ovoleg

Today was quite the adventure...

I woke up late so I didn't ride with the club. I set out and did an average loop around the area. I decided to head to Griffith park which is around 20miles away.

I went down to Hollywood first and then went back up the small hills. As I go up, I feel as though everything is too hard and the grade isn't too crazy. I look down and I see my rear tube is going flat. Alright, no problem, I've flatted more times than I can count. I get down and replace the tube, toss the other tube, 1 co2 and I am moving again.

5 miles into it, I flat again...I get off and fix the flat. I noticed that the flats were occuring on the inside of the tube, which meant that it was coming from the rim. I have tire liners on the inside so I thought I should be fine. I rode yesterday and the two days before without any issues(total of ~70 miles). I get pissed as I waste my last Co2 and decide to ride home.

5 more miles on the way back, I flat again. Again, from the inside of the tube, matching exactly where the hole is for the spoke. This time I have to utilize the frame pump. This was a PITA but I did it.

I move 100 feet and I flat again!. WTF! I am furious now. I get down and fix the flat(again it lines up with another spoke.

I rode another 10 miles and I flat again . I fix the flat, but now my arm hurts pretty bad after inflating.

I am so tired, I ride slow and avoid any road debri that might cause another flat. 1 mile from my house I get another one!!!!!!!!! OMG WTF ! I SERIOUSLY thought about walking at this point but I sucked it up and fixed the flat. I think I did only 60-80psi because I had no more energy to keep pumping.

Luckily I get home...

I am proud that I didn't have to call my brother. Now I have to fully resupply myself with the essentials!!
I am going to pick up that rim tape that attaches to the rim, and put scotch tape or something to make sure that its not sharp and doesn't touch the tubes.

+ 5 patches
+ 2 Co2
+ 1 Tube
+ sore arm

FTW!

daytonian

Ovo - sorry about your luck man. Funniest thread all week though. Picturing a dude going a hundred feet and same $hit. Priceless.
Your tenacity is infectous. Thanks.

ovoleg

of all the repairs, I must have seen 20+ riders pass me. None of their snobby a**es even asked if I needed help.

Actually on the second to last patch, I waved to a couple guys hoping they had some Co2 lol

bastards! I remember them and their bikes, They'll get theirs

Fox Farm

Hum, rim strip sounds like it has a metal burr in it. USE TUFO sealant.

thewalrus

try covering the rim strip in 3M electrical tape... a full wheel's diameter of tape only weighs a few grams. I made the mistake of buying 1cm wide Velox rim tape that was a bit too narrow to cover spoke-holes, after a few mystery flats I covered it in electrical tape and haven't had any problems since.

ovoleg

Thanks, I'm not a weight weenie so I'll give this a shot

DannoXYZ 

Electrical tape's way too soft. Packaging-tape works better, it's not flexible because it's got those fibre reinforcement threads. Get some that's wide enough to completely cover the holes in the rim by at least 2mm on each side. Then wrap it around twice. But first find the exact spoke-hole that's been causing you problems and see what's going on with it. Could be it's got a sharp edge or a burr that's poking through the tape and into your tube.

ovoleg

its all of the holes, the whole tube is patched up the gazoo

bitingduck

Use cloth rim tape-- Velox has been very good to me, and I have some Zefal tape that's been fine too (probably made by velox for zefal). Make sure it's the right width for the rim so it covers all the holes but doesn't run up the sides (so you don't have problems like thewalrus)-- it comes in several widths and not all shops carry the full range.

I had a pretty similar experience with my girlfriend on a vacation. Plastic rim strips are bad and will fail when it's most miserable for you. I don't think we've ever had a problem with cloth rim tape.

ovoleg

its just messed up that it had to happen 30 miles from my house...

I proclaim myself the patch master. Anyone wana race ?

bitingduck

That's the way it works. The strip waits until you're far from home, and far from a bike shop, and then it goes. and goes, and goes....

A couple years ago at the start of the San Diego Xmas bike ride (6 days, starts day after christmas) I had a nasty sidewall blowout a couple inches long right after we got past any chance of finding a shop. It was a nearly new tire-- I still don't know if it was infant mortality or I snagged something on the road. And the sag wagon was a couple hours up the road because I always fly in the morning of the 26th and start a couple hours late. I rode for about 10 miles with maybe 30 psi held in by a clif bar wrapper (with my girlfriend saying "I think there's a shop a couple miles up ahead here...") until we came up behind a guy who appeared to be finishing his ride and about to get into his truck. I was going to offer to buy a used tire off his bike, but he actually had a new spare tire in the tool box and saved my butt.

Now I even carry a spare folding tire on day 1.

ajst2duk

Please tell me you didn't these on the side of the road - just checking

ovoleg

it's the American way...

Well, If they had trashcans set up around there...

bbattle

Just put the busted tube in the place formerly occupied by the good tube.

dstrong 

Please everyone...ALWAYS ask someone pulled over if they have everything they need.

Unless you see them throw some trash on the side of the road...then just ignore them. They deserve what they get.

Retro Grouch 

Just to be clear, you threw your punctured inner tube to the side of the road and had four more flats that day. Sounds to me like karma.

ovoleg

nah I kept that tube, I was kidding

LA_Rider

Wrong awnser.

squeegy200

Been there and done that!
The rim strip in my case continued to slip sideways exposing the innertube(s) to the sharp edges of the rim underneath.

In my case, it was 14 flats! I used all of the patches in my own kit as well as all of the patches in my friends kit. We finally had to surrender the white flag and used the cell phone to call for a ride home as we were still 10 miles away from our destination.

merlinextraligh

Don't toss the tube.Besides the litter issue, you may flat again in a way that you can't fix, e.g. blow out too big to patch, tear right at the Valve stem. If you keep the tube you flatted in your pocket, you can fix that one, if you destroy the tube began as your spare.

ovoleg

I was kidding, I kept the tube. I actually save them, and then use them later for random things.

FastFreddy

I had a day like that on Saturday (12/10) – three flats on a 37-mile ride.

The first was a regular old piece of glass – I removed the shard, patched the tube and went on.

About 9 miles later I discovered that I had a slow leak – apparently I had pinched the inside of the tube while removing it to fix the first flat. Patched that hole. Since it was dark by then and pretty cold (by Atlanta standards), I guess I didn’t do such a great job of patching it because in another 15 miles I discovered that I still had a slow leak. Luckily, I was almost home so I just pumped it up and went on.

The only good news is that my new frame pump got battle tested for the first time and passed with flying colors. It’s a Topeak “Road Morph” – it’s like a little floor pump – best portable pump I’ve ever had.

bvfrompc

If this post isn't reason enough to switch to Krsyium wheels or some other brand where the spokes don't go through, I don't know what is.

Just not having to deal with rim strips is the greatest wheel innovation since the pneumatic tire.

That and CO2.

ovoleg

Co2 seems like a waste(I wasted money on something I could have pumped manually).

Yea, the wheels were super cheap, so I didn't expect anything fancy.(I kinda hoped they would leave a gold bar in the packaging, bastards!)

bbattle

You can also use Veloplugs:


only 6 grams per 32 spokes. Linky