If you're managing to grab a section of the tube while your working the tire off the rim, you'll create a hole, no matter which levers you use. I find that I have to make sure the tube is fully deflated, then make sure the tire bead is free on both sides of the rim. That usually creates enough space to get a lever under the bead without catching a piece of tube. With some rim/tire combos, I don't need levers at all, but those aren't as common.

Woah, I haven't bumped this thread in over three months! :eek: There was one I didn't write up here, on the back wheel of my commuter; it started losing air in mid-February. I took the tube out and held it under water, stretched every inch of it this way and that way, couldn't find the leak. Changed the valve and put it back on the bike; but it continued to lose air. Early March I took the tube out again and held it under water again, and this time I found the leak. Patched it and problem solved.

______________

Anyway, went out to the bike shed at 4:45 am today and found the front wheel of the commuter bike flat. I rode another bike to the station and just patched the tube now. 32x700c pasela compe tire, no Kevlar but it had a flat guard in there. Puncture in the side wall, couldn't find the cause. Patched.

Couple days ago was relaxing after a spirited SS ride home. Sitting on the front driveway with my bike 3 ft from me when the back tire exploded. I went straight up and so did my drink !

The cause: cheap rim strip allowed the high pressure tube to push through and expand into the inner chamber of the rim.

Moral: use better rim strips, I am a lucky dog.

I have fresh Schwalbe Marathons and new tubes on my commuter. Spare tube kit and pump on board. Don't want a flat and definitely don't want to patch it on the road. Just got my mom's '59 Gazelle out from the Uncles rafters. Not sure how old the tubes & tires are, decades at least, but since they held air I rode it. 4 miles out I got a flat. That is a heavy bike to walk home! Realized I pumped them to near 60 when max is 45. User error. Now the Omafiets has fresh tubes and tires. Bit of a challenge with the full chaincase but not too bad when done in the home shop. She got a fresh Sturmey cable and some polish too.

Road home from work last Tuesday night. Came out Wednesday morning, front tire was flat. I patched it but could not find the cause......holding air fine now. Tire is a Compass Barlow Pass EL 700x38. Generic tube

I was tempted to write something glib like it will be flat in the morning. Then I realized there was something even glibber. Flats are most always caused by a hole somewhere in the tube. How did you patch it if you couldn't find the cause? You just put a patch randomly on the tube and that fixed it?

Now Jim, I know you understand this already so I don't know why I even explain it to you... what he's saying is he found (and repaired) the puncture but not its cause.

He! The cause of the flat was the hole. The cause of the hole is still unknown. I don't know what's so complicated... :D

No, not randomly. I just ride with my thumb covering the hole. That way, I can reuse the patch whenever I need it!

I few years ago I had a rash of flats. Unable to determine the exact cause.... I replaced the tires and bought new "thorn-proof" tubes.

OK.. I live and ride in the Midwest... nowhere near a thorn that could damage my tubes. But I figured those super thick tubes had to be of some help. Of course they do add weight and the tubes are too large to stuff into a saddle bag.... so I carried a "normal" tube as a spare. But neither of those tubes have ever went flat. That bike in now my rain/foul weather bike.

I got a new Trek last July and within the first 1000 miles (stock tubes) I'd had a flat. I haven't switched the Trek over to thorn-proof tubes and because of the added [wheel] weight I may not... unless I have a rash of flats. But I do know the thorn-proof tubes are a solution.

I just put Vittoria Voyager Hyper tires on my commuter. I'm not sure what technology they use, but there is puncture protection. I have ridden Paselas (non-tourguard) a lot, and I didn't mind the fact that I would get a flat occasionally. Now I'm expect the frequency to go down. And these tires ride great. Actually, they feel normal, but my speedometer says I'm going faster. They look like monstrously heavy slow tires, but they don't feel like that.

When I got on my bike to ride home from the station this evening, the rear tire was flat. Totally deflated. I pumped it up and rode home as fast as possible, and fixed it just now. The cause was a little piece of wire, smaller than a staple.

I removed the wire, patched the tube, and we're good to go.

If anyone was wondering, I determined I was causing pinch flats on good tubes with the tire levers when removing tires. I've been more careful with the levers the last few times and have not flatted good tubes. I find it helps to squeeze the bead off after deflating the tube before removing.

Rrrrr. My rear wheel went flat again. After I patched it on Wednesday, it held air overnight and through the day Thursday; but went flat suddenly on the ride home on Thursday. I haven't checked whether it's a new puncture or a failed patch. Rrrr.

Friday, April 10, riding home from the station on the Fothergill (which is not my usual commuter; but I used it for the commute a couple days this week to shake out any adjustment issues etc before Saturday's "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it) I stopped at the HoJo motel to see if I recognized anyone; and had soon found both Phil and Neal. We agreed to ride up to my house... but before we could get out of the parking lot, my rear tire had gone flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. Wtf? I patched it.

We rode on.

Friday, April 10, about 3/4 mile up the road from the HoJo motel, my rear tire went flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. This was not the patch I had just applied; a new, but very similar puncture in a different location. Wtf? I patched it.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 45 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Phil got a pinch flat. I assume it was the flat tire mojo that surrounds me. He patched it and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 55 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Doc's rear tire went flat. It was a staple. Again, no doubt my flat tire mojo. He changed the tube and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 60 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Phil got a pinch flat. I assume it was the flat tire mojo that surrounds me. He patched it and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 75 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, my rear tire went flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. This was neither of the patches I applied the day before, but a new, but very similar puncture in a different location. Do I detect a pattern? I think the Nashbar plastic rim strip has a rough edge that is abrading the tube somehow. But it could be my flat tire mojo again. I patched it. I'm going to change the rim strip today.

