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How Are Your Flats Doing? Flat Check!

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Fifty Plus (50+) Share the victories, challenges, successes and special concerns of bicyclists 50 and older. Especially useful for those entering or reentering bicycling.
View Poll Results: How Many Flats Since April? Causes? Multi Choice
Choose as many as you like - None
36
37.50%
1-2
34
35.42%
3-4
15
15.63%
5-6
5
5.21%
7+
2
2.08%
Goatheads
9
9.38%
Glass/metal slivers
20
20.83%
Pinch
5
5.21%
Defective tube/tire
7
7.29%
Other - please tell us below
9
9.38%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 96. You may not vote on this poll

How Are Your Flats Doing? Flat Check!

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Old 08-27-12 | 02:53 PM
  #76  
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 4,803
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From: So Cal

Bikes: I don't own any bikes

Road bike - None (OK now I am probably jinx'd).

Mountain bike: 4 - all within the last month. It's goathead season around here...changing one tire I pulled out 6 thorns!!!!
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Old 08-28-12 | 10:33 AM
  #77  
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From: Bristol, R. I.

Bikes: Specialized Secteur, old Peugeot

No flats (punctures) for 3-4000 miles but I check tires frequently for cuts and glass. I let the air out, then pinch the tires to open up cuts and pick out glass shards and stones.
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Old 08-28-12 | 08:25 PM
  #78  
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From: Colorado Springs, CO.

Bikes: 2011 ICE Sprint Special Edition

The Goat Head season must be coming on here in So. CO. as I've picked up two of them in less than 24 hrs. Man I LOVE my Vittoria tires, that "double rubber" flat protection does better than the "kevlar" on my other bike!
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Old 08-31-12 | 05:34 AM
  #79  
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Well, make it 3 since April
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Old 08-31-12 | 07:05 AM
  #80  
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Joined: Dec 2008
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From: santa cruz
No flats in over 2,000 street miles running continental grand prix 4000s 700 x 23 @ 105lbs/110lbs, ft/r. Bar none, the best tire I have even run combining light weight, good cornering, supple ride and flat resistance. I love these tires!

Two flats off road on my cross/adventure bike running Ritchey speed max 32's at 40lbs. Both pinch flats hitting rocks on fast descents.
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Old 08-31-12 | 09:34 AM
  #81  
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Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Maryland

Bikes: 2007 Trek 2.1

3 Flats so far this year. 2 are my own doing. I keep screwing down the nut on the valve stem each time I check/pump the tire before rides. Twice the valve stem has torn from the tube. I shouldn't be so obsessive about screwing the nut down tight! Are they even needed?

3rd flat was on a metric century ride. I got dropped from the group I was riding with so I was just in a zone riding. Rode right past the rest area and got my flat a few mile down the road. While I was fixing my flat the group came by...they had been waiting for me at the rest stop.
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Old 08-31-12 | 10:04 AM
  #82  
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From: Minnesota

Bikes: N+1=5

No flats for the last year and one the year prior. I switched to tubulars using the Tufo stuff and my flats dropped by a factor of 6 to 8. I also find that changing a tubular is easier and faster than changing a clincher. I wish I had done this years ago.

I may be getting punctures (don't thinks so, but maybe) but the goop in the tire takes care of it. I wondering now if running tubeless clinchers would do the same thing. But, what did worry me, was getting a flat when moving fast and worrying about the clincher coming off the rim.

Either way, I used to average about 6 flats a year. Not I get one - maybe. Usually I wind up replacing the tire from wear first.

