From the Amazon listing,
So they claim Kevlar. But... "folding wire"?

Wow I searched the page for "flat" and "protection" and got nothing...I swear the item description didn't say that a minute ago. Hmm.

Good point, but I'd still say that the flats are most likely the result of poor quality tires. I don't think you can buy a decent tire for $20 if you want something that's flat resistant, decent rolling, etc.

It's true that Schwinn is just a licensing name. Or maybe it's more than that. It's not all completely junk. The Schwinn bikes at department stores are department store bikes. There are some Schwinn bikes at bike shops, too, or at least there were in recent years, and they're not junk.

Fixed the flats, so back on the road this morning. Ended up just buying a new tube for the rear wheel (Slime tube from Wallyworld, LBS wasn't open before work when I had time to run in). So far so good, spoke to my LBS about getting some of the Continentals before much longer.

Get a new PUMP (or five) before going much further. At $5-10 apiece on CL or at your local co-op/kitchen, I feel they're something you can't have too many of.

Schwinn is now a Dorel Industries brand. IIRC, they were under the Pacific Cycles umbrella previously. So yeah, mostly just a badge/name now.

Also - sounds like you found the problem, but check your wheels, especially for spoke tension, where you said they're near 25 years old. I had to chuck a wheel with no tension left and corroded nipples (winter bike), and have had other wheels start poking holes in tubes. I'm now better at wheel maintenance - winter wheels barely get touched still, though.

I'm a daily commuter biker. Over the last year I tired the Continental GatorSkin. I'm not sure how they compare in the product line to the Continental Contact but I was unimpressed with the GatorSkin. I went back to my standby, Specialized Armadillo. The Armadillo last me about 9 months on the back with very few flats and nearly forever on the front. I've been using them consistently for 15 years and nothing even comes close.

Rim tape?
 

Have a close look at the rim tape. Did you say these are the original rims? Rim tape can cause flats if it's old and protrudes into the spoke nipple area - it stresses the tube. If you don't know this it can drive you crazy trying to stop the flats.

mtbaddict has it right about low pressure.
robertorolfo has it right about Vittoria Corsa G.
rhm has it right about randomness.
Lemond 1985 has it right about QC for innertubes.


I ride light tires. The citybike, a modified DL-1, is running on Compass Snoqualmie, as light and unprotected as it gets. I'm in Chicago and ride alleys, vacant lots, whatever. Our streets are fairly rugged too. No flats a year and a half on that bike. Two of three other bikes have sewups, two flats past year. Another bike has Compass Stampede and Vittoria Corsa, one flat past year to a defective innertube. Hard to see how I could do much better were I riding around on tank treads. Let some air out of your tires. For that matter stiff tire casings will tend to make sharp objects drive in. Then you need major armor. Supple casings just flex around. My light, light tires don't even have cut marks. Let some air out of your tires.

Best quality innertube currently available is Schwalbe. Get them from UK. Including shipping you can get them for less than cost of generic junk purchased domestically.

Tube valve stem
 

Make sure valve core stem from tube is sticking striaght out from the tire rim. A crooked valve stem stresses rubber where it enters tube and will cause the tube to leak.

Interesting thread. Interesting also the leaps some people make in response to a one time negative experience. I am hearing more and more about people wanting to go tubeless. As I understand it this will necessitate a completely new wheelset and also the requisite tires, sealant and repair tools. I don't know, even when I used Big Apples and/or Marathons and had to deal with the occasional flat I never found that a spare tube and tire levers weren't enough. But the real breakthrough was when I bought a bike with Bontrager Hardcase clinchers. Haven't had a flat since. It's been years. I no longer carry flat repair tools. I don't even worry about talking about them in open forum. They are that good. FWIW.

Just how cheap are these cheap tubes (US$ preferable)?

I've been getting various Vittoria, Michelin, Continental and Richey tubes on sale (usually $4-5 each), and I haven't had a significant defect yet (knock on wood).

Thanks for the tip, but I gotta ask, how do they fare against goathead thorns? Do you ever encounter any of those in your local area?

Flats
 

I used to have so many flats that I was ready to give up biking being up in age . I tried Schwalbe products and am EXTREMELY pleased. Used a few different models from them and always good results, being older I can remember paying less for car tires however it was years ago and this in no way is any kind of deterrent from not using this product.

Is there a chance you pinched the tubes when you mounted the tires? If your technique is poor, you could have done the same pinch to both and you were just lucky that both didn't go completely flat.


