jon.612

I'm a carbon copy of your height/weight - have been riding 700 x 23 tires on 36 spoke wheels. Bought the wheels used on craigslist. I've discovered that I'm really not that heavy when it comes to actual physics and material strengths. Impacts are the extremes that cause failures, and I tend to ride a bit slower, I don't bunny hop, and ride "heavy" lightweight wheels. I did RAGBRAI 5 years ago on a mountain bike - now realize I worked harder than I had to. Your absence of rimstrips, I'm sure was 100% of the problem. Regardless of quality, if everything is in place and spokes are tensioned correctly, you can ride with confidence on narrow tires.

Pupsocket

I once had a pair of cheap tubes that kept blowing along what turned out to be some sort of glued seam. Those I discarded. Otherwise, I find the cause (debris thru tire, rim/spoke problem, pinch flat, etc), remedy the cause, patch the tube, and reuse.

I had one tube with 7 or 8 patches that I finally trashed due to a pinch flat too close to the stem to patch. I run Primo Comet kevlar-belted tires, and fortunately this cuts way down on the debris flats.

happygilmore

Well after putting on about 65 miles this week, low & behold, another round of flats. Upon further review, they appear to be on the spoke side of the tube. I'm assuming the culprit pis that velox rim tape "slipped"? As there a few of the spoke holes that aren't completely covered, and have the crescent moon look. Is this normal, or possibly a bad installation job by the LBS********** Either way, learning experience, and hopefully back on course today

Bill Kapaun

Is your rim tape the proper width?
See post 6