Tires Are Deflating 80% Overnight
 

I can't seem to find a leak. I haven't been able to even touch my bike in the past 5 months for personal reasons.

This has been happening the past week or so (thats when I started prepping my bike for the warm weather). I would pump it up around 9pm and by the next morning they would deflate almost 80%.

The temperature gets down to only 20 degrees f so it isn't as if its too cold.

Could the weather be the main cause of my tire problems or am I just not looking close enough for a leak.

Still find it hard to believe it might be a leak though as before when I temp. retired the bike, I was riding consecutive days without my tires going flat overnight.

For the small cost of new tubes, why not just change them out and be done with it. If the tires were fine before, there isn't likely anything sticking through both of them into the tubes that would also ruin new ones. Just put in new tubes and ride.

Or, if you really want to find and repair the leak, you may have to remove the tube, pump it up with a lot of extra air, and start dipping it into a bucket of water to find the leak.

If you run tubulars, which you probably don't, it's very normal for them to do this.

Confession: I never changed a bike tire before.

I guess its a good time to learn.

Final noob question. Rim tape isn't a necessity right? I'm assuming its so you don't scratch up the rim when removing the tire?

Make this the final final noob question, tire liner isn't a necessity either right?

Rim tape is necessary to keep the tube from being cut by the spoke holes. What's tire liner?

Rim tape is necesssary, as the sharp edges will cause a tear in your tube.

Rim tape protects tube from abrasion. Essential.

tire liner protects tube from puncture through tire. Non-essential.

Knowing how to change tire? Essential :)

Even with latex innertubed tubulars, 80% air loss in 9 hours would be extreme.

Heck, you'd lose 50% of the pressure during the course of a stage at that rate.

Youtube can teach you how to change a tube and tire just fine. It's a good feeling being self sufficient. Your tires most likely don't need replacing.

Rim tape - necessary, but that tape that's on there now most likely won't have any problem. Make sure it isn't torn over anything pointy. While rim tape is necessary, NEW rim tape probably isn't.

Tire Liner - nope. Talc powder is a good idea, though.

It’s very likely that you have a VERY small hole. I rode with tubes like this, turned out to be the tube seam. Best to change it.

Carefully inspect the tires to find out what's causing the leak. Finding the hole in the innertube (using water as described above) and correlating that to the tire will help in finding what's causing the problem.

Slow leaks like yours can be frustrating because the cause is not always obvious. Good canidates are tiny glass shards or fine wire (from radial car tire belts). These can hide in the tire tread and just protude enough to make a tiny hole in the innertube, that will slowly leak out.

Highly recommend learning to patch and replace tubes. There is a wealth of do it yourself info on youtube as well as helpful resources on this forum. Being new to road cycling myself (just over a year) I've dealt with a few tube issues, have completed shifter cable and housing replacement as well as replacing bottom bracket. Still not very good at indexing. Hope to learn more as I progress and will continue to appreciate the guys on this forum for their help.

You guys sure work fast. Thanks for not giving me a hard time for never changing a tire before.

So I'm trying to intake as much youtube videos as I can and it seems as though their aren't many videos on rim tape, which was why I asked if it was necessary. I never knew that rim tape came already installed which is probably a reason why its not something that is widely covered in these "change tires" videos.

How long does the stock rim tape usually last? I'm assuming that tube leak = rim tape leak right?

I'm looking up on the RS11 and how to remove the skewers. Whether it just go to the unlock position and then pull or whether it unlock position and then unscrew the other side then pull (the latter seems more logical).

Man, I'm nervous that I might mess something up. Kind of excited too to learn how to change a tire. I'll be tire king, hopefully.

rim tape should be fine if covering spokenipple heads. It does not seal anything in a tubed setup.

re: skewers, just flip lever and unscrew to loosen; no need to remove

http://images.evanscycles.com/produc...ikes-pair-.jpg
So I don't fully unscrew the thing that is depicted on the left hand side of that photo?

No. On the back you don't need to unscrew it at all. On the front, you need to unscrew it enough so it clears the "lawyer tabs" on the fork.

Learn how to fix flat from Greg LeMond :D

How to Fix a Flat on Vimeo

make sure you inspect the rim tape and ensure it covers the spoke holes completely. i pump my tires every ride, over time, air will escape slowly, no matter what you do. but not at the rate you are describing

For awhile, I didn't know how to change a tire either but then I made myself do it a couple times and it really isn't that hard. Just search the internet/Youtube and you can find lots of tips to make it easier on yourself. Performance Bike has a good video on it that I used when doing it.

Think of it this way, do it now while you can or learn on the fly when you're stuck 20 miles from home and don't know how. :)

Performance Bikes runs regular repair clinics that should teach basic things like changing a tube. Could be a good idea to attend one.

Or how a fat man can get his chubby hands on a tire

Agreed. I've had this several times. First time I did it, I found a small wire poking through the tire. My finger bled for quite a while. Now, I carry a cotton ball in my bag. It does a great job of finding small sharp objects and I haven't been cut since.

Well he doesn't have tubulars, so it doesn't matter at this point. I didn't think most tubulars have latex innards, I thought only the high end ones did.

On inexpensive bikes, the rim "tape" can be just a thin rubber strip. Burrs on the spoke holes can work through it, or it can shrink and crack from age. The cure is Velox cloth tape. Your local bike shop should have it. At this time of year, they might be idle enough to help you change the tubes, or at least watch while they do it.