mountaindave 

I hate flats so I put 60cc of orange seal in my tubes. Didn't stop the snakebite I got - only 1/8"-3/16" long.

howellhandmade

After four days of riding in goat head ground zero, Colorado, I finally collected one. Which was only notable because I had forgotten to pack a frame pump, so I bought a mini-pump when I arrived, selected because it had a nifty flexible hose. When I pulled it out to deal with my tire I realized that my assumption that it would fit both Presta and Schraeder valves had been erroneous, and it was of no use on the 1984 Schwinn Voyageur I had picked up in Lincoln, NE on my way out. So I walked. Luckily it came at the end of the ride rather than the farthest point, so it was only perhaps 3 miles and it was a nice, cool day. Fixed the flat back at the house where I had a floor pump, and bought a couple of Presta tubes and adapters rather than yet another mini pump. And a new patch kit, since the glue in mine had dried out. Only one more day to ride, so I hope that will get me through.

SJX426 

@jimmuller - I can relate! Whose tubes were those?

I just took delivery of 9 replacement tubes. 4 Continentals and 5 Vittoria's. I have not tried the later. In addition, 4 kits of the REMA patches so I too can have tubes with multiple patches!

BTW: I stated that I used super glue on a valve stem/tube interface. It worked well enough to last overnight and get me to work. By the time the work day was over, so was the tube. I used my last good tube to get home where the above stash had been delivered, whew.

I think I like the veloplugs. With all this tire/tube activity, I am much more willing to try them out. The new larger ones have yet to arrive.

Speaking of Tubulars, I am about to try them as a daily commuter tire. Need to do some prep work first.

1989Pre

Yeah, alll that stuff's interesting, at least. I was once sitting at my desk and my MTB tire explode.., blew a 2" rip right down the center. I hadn't ridden it in days. (scratches chin). It's good to be forced to realize that we still have some basic stuff to learn.

jimmuller 

Specialized, I think. Can't check now 'cuz I tossed them. I've also had Vittoria lightweight tubes fail at the valve stem.

Yeah, when they blow like that they aren't content just to produce a patchable hole. They have to take out several inches. Note very neighborly, I'd say. And one thing we learn is not to pump it up too high in a cold environment and then leave it in the sun.

SJX426 

I don't know about your methods, but I have to take responsibility for the valve stem failures. I did not keep the stem from moving into the tire when inflating. Do that often enough with high pressure and I think it possible to induce failure. I now hold the stem in place while applying the chuck or pressure gauge. I don't like threaded stems but many of mine have them so I use the knurled nut to hold the stem in place until I am done.
@jimmuller - since I just took delivery of 5 Vittoria lightweight tubes, I will watch them carefully. I once purchased a specialized tube which failed on a seam with the first fill up. Ripped right along the parting line. My respect for them fell.

squirtdad

Second flat this year on the commute. something sharp went through the center thickest portion of the tread. pull out the tube replace and on the road.

I will patch the flatted tube at my desk at work.

I am running Michelin Lithion 2 tires....supposed to be good trainers. May consider something with more rep for durability.

Just luck of the draw but in more mileage I had no flats on my tubie Tufo S33 pros. Need to rebuild my wheel and get the torpado back on the road, but the Miyata is a super great ride. so maybe build a set of tubies for the Miyata.

anyone have any 32 hole, tubular rims on the stout side?

rhm

After dinner last night I got out my wife's little green Raleigh three speed, pumped up the tires and took it for a test ride. All the gears worked, the brakes worked, the lights were anemic but clearly producing some light, so I figured she's good to go.

Almost as soon as I came in the house, BLAMMO. I went to see and found the front tire flat.

After we watched a Netflix movie I got ready to change out the tube and soon found a two inch tear right on the center of the tread. I had to change the tire, too.

That tire wasn't even ten years old and had very little wear on it. The tube, however, was original 1965 equipment, never been patched.

SJX426 

I have a set of 3/$50 YJ's on a good set of wheels. Had to resort to using them last week and not a mile and a half and the rear blew right through the casing. Haven't got a clue why. Didn't see any glass til several days later. They ride harsh so I will use the remaining two as spares. Risky, I know.

Ordered a pair of Vittoria Corsa G+. Liked them as clinchers so thought I might try them as tubulars.

rhm

Back tire was low, not flat, when I got to my bike yesterday afternoon. It had been locked up (in my bike locker) since Friday morning, so I figured I had a slow leak; pumped it up and rode away. Two miles later it was flat. Pumped up and rode away. Didn't get a hundred yards before it was flat. So I got out my tool kit and found, oops, no tool kit. Someone owns too many bikes and at some point moved the tool kit to another bike.

I had to call my wife to come get me. That was a first; fifteen years of bike commuting, she has never come picked me up before.

Anyway, I took out the tube. It had six patches on it, three of them all in a group. One patch was actually partly over another, and the next one was just a few milimeters away. I couldn't find any external cause for the puncture, so I suppose we should regard this as a failed patch, but my last flat tire on this bike was in December. The patch took a good long time to fail, but its failure was predictable. Lesson learned? Carry a tool kit.



There was no way to patch it again, so I put in a new tube. And I stuck some tools in the handlebar bag.

jimmuller 

Been there so I know the feeling. I once switched bikes at the last minute before starting my commute, forgot to transfer over the pump which migrates among most of my bikes. Had a flat on the way home of course. Another commuter going the other way with whom I'd been exchanging waves and an occasional conversation stopped.

