Unsuitable bike or unlucky rider?

Belv

After 4 reliable years of abuse, my rigid MTB finally gave up last November. I happened upon a very cheap 2nd hand steel racer and i've had nothing but puncture trouble with it. I have had more than 40 punctures over the course of the year despite changing tyres, wheels, inner tubes, and trying tyre liners and slime-filled tubes.

The bike is on its last legs now and although i love the speed of narrow tyres, i can't keep having this poor level of reliability. As well as the cost in repair kits and tubes, i have been late for work several times which gets deducted.

Apart from 10 yards of grass, the 6 mile commute is on road and poorly-surfaced cycle path which is why i didn't foresee a problem with the racer having run 26 x1.5 slicks on the MTB. What i need an opinion on is if i am just unlucky with the bike and should be fine with a new one or should i go back to the heavier, slower but massively more reliable MTB-style?

(not a great post, but it's friday and i'm bored :roll: )

el_presidente

Have you got decent pressure in the tyres? thin roadie tyres need to be at much higher pressure than MTB tyres , check your sidewall but should be around 110 psi

Belv

Yep.
It's 120 max and pumped up twice a week.

I have wondered if the high pressure is part of the problem: the tyre has little give so things just go straight through it.

el_presidente

Got decent rim tape?

Are the punctures always in the same place?

do you always remove the offending nail/stone/whatever from the tyre?

Do you use Schwalbe Marathon Plus? (anecdotally THE best anti-puncture tyre)

homercles

What type of punctures are you getting? Is it always a specific type of foreign object, pinch flat etc? I'd be inclined to think there's something wrong with the wheels but you say you've tried other ones? 40 in a year seems like too many to be simple rotten luck.

Max_Man

When I first started commuting I used to get punctures all the time, it nearly stopped me riding it was that bad. I used a rigid MTB with cheapo halfords slick tyres and on one side of the road repair a fellow cyclist stopped to assist and told me (new cyclist) to get rid of the crap tyres and get better ones. Now running Schwalbe City Jets and touch wood, hang on, I'm not going to say it but you get the idea...over 8 months now.

homercles

Max_Man wrote:

When I first started commuting I used to get punctures all the time, it nearly stopped me riding it was that bad. I used a rigid MTB with cheapo halfords slick tyres and on one side of the road repair a fellow cyclist stopped to assist and told me (new cyclist) to get rid of the crap tyres and get better ones. Now running Schwalbe City Jets and touch wood, hang on, I'm not going to say it but you get the idea...over 8 months now.

I think you're probably right as the OP makes no ref to what tyres were switched to. I run Specialized AC Pro and, yep, not gonna say it, but over 1,500 miles total cycling in the last 3-4 months (incl 1,000 on commute which throws up all sorts of wild cards on road surface)...

cntl

I probably had like 15 punctures in the space of a couple months before I switched to Marathon Plus. If you pulled all the money you spent on tubes and whatnot, by now you would have a pair of SMPs and a puncture free life. Food for thought?

Belv

The type of puncture is usually a foreign object that doesn't hang around to be removed. Had a few pinch flats, but i consider those my own fault.

Rim tape hasn't been replaced, but isn't holed anywhere so didn't think that would be the problem?

Max_man - City jets were the tyres i had on my told MTB too. Was quite happy with them.

Tyres i have used are: the Kenda's it came on, Conti 4000's (nicest tyre to ride on), and Schwalbe Blizzards.

It seems like Marathon Pluses are worth a shot then.

Thanks for your replies. The situation was desperate - I was ready to drive in next week after a puncture on the way home last night and one on the way in this morning

dondare

Schwalbe Marathon Plus = No More Punctures.


They can be a real bugger to get on the wheel for the first time, tho'.

el_presidente

Belv wrote:

The type of puncture is usually a foreign object that doesn't hang around to be removed. Had a few pinch flats, but i consider those my own fault.

Rim tape hasn't been replaced, but isn't holed anywhere so didn't think that would be the problem?

Max_man - City jets were the tyres i had on my told MTB too. Was quite happy with them.

Tyres i have used are: the Kenda's it came on, Conti 4000's (nicest tyre to ride on), and Schwalbe Blizzards.

It seems like Marathon Pluses are worth a shot then.

Thanks for your replies. The situation was desperate - I was ready to drive in next week after a puncture on the way home last night and one on the way in this morning

rim tape may not be sturdy enought to prevent the tube "ballooning" into the spoke holes

In my experience it is rare to be unable to find the cause of a puncture?

dondare

Belv wrote:

The type of puncture is usually a foreign object that doesn't hang around to be removed.

A couple of possibilities here; there is a small, sharp object stuck in the tyre that you can't find and continues to puncture the inner; or someone has laid barbed wire on the track and you haven't noticed.

andyp

dondare wrote:

Belv wrote:

The type of puncture is usually a foreign object that doesn't hang around to be removed.

A couple of possibilities here; there is a small, sharp object stuck in the tyre that you can't find and continues to puncture the inner; or someone has laid barbed wire on the track and you haven't noticed.

The third possibility is that the rim tape isn't protecting the tube well enough. I'd recommend that the first thing you do is replace the rim tape with something decent, i.e. Velox and see if that reduces the punctures. It's a lot cheaper than new tyres and, given what you've said, would seem to be a likely cause.

Belv

Excuse my ignorance, but what constitutes 'decent' rim tape?

I thought it was all the same with different brand names printed on it?

el_presidente

Velox is alledgedly the best as AndyP says

you should be able to tell though if the punctures are occurring on the inside of the tube

Drfabulous0

My wife used to had this problem when she started out, basically she was riding in the gutter through all the glass and stuff that sits there. Try to watch the road and not ride over pointy stuff in the first place.