Tricks I have learned: 1) put a little air in the tube. A really easy way to get this right - blow the tube up by mouth. Before you start seating the second tire bead, stuff the tube into the tire AND onto the rim. 2) As you go around seating the rim. push the tube into place ahead of the bead. (It will try to squeeze out despite that first effort.) 3) Before inflating, go around the entire tire squeezing the sidewalls and beads in with your hands and looking to see that no tube is seen under those beads. 4) Inflate to a low pressure, remove the pump, then spin the wheel and look for the reference line molded into the tire just above the rim. It should remain an even height as you spin the wheel. If if hops up and down, deflate and adjust the tire beads, looking for pinched tube. Repeat 4) When the tire passes this test, inflate to full pressure.


Also, look for the causes of your flats. The tubes are your first clue. Look for where the flats are, how many holes in the tube for that flat and what the holes look like. Here, patching tubes has its real advantages, 1) you get all the holes because until you do, the tube on't hold air. More info on the cause. 2) you have the location documented. Now, find the same location on the tire. (You did either mount the tire with the label at the valve or directly across, did you not? Or if you didn't, you left the tire on the rim while you removed the tube or just enough of the tube to patch it, no? And if "no" to both questions, take this as a learning experience.)


Common causes of flats - glass, tiny wires, thorns. Usually one tiny hole. Construction debris - often a slash in both tire and tube. Pinch flats from not enough air in the tires or hitting too deep a pothole pavement edge - very often tow small holes or short slashes side by side on the tube. With pinch flats, the tire is almost always just fine and rewuires no attention but all the rest may well require a patch or boot on the tire to prevent future flats. Regular patches work just fine for very small holes from glass, wire, etc, but slashes in the tire will require a boot, ie a patch of real structural strength to keep the casing together at full pressure. You also want to look to make sure the cause if the flat isn't still in the tread. Single tiny holes may well be from very short pieces of car tire wire that is still in the tire tread and casing. If you do not find and remove it, that tiny wire will cause you another flat. Not maybe. Only question if the time. You are not home free because you cannot see it. Again, those patches on the tube and lining up the tire label with the rim are real benefits. Now you know exactly where to look for that invisible wire. (It did have to leave a tiny cut on the tread, It can be found!)


Don't quit this until you've found the cause. If you inadvertently tossed some of the evidence, well, do better next time.


Ben

+++1

I ran into a similar problem in the past (tho, wasn't both tires). Replaced the inner tube, filled it and found it flat the next morning. Pulled the tire (again :( and didn't see anything sticking out of the tire. Pulled the inner tube, located the hole in it and used that to locate the place on the tire from where the puncture could have come. Sure enuf, a thin wire (maybe a small staple?) was sticking thru the tire (wasn't very much, almost unseeable). Yet, on the outside of the tire there was nothing obvious. Got out a magnifying glass and looked more closely. Found the other end of the wire but it had been worn down to the level of the tread. Almost impossible to find.

Now when I get a flat, before I install a new or fixed tube, I always run my finger along the inside of the tire to feel for anything poking thru the tire. Haven't had the unexpected secondary flat since.

"Why is there always time to do something twice, but never enuf time to do it right the first time?"

[QUOTE=

....snip.....
I think you really owe it to yourself though to figure out what caused the other tires to go flat. It could have been something as simple as pinched inner tubes. Or it might be glass, tacks, goat heads, or who knows what?

I like to sit under a nice bright light and feel the inside of the tire where it contacts the tube, checking for anything poking through. Then use a knife blade and tweezers to completely remove it like you would a sliver in your finger. Once you figure out exactly what caused the flats, you'll have a much better chance of avoiding future ones, otherwise you're just throwing money around trying different tires and tubes.[/QUOTE]

Yeah you can't buy Schwinn brand stuff, you also can't buy Walmart stuff either.

I guess what I can't figure out is that you had two flats so why couldn't you fix them instead of walking?

If flats are an issue due to goatheads you need to get beefier tires like, Schwalbe Marathon Plus or Marathon Supreme, Conti Gatorskin Hardshell, Vittoria Rubino Pro G+, Vittoria Randonneur, Michelin Power Endurance, Specialized Roubaix Pro or Armadillo All Condition, and Bontrager Hardcase series of tires. Next you should add a tire liner, problem with liners is that they can be heavy, but if you want to make sure you don't get a flat they're great added protection, the best is the RhinoDillos, these come with one end that has a soft edge to it so it won't rub a hole into the tube as you ride. I'm not a fan of thorn resistant tubes, they don't work in my opinion unless the thorn is really small but useless against goatheads, and they're heavier than liners. I'm also not a fan of sealants for high pressure tires, they tend to dry out after awhile which means you need to add more after about 3 months, and some like Slime won't work once the psi gets above 70, not to mention the mess they can make of your rim.