This past weekend I rode the Grandis, got a few miles from home, rear went flat. Found a sliver of glass, patched the tube. Tire wouldn't hold air. Found another tiny scratch near the first with a tiny tiny hole. Best I can figure is the sliver scratched the tube as I pulled the tube out. Rode 40 more miles and the rear went flat again. Another even tinier hole near the first two but no obvious signs of trauma. Defective tube? I replaced the tube, rode home.

Later that evening while putting the bike away I noticed a bulge in the front tire. What the...? I looked more carefully and saw several places, including that one, where the tube was visibly bulging through a cut in the casing. I'd been riding with 140psi, what you might call a Big Bang waiting to happen. That tire had 8 or 10 cuts anyway despite lots of tread left. Swapped it for another.

DiabloScott

Those YJ tubies are usually pretty good - I think it was just a fluke.

SJX426 

I suspect so but, it is still a flat and one I don't care to fix given the hole in the casing. Reluctant to get more given the ride quality difference. If the distance were less and just for show, they are fine but I do 100+ miles a week.

noglider 

I got a flat today and am almost happy about it because I hardly get flats any more. This is the most convenient type of flat, too. I went to the bike room in my apartment building to swap bikes. I brought in my McLean and wanted to ride my Raleigh to work. But I saw the rear tire on my Raleigh was flat, so I rode the McLean again. I'll fix the Raleigh's tire later.

mountaindave 

Always put off today what you can do tomorrow!

I have had a rash of flats recently, partly because of not inspecting for causes and not using a properly sized tube. After all of this, I have decided that I will never carry a CO2 canister. I have had too many occasions where the initial repair failed and I needed to swap tubes or repair again. Or the tire seats poorly and needs to be re-mounted, or pumped up to very high pressure and re-seated.

I have also learned that a improperly seated tire may be the result of an improperly sized tube. And sometimes I just need soapy water and slight over-inflation... which makes mixing a flat on the road a real bear to get that durn tire seated again!!!!

SJX426 

I bought CO2 in bulk, 32 in a box IIRC. Carry three with me to cover failed fixes. I use a small hand pump to validate fixes and to get the pressure up high enough to be able to bleed down instead of getting by.

All those issues you listed, @mountaindave, I have experienced as well. I now take precautions due to the cost of tubes!

Couple of weeks ago I changed bikes, QR for a SS with axle nuts, made sure I had clincher repair stuff in my backpack and forgot to check for a 15mm wrench! Remembered it 8 or 9 miles into a 16 mile commute not on the way in not back. No flat so that was a close one.

ThermionicScott 

How many tubes are in there? I kinda like sitting down to patch a whole bunch of tubes once I run low on a particular size. Thankfully, I don't "get" to do it often.

dim

I'm going tubeless on my fast bike ....

I've already bought they tyres and will get my LBS to fit them on saturday ....



on my daily commuter, I've had 4 punctures in 3 weeks (GP4000S II)

noglider 

IRC is back in business? Where are the tires made?

dim

made in Japan and they also make very good motorcycle tyres ...

IRC TIRE BICYCLE TIRE OFFICIAL SITE

IRC tubeless tyres. Made in Japan with no compromises, UK

I've just bought a pair of Vittoria Pave CG Open Clinchers for my daily commuter, and I will get a set of IRC clinchers in 2 months time (I do high mileage and change tyres every 3 months) ... the IRC Aspite Pro Wet looks like a decent fast winter tyre:

IRC TIRE BICYCLE TIRE OFFICIAL SITE | ROAD | ASPITE PRO WET

thinktubes 

Not flat, but yikes!!!!



This was on a new build that I took for a 40-mile shakedown ride. The tire and and wheelset hadn't been ridden in a couple of years, but I remember the tires as being fairly new.

During the ride, I could feel a "blip" in the wheel, which Seemed a lot worse than I remembed. Oh yeah, and both the headset and BB loosened up during the ride.

Today I fixed the headset and bb and was going true the wheel when I noticed the tire. It's coming apart in at least 2 places. Disappoint about the tires, but glad I didn't find this the "hard way".

Iride01 

Many of us probably think our tires are made in Germany or USA or other places our preferred manufacturer are headquartered. But their products probably come from China, Taiwan, Japan, India or other places.

Those places do make very excellent parts when it's for the companies they are manufacturing for. But rejected, counterfeit and leftover production runs that get sold outside of those companies controls are what causes us issues.

My Continental Ultra Sports were made in Taiwan, despite Continental's carefully worded blurb on their site that gives you the impression their tires are made in Germany. My Vittoria's were made in Thailand, despite them being an Italian company. They are both still good tires.

ThermionicScott 

Very nice, sorry to hear about the goners.

rhm

So... day before yesterday I had an extremely annoying mishap that cost me over three hours. Long story short, my phone fell out of my messenger bag as I was turning into my driveway and it took me an age to find it, because I did not expect it to be out at the end of the driveway (Note: google chrome has an app that helps you find your phone by its signal. Very helpful. I strongly recommend anyone with a cell phone, set this up).

And in the mean time, looking for my phone where I expected it to be, I dumped all the contents of my messenger bag out on the kitchen floor and put stuff back in piece by piece, omitting stuff I didn't need. And I did this twice.

Well, yesterday morning, riding to the station, I hit a bump hard and felt that jolt that tells me my front tire is a little underinflated and I'm probably going to have a pinch flat. It was fine until I got to the station, but when I got out of the train in the evening, my tire was flat.

And that's when I realized that I had not returned my patch kit to my messenger bag after I dumped the contents out, looking for my phone.

Fortunately another bike commuter was there and he lent me an innertube. Got home only a few minutes late

Patched my tube after dinner, switched out the loaner tube so I can return it, and pumped up. Still at full pressure this morning, so it's all good.

noglider 

I think I better check my tool bag and make sure it has everything I think it has.