noglider 

Yes. I once brought my fixie to my mother in law's to stay the night, planning to ride to work from there. I realized I didn't have a wrench, and that evening, I went to the supermarket and bought an adjustable wrench. OK, that's neurotic, because it was only one 15-mile ride, but I really don't want to be caught unable to remove a wheel. And what's so hard about carrying a wrench? The weight isn't great.

jimmuller 

I strive mightily to keep the bike light against my sweetie's tendency to put more and more small things into the bags. A 19mm is pretty heavy. Plus I'd need a 10mm, preferably a socket and ratchet, to unhook the drum cable, and a 9mm (or is it 8?) to free the anti-rotation arm. Yeah, we could carry that stuff, already do carry a spoke wrench, a small adjustable, and a small screwdriver. But this is a fairly civilized part of the world. Fools like myself sometimes rely on the kindness of strangers, or at least the kindness of a cell phone call. Failing that I rely on the fact that almost all flats can be patched without needing a completely new tube.

squirtdad

get all ready for the commute home....leaving on time to avoid a little dark and rain....off I go and....damn flat.

quick fix, but have to rejigger the race blades afterward....

am going to add set of tweezers to the kit.....took a bit to get the little wire/thorn out

am averaging 1 flat per 200 miles, but it is not really evenly distributed. Michelin Lithion 2 tires. May think about different tires

on the good side it was totally dark when i finally started but my new 1100 lumen light really lit it up well

noglider 

You're going to hate me for saying this, but I do not hate flat tires. I don't love them, for sure, but they don't ruin my day.

rumrunn6

the colder it gets, the less happy I am about them. 2 nites ago was outside snacking mid-ride at a bike friendly cafe w 2 floor pumps out front. temps were in the mid 30s but I was dressed for it. young man pulls up (just a sweater & no gloves) & I assume he's locking his bike to go inside. he's there a long time & that's all I noticed. as I was walking past him with my bike to start homeward I ask if he needed help w anything. he says: "yeah actually" turns out his rear tire was low but not flat (unknown reason) & he was having trouble filling it with the pump. simple schrader valve, chose the correct pump (nice cafe has 2 pumps 1 w schrader head 1 w presta head) showed him how to insert valve & lock the pump head by lifting the lever & made him pump it. he did 2 pumps & I'm like "dude you're low on air keeping going!" anyway, problem solved ... maybe

noglider 

True, fixing a flat in the cold sucks. Cold rain is even worse.

Essthreetee

Yep...on my way home from my ride this morning...picked up a goat head in my front tire.

Colnago Mixte

Or as Mickey Roarke's character in the movie Barfly would put it, "I don't hate flat tires. I just seem to feel better when they're not around."

Velognome 

The mysterious "went flat overnight" syndrome simply means it's time to use another bike for the day. If it were not for flats, a think most of my bikes would never see the light of day.

bicyclridr4life

I am unfond of flats.
I run 8 ounces of Slime in all my tires*. The rear tires on my trike also have liners.
*The curbside tire on my trailer has an airless foam tube.

rhm

Yep, the patch I put on two weeks ago, and expressed reservations about here (https://www.bikeforums.net/showpost.php?p=19983500&postcount=495) failed today on a ride through the Pine Barrens. It was strange. I hit a bump hard and it felt like I had pinch flatted. Sure enough the tire went flat. But it wasn't a pinch flat; a patch was leaking.

I replaced the patch, using glue on both the tube and the patch this time, and taking extra care to be sure the glue dried. I think it was a success.

noglider 

rhm

Rear tire went flat a mile from the station this morning. Patched it by a street light. I didn't find the cause, and I suppose it looked like it might have been a pinch flat, but I'm pretty sure I was riding with enough pressure.
Whatever. I missed the 5:13 express, caught the 5:30 local instead.

jimmuller 

Maybe. Could have been a sliver of glass or wire which went through the tire but didn't stay. Or maybe all the air spontaneously bored through the potential well of the tube in a quantum-mechanical manner and escaped. Or maybe you should slow down. Heisenberg tells us that if you are going too fast you never really know where the air is.

Which prompts me to think: Good grief, you must get up at 3AM. And your morning commute must be in the dark; is your evening commute in the dark too? So what kind of lights are you running? (Yeah, I know, you may have posted that in the recent lighting thread but I don't recall specifics.)

rhm

Yup, I get up at 4:15, spend 4:45-5:10 on the bike, 5:15-6:10 asleep on the train... Don't ask me when I wake up, I'm not sure I ever do. This time of year my daily commute is in the dark both morning and evening. During daylight saving time my ride home is in the light, but my morning commute is in the dark for most of the year.

