Punctures, punctures and more punctures

Farnham Gooner

I am new to road biking, I am doing it as a way of getting and keeping fit. I used to do quite a bit of jogging but am starting to have ankle problems.

Anyway, all was fine up until a couple of weeks ago when I started getting punctures. have now had four in four rides. Culminating last night is a spectacular blow out that had me over the handlebars and as a result I am not moving to well today.

What is going wrong, what can I do?

I have 700 x 23c tyres, what inner tubes should I be putting in them, can I put wider tryes on. Do I need new tyes?

At 15st am I to lardy for tyres that thin?

Sorry for all the numpty questions, but I can have too many big bangs like last night becuase my 46 year old body, not to mention enthusiasm, can't take it.

Cheers

FG

cougie

Good god man ! That sounds spectacular - and FAR from the norm !

Decent tyres are a must ! What do you have on there and whats causing all of your punctures ?

You could easily go to a 25mm tyre - and probably more = but that shouldnt really be necessary on roads. I take it your frame has clearances for wider tyres ?

CiB

Same question is being asked just below - Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh Punctures. Take a look, but this is relevant:

I wrote:

Keep the pressure up at around 100psi, avoid stones & other road debris, raised ironworks, hedge trimmings, glass left by thoughtful drunks & hoodlums, and before refitting the tyre after a puncture remove it completely, stand in bright sunlight and work your way round v slowly removing anything that looks like it shouldn't be there, on the inside and outside surfaces. Be thorough. And check the rim tape - I stuck bits of Duct tape in places on mine where there were crinkles / rough edges showing. Touch wood - no flats since. I run Mich Pro Race 3 FWIW.

23c tyres are fine for most roads. 15st isn't too heavy.

Farnham Gooner

It was spectacular and sadly even though I was laying on the pavement trying to get my breath back and trying not to be sick not one motorist stopped to ask if I was okay.

The tyres are Continental's, but I brought the bike second hand so I have no idea how old they are.

When I replaced an inner tube I was very surprised at how thin and narrow they were.

The frame will easily take bigger tyres so maybe I should go for 25mm, will support the 15st better.

sturmey archer

Had similar problems with persistant punctures,changed tyres for continental ultra gatorskins, after hitting deep pothole and writing off both tyres.Since then no punctures(touch wood).

CiB

2mm extra on the tyre will make it a slighlty softer ride but will do nothing for puncture resistance. Are the pressures high enough? A track pump is the best tool for the job. What sort of conditions are the tyres & tubes in if they're second-hand? As above, take them off and have a real good stare at them and pick out any foreign objects that catch your eye.

Some tyres are more puncture resistant than others, but just going up a size won't make a difference, assuming that you're riding on roads and not paths, farm tracks & the like.

Farnham Gooner

Thaks everyone, I appreciate it.

Am going to fit new tyres, Gators seem to be regularly recommended and new inner tubes.

I get a little confused with the inner tubes, for 23mm tyres, I got the 700 x 18/25mm ones, is that right?

cougie

Contis are usually really good tyres.

If you keep getting punctures - I'd suspect that either the thorn or sharp thing is still in the tyre. or its the rim thats puncturing it. As described above - you need to check.

I find a few wraps of insulation tape round the rim works as well as rim tape if you're stuck for the proper stuff.

Soni

You need 50mm tires, this is the only way around it.....


Sorry, i started road riding when i was 18st 2lbs, on 23mm tires, and i was also getting loads and loads of punctures, i was riding 17 miles every day and therefore spent 5 nights out of 7 in the garage repairing/replacing tubes ready for the next mornings ride......wasn't enjoyable....

I am now 16st 2lbs, and bought a new bike about 4 months ago and haven't had a single puncture in it.

However, its 'not about the bike'

Firstly, the previous bike i had, i went through 4-5 different sets of tires trying to get one that was puncture proof....i spent from 19:99 per tire all the way up to Vittorias at 35.99 per tire, and nothing worked.

