Essthreetee

I too have had a recent string of flats. Nearly EVERY commute in the last 2 weeks...so roughly 6..??? (I don't ride everyday)
I always leave my bike in my classroom, and when I start to head home....flat.

It's almost as if some kid sneaks in and uses a stapler in my tire, then pulls the staple and runs.
I hope that is just my imagination running wild, but it is so frustrating that I have decided to keep my bike in my storage room as opposed to my classroom.

rhm

Riding home from the station on Friday afternoon I went over an innocuous looking bit of road debris and my rear wheel flatted instantly. I didn't bother taking the wheel out of the frame; just pulled the tube out and quickly found a pinch flat, which I patched. The sidewall of the tire appeared damaged as well, so I put a piece of tyvek into it, put it all back together, pumped up, and got on the bike... and noticed that the front tire was now pretty squishy as well. Holding some air, not enough to ride. Well, eff it, I thought, I'm a mile from home... I just pumped it up and rode home.

I'm counting it as two flats, even though I haven't patched the front one yet.

noglider 

Yesterday, I rode the Tour de Bronx. I came upon a guy on the roadside, set about to fix his flats. He had two pinch flats (one in each tire) simultaneously. It had been over a week since he had re-inflated his 25mm tires, which explains his luck. I offered to help, and he accepted. He was about to use his glueless patches, and I prevailed upon him to use my glue patches. I showed him how to do it. And it turned out that his box of patches was empty, so he was lucky I stopped to help.

We both had mini pumps. I've decided to get back into carrying full frame pumps. Mini pumps are lousy.

nlerner

A couple of weeks ago, I was setting up one of the fleet to sell off. I pulled a couple of tubes from my used-but-presumedly-still-hold-air pile, got the wheels buttoned up, and installed them on the bike. The next day, the front was flat. I pulled the tube, inflated, rotated it through a tub of water and realized a previous patch wasn't holding. The rest of the tubes in the "good" pile were too wide for this tire, so I pulled one from my these-are-known-to-have-holes pile, pumped it up a bit and left it overnight (not yet mounted in the tire). The next day it was still holding, so I installed it on the front wheel and hoped for the best. Several days later, it was still holding at recommended psi. Now I doubt the accuracy of my piles.

Rcrxjlb

I found out the hard way that those cheap Bell brand tires from Walmart don't seat well on old 27 in wheels. I pumped up the tire then developed a cyst after 5 mins on the road. It felt weird, so I looked back at the tire and it popped as I was coming to a stop.
So, I replaced the Wally world rubber with this...

https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...FVI2aQodsJIFnw

Rcrxjlb

Sorry, this is the correct link:
https://www.biketiresdirect.com/prod...rsport-plus-27

Maxacceleration

Amazing the issues people are having. Pinch flats, or 'snake bite' flats are because when you reinstalled your tube and half aired it, you have to stop and push the valve stem down & back. A reinstalled tube many times gets the 'snake bite' flat right at the valve stem (a hole on each side of the stem).
If your are running 23-25 mm tubes, its so easy to carry TWO spares, & four co2 cartridges. Get 16 gram co2's - they will go a lot further than 12's. Screw the mini pump!
If your tire bead comes off really hard, change your brand of tires. Not all tires are impossible to change.
Its good to have three tire levers just in case (two usually does it). Talcum powder your tubes when you install them. They will move in your tire casing and not glue itself to the tire casing. Much easier to pull/replace.
Specialized has pre talc'd tubes.
My tools fit in one of my back jersey pockets. Or under the seat. Make your kit compact!

You really have to watch where you ride these days.

jimmuller 

Frame pumps rock. Cartridges are rocks.

rhm

Gratuitous quote ftw!

The following wasn't my flat tire to tell, but nonetheless interesting.

