empellavega

i commute every day into hartford connecticut by bike and just recently switched my back wheel to an iro dark matter track wheel. since i switched i have had about 5 flat rear tires in about a month after having none for the year prior. the inside of the wheel is not taped, is that my problem? are the tubes wearing out from the internal friction or am i just having bad luck? i dodge most of the glass, but you just can't miss it all......

ericy

How old are the tires? I used to have lots of problems with flats on my old bike that had old tires. Finally I gave up and bought all new rubber, and the problem went away.

empellavega

i wish it were that easy. the first four flats were with old tires, i switched to kevlar belted vittoria cross tires, they were ok for a week and now i have a flat today.

tuz

If you mean you don't have rim tape then yes this is most likely your problem. The spoke holes have sharp edges and will puncture your tube. A small portion of my tape went off, exposing a third of a spoke hole and as a result I got 2 flats in 2 weeks. Rim tape costs about 2$.

empellavega

thanks tuz, kind of what i figured, good to have it confirmed!!

lil brown bat

Or you can get little balloon flats if you're running high-pressure tires...either way, yes, you need rim tape. Get the good kind and make sure the holes are well covered.

oboeguy

Holy cow, no rim tape or strip? Flats galore will continue until you fix that!