J.
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Old 08-31-12 | 11:26 AM
  #83  
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Posts: 384
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From: Austin, TX

Bikes: 2005 Bike Friday NWT, 2015 Brompton, 2019 Titanium Bilenky Midlands

I'd made the mistake of checking off zero flats, which offended the flat gods, and I got a flat today.
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Old 08-31-12 | 11:35 AM
  #84  
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 393
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From: Kalamazoo, MI USA

Bikes: Jamis Renegade, Kris Holm/Nimbus 29, Nimbus Eclipse

No flats in 1400+ miles since April.
700x23 IRC Redstorm in front @90psi and CST Compressor in back @100psi. I watch for sharp things, and am usually able to dodge around them. In years past, I have averaged around 1 flat per thousand miles. Twice in the past 5 years the sharp object has cut the tire enough to ruin it, which explains why my tires don't match.
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Old 08-31-12 | 12:45 PM
  #85  
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Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Pacific NW
4 in 7.5 miles....

total of 9 in that same 24 hours.


glass, thorns, rim tape, rim tape, rim tape..... faulty valve base... more valves...



At the end of the day I gave up on my old wheels, and went to fewer spokes with smaller spoke holes (no rim tape issues since........)



oh crap.... now I need to pour out a beer.
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Old 08-31-12 | 12:48 PM
  #86  
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Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Pacific NW
Originally Posted by Scootman
3 Flats so far this year. 2 are my own doing. I keep screwing down the nut on the valve stem each time I check/pump the tire before rides. Twice the valve stem has torn from the tube. I shouldn't be so obsessive about screwing the nut down tight! Are they even needed?
no.

they only stop the "rattle"... not all wheels do that.
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Old 08-31-12 | 08:31 PM
  #87  
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Joined: Jul 2012
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From: Carson City, NV

Bikes: Schwinn Trailwise, Surly Pugsley

None. I stay away from glass and goatheads.
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Old 09-01-12 | 07:42 AM
  #88  
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From: santa cruz
Originally Posted by GeorgeBaby
I'd made the mistake of checking off zero flats, which offended the flat gods, and I got a flat today.
Yikes! I posted the same thing; not look'n good for my club ride in a couple of hours.....................
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Old 09-01-12 | 10:22 AM
  #89  
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Joined: Jun 2012
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From: Dallas, TX

Bikes: Mercian Audax Velo Orange Rando. Cannondale R800

Keep getting flats at the stem. third one in a month. any remedies?
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Old 09-01-12 | 10:17 PM
  #90  
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From: santa cruz
Originally Posted by 1100 Springs
Keep getting flats at the stem. third one in a month. any remedies?
If you have prestas.........One problem I had was a floor pump head that was a very tight fit on the threaded presta stems. I realized I was pulling the stem out of the tube, at the base, over time. I changed pump heads and the problem was gone.

Last edited by con; 09-01-12 at 10:21 PM.
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Old 09-01-12 | 10:55 PM
  #91  
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From: Dallas, TX

Bikes: Mercian Audax Velo Orange Rando. Cannondale R800

I think this could be the problem , thanks for all the help
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Old 09-02-12 | 05:05 AM
  #92  
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Originally Posted by 1100 Springs
Keep getting flats at the stem. third one in a month. any remedies?
Are you possibly unscrewing the stem too far when pumping and bending it. It only needs a couple of turns on the nut to allow air in. Some presta stems are very long and fragile when the nut is backed off all the way. It's also not necessary to torque down a lot on the stem nut when tightening. The nut only keeps vibration and bumps from "burping" air out past the seal in the presta valve.
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Old 09-02-12 | 05:46 AM
  #93  
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From: northern michigan

Bikes: '77 Colnago Super, '76 Fuji The Finest, '88 Cannondale Criterium, '86 Trek 760, '87 Miyata 712

I've done well with flats this year. Only had the one last May from a tire wire and even then the air held up and it wasnt found out until the next morning in the shop. Since changing over to Michelin Krylion's there have been zero flats. It's been a good season.
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Old 09-02-12 | 11:31 AM
  #94  
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From: Dallas, TX

Bikes: Mercian Audax Velo Orange Rando. Cannondale R800

Its tearing at the base of the stem on a presta valve. I have had these wheels for several years and never had a problem before. I think I may have over tightened the nut since I changed to a 25mm tire from 23's
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Old 09-11-12 | 04:33 PM
  #95  
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Joined: Sep 2012
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From: Sunnyvale, CA.

Bikes: 2013 Caletti, Trek 7500 fx

Probably dooming myself to getting one, but 0 so far...
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