zandoval 

Can't remember who but someone recently posted that they drag a cotton ball over the surfaces of the tire and rim looking for sharp edges. My little travel flat fix box is packed. I have added tooth picks, razor blade, 80 grit sand paper, alcohol pads, and an unused little tube of supper glue in case my unopened vulcanizing tube is empty. And now a few cotton balls too. I have found its not so much the patch. I have used dried up little round patches with no problems. I do cover the tube and the patch with vulcanizing solution and let them dry before application. Some times on an old patch it can take a while to soften up. The vulcanizing solution is most important. Rema and Slime are probably the best. In the old days vulcanizing solution used to have TOULENE. That was the best. Just pull out your Monkey Grip or Camel Patch Kit and flat was fixed...

Motorazr

Whoa - I haven’t heard those brand names in a looong time. Thanks for the memory!

tallbikeman

Over the years I have experienced bad tubes from different sources. My first foray into bad tubes was Walmart tubes that were splitting and holing with no obvious reasons why. I figured at the time that they had cheapened their product too much. I switched to bicycle shop tubes and cured that problem. Several years later had brand name tubes bought at a bicycle shop that were failing much the same way as the Walmart tubes did. This has become much more common now a days than decades ago. I've had tubes that failed around the valve stem while others have no problem there, same rim, same tire. I have a local trusted bike shop mechanic that I consult with and he'll tell me which tubes seem to be good at the moment. For the tubeless guy I just helped repair a fellows tubeless gravel bike that holed, couldn't find the hole, ran out of CO2, pulled off tire. Then the real fun started with all the goo and trying to fit a tube. I assisted by loaning my old school frame pump. Another vote for Velox rim tape here.

alo

I am running a motorcycle tube in my fat bike tire. It is thicker rubber, so less likely to have holes against the rim.

I also put a couple of rubber washers around the nut which holds the valve stem, to fill the space where the tube could stretch. The are probably not necessary, but I am playing it safe.

alo

I am in S E Asia. There are two methods of patching tubes here. The glue on type, and the melt on with heat type. The glue on patches are made in China. I will just talk about the glue on type.

In Australia, when you use glue on patches, you apply the glue, wait for it to be touch dry, then apply the patch.

In S E Asia, they apply the glue, light it with a cigarette lighter, and blow it out in less than a second. They normally light it and blow it out three times, then immediately apply the patch. It actually says on the box: 'Cold Patch,' and 'Warning: Flammable, do not use near fire.' But they can't read English, and they wouldn't care if they could.

I have used the same made in China patches and glue, waited for it to be touch dry, then applied the patch. The patch did not stick.

It appears, that lighting it and blowing it out, makes it hot, and that somehow makes the patch stick.

Now it is possible that these made in China patches and glue have made their way to where you live. You may find if you do it the normal way, and wait for it to be touch dry, the patch wont stick.

My recent punctures have been far from home, so I have had them repaired by locals.

When I have a puncture near home, I plan to repair it myself. I will experiment with lighting and blowing it out, and see what I learn.

Warning for anyone else trying this. You must blow it out quickly. If you don't, the tube will burn.

Others experiencing this problem may resolve it by buying a different brand of glue.

Jax Rhapsody

Me? Haven't had time. I've been riding a spare bike, but the damn crank arm keeps coming loose, even with a bit of threadlocker.

Iride01 

If you have to use thread locker on something that normally doesn't have thread locker as part of it's installation procedures, then you should realize that something else is wrong.

Thread locker is an additional safety measure. Not a fix.

Trakhak

If the left crank arm is the one that keeps coming loose (it usually is, since it exerts a twisting force on the spindle and thus is constantly in danger of deforming at the spindle interface if the spindle bolt is not torqued correctly, versus the right crank arm, which transmits the force directly into the chain), the only reliable fix is to replace the arm.

SJX426 

nearly all of my flats have been on the inside of the tube near the valve stem. They appear to be near the joint between the tube and the reinforced section around the stem. Some times on the parting line. Some appear to be rips, not punctures.

Went for a 10 miler and hung up the bike. While taking my gloves off, PFFFFFFFT.

I think there has been a quality issue on tubes of epic proportions!

ClydeClydeson

Lots of good advice here.

My experience has been that a properly applied patch (with separate cement, not 'glueless') is as good as a new tube, as long as you fix whatever caused the puncture in the first place.

Flip Flop Rider

if you are going to ride regularly you will need to dive into this tire issue

I use to take mine to the shop to get changed, but ppl on this website convinced me to learn myself and I did

This website is a resource that can be used to address this problem. Someone posted on my thread one time, it's not rocket science, it's a bike, it can be figured out

Jax Rhapsody

I know. I just picked up a Mongoose x43 frame near my building, and I'll be swapping the whole crank tomorrow. I put that crank on last year, rode it a few times, and put probably 10-15 miles on it since my car wreck, and out of nowhere started coming loose. I've never looked up torque specs on a bike. Seems like 1 out of 4 of every crank job I do comes loose.

Jax Rhapsody

I'll figure it out. I've been on here since like 2012 and have been building bikes since I was 18. I'm just a bit rusty. I have the Blue Book, too. The only thing I can't do on your general bike is true and build wheels.

Milton Keynes

I had a similar issue after buying a new bike onlilne. Got a flat tire, found that the rim tape which had been put on was too narrow to completely cover all the spoke holes. Bought some new rim tape and solved the problem.

Iride01 

1 out of 4 cranks you install come loose? Are these used cranks that you bought? Might be why they were up for sale. Cranks aren't something I'd buy used. But that's a personal preference, I know others have wonderful experience with used cranks.

Perhaps you aren't reading the manufacturer's installation instructions well enough.

Trakhak

If the cranks you're installing are of the older conventional tapered-spindle design, the spindle bolt must be re-torqued after 30 or 40 miles of riding. That was always the first thing checked at the bike store for the 30-day-ish free tune-ups of recently purchased bikes.

There are, of course, subtly different spindle tapers, too, so check whether the cranks you install are compatible with the spindle.

terrymorse 

Bad idea. Re-torquing an installer bolt can split a crank.