Punctures

sdjones2

So, third ride in of the New Year and first puncture of 2008. I am getting a reputation for aiming for the broken glass shards, and laughed at! Plus in the last 4 months it has cost me two tyres! I promise, I am not taking aim.

How often is too often? I am on 700x23s with kevlar protection. Is my pressure too high at 115psi? Am I unlucky? What else am I missing?

Incidentally, first ride out came across a 16 year old pushing his MTB with a puncture. tyre down to the canvas, no pump, tube or puncture repair kit. So I stopped and repaired his puncture (easy after all the practice I have had recently). We were passed by 4 groups of roadies, and everyone, EVERYONE, asked if we were okay or needed help. Warms the cockles, it really does.

Belv

Despite being amongst the worlds worst mechanics, i tend to offer help to anyone who looks to have broken down. I'm hoping that they will know what to do with the tools i have rather than need me to do the job for them though!

Punctures - I would like to know the answer myself. If it's any consolation, i've had 2 so far this year: one in each bikes rear tyre. I bought some highly recommended Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres mid November for my road bike and have only had two punctures with those. That doesn't sound great, but it is down from at least one a fortnight. Much more reliable is my slick-tyred MTB, but i like the feel of the road bike more. Perhaps the lower pressure does have something to do with it (85 against 115). Personally i have found filled tubes to be no help with the filling leaking out rather than stopping punctures. Winter is much worse than summer, but i haven't found a cure for winter yet either! Sorry there are no answers here, it's just my thoughts and experiences and you might gain some benefit from them.

jjojjas

I can beat you unfortunately. In november I fixed 23 punctures in mine and my wifes bikes, 13 were in mine. I was well fed up so I fitted marathon plus and the slime tubes. Not had a puncture yet, but god there heavy
Jas

redddraggon

jjojjas wrote:

I can beat you unfortunately. In november I fixed 23 punctures in mine and my wifes bikes, 13 were in mine. I was well fed up so I fitted marathon plus and the slime tubes. Not had a puncture yet, but god there heavy
Jas

Bloody hell what are you people doing? I use cheapo Conti Ultra Sports in 23mm and I've not had a puncture. Only 1 puncture in 7months - and that was using cheapo halfords tyres.

cupofteacp

sdjones

I was lucky last year and Ididn't have a single punture, even though I'm cycling through London 5 days a week and cover approximatly 6000 miles a year.

Please don't take offence but have you tired cycling further out away from the kerb?

Wherever possible I cycle further out, and if I can not in the cycle lanes, as when glass is broken, cars push it to the side of the road and into cycle lanes or into the gutter area.

I hope you have better luck for the rest of the year.

PS now I've said this I'll find that I have two puntures waiting for me

FatBlokeFromFelixstowe

Its just luck of the draw. I went 5 years puncture free doing 120 miles a week and then have had 7 in the last 6 weeks !! However jjojjas is the clear winner and must have run over a black cat under a ladder to get that many.

Wooliferkins

I ride conti gatorskins 10 mile a day one puncture last year when i put a well worn tyre on the turbo! 100psi every day. I recommend the Schwalbe marathon every day as my customers swear by them?

Might take the car tomorrow? Naah!!

jjojjas

I'll tell you how I get so many.
I come out of my house and ride 1.5 mile up a quiet road that backs onto fields, it has thorn bushes along both sides of it and the council chop them back with what looks like a lawnmower on its side - sticks all over the road. Even the dogs get them in their paws.
Then I go through a quiet village past a land fill site at the end of it - wagons 24/7 pulling in and out with all the land fill - the roads a death trap covered in glass etc.
Then I go through a crappy council estate with glass all over the road, and then another two mile along a bike track that was made in 1970 by someone who hated cyclists
Its a sad fact that I do this rout to avoid traffic, but if i take the other 5 mile longer route to work through the traffic, I have never had a puncture :roll:

you can't win them all, its either traffic and no punctures or punctures and no traffic
Jas

Wooliferkins

jjojjas,
I'd go play with the motorists, they are such simple toys they don't need batteries or anything!

jjojjas

Wooliferkins wrote:

jjojjas,
I'd go play with the motorists, they are such simple toys they don't need batteries or anything!

sometimes I do, but the hill is bigger that way

sdjones2

End of my ride is through a housing estate (with a reputation). The green glass is gin bottles, the white vodka bottles. Then there is the multiple collection of raised edge drains and no escape, you have to go over them. Coucil says they are in limits. Cost me two tyres as I cycled that learning curve! I have had four punctures in the same half mile - always the back wheel too. No escape from that route either. It is that or a 70mph Dual Carriageway.

Guess what?! Tuesday and Wednesday - NO PUNCTURES! Woop Woop!

So try to watch for sparkles in the tarmac. Lower pressures now (100psi) and perhaps just grit my teeth!