Flats + tubes
 

2 flats in the last 2 weeks after 6 months of no issues. Have been back on the road on 25-30 mile rides and had my first full flat 10 mikes from home. Have my little gear box in a water bottle holder with tube, CO2+ valve, Pedro levers and a Lezyne mini pump. I know for the regulars a tube field change is no big deal. But first time on the road with thru axle and disc brakes rear wheel for me. 20:minutes including having to use hand pump twice because the valve insert came unscrewed and came out while removing the pump hose. The Bianchi came with Vittoria Rubino Graphene 28c tires and I have standard Specialized tubes in there, running about 80 psi. Do different tubes have more or less puncture resistance? Seems like they would mostly be the same.,I found a 1 mm piece of metal wire sticking thru the tire into the cavity which punctured the tube. I knew to look for something stuck in the tire before I put the new tune in from reading a thread on this forum a few weeks ago. Feel like at 80 psi on the 28c I am not over inflated. Must be a stretch of bad luck. Could consider tubeless but not sure I want the mess. Maybe worth considering, especially if upgrade to carbon wheels were to happen. Have not been considering that as at 64 I not on the race circuit and have been very pleased with my set up. Thx

a 1 mm wire through the tire casing is going to poke a hole in any inner tube. Puncture resistant tires work better. Also, the puncture resistance of tires goes down when they're worn out; i don't know how many miles you have on them, but six months at 60 or 100 miles a week could wear out a set of tires.

Flats happen randomly if your equipment is working properly. Keep track of what position on your wheel the flats happen as this can tell you if your rim, spokes, tires, tubes have an issue. IMO 99% of flats are due to type of tire and not the tube. 20 minutes for your first time flat fix on the road is pretty good I'd say. I've seen people take 1 1/2 hours. Just ride, enjoy and investigate more if you happen to keep getting flats in the same spot.

That's insane. But, unfortunately it's also totally believable.

One of my least favorite things is to feel the inside tire casing for sharp stuff during a flat repair.

It is a terrific event when the offending material is located w/o a corresponding slice / puncture in the fingers.

Use a cotton ball. Fluff it up, and it will catch on whatever is sticking into the tire. Put a couple in your flat kit. They cost almost nothing, weigh nothing, take up no room. In a pinch, you can use a cigarette filter, they're easy to find...

Those wires are just a random probability. Flats often come in clumps. Avoid riding through roadside debris and stay in the lane when you can.

Hey folks all great input.

I have had the Bianchi since beginning of August and have 800 - 900 mles on the tires so not worn out yet.

I have been noting the location of the pin holes in the tubes.

I was pleased with the 20 minutes, but the previous flat allowed me to limp home and do the tube change in the garage under somewhat controlled conditions so I was able to practice and get used to each step.

My forefinger on my right hand is smarting a bit right now from the jab wound incurred as I found the offending material.

Cotton ball trick is a nice tip. I used the Pedro lever to push it out. One of my cycling friend’s recommended small nail clippers in my bag to pull stuff out of the tire.

Love the Bike Forum

On the first flat last week I rode thru some roadside debris and thought I should be avoiding that. 2 minutes later I had a flat.

To paraphrase Hamlet, when flats come they come not in single spies but in battalions.

I went two years without a single puncture flat. The past few weeks I've had around 10 flats. But new road construction has caused lots of problems. First, they replaced decent asphalt with the coarsest, sharpest chipseal I've ever seen. It slashed some tires to ribbons.

Then there were three or four flats with punctures from tiny wires. Some looked like steel belt wires from badly worn radial tires, but others were more like fine copper electrical wire.

After some recent rains the newly butchered roads are slightly less pokey.

At least two flats were self-inflicted. I borrowed a wheelset from a friend while waiting for a new wheelset. I neglected to check the rim tape. I glanced at it and saw Velox, so it seemed fine. But after finding an avulsion rupture on a tube facing toward the rim I discovered some of the cloth tape had squiggled away, leaving a couple of spoke holes uncovered. The tube extruded into the spoke hole and split. My bad for not checking first.

I usually run either Continental Race 28 Light or latex tubes, but for now I'm switching to medium duty Conti Race 28 on the front and heavier duty tube on the rear. After the chipseal is finished with smoother asphalt I'll go back to the lighter weight tubes. I saw a crew topping over some chipseal tonight, so maybe in a few weeks the other routes will be good again.

I don't worry about how long it takes me to change a flat. Usually about 15 minutes. If it's a group ride and they look antsy I shoo them away and tell 'em I'll catch 'em next ride. I rarely use my spare tube if it looks like the tube can be patched without removing the entire tube and tire. And I like self sticking patches like the Lezyne, but they demand more careful attention to seat reliably. Park's recent clear self sticking patches appear to be plain Gorilla tape or something equally useless. Lezyne self sticking patches actually get more tenacious with age and stick as well as glued patches, as long as I take the time to prep the tube and ensure there's no oil or dust on the tube.

I've seen folks rush flat fixes to satisfy impatient groups and end up with a second flat a mile later because they overlooked checking inside the tire, rim tape, etc., for sharp stuff. Or they blew their single CO2 cartridge and needed to borrow someone's mini pump or CO2. I carry both and generally use the mini pump. Good arm workout. When I take my own sweet time I usually get a repair that's permanent.

There is a good side to getting a lot of flats, you get really good at fixing them!

Just had a flat tonight, in the rain. Luckily, only a few blocks from home. So we did the walk of shame (pushed it home).

Least it wasn't the "walk of shame deluxe", (walking in your socks so your feet don't hurt and you do not wreck your shoes).

