Flat tire after flat tire
 

Hey guys, I ride into work 6 miles 5 days a week. On road and bike paths. I bought a road bike not to long ago and for some reason I get a flat tire every day it seems like. The bike is a giant defy. I do not understand this. Ive tried putting 70 dollar (each) tires. But its not working. I'm thinking of getting thicker tubes because at this rate I'll be buying a new tube every other day. At 8 bucks a tube it adds up. I've also tried putting tire liners in but that does nothing as well. Has anyone else had this problem. Thanks.

Schwalbe Marathon + tires and Thorn resistant HD tubes . none light choices.. but since Its my Bike Friday

the weight penalty is not too bad ..

ran blackwall 622-40 tires and HD-TR Presta tubes , 9 month tour of Ireland and Scotland ,, zero punctures..

I Pootle, not, Hammer./

Just checking...

When you replace your tube, are you carefully running your finger through the inside of the tire to make sure there is nothing sharp lodged in the rubber? This will typically result in "flat tire after flat tire."

Something is wrong for you to get a flat nearly every day. Have someone look at it with you. I ride lightweight tires with no protection, and I don't get many flats. Is there a lot of broken glass on your streets?

And stop buying new tubes. Carry a spare and change it on the road. When you get home, patch the tube, and use the patched tube as your spare. Carry a patch kit, too, in case you get more than one flat on the road.

Agree with those who think something is fishy in Scotland. I never obsess about tubes but put some thought into the tires and sometimes the tire liners. They are literally where the rubber meets the road. Tubes should not cost $8.00. Schwalbe Marathons are pretty flat resistant as is, with tire liners you would have about the most flat protection reasonable on a Giant Defy. On my race bike I am running Continental Ultra-Sports... there isn't too much choice in the 27" size...these are cheap, light, training tires with no flat resistance whatsoever, I have ridden right through broken glass with my heart in my mouth on a few occasions, but, so far no opportunities to do field work on the tires. I've only had the bike a couple of months. Especially listen to the poster who advised you check the tire after you open it up to fix the flat. Be obsessive! Go over every square inch of tire surface, inside and out, to make sure there isn't a tiny piece glass or wire, embedded in the tire carcass.

H

What's your address? I have 87 punctured and/or leaky tubes I'd like you to patch for me when you get the chance... you can keep 30 of the best ones for yourself as payment... deal?

H

I'd echo what's been said above.

I'll even flip the tire "inside out" and feel around inside and out once again if problems persist. Sometimes you can see or feel something once the strain on the tire has changed. Also look at and feel the rim and rimstrip very well. Look to see if the puncture happens at the same place every time.

I usually look my tires over pretty well before bringing the bike in after a ride. I still got my last two goathead thorn punctures after I had moved to San Jose from Albuquerque. Clearly, I brought those sons of *****es with me!

+1

Also, check where your tubes are getting punctured and see if there is a pattern. Maybe it's your rim(s)?

I hire kids on my street to do them. 11-year-olds are elated to be paid $5/hour. Or I use my punctured tubes as exercises in my bike repair classes. When class is over, I have a box full of patched tubes. Or you can do it by the fireside while the radio plays.

As no one else has broached it... are you maintaining proper air pressure?

I got like 3 flats the first week when I started commuting. Turns it out it wasn't due to debris, but lack of air pressure.

I once had the weirdest (too me) bur on the inside of the wheel it barely poked through the rim tape when wheel was disassembled.

I only found it as I was running finger along each surface and it gave me a rather nice slice. Pulled off rim tape and there were a couple burs where the spoke holes were drilled. Sanded them smooth. Some nice new tape and no more flats!

Something embedded in the tire, the rim tape, or too low pressure is giving you pinch flats.

It may be a very small chip of stone or whatever in the tire or tape that you can barely feel. It doesn't have to be sharp - it will rub until it wears a hole.

Are you actually finding the source of the punctures in each case? Is there a culprit or are there just holes appearing in the tubes?

In any case,m get new rim tape. It's likely that the bike came with a cheap rubber strip that covers the spokes and keeps them from puncturing the tube. These are crap. Replace them with a good rim tape.

I had a rubber rim strip go bad once and flatted 5 times in one day.

Or, as others have suggested, keep the tire pressure up, especially if you're seeing cases of TWO holes in in the tube which is almost certainly a "snake bite" caused by hitting something with low tire pressure.