On Saturday @TimmyT and I rode a cold, wet and very hilly 200k brevet through eastern PA and a bit of NJ. With my characteristically poor preparation, I had not brought a spare tube. Tim had brought only one. Before our first scheduled stop, as we passed through Easton PA, Tim's rear wheel got squishy so we stopped. Everything was wet, which I did not particularly appreciate, but it made it easy to see that there was air bubbling out of a hole directly through the tread of the tire a couple inches from the valve. Well, that should be an easy one to patch, sez I, so Tim handed me the punctured tube while he went about installing his new tube. With due diligence he inspected the tire and pulled a chunk of glass out of the hole he had found, and inserted a piece of tyvek as a boot just in case, and put the bike back together.

Meanwhile I found the puncture and patched it. But the puncture was nowhere near the valve; almost halfway around the wheel from there. I pointed this out to Tim and accordingly he searched that area of the tire for glass etc but didn't find any. I finished patching the tube and rolled it up tight just as he finished putting his tools away, so, all in all, my time was well spent. The whole repair took about 20 minutes.

So, the strange thing is, the chunk of glass in the hole in the tread of the tire, certainly going all the way through the casing because air was coming out of it, was not the cause of the flat. No doubt it would have caused a flat soon enough; but the cause of the flat was something else, which we never found.

SJX426 

Update from the rash of flats ending with the entry on 10/15. No flats. I love these tires! Vitorria Corsa: https://www.vittoria.com/tire/corsa/

ksryder

I won't comment on my own flats recently for fear of angering the bike gods, but a guy I ride with regularly has Hutchinson Atoms and he flats just about every other ride.

TimmyT 

I had two pieces of metal in my front tire last night about 10 miles into my ride. One looked liked a bent up paper clip and was sticking out of the tire like a wild hair gone bad. I had two tubes with me: a new 23-25mm tube and the fat 35-43mm tube @rhm patched on Saturday. I put the new tube in the 38mm tire and rode home.

That's about 3 flats in 4 weeks, so atypical. I'll take a look at the rest of the wheels this week.

qcpmsame 

Got bit this afternoon, at the 13 mile point. Ran over a sharp edged piece of concrete debris when I was riding across the back parking lot of a gas station/convenience store. A pin hole side wall puncture took me out of service for a few minutes. A quick fresh tube install and thorough inspection for any objects inside the tire and I finished my ride. Another 25 miles in the log book, and a lesson about concrete pavement learned. Oh, its Conti Gatorskins and their Racer tubes.

Bill

jimmuller 

I rode to work only once last week, too much stuff to do. I've been riding the Bianchi with the dynamo hub and LED lights. It wears Gatorskin tires which up to now have been quite robust. So last night I went to top off the tires in preparation for today's commute and lo! the rear was soft. Hmmm, pulled the tire and found not one but two tiny metal wires protruding through the casing into the tube space. I also noticed that the tread had become quite worn, the second rear tire I've worn out on that bike. When I put the tube under water I found just one tiny tiny leak where the smaller of the two wires had been. Unfortunately it was near the molding bead so I wasn't sure a patch would seal well. Nevertheless I threw a patch on it, pumped it up, and set it aside for this morning. You can guess what I found this morning.

That bike has had Gatorskins since I gave it those wheels. Those wheels wore Gatorskins when I bought them from another BF member, and they look good on the black bike. Now I'm considering using Veloflex instead. If I have to fix flats I might as well be fixing them on nicer tires.

Johno59

I would say no. I do 25 miles a day. I Rode every tub from 15 bucks to an eye-watering 70 buck tub. I was desperate for the sealant to work but over 70 psi the sealant can't cope. I assume for MTBs the low pressure works. But running on 100 to 120 psi nothing worked for more than 20 miles.
I had 10 sets of tubular wheels mostly Mavic and Campagnolo so it was heartbreaking to go clincher.
Continental 4 season s are the best I have used. They 're expensive but in the long run they are economical - unlike the top of the range tubular tire.

Furthermore I can sew a tub better than most(dental floss and upholstery needle) but the more expensive tubular are vulcanised so you can't sew them. After say three repairs my tubs began to lose shape so the whole point of tubular wheels (better roundness) is lost.

rhm

I hadn't ridden my Falcon commuter for over a month, and the other day noticed that the rear tire had gone flat. Fixed that last night. There was a hole in the tube right next to the last patch I put on... one of things that makes me ask, do I believe in coincidences? I patched it. Couldn't find any additional problems with the tire, but the sidewall is definitely damaged at that spot. I've ordered new tires.

noglider 

@rhm, what kind of tires are you putting on the Falcon?

rhm

I've already forgotten! Something cheap from Nashbar.

jimmuller 

Two "flat incidents" to report, neither a big deal.

