique got better and I hadn't seen the need for another.

That tire jack would probably save me some skin.

noglider 

It will, and after using it for the first time, you will thank me and Park.

jimmuller 

I have three of those tire jacks. You can never have enough spares of essential equipment like that.

nlerner

The VAR levers are still available. I highly recommend them.

bulldog1935

this is where zap-a-gap + stans may get you home - it's worked for me on a tubular, but it wasn't cut quite that long.
If not, I have the spare tire with me (on every bike) - it means carrying lightweight fold-up tires.
Wedge bags (also called tubular bags) are perfect for this on road bike

27mm Open Pave in here, plus all my roadside - 2 tubes, tool for every fastener, valve cores, 2 oz Stans, and a small rag.
My larger tires are Compass 32-38mm, and will fit in a 3-1/2-liter small front trunk bag or med saddle bag (along with sundries).

SJX426, I've also repaired cuts like yours at home with zap-a-gap and gotten a few more miles out of the tire.
Put the zap in the gap with the tire pressured, then let all the air out and come back tomorrow.
But again, I'm still carrying a new folded tire in case I'll need it, so I can be a little brave.

SJX426 

Bulldog1935 - Thanks for the mention! I will look for that product. I used contact cement, but that didn't hold. I was thinking that some kind of rubber filler would work too.

I managed to get about 7 flats in a 2 week period recently. Some were my fault in terms of mounting. The tires are very difficult to "roll" onto the rim and I may have caused one or two of the holes. 2 of them were bad patches. By that I mean the patches weren't the best. I have recently changed from the Performance round patch to Parks square ones. The Performance patch did not stretch and required really clean surface for the adhesive to fully stick. That was the problem with the two. The "hole" was the original with the leaks out the edges of the patch. I find the Park patch to work really well. I use the left over Performance patches to cover the inside of the case where there was a puncture.

The other issue appears to be the poor quality of the tube. I bought a few boxes of Michelin tubes but they appear to fail around the stem base. Some times at the metal rubber joint or near the reinforced part of the tube. One actually ruptured on the rim side with no apparent reason. I have since used a spare Specialized tube that was in the supply and it has been working very well, except for the need to air down to 85 if I want the pump to open the presta valve. Once the valve is open, the pressure in the pump head allows pumping to any pressure desired shy of 200 PSI!

It has been 40+ miles now without a flat, cross my fingers, with the same tire all the flats were experienced with. I have replacement tires but .... I am such a cheap skate!

I will spring for the tire jack. The arthritis in the base joint of my left thumb is getting too bad. Zap a Gap is CA!? I have a good bottle of CA glue. The only problem with it is that it will break down with water. That is why it is often used by doctors to glue tissue. Hmmm, why not try it out!