I too live in S California so I have some experience with goatheads, those things are very tough, if they hit just right they can penetrate even the best tire with a liner! But probably 99 times out of 100 they won't hit just right enough to penetrate all your defenses.

Some of the tires I mentioned are heavy, you have to decide if you want to make sure that you don't get any flats and go with the heaviest ones, or are you willing to sacrifice one or two flats during the life of a tire for a lighter tire.

But you do need to learn how to fix a flat on the side of the road. Of course most people simply replace the tube and then go home and fix the flatted tube, so carry a spare tube, but you also need to be able to put a patch on a tube on the side of the road just in case you flat a second time. Also you should consider carrying a tire boot patch in case you get a larger hole if you decide against a tire liner, the boot will keep the tube from blowing through the hole or another something like a small pebble hitting the hold and killing the tube again; tire boots are not permanent, they will come loose and move after 2 or 3 rides, so if the hole is big it's just a way to get home so you can get a new tire, the hole is small keep reading. I carry a tube of superglue so when I boot a hole, or see a cut or small hole I fill it with the superglue from the outside of the tire, sometimes you may have to refill it several times after several rides before there's enough to permanently close the hole.

Make sure you carry a decent pump, about 95% of the mini pumps on the market won't get anywhere near their max pressure ratings, in fact most won't get to 75psi not alone some 220 psi rating they gave it. I know there maybe 3 or 4 mini's that reach that high but the best one for those is the large version of the Lezyne Road Drive, it takes fewer strokes to get to 100 then any other current pump on the market, their medium size one will take a lot more strokes and effort to get to 100, and I doubt their small one will get to 100.

^^^ Some great advice. ^^^

I would add that a dollar bill makes a very good tire boot in a pinch. A $100 bill, even better. :D

I tried the dollar bill thing once and a piece of shredded steel wire from a car tire went through it, so I fixed the flat and put a mylar candy wrapper in there instead and small pebble tore through it, so I found a another mylar candy wrapper and folded several times plus used the one that I had already used and did the same thing, that time I got home, so I don't put a whole lot faith in any of those even if one of the things I tried said it was backed by the full faith and credit of the US government!

You were extremely unlucky. A tire boot is not a patch. It is only to keep the innertube from compromising further a tire with a large hole or tear. It isn't meant to be puncture proof. But I don't know of anyone that has experienced a puncture at the exact same spot a boot happened to be. Multiple times? Dude, you need to get right with whatever higher authority your belief system acknowledges to be in charge of your journey through life ...

Have you ever seen a Park Tire boot? That patch I'm guessing is roughly a mm thick, and it's a waterproof vinyl membrane with fiber weave reinforcement (taken right from the Park site). This patch you can't tear with your hands, though you can cut it with scissors but it takes a more effort than cutting paper or a dollar bill or a candy wrapper, which both the dollar and the candy wrapper I can easily tear with my hands, and I can easily poke a needle through those but can't poke a needle at all with the patch. So sorry, if I had a choice between using a Park boot patch and a dollar bill or a candy wrapper I would use the boot...now of course if I didn't have a boot well then yes I would use one of those others.

I once tore a tire so bad, a Conti tire where the sidewall got torn about an inch which blew the tube of course, I had to stuff the tire with weeds, I actually made it home that way!

A boot only needs to maintain enough structural integrity of the tire to keep its innards in place. Your description of the Park Boot brings the term 'overkill' to mind. I don't think dollar bills ($0.72 in 2019) are in much danger from the Park competition.

Your experience matches mine. I have Conti tires on a C&V Raleigh Road Racer. I didn't want to convert it to 700C and Conti is one of very few still making narrow section tires in the 27" size. Both those tires needed boots in the first riding season! There is so much love online for Conti tires notwithstanding the universal acknowledgement of their ... 'delicacy'. I don't get it. I won't ever buy Conti tires again.

The statement was rhetorical actually. But I'm glad you are happy with your choice of Deity. Myself I am a free agent at the moment. I am shopping for a 'Higher Power' that will deal with my ex-wife. Gruesomely. The tire thing I have already figured out: Bontrager Hardcase series clinchers.