Earlier this week I noticed the tandem's rear tire flat. Hmm, it had been fine when we finished up a ride a week or two earlier. Since we wanted to (and did) take the bike out yesterday I needed to fix it. Of course a new tube is always good but even better is finding the cause. A smallish shard of rock or glass had penetrated the tread just far enough to create a tiny, slow leak which I found by putting the tube under water. Hardest thing about that fix was getting the wheel off and on the bike.

So during yesterday's ride we came upon a cyclist with his bike upside down and a wheel off and tubes and tire and pump and skewer (removed from the hub) and other stuff scattered about. It looked like he'd had to rummage through a bag to find his pump or tube or lunch or something. I called out if he needed any help and he said yeah, help finding where his flats were coming from. At least two in two days since swapping tires to 32mm for a gravel ride he'd done a few days before. I offered to help so he handed me the tire, already removed completely from wheel. There was no way to locate the leak, nor the leak's source in the tire w.r.t. the valve stem. It took me less than a minute to find the shard of glass or rock embedded in the tread and penetrating to the inside. I'd seen one just like it the night before. I removed the offending particle, showed it to him, he thanked me and we proceeded on our way.

I couldn't help but think of the signature here in BF about how knowing how to fix a flat is not overrated. That didn't seem like brain science. Nor rocket surgery. It just took a bit of observation. Admittedly those of us who are nearsighted might have an advantage over some other folks.

jimmuller 

I got a late start home from the office yesterday. About halfway home and well after dark the rear went soft. A sliver of glass or sharp-pointed rock penetrated the Pasela TG. Fortunately one house I ride past has a well-lit carport which made findin' & fixin' easier.

jimmuller 

This morning dawned bright and warm for February. I had to rummage some stuff around in the car and garage so while I had the garage open I pumped up the tires of the Centurion which has sitting patiently since last fall. I rode it around the block, parked it, did the same for the Peugeot, went back to rummaging. About 10 minutes later something in the garage went BANG! The Centurion's front tire had blown off the rim, a hooked-bead red-label Araya. The tire was a 25mm 700c Pasela with very little mileage.



The tire bead is still in the carcass but much of the rubber or cloth material inside of bead tore off the tire at the blow-out point. I don't know that was the cause or an effect. In any case, that tire got tossed.

I'm just grateful it blew today instead of a week or two from now when I was halfway to work.

SJX426 

I try to keep air in the tires, if they are on bikes or not. The Masi was hanging over the saw and easy to get to so while I was checking tire pressures with my new Topeak digital tire gauge, I checked. Filled them up and thought nothing of it. Two days later, I decide to go for a ride on it. The rear is flat so I take another bike. Two days after that I decide to find out why the tire is flat.

I have a hard time throwing old tubulars away. I like to ride them util they fall apart. Didn't get the chance on this one:
[IMG]P1040762, on Flickr[/IMG]

Rotated the tire to see what might have contributed to the flat:

[IMG]P1040760, on Flickr[/IMG]

WHOA!
[IMG]P1040761, on Flickr[/IMG]

I don't remember hear this go off! May have to rethink this whole (hole?) vintage tubular approach!

jimmuller 

Now that's a failure I've never seen before, straight across the tread with the threads tearing in one direction.

What pressure do/did you run in therm?

We recommend you alternate between the remaining two airlocks. And keep the duct tape handy.

SJX426 

@jimmuller - I typically run 120 in back and 115 in front, but in this case, I just go to whatever the pressure is in the compressor at the time. If the pump just shut off then it will be about 125. If it is about to turn on, it will be about 95. I didn't check as I wasn't about to ride it. As you know, pressure needs to be checked just prior to the ride.

Guess there is an additional disadvantage of cotton over silk!

Sir_Name 

I though this was kinda neat.