Puncture problem driving me mad????

mallorcajeff

Hi all
I got a puncture on the way home from work last week Brand new continental gatorskin with 10 miles on it. Took the tube out tiny hole in it. Put new tube in inflated 5 mins later flat. small home in the same place. Took tyre off again and have checked and checked and cannot find anythign in there where it is making a hole in the tube? any ideas or do i have to chuck a brand new tyre as 3 inner tubes later and im no closer to finding whats in there? Any clues or do i bin it and just buy another tyre?

cheers folks

Berk Bonebonce

You have to