popping tubes
 

i recently bougth my brother a trek 4300 and hes had it for a little over a week. This past weekend we went out and hit the trails. He ended with a flat hafl way around the lake/trail and ended up walking back 4 -5 miles. Once he reomved the tired inside he foudn a rusted screw, and the tube had a pin like hole in it. My guess is the bike is a week old and somewhere along the lines of it being built the screw was accidently dropped inside the tire...would i be wrong to assume that? Also I popped my tube as well. My biek is nothign special its a GT avalanch 2.0 and i bought it back in '03. I cant afford the 2K bikes at this point, but also dont want to ride like a grandma on training wheels...should I just stock up my back pack with many tubes and not leave home without my pump? Seems like I will be going through many tubes.

I never ride without a spare tube, patch kit, mini-pump, mini-tool, spoke wrench, chain tool and first aid kit. I throw it all in my hydration pack.

Yup...me 2

my repair kit coincides with the remoteness of the ride. If I'm on a 6 mile city trail loop, where it is singletrack but you're less than 1 mile from the city at any given point, then my pack has my cell phone, some patches, pump, glue, multitool.

If the ride is a 2+ hour drive into the woods, followed by a 15+ mile ride in rough terrain, then my pack will include the above plus 2 - 4 tubes, food, lots of water, chain tool, first aid kit, gps, pocket knife, etc...

I used to get a flat on every other ride, then I got some tougher tires and slime tubes. No more flats.

you may want to re-check the rim, and either add a new rim strip, or cut up one of those flatted tubes to line your rim for a little extra protection. Then again, there might just be hidden trash on your trail?

good to know, thanks a lot. I actually ended up going with the slime tubes to replace the tube i popped this weekend.

also does the green slime come out of the stem when you put on yoru tube? mine did and being new to all of this i thought i messed something up, but contacted the store and they said its normal...just wanted to double check. My original tubes came with the thicker stems, but my new tube i bought has the thin stem. Sorry for giving such elementary descriptions, Im not up to par yet with all the bike lingo.

You may want to check your tire pressure for your tires also. If you are getting "SNAKE BITE" flats these come from having too little air in your tires and the weight of you and the bike compressing the tires into the rim causing the classic snake bite flat.

Now the screw in the tire. That's an odd one. Could have happened in shipping. Many bikes have little air in the tires when shipped and a screw could have migrated inside the casing. If this were on a NEW bike the Dealer MIGHT replace the tube for free. If I were in that position as a shop mechanic, I would look over the inside of the tire to look for rust marks which would tell me that the screw was indeed in the tire when new. A tube could make or break Customer relations and it would go a long way to keep a customer.

Chris

yep its normal. i've handled many slime tubes and never had it come out, then on the last one i changed, i guess i held it at a bad angle or something because it sprayed neon green stuff all over my hands :eek: i'd just be careful not to lose too much of it because you could lose some of the anti-flat properties.

I highly doubt a screw was already inside the tire, especially a rusted one. Probably just went through while riding.
You shouldn't go riding without a spare tube and inflator of some kind (mini pump or CO2 are the best options).
The slime tubes are great, and yes its fine that green stuff came out. Thats the sealant, and if some of it got into the valve it's going to come out. There is plenty in the tube so don't worry about the sealing properties being lost.

Run at least 40 psi and you'll probably reduce your flats.

If the slime tubes are not enough, there are also tire liners that will turn most thorns, and stickers.