One trick I don't think I've seen mentioned here: after you replace a tube, fill it to about 50 - 75% of the final pressure, then deflate it completely. This stretches it into the tire shape, but if there are any pinches, when you deflate they will often resolve themselves, and smooth out. Then pump the tire up to your desired pressure and you should be good to go (barring any other issues, of course).

I was just going to mention that
 

I figured you might have disrupted the valve seal when topping off. My dad showed me the spit check after filling for that very reason.

The only draw back to the Park Boot, besides the adhesive not lasting more then a few days is that is thick like you said, and on thin lightweight tires you do get a slight bump as it rolls you back home, but at least you will make it back home vs other stuff I've tried; and since I like to ride 50 or so miles from home I prefer to get back home without any further hassle with a flimsy dollar bill or candy wrapper.


Your experience matches mine. I have Conti tires on a C&V Raleigh Road Racer. I didn't want to convert it to 700C and Conti is one of very few still making narrow section tires in the 27" size. Both those tires needed boots in the first riding season! There is so much love online for Conti tires notwithstanding the universal acknowledgement of their ... 'delicacy'. I don't get it. I won't ever buy Conti tires again. [/QUOTE]

Like an idiot it took me at 3 different times with 3 sets of Conti tires that all failed due to sidewall damage before I finally wised up and said no more, the last time I tried a set of Conti's was about 6 years ago, at least you learned the first time! LOL!! I got caught up with LBS yo yo's telling me that try them now they're great, they won't do that...yes they did. It's funny, but I never in 30 years of riding had other tires fail due to sidewall rips and tears. Granted sometimes I have to ride on gravel roads, but sidewalls should be stout enough to take that, but not the last set of Conti's I tried. The other two sets also all failed due to rips from stones, I'm coming down a mountain pass doing 50 or mph around a curve, I can't just swerve around a small rock (usually a bunch of rocks) that fell off the side of the mountain onto the road, so sometimes I have to hit them, Conti's will rip others will not.

The tire thing I have already figured out: Bontrager Hardcase series clinchers.[/QUOTE]

I've never used the Bontrager tires but I've had friends who have and they like them, so I think, or hope, you will too. Someday I want to try them but right now I'm doing the Specialized Roubaix Pro tire thing, so far I really like them, they seem to roll well, no cuts or flats either, but I only have about 1,000 miles on them so more miles will be needed for a better idea. I have another bike with the Schwalbe Marathon Green Guards (I think that's what they're called) and those things are tough, tad heavy but for touring purposes they're idea, but they roll better then my last set of touring tires and those were about 100 grams lighter!

Rolling friction
 

i dont know if i agree with you. I pride myself on reducing rolling friction on all my bicycles. It sure seems like it takes more effort to pedal my mtb on 26x2.10 at any pressure than my fixie on 700x28 at any pressure.

And one more trick
 

a little baby powder in the tire before assembly helps

FWIW, I've never bought into the whole wide tire thing either. On a standard road bike 700 x 23-25 mm tires are fastest thing there is, period, that's why the pros use em. They'd all be on 26 x 2.10's if they were faster, but they aren't. More comfortable, maybe, but definitely not faster. I can't believe people even bother arguing about stuff like this.

Past a certain speed and size the ride improvement is countered by aero resistance and weight. Even JH himself puts medium tires on his bikes.

Supposedly according to the science that rolling resistance on a road bike is at its least with a 25mm tire, going one size down or one size up from that and the resistance increases a tad, and the pros are recognizing that and all, except for one, of the pro peloton is riding on 25mm tires, the only exception that I could find was running 26mm. Having said that I'm confused about the following, but I also use still do this with my tires (not with Conti though), why Conti Attack tires still offer 23mm for the front and 25mm for the rear, according to Conti the front needs to be a bit more aero in because it's the first to hit the air stream, but the rear is protected by the seattube and thus a wider tire is better; I'm not sure what to think of all of this, I've done it this way because years ago I was told that's the best way after running 23's all around for many years, now we're being told 25 (maybe 26) all around is the better way, I simply don't know. For years they said eggs were good for you, then for years they said eggs were bad for you, now they're back to saying eggs are good for you, does anybody really know for sure if eggs are good or bad for you? Does anyone really know for sure that running 23 in the front and 25 in the rear instead of 23 or 25 all around is good or bad? I can see at sometime in the future that the science takes us back to 23 all around or a mixture of sizes if eggs is any example. I do like the fact that when the larger rear tire wears out the front is usually also darn near worn out instead of having the front only half worn as you do with using the same size all around, so when my tires are worn I just buy a pair and put them on.