Ross73

I recently picked up am 80's Bianchi of eBay, it was complete minus cables and some silly Cowhorn bars as it was going to be a fixie project. I got it home cabled it and put some proper bars and tape on and it looked ok. Tires were obviously old but they held air so I took it for a 5 mile plod and it rode sweet! happy days!

A few days later it was a lovely day so decided to ride it to the pub to meet up with a few mates for lunch. sitting in the pub garden admiring the tatty celeste paintwork in the glorious British sun (it does happen here from time to time lol) then suddenly and with out provocation Ptffffffffffffff from the front tire! I got up and moved the bike a few inches and Ptffffffff from the rear tire! I can only think sitting in direct sunlight (32 degrees C) upped the pressure to a point where the aged tires and tubes could not cope anymore.

Totally my own fault for not checking and assuming everything was good.. Nice 6 mile walk home and and I am still being ribbed about it now lol.

jimmuller 

What pressure were you running? My experience has been that when a tire lets go because of overpressure it doesn't go Ptffffffffffffff. It goes BANG!!!!! like a gnushot. (It really spooks the gnus and the neighbors.) Did you find the holes? What shape were they? Small punctures or big rips?

Ross73

I had 100 psi in them when I left the house, both punctures are the same 1/2 cm rips, front top of tube 1/4 way from valve. Rear mid to bottom 1/2 way from valve. In 30 years of cycling I have never seen it before.

rhm

@Ross73, was there a size discrepancy between tube and tire? What you describe can sometimes happen when you use a very thin tube in a fatter tire.

I got my first flat on my new bike yesterday. I've had this bike about a month now, commuting about 14 miles every day. Yesterday on leaving my office I saw the rear tire was very low, but not quite flat. I pumped up and rode to the station. It went soft during my train ride, so I pumped it up and rode home. Patched the tube later. There was a tiny scrap of shiny steel wire poked all the way through the tread off the tire.

ThermionicScott 

I've had fairly good luck with flats this year, but I got one on my way to the start of PBP. Literally discovered it as I was approaching the velodrome grounds. Found the offending sliver of gravel, replaced the tube, and that apparently satisfied my quota for flats, but having one so close to the event made me a little nervous for a while.

rhm

That's pretty lucky! And, congratulations on PBP!

ThermionicScott 

Thanks!

jimmuller 

Alas, I did an rhm imitation this morning. I rode the Motobecane to work and flatted one of the Vittoria sew-ups, picked up what looks at first examination to be a 1/4" cut. I was about 2/3rd's of the way in, running downhill at speed rocking a 47/17 gear ratio when the rear tire went POW-shhhhhh rather loudly. Fortunately I carry two spares. I quickly swapped tires, pumped it up, re-assembled the bike, and got out onto the road about 50yds in front of an on-coming street-sweeper machine. Dang! If I'd been just 10 minutes later whatever it was I hit probably wouldn't have been there.

Last ride 76 

Hard being ahead of the curve.

I sometimes am very puzzled by coincidence and synchronicity in my life.

Good to carry a spare (or two).
Is your commute that long? Or are you just a "belt & suspenders" kind of guy?

Too bad the sweepers are so slow. Imagine how it would have felt to get another flat in front of it. (looking on the bright side...sort of).

Cheers, Eric

rhm

The rear wheel on my NJ commuter has been going soft overnight, not so bad that I needed to fix it immediately, just pump it up before each 5.5 mile ride. Finally got around to dealing with it yesterday. There was a puncture, who'da thunk that! I patched it.

Also replaced the tube in my daughter's bike. Not sure what she did to it, but the tire was off the rim and the tube was in pretty bad shape. Looks like it might have blown off the rim while she wasn't around.

jimmuller 

One good thing about clinchers is you can carry one spare tube and a dozen patches in a patch kit "just in case". That means you'll never have more than one flat on a trip. With sew-ups a patch kit does you no good unless you can stop time for an hour or more. When I applied for my super-hero membership they wouldn't give me that ability.

