This morning I tried to go out for a ride. saw my front tire was flat. No problem, right?

Well once I get the tube off I see that there is a tear at the base of the valve stem. so I toss the tube and grab another.

as I am pumping it up I hear air escaping, had some trouble getting the pump head so I take it off and try again. No good there is now a tear at the base of this vlave stemm too.

So I grab a third and last spare tube. get it on the rim and up to full pressure. I take a few minutes to search the garage to see if by chance I have another spare tube laying around and then I hear it. The sudden release of air from my front tire.

sure enough, a tear at the valve stem.

Now I can't see any rough edges and I can't get my finger down in there to feel if there are any. The rim tape is only a year or so old and it is Velox cloth rim tape.



it really sucks to have 3 flats before you ever get out of the garage! btw I rode almost 30 miles on this rim/tire with no problems, the tire went flat sometime betweeen that ride and today

so any suggestions?