In the end i purchased Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they are bombproof and roll pretty well for a tire with 1/4 inch of rubber running all the way around the tire.

These are the tires here:-

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwa ... -plus.html

Can you see the rubber running around the tire? Not even a drawing pin can penetrate it!

These are the tires i would recommend to you if you want a tire with an 'almost' guaranteed puncture free life!

Anyway, i still have the Marathon Plus on my spare wheelset, however i have the normal stock Bontrager tires on the new bike i've purchased, which as you will probably realise, aren't the most expensive of tires.....and i still haven't had any puncture on it :roll: (yet :shock: ).

However, i was advsied by somebody a couple of years ago that you should check before and after EVERY ride the surface of each tire, and you will be surprised at how many small penetrations you will find whereby debri from the road from flint - glass has penetrated the tire, i pulled out a large piece of flint a few weeks ago from my rear tire, and if i hadn't done that then the next ride would have probably pushed it further into the tire and caused a flat...

Edit: I also run my tires (sorry tyres ) at 120psi and check the tire pressures twice per week.

cougie

I've got the marathon plus tyres on my cross bike - 32mm width. Previously I had some slick contis on - 22m - so its a lot chunkier now - bit more sluggish - but I'm happier offroading on those than i was the 22mms !

alfablue

Conti's (including gators) are not good, they have a soft rubber compound that is susceptible to cuts and punctures (and their guarantee is meaningless - who is going to not fix their punctire whilst out on a ride just so they can make the claim???). Popular doesn't mean good.

danowat

Might be worth looking at the rim tape, I got a few punctures in a short space of time, and it turned out my rim tape had slipped to one side, and the spoke holes were cutting the inner tube

fast as fupp

Soni wrote:

You need 50mm tires, this is the only way around it.....


Sorry, i started road riding when i was 18st 2lbs, on 23mm tires, and i was also getting loads and loads of punctures, i was riding 17 miles every day and therefore spent 5 nights out of 7 in the garage repairing/replacing tubes ready for the next mornings ride......wasn't enjoyable....

I am now 16st 2lbs, and bought a new bike about 4 months ago and haven't had a single puncture in it.

However, its 'not about the bike'

Firstly, the previous bike i had, i went through 4-5 different sets of tires trying to get one that was puncture proof....i spent from 19:99 per tire all the way up to Vittorias at 35.99 per tire, and nothing worked.




In the end i purchased Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they are bombproof and roll pretty well for a tire with 1/4 inch of rubber running all the way around the tire.

These are the tires here:-

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwa ... -plus.html

Can you see the rubber running around the tire? Not even a drawing pin can penetrate it!

These are the tires i would recommend to you if you want a tire with an 'almost' guaranteed puncture free life!

Anyway, i still have the Marathon Plus on my spare wheelset, however i have the normal stock Bontrager tires on the new bike i've purchased, which as you will probably realise, aren't the most expensive of tires.....and i still haven't had any puncture on it :roll: (yet :shock: ).

However, i was advsied by somebody a couple of years ago that you should check before and after EVERY ride the surface of each tire, and you will be surprised at how many small penetrations you will find whereby debri from the road from flint - glass has penetrated the tire, i pulled out a large piece of flint a few weeks ago from my rear tire, and if i hadn't done that then the next ride would have probably pushed it further into the tire and caused a flat...

even in kent theyre still called tyres thats t-y-r-e-s not tires :evil:

Soni

fast as fupp wrote:

Soni wrote:

You need 50mm tires, this is the only way around it.....


Sorry, i started road riding when i was 18st 2lbs, on 23mm tires, and i was also getting loads and loads of punctures, i was riding 17 miles every day and therefore spent 5 nights out of 7 in the garage repairing/replacing tubes ready for the next mornings ride......wasn't enjoyable....

I am now 16st 2lbs, and bought a new bike about 4 months ago and haven't had a single puncture in it.