My commute is 16 miles each way. I've had a few flats every year, not so many yet this year. That particular tire is one I had patched before quite recently. Don't recall where it flatted but probably on my commute. I'm not sure I want to pull it apart to patch again, but I may give it a shot anyway.

seedsbelize 

I wish I had a 16 mile commute. I don't have a commute at all. For the two weeks I was in Virginia, I commuted 8 miles each way though, from my sister's house to my parents'apartment.

seedsbelize 

What is said new bike?

jimmuller 

carbomb

I hate people with flat tires lately.

The last group ride I was on we passed an older gent who looked to be inspecting a flat. Due to his carbon/aluminum looking thing (these types travel really light and I assume they have no repair kit) and his grim face on approach I slowed and asked if he needed help. What a heated "I'VE F%$&#*@ GOT IT!" he produced... sweet jeebus, just give a thumbs or say 'no'... the group was in disbelief, that was a new one.

Before that I was on the subway and a guy with a fancy mountain bike comes on. He looks pretty down and I see the flat. A little "Excuse me, do you need some help with that, I have a kit..." was met with a really threatening monologue about how my white, KKK looking arse was trying to feel good by helping a black man. My friends were really frightened and I think I bruised my brain rolling my eyes so hard. He got off at the next stop as I just stood there, white knuckeling my u-lock in fear/preparation. I felt bad for the bike.

Of course, this is Los Angeles so I should know better than to talk to strangers.

jimmuller 

After more than 6000 miles we had our first real flat on the tandem today. It was only 1 mile from our start. Of course it was a rear tire so I had to patch it without taking the wheel off.



When we got home I examined the tire carefully. That flat was bike's way of telling me to change the tire. It had a few spots with the tread worn down to the threads.

rhm

Out on a 28 mile ride before dinner last night, decided to take a quiet road that has a section that isn't paved. It's usually flat dirt with some rocks and some washboard sections, but now it turned out to have fresh gravel on it, and I got a pinch flat. Oddly, I got two punctures about an inch apart, so I don't think they could have been caused by the same rock. Pretty sure they were both pinch flats, though. Two patches later I was on my way again.

I think that's 21 flat tires so far this year.

jimmuller 

Okay, you win.

rhm

No, that is distinctly not winning. No flat tires, now, that would be closer to winning.

How about a more realistic statistic: I'm averaging approx. 188 miles per flat tire.

rhm

I was just thinking, the other day, wow... It's been a long time since I have had a flat tire. I know, I know, that is never a safe thing to think, let alone speak aloud.

Well... yesterday I did some work on my Fothergill, changed the wheels from 700c back to 650a that were on it until a year ago. I did my best to overhaul the front hub (1938? Sturmey Archer MkII 12v dynohub; I haven't been able to get the magnet out, so I can't get at the ball bearing on the right side. Anyway, after various maintenance chores, I took it out for a test ride. Lights, good. Brakes, good. Shifting, good. Bearings, all in all, seem good. All good.

And this morning the rear tire was flat. An inch long piece of a rusty nail, 2mm thick, stuck all the way through the tire and tube. This is a really nasty piece of metal!

I have patched it. Good to go.

OldsCOOL

I havent had a flat during an out-of-town road trip in the past 3 summers. Had a few go flat in the shop but to me that's just fine.

A nail through the tire and tube? Wow, that's easy to find.

Aubergine 

One time I was riding on the Snohomish County Interurban trail, way up north in Everett. I was on a road bike with Vittoria Pavé tubulars, and my rear tire finally wore out and flatted (the tubes in those things give up the ghost at about 3000 miles.) I pulled my spare out from under the seat and put it on. I pumped it up and nothing. The spare had died just sitting there. :-p

Unfortunately, being deaf, I had no phone with me. It was a LONG walk home.

crank_addict

Pump Hub

OldsCOOL

Big props for riding sewups, no cell phone and hearing disabled. Two thumbs up!

jimmuller 

Wow, we went from 8/31 to 12/12 with no flat! How'd that happen?