chainsaw

I keep geting a flat tire. I get them at least once a week. I have a mountian bike. I check the rim and the tire each time. And i have not found anything inside of them. I need some sugestions on what to do and why this keeps happening!

froze

Where are the holes appearing, the bottom or top of the tube? If bottom then you could have a spoke poking through the rim tape. If the top then try to place the tube after repairing in the same position in the tire when it came out and mark the tire to see if the flat occurs in the same spot, if so then you have something prutruding in the tire you haven't found. BUT more than likely your just running over crud that bangs its way thru the tire. For that problem there is a numbe of different ways to go; the best way is to get a more flat resistent tire such as the Specialize Armadillo Nimbus, this tire is the most flat resistent tire on the market. The other thing you can do is to buy either a Mr Tuffy rim strip and/or use a Slime tube. But even thought the Armadillo is a heavy tire at around 375 grams, the Slime tube is 150 grams and the Mr Tuffy is 100grms, combine that with your current tire weight and you would be over the Armadillo weight. Also with the Armadillo you can use an ultralight tube.

trmcgeehan

I do road riding, and to prevent flats I bought self sealing tubes from Bike Nashbar and also Slime plastic protector strips which go between the tube and the tire. Since then, I have not had one flat (2 years, 3,000 miles). I don't know if you can do this with off road tires. My latest purchase was a Specialized Armadillo tire, which has a plastic barrier built right into the tire. It cost me $29. We'll see how this works. Good luck.

chainsaw

I think that it could be someone popping my tire becuase i have gotten a flat every friday for like 5 weeks.

froze

LOL; someone is popping your tire while your riding? Or are your tires flat when you go to get your bike? Easy check, check your air pressure before retiring the bike on Thursday, it should be the same as was when you got on it earlier in the day. If it's flat the next day then I would suspect a roommate, or if you are commuting and the tire is fine in the morning after you arrived at work but flat at night then a co-worker is involved. Or do you have a odd ex-girlfriend who knows your habits. Either way, someone doesn't like you much if they are taking special pleasure in popping your tires!

MudPie

There are many causes for a flat and some possible remedies:

Puncture from thorn, glass...(use a tire liner between tube and tire, or try the Armadillos as suggested by an earlier post).

Puncuture from spoke (inspect if spokes protrude from nipple; use a good quality rim strip).

Pinch flat caused by an underinflated tire as it strikes an sharp edge like a lip in the road (ensure your tires are inflated properly). This is sometimes called a "snakebite" because such a flat is characterized by two holes, a couple of centimeters apart.

When I mount my tires, I position the tire label at the valve stem. This way, I can "index" the tube/tire and it makes if easy to locate the corresponding leak in the tire/tube. If you find a thorn in the tire, you can easily find the hole in the tube. And if you find a leak in the tube, you can find the corresponding spot on the tire.

Good luck