The headlight is a B&M Lumotec IQ Cyo Premium (it's not pronounceable, don't even try), powered off a dynamo. It's an excellent light.

Would you believe: the same thing happened today, as yesterday! well, not quite the same thing: but the rear tire started getting low about halfway to the station. I pumped up three or four times, and the last time something went wrong with the valve (I assume the core had got unscrewed... but I couldn't check it out in the dark) and I ended up walking the last hundred yards or so. When I got to the station I realized I hadn't yet missed my train, which was a few minutes late, so I started to fix the flat. The bike is now in my bike locker with the wheel off, the tire halfway off the rim, waiting for this afternoon when I'll replace the tube.

As to the cause of these two flats, I must have got the tube pinched between the tire and the rim when I fixed it yesterday. It's a tight tire (Continental Grand Prix 4000 in 28 mm) . It's hard to get the tire onto the rim, and once it's on it is hard to tell whether the tube is pinched or not. The tire appeared to be perfectly seated, had no dips or bulges or other anomalies, so I thought it was good. But the fact is that it went flat again, so I'm thinking I didn't have it seated right after all.

Edit: I don't normally use talcum powder on my tubes. But I'm going to try it this afternoon when I put in the new tube. Anyone have a tip on the best way to apply the talc?

rumrunn6

found the pic I was thinking of. Nitrile gloves - good for any hobbyist. just wish they came in a larger size & slightly thicker so they wouldn't be so prone to tearing. smaller hands would help but I can't change that

rumrunn6

warning, it makes a mess on the floor. but I tend to overdo things ... sprinkled on the rim before the tube & tire, get everything in place before inflating, sprinkle around both sides of the tire bead, all around, pushing the tube in to be sure the powder gets between the rim & bead. not sure it really helped that much

wonder if you can brush it on by putting a bunch in an empty jar & using a small paint brush or something?

rhm

It happened again yesterday riding to the station: rear tire went flat. Pumped up and rode a bit, but it was going flat so fast I stopped at the next street light and changed the tube. The puncture was on the rim side of the tube. The rim tape (velox rim tape) was not perfectly centered, and though I couldn't see any obvious spots where it was missing a spoke hole, I took it off and put it back on, this time taking care to get it perfectly centered.

This may explain both of the flats I had last week. If it happens one more time, I'm replacing the rim strip.

cdmurphy

There is quite a bit of variation in nitrile glove quality. I go through about a box every few weeks at work. I've had very good luck with Costco's nitrile gloves. They come in two box packs, in sizes from small to xl. My hands are kind of small, so the mediums fit great.

rhm

Happy New Year, guys! Let us hope we all keep this thread alive, as a way of appeasing the flat tire gremlins, so they don't bother us unnecessarily!

That said, I had my first flat of the year yesterday. Or maybe it was my last flat of 2017; hard to tell. When I got to my bike locker at the station, having left the bike there two weeks earlier, the rear tire was flat. Totally flat. I pumped it up and rode away, even in the cold, but had to stop a couple times to pump it some more.

It turned out to be a defective innertube; the tube had a thin spot at one of the molding ridges. I patched it.

skillasw

I had a dream last night that I got a flat tire, then I woke up and realized my streak still stands! (knock on wood) I've been strictly biking (no car at all) for 2 years at an average of 400 miles a month, with zero flats. I just had to share because I think it is kind of amazing. Though it is not down to pure luck, that is shared over 3 different bikes and 4 different tires: 35% Conti gatorskins (28mm), 25% Rubino pro G+ (25mm), 35% Corsa G+ (23mm), 5% Rubino pro speed (25mm), all tires were new, (except the gators which where quite used already). I also always pay close attention to what I'm riding over, the roads to my house are in bad repair with mixed surfaces and riddled with potholes, with new ones appearing regularly. I've probably gone and jinxed myself now though...

Anybody else have a long streak without a flat?

.....Happy riding!

squirtdad

you have definitely angered the flat tire gremlins.....if you don't get a flat, others will. you must convert at least one bike to tubular (but cheat and go tufo) to appease the gremlins

jimmuller 

We have had only three, all on the rear, on our tandem, having ridden it about 10,000 miles. The first didn't happen until well over 5000, and it was a slow leak. I rode my Gatorskin-shod Bianchi commuting about 25mile round trip three days a week for 9 months with no flat except a pinch flat from hitting a bump and then realizing I hadn't been checking the tire pressure.

noglider 

I was going to say I can't remember the last flat I had, but it's more likely that I don't remember my flats any more soon after I have them. I think I had one in the summer.

rhm

I like your attitude!

I never forget ANYTHING. I mean it man, I literally cannot remember the last thing I forgot.