This was a 1-1/4 sheet metal screw, must have hit it just right, would not pull out of the tire, had to unscrew it,

Flats are a pain when you wake up to ride to work and punch the time clock, 3 lates is a write up, three write ups meant termination. Used to be a 25 mile ride, each way, headwind both ways unless it was raining. Time Trial every morning. .Riding home was OK because there was no time clock to punch. One time we woke up to a flat every morning. Turned out to be a spoke that was too long, It took a while for the new tube to get pressed deep enough into the spoke cavity to get punctured.

Use to run 1980's Specialized Armadillo tires. Not one flat in about a year. Which is great because I hate changing flats in the morning rain while the seconds tick of the time clock. Worst rolling resistance of any tire made, kind of like riding on hot chewing gum, but you could ride the rubber off down to the casing.

Now it is the Gatorskins, probably not as bullet proof but man are they fast compared to the Armadillos. maybe Specialized has got the rolling resistance better than the 80's tire, I don't know.

One time on a mountain bike ride I got three flats in about an hour. Between the second and third flat I had to ward of a stray dog by swinging my Silca frame pump at him. As I swung it violently towards his frothy noggin the nylon plug separated from the pump body. When this happens the pump valve and body take off like a rocket to parts unknown, which in this case, was a hillside full of brush and poison oak. When you swing your pump at trouble, always remember to grip the handle And the body. Otherwise the body slides down the greased plunger like a bat out of hell while generating many G forces.

Now comes the third flat and I have no pump. It has not been a good day. In anger and frustration I simple removed the wheel, stripped off the tube and tire, and rode the remaining 5 miles home on the rim. The sound of the bare rim on rough pavement was deafening, You could hear me coming a mile away. The vibrations made it hard to focus, it was like roller skating in a gravel pit. My hands were never the same. This was a downhill road with many turns. I don't know if you have ever tried to navigate a twisty two lane on a bare rim, it is kind of like racing a dirt bike at the speedway, the rear end wants to slide out to about 45 degrees at the slightest turn, you learn to control this by using careful braking and body english. The only good thing was rolling resistance was next to nothing, almost as efficient as a railroad train. I dropped everybody. By the time I got home every spoke on the wheel was flopping around like Angel Hair Spaghetti after an hour long boil. Even some of the spoke nipples were gone. There was a burr on both rim edges that was 1/4" wide. Never liked the Araya 7X anyway, snake bite city.

Shown below is the weirdion nail type perpetrator of tonight's mischance.>

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...506e066f86.jpg

BTW, Not that it really matters but that is a sheet rock screw

Wow, you are right!

After I dug the dirt out of the nail head it magically turned into a screw!

Love flopping around like angle hair pasta

Can confirm. B@stards poke a big hole in your tire too.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...e27362dc1.jpeg

Funny story, my wife got a sudden flat in her car two days ago, wouldn't even take air, half inch cut in the tread.

Tire store found the entire blade of a pocket knife inside the tire. A good 4 inches long.

My wife is convinced it was the result of a parking spot disagreement with another woman the night before. I think it was a one in a million encounter with road debris. Much easier to slash a sidewall, but who knows.

Re: unscrewing the valve. A lot of people say good things about the Lezyne pumps. Sometimes when I read these glowing reports, especially when I haven't bought anything lately, I'll go look up the price of one, and thing about trying one out. But before the mouse clicks on "add to cart" I remember that in all the times I've pumped a tire up with one of my Topeak Road Morphs, I've never had to inflate it multiple times because of the pump.

+1. I have the Lezyne frame pump and I just don’t use it. The screw on valve adapter is a pain. I also don’t like the handle. The hose loops over the handle in a groove. The groove is very uncomfortable to push against.

I have a Lezyne floor pump with the screw on adapter. I have a few of the Silca Presta adapters that I’ve collected over the years so it’s not problem to just leave the adapter in place.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e09a601e_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...84b23d94_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

But I have occasion to use the Schrader side for some tires that aren’t Presta...wheelbarrow, hand truck, and small bikes for kids. The thread on side of the Lezyne chuck doesn’t always work in small spaces so I made an adapter. It much easier to use in tight places.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c9b99b8b_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...303b0d2b_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f7b32ff9_k.jpgUntitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Stuart (@cyccommute), that is one clever hack! What kind of tubing goes in the middle?

I had the same problem with the Lezyne pump until I got the adaptor with the pressure release. It isn’t the drag of the threads, but the drag of the o-ring under pressure that unscrews the valve core. Once I started bleeding off the pressure in the hose after inflating the tire, the valve core problem went away.

Just 1/4” od plastic from Home Depot. The pressure needed is less than 40 psi so that’s not an issue. I do like the pump but I’d like it better with a different head.

I use the bleed valve with my Silca adapter. I find it slides off easier if it isn’t under pressure. That’s one thing I’ve found on the Lezyne adapter I like.

I remember a group mtb ride a few years ago where a chap got a flat tire, and was completely clueless as to how to deal with the problem. We stood around for a few minutes getting eaten by bugs before someone lost patience and grabbed the wheel out of his hand and changed the tube in less time than in took the poor soul to undo his quick release. I have a strict policy of not offering help without being asked, but I was just about to break that policy when someone else stepped in.

The moral of the story: You are only as helpless as you let yourself be, and 20 minutes from puncture to re-pressurized doesn't sound too bad for someone without many flat repairs during their cycling career.

As for flat resistance, that is generally a function of tire construction and condition - anything that can get through your tire will go through any tube.
A lightweight tire with a thin and supple casing will generally allow punctures much more readily than a heavy tire with a Kevlar belt. And a brand new tire will resist flats better than one worn down to the last mm of tread.

I did something similar to cyccommute with a replacement head/hose and a couple of Brass fittings from Home Depot. One hose barb to 1/4” NPT and a cap which I drilled out to accept a tubeless presta valve.


https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...a3905cbc8.jpeg