I suspect that if you have the Marathon +'s then the tubes are overkill. I ran normal tubes in Spec Armadillos for years with nary a flat.

They are awful tyres, but not as awful as endless flats.

You really have to find what is puncturing the tubes. Look over the inside of the tires well making sure there are no glass chards or wire from blown truck tires. The rubber debris that you see along the highways after a truck blows a tire is usually hazardous to bicycle tires. There is very small unseen pieces of wire everywhere and those will get lodged into your tires and work its way through the tubes. Check your tires really well and also the rim strip. It also helps to use tires with kevlar treadguard or some form of extra flat protection.

There's a simple trick to finding what has created the puncture. Take the tube completely out - trying not to rotate the tyre at all while you do it. Pump the tube way up and find the hole, often you can hear the hiss or sometimes the air blowing out from a little puncture can be felt blowing on moistened lips.

Having found the puncture you can then align the valve up with the valve hole in the wheel rim and feel carefully inside the tyre where the tube hole is (you will likely have forgotten which way around the tube was - so there'll be two alternative places to look, flip the tube side to side)

Sometimes you have to fold the tyre into a bend to open up slashes to find small bits of embedded glass.

This is a frig, but will what is effectively the same puncture coming back.

OR

get Marathon + and be done with it.

+1

that's what most fleet bikes in Germany run

Recommended for the TdA too (point 7):

http://tourdafrique.com/2013/06/the-...tour-dafrique/

^^^ This. I have puncture resistant tires, but found a thin thorn that slip through the threads to the protective wrapping (kevlar, I think). Pulled it and fixed my repetitive flat problem (for now).

About the same thing here, only it was an infinitesimal piece of wire from the brakes in the rear. Had a flat, needed a tuneup (which was free for life from my LBS for buying it there) so I had them change it. All I can figure is that he snipped off the excess rear brake cable that was frayed BEFORE he changed the tire and a tiny piece fell down between the tire and tube. Had 2 tubes with low leaks until I fond it with my fingers. I could only see it with a magnifying lens when I found it and had to pull it with tweezers. It is astounding that it can be a foreign object that is so small and cause a leak. I like the cotton ball idea too, I'll have to try it the next flat I get.

I had a series of 3 bad tubes on my newest bike. All blew out where the stem is joined to the body, all appeared to NOT puncture in the traditional sense but the rubber skirt surrounding the valve came unfastened from the body, must of been insufficient vulcanization. These were all puncture resistant tubes too - fat lot of good that did.

Not trying to put you down, dude, but I have to say it -- first, you have to watch where you're going, road debris can eat you alive (as you are starting to learn); second, you can't just yank the flat tube out and slap another one in, you HAVE to go "CSI" on it to find the problem. Otherwise, it WON'T go away. These are not random occurrences, they have a pattern, and you have to find it.

You can't "buy" your way out of tire hazards on the road or path. (If that were the case, pro road racers would NEVER have a flat.....)

Sorry to jump in AGAIN, and I hesitate to suggest them.

If you are having that many issues you may want to consider airless tires. These are foam filled tires that of course will never go flat as they require no air. The "leading" supplier of these has a horrible reputation, so I won't even mention them. Some people swear by the tires, others swear AT them. Most say the increase rolling resistance significantly. I've never tried them. They look to be about 20-30$ each.

Check your rim tapes. I just went through a similar issue. The rim tape was an old plastic one and it had some slices over the spoke holes that were holing the tubes.

What I did about 4 years ago was to go to tubulars. I ride Tufos (tubeless tubulars) and put in some sealant - either Tufo's or Stans. I never get flats anymore but when I look at my maintenance records, I'm getting 1/8th the flats I was getting before. The last several tires I've worn them out and they've never flatted. I've since switched all our bikes over to tubulars.


J.

Are you referring to the Armadillos? I was considering them so I'd like to know what you didn't like.

I'm right there with you. I've had a ridiculous amount of flats on my "other bike". Everything on that bike is brand new except the wheels. I checked the rims with a cotton ball as someone suggested and didn't find any sharp edges. I put new rim tape in and still got a flat within a day. They were cheap no name rims that came off my old $200 fixie so I'm hoping the new wheels I just bought will fix the problem. For the record I've changed out tires and tubes on my commuter three times now just trying different tires and have had zero flats so I don't think it's something I'm doing wrong....but who knows. Good luck and if it keeps happening I would swallow some pride and go to the LBS and have them fix the flat and see if the results are any better.