However, its 'not about the bike'

Firstly, the previous bike i had, i went through 4-5 different sets of tires trying to get one that was puncture proof....i spent from 19:99 per tire all the way up to Vittorias at 35.99 per tire, and nothing worked.




In the end i purchased Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they are bombproof and roll pretty well for a tire with 1/4 inch of rubber running all the way around the tire.

These are the tires here:-

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwa ... -plus.html

Can you see the rubber running around the tire? Not even a drawing pin can penetrate it!

These are the tires i would recommend to you if you want a tire with an 'almost' guaranteed puncture free life!

Anyway, i still have the Marathon Plus on my spare wheelset, however i have the normal stock Bontrager tires on the new bike i've purchased, which as you will probably realise, aren't the most expensive of tires.....and i still haven't had any puncture on it :roll: (yet :shock: ).

However, i was advsied by somebody a couple of years ago that you should check before and after EVERY ride the surface of each tire, and you will be surprised at how many small penetrations you will find whereby debri from the road from flint - glass has penetrated the tire, i pulled out a large piece of flint a few weeks ago from my rear tire, and if i hadn't done that then the next ride would have probably pushed it further into the tire and caused a flat...

even in kent theyre still called tyres thats t-y-r-e-s not tires :evil:

I may live in Kent, but i was born in Scotland, do they still spell it as tyres in Scotland?

cougie

alfablue wrote:

Conti's (including gators) are not good, they have a soft rubber compound that is susceptible to cuts and punctures (and their guarantee is meaningless - who is going to not fix their punctire whilst out on a ride just so they can make the claim???). Popular doesn't mean good.

My contis have been better than good - they've been brilliant ! Not one P in 1000's of miles over about 4 years ! But maybe I'm burning all my luck there - and THATS why I've not won the gadget show competition yet.

alfablue

cougie wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Conti's (including gators) are not good, they have a soft rubber compound that is susceptible to cuts and punctures (and their guarantee is meaningless - who is going to not fix their punctire whilst out on a ride just so they can make the claim???). Popular doesn't mean good.

My contis have been better than good - they've been brilliant ! Not one P in 1000's of miles over about 4 years ! But maybe I'm burning all my luck there - and THATS why I've not won the gadget show competition yet.

For unknown and maybe inexplicable reasons people seem to be able to have totally different experiences with these tyres. Since my nightmare I have taken to using Schwalbe and Specialized on my bikes, the Specialized only let the air out after they delaminated after 4000 miles, but I rate that as a success.

Rushie

Farnham Gooner, herewith my tupp'th:

Personally I have got on really well with my Ultra Gator Skins. Wire bead for the commuter and kevlar bead for the training bike. 23mm should be fine, and the 18/25mm 700c tubes you mention are the right size. Two main things:

1) As previously posted, make sure that there is nothing sharp embedded in the tyre itself - there's nothing more frustrating than fixing a flat and having to do the same 10 mins later when the piece of glass you mistakenly left in the tyre has punctured the tube again at exactly the same place. So remove the tyre and check inside and out that it's free of debris.

2) Tyre pressure - go as high as the manufacturer allows. With the Gators that's 120psi and I tend to run fairly close to this on the rear and maybe 110psi on the front for more confidence on the corners. If it's wet I might drop the pressure a little for more grip.

Good luck.

Monty Dog

As you're user name suggests, you're probably riding on the same local roads that I know intimately for 20 years and, including countless local riders and realise that Gatorskins and Conti tyres with the exceptions of the GP4 Season are simply not robust enough to withstand the razor-like flints that are strewn across the lanes - I'll happily ride over broken glass to avoid these little bleeders - I had something resembling a neolithic arrowhead carve straight-through a Stelvio the other day and leave a 5mm cut in the carcass! It is worth getting into the habit of checking your tyres regularly for embedded flints e.g. pre-ride and flicking-them out.

Contrary to the preceding poster - who I suspect has no experience of our local roads - 25mm tyres and lower pressures are more resitant to punctures than skinny tyres at high pressures - 120psi has no real purpose except make a louder bang when they go 'pop'.

Farnham Gooner

Thanks Rushie and everyone else especially Soni,
I liked Soni's suggestion of 50mm tyres, I reckon stabilisers wouldn't be a bad idea either.

Seems Scwable or Gator's are the way to go, I will strip everything down and start again.

Cheers again everyone

fast as fupp

Soni wrote:

fast as fupp wrote:

Soni wrote:

You need 50mm tires, this is the only way around it.....


Sorry, i started road riding when i was 18st 2lbs, on 23mm tires, and i was also getting loads and loads of punctures, i was riding 17 miles every day and therefore spent 5 nights out of 7 in the garage repairing/replacing tubes ready for the next mornings ride......wasn't enjoyable....

I am now 16st 2lbs, and bought a new bike about 4 months ago and haven't had a single puncture in it.

However, its 'not about the bike'

Firstly, the previous bike i had, i went through 4-5 different sets of tires trying to get one that was puncture proof....i spent from 19:99 per tire all the way up to Vittorias at 35.99 per tire, and nothing worked.




In the end i purchased Schwalbe Marathon Plus and they are bombproof and roll pretty well for a tire with 1/4 inch of rubber running all the way around the tire.

These are the tires here:-

http://www.schwalbe.co.uk/c2-1071-schwa ... -plus.html

Can you see the rubber running around the tire? Not even a drawing pin can penetrate it!

These are the tires i would recommend to you if you want a tire with an 'almost' guaranteed puncture free life!

Anyway, i still have the Marathon Plus on my spare wheelset, however i have the normal stock Bontrager tires on the new bike i've purchased, which as you will probably realise, aren't the most expensive of tires.....and i still haven't had any puncture on it :roll: (yet :shock: ).

However, i was advsied by somebody a couple of years ago that you should check before and after EVERY ride the surface of each tire, and you will be surprised at how many small penetrations you will find whereby debri from the road from flint - glass has penetrated the tire, i pulled out a large piece of flint a few weeks ago from my rear tire, and if i hadn't done that then the next ride would have probably pushed it further into the tire and caused a flat...

even in kent theyre still called tyres thats t-y-r-e-s not tires :evil:

I may live in Kent, but i was born in Scotland, do they still spell it as tyres in Scotland?

ah a Pict!

that explains everthing- your spelling has become befuddled by buckfast intake!

alfablue

Farnham Gooner wrote:

Seems Scwable or Gator's are the way to go, I will strip everything down and start again.

Cheers again everyone

Read Monty's comment - 100% agree!

fast as fupp

continental tyres have too high a wood content to be good

vittoria or michelin roll so much better

rake

alfablue wrote:

cougie wrote:

alfablue wrote:

Conti's (including gators) are not good, they have a soft rubber compound that is susceptible to cuts and punctures (and their guarantee is meaningless - who is going to not fix their punctire whilst out on a ride just so they can make the claim???). Popular doesn't mean good.

My contis have been better than good - they've been brilliant ! Not one P in 1000's of miles over about 4 years ! But maybe I'm burning all my luck there - and THATS why I've not won the gadget show competition yet.

For unknown and maybe inexplicable reasons people seem to be able to have totally different experiences with these tyres. Since my nightmare I have taken to using Schwalbe and Specialized on my bikes, the Specialized only let the air out after they delaminated after 4000 miles, but I rate that as a success.

continental rubber is made out of black cheese.

potters1863

I was having a problem with punctures and changed my tyres to Specialized Armadillos, they are supposed to be very very puncture proof.

They are very good and haven't had a puncture since but watch me have one tomorrow after posting this info.

Mine are the Roubaix Armadillo Elite 23/25c, have been very impressed with them to date, don't know what they are like in the winter yet regarding road holding but they have performed well in the wet and dry conditions I have been riding in over the last 6 months.