What do I do about the tire on my daughter's bike?

PrettyOrchid

My daughter had 2 different used bikes that had the tires going flat. We replaced the tires several times and they always went flat. So we bought her a brand new bike for her birthday. She has had it for 2 months and the tire has gone flat already! What is going on? What can we do to make this stop?

merkin

does she ride near any brambles? The thorns on these are notorious for punctures and they tend to grow across paths so you ride on them. I avoid canals for this reason.
Are the tyres pumped up to a decent pressure or are they fairly soft? Low pressure tyres suffer from pinch punctures.

baudman

Also... once a tyre has a thorn in it, you need to triple-check you've remove it (or, most likely, all of them) before putting in the new (or patched) tube. Otherwise, it'll just puncture it again.

I tend to do that job inside, in good lighting, of an evening, with a glass of red. (But perhaps that's just me).

merkin

I tend to do that job inside, in good lighting, of an evening, with a glass of red. (But perhaps that's just me).

I assume she is too young to drink red wine. A glass of ribena maybe?

vinnn

Punctures are fact of life.

How to fix a puncture...
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=ntYIITLp90k

You can also buy tougher, puncture resistant tires to prevent punctures and/or buy inserts that fit inside tires that provides more protection against punctures from thorns, glass etc.

Also always be sure that the tire pressures are correct as specified on the tire wall. If there's not enough air in the tires it's easy to pickup 'pinch punctures', especially on kid's bikes as kids tend to bash their bikes up/down kerbs & steps causing the rim to pinch holes in the inner tube if not pumped up properly.

Aidanw

You have to make sure the tyres are kept at around their maximum advised pressure too. That really helps the tyre throw off any pinch type punctures.

MrChuck

You don't mention punctures specificially, so remember that tires do need pumping up occasionally! After 2 months they might well get a bit soggy although they shouldn't be totally flat.

If you are talking about punctures, check there's rim tape so the tube doesn't get punctured from the inside.

re-cycles

How about getting a set of these? http://www.greentyre.co.uk/

nicklouse

Mmm I wonder if they have Brambles in Sri Lanka and you are advertising in your sig

Office Space Chicago and Office Space Manhattan

bye bye.