I ride Panaracer T-Servs on my commuters. They have a anti-puncture layer. So good, so far.

That's some mighty bad luck you all had on Saturday, @rhm. How many riders were you?

Seven riders, four flats in total mileage somewhere around 700 miles, I don't think that's so bad. Flat tires are part of the normal cycling experience.

True, now that you put it that way.

However, 75% of the riders suffered 100% of the flats, and one rider suffered 50% of the flats. So perhaps the normal cycling experience is for someone else to have a flat.

Okay, how do 75% of the riders suffer all of them? Or maybe you mean everyone else suffered vicariously because they had to stop whenever one person had a flat? That would mean 25% of the riders weren't considerate enough to stop and wait for their compatriots. Ride on! Flats to the left of them! Flats to the right of them! Ride on!

Well...both of my flats on Saturday were "snake bite" type pinch flats. We all knew about the carnivorous pothole that ate my rear wheel the first time. The second one had been after hand inflating the first fix. Both times, I'd judge that the tire was a hair underinflated for the load.

Doc's was clearly a staple in a new tire. Rudi's were more mysterious, but the rim strip theory fits the evidence pretty well. His second flat on Friday night might've been a puncture, though...

Another way to look at Saturday's flats is that 75% occurred on bikes from VA. Phil

You hate flat tires?

Get the round ones, duh.

Oh, I guess I have to mention this one... two weeks ago I did a 200k brevet and my front tire lost a significant amount of pressure around the 40k mark. Right in the city of Phillipsburg NJ, not a nice place to fix a flat. I pumped it up and rode on, figuring I'd patch the tube when I found a warm place protected from the wind, preferably with coffee. But with occasional pumping the tire held for the whole ride. Whew!

edit: it went completely flat after the ride. Puncture of unknown cause, patched 4/20/15.

After the series of flats on the Fothergill mentioned above, I knew I needed to replace the rim strip; but forgot, and rode it on another century down into the pines. And got more flat tires. These don't count, but I guess I have to mention them for the sake of completeness. I eventually fixed the problem... I think.



Yesterday, riding the Holdsworth to the station (regular commuter is laid up for major service) my rear tire went flat. Pumped it up and rode on, but still missed my train. When I got back to the station after work, the tire was completely flat. Turned out to be a little piece of wire stuck all the way through the tire; patched the tube, pulled the wire out, and I was on my way. 650b Grand Bois Hetre tire.

A few weeks ago I pumped up the Bertin's tires expecting to ride it to work. For various reasons I ended up riding different bikes. Then I noticed the flat rear tire, just sitting on the basement floor. Ah, the Schrader valve blew out of the tube. All by itself. Probably would have scared the cat if we had a cat. That's the third time I've seen such a failure.

Oh, good! A place to perform penance, abase myself, and grovel for the forgiveness of the ever so fickle butyl overlords.

I recently finished putting together my new ride, an '86 Trek Elance 310. I had rolled around the neighborhood with the kids a few times, and was taking it for my first longer ride on Memorial Day.

The bike has new Panaracer Pasela PT 700c x 28mm tires, new Kenda tubes on new Mavic Open Pro 32 spoke rims.

On mile 22 of 50, the rear tire started to get a bit squishy. It was at this point I noticed in my haste to get out the door, I had left the saddle bag with the spare tubes, levers, and patch kit on the dining room table.

As I'm checking the tire casing for anything obvious, another cyclist stopped and helped. He was prepared, unlike me.

Didn't see anything immediately obviously wrong with the tube, but Brad the good samaritan gave me a new tube, mounted and inflated the tire, and away we went. He scooted off in to the distance much faster than I could keep up.

Less than a mile back in to the ride, my back tire went really soft again.

I called my wife and she picked me up.

Looking at both flat tubes when I got home, the holes were on the underside of the tube. I had initially used thin butyl rimstrips, and it looks like the tube was able to protrude into one of the chambers for the spoke heads.

So I took those off, and swapped in some hard plastic strips from another wheelset I have.

One of my flat tubes had the hole too close to the valve to easily patch, so I tossed it and patched the other. The patched tube is now in the saddle bag,

So I mounted everything back up, pumped up the tires, and took the bike for a quick spin on the rail trail near my house. About a mile into the ride, *BOOM* goes the rear tube. I walk back to my house.

It looks like the plastic rim strip has a sharp edge near the valve hole, and the new tube was rubbing against it. The hole in the tube is larger than the (admittedly small) patches I have, so I chucked it.

I now have two rolls of Velox rim tape, so I'm going to replace the rim strips before riding this Sunday's Tour de Cure.

I never, ever use plastic rim strips. Been there done that. I have quite a few NOS in my toolbox if anyone wants them.

There's a thread I started long ago about how I used Gorilla Tape as rim strips. I've come around and am back to using Velox. Sure it costs more than anything else, but it's a wonderful thing to know it just works, and it's easy to apply.

On Monday I left the house a minute late, got a hundred feet before I realized I'd forgotten my helmet. Went back, got the helmet, headed on my way a little faster now... got to mile 2 and felt a bump, you know, that tell-tale jolt that tells you you're rear tire is going flat. I increased my speed accordingly, got another half mile. Pumped it up as fast as possible, heard it leaking, but rode on, absolutely as fast as I could ... got another mile... tire pretty flat... rode a little farther... saw my train still wasn't in the station, so I walked the last hundred yards dripping sweat. Announcement on the PA said my train was running eight minutes late. :notamused: Folded up the bike and waited....

I walked the bike from Penn Station to my office, patched the tube after I got here. Just a simple puncture, cause unknown. No pinch flat, much to my relief. I patched it.