kitteh

Hello everyone,

I have a cheap bike with 27 x 1 1/4 tires. My front tire had been giving me issues for some time, I'd pump it to about 90 psi (it can take upto 105) and it'd be flat in a couple of hours. Got a new tube and well, rideable pressure lasts for a day max. Changed the valve set (schrader) too on the new tube.

Only bits left are the rim or the tire, because I've checked for punctures on both tubes and found nothing. Loss of pressure persists even when its parked. Its in my apartment so no one's fiddling around with it either. It doesn't have particularly good rim tape. Also a couple of spokes protrude by about 1 or 2 screw threads (maximum). Is this protrusion enough to cause a leak? Anything else on the rim that I should look for? I've hardly done 50 miles on the bike so an aging tire is out of the equation. I have the exact same tire and tube set on the rear wheel and that hardly loses pressure.

Thank you for your time!

Al1943

Replace the rim tape with Velox. Not sure if that's what's causing the leaking but I'm sure you need the Velox.
Fully inflate your tubes before each ride. It's normal to lose 10% of the pressure overnight.

Al

bobfromwaco

I agree try some rim tape and see the outcome of that else I suppose it could be a warped rim.

operator

Probably.

Next time you pull the tube, you MUST inspect it to determine which side of the rim the puncture is coming from. This will give you your answer.

operator

That doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

waldowales

Check the tube again. There is a leak somewhere, or it would hold air. Pull the tube, put enough air in it that it starts to bulge, submerge it in water and look for the bubbles. Find the leak and look for the cause. The only way a rim, spoke, or tire makes the tube go flat is if it makes a hole in it.

kitteh

Problem being I lose about 50%. Will try better tape I guess.

Warped rim=leak?


And if it is then what do I sand/file it down? Because the tension on the spokes seems fine.


Thanks for your suggestions, will give it another go today and see what happens.

operator

Yep.

It means too long spokes were used. I doubt the wheel is up to proper tension in which case. Which may or may not matter depending on your specific circumstance and riding situation.

Al1943

From my experience a tire that loses about 1/2 its pressure overnight has a very small hole in the tube, the kind you get from a goathead or sand burr. These tiny holes can be found by putting quite a bit of air in the tube and holding it under water. See if it is on the tread side or the rim side.

Or was the tire pumped up with CO2? It will leak out that fast or faster.

bionnaki

maybe a bad batch of tubes / leaking at the seams or valves.

I'd guess they're fortes, right?

kitteh

I'm in India, no fortes around here. And no CO2 either. Tried the water still couldn't find the hole, visiting an LBS that has a truing stand and working on the spokes tomorrow I guess. BTW I have an old patched tube I plan to try on, but noticed it bulges rather horribly, narrower on the patched side (which was couple of inches off the valve) and almost obese on the other. That shouldn't be a problem should it?

Retro Grouch 

If you have spoke ends sticking through the nipples, I would definitely file them down before installing new rim tape.

kitteh

Got new tape, tube and trued them wheels . TY everyone for the advice, everything seems fine now.