Okay, so I put on my nice new Gatorskins yesterday, pumped them up to 110psi and was on my merry way. As I rode from work this evening I had to ride onto a footpath temporarily. Hey, no drama, I’ll just ride onto the corner section that has the ramp bit.
As I negotiated the ramp, my front wheels rolled through fine, and I gently accelerated my rear wheel to get up. As I did so, I just heard a massive ‘whoosh’ and noticed the rear tyre was flat in seconds.
Now, you’re probably wondering why I would post such an apparently banal story? Well the answer is that I’m fed up with punctures and I want to know why I get them, and how I can avoid them!
Perhaps I’m annoyed because I thought I was doing all the right things- good quality tyre, tube, deep-v rim… so what’s the problem? I mean before when I was running those awful Maxis Detonators at least I was always expected them to fail (which they did frequently)
Peoples thoughts on puncture tips would be greatly appreciated thanks!
Blakey- if you’re reading, yes, I need those tyres liners please! :roll:
And for the record I weigh about 78kg if that has an scientific bearing on why I’m getting punctures.
And lastly I can’t find any glass or other material that might have caused it- pinch?
Check where the puncture is. If it is on the inside - check that the rim tape smoothly covers all spoke holes, and that there is no metallic debris (deep vees are notorious).
It’s hard to be zen when you’re looking at your flat tyre and you feel really pissed! :lol:
UPDATE-
ndf- okay I just looked closely at the tube, and it’s interesting:
There are two identical horizontal slits in the tube, about 10mm in length (horizontal in line with the tube length. The slits are both on the upper and lower side of the tube… so is this a pinch then? How do you avoid that?
when you refit your tube after a flat, always do 2 things to help prevent pinch flats:
(no apologies if this is telling grandma how to suck eggs)
make sure there is a little air in the tube when you fit it - helps to ensure that the tube will seat properly inside the tyre
Inspect the tyre and tube fit on BOTH sides before you fully inflate - by this I mean roll the tyre back from the rim a little so you can see if the tube is seated properly and check that there are no stray bits of tube poking out underneath the tyre bead (if there are, gently work them back in behind the bead, where they belong). Work your way around the tyre, do this on both sides, be thorough. Only takes about 30 seconds, much less time than changing another pinch flat.
Pinches tend to happen more when the tyre fit on the rim is very tight and you have to wrestle it on with tyre levers.
I’ve blown out a tube before from pinching between rim & bead. Just after I pumped it to 120 and still had my head over the wheel. Shellshocked. :-o Taught me to check properly from then on. Looks different to a snakebite flat though, radial tears, unpatchable.
Yes well not everyone knows how to mount a tube properly you know…
When I was in BSC yesterday buying tubes one of the dudes there was telling me how he used a tubeless setup on his MTB- is this a possibility for road wheels? I’ve heard about the Hutchinson Tubeless system want about this for the street?
It’s expensive and not very reliable. Definately not for commuting. If you’re racing, you’d use tubbies anyway. If it hasn’t already, this system will slowly die out unless the prices drop and the tyres actually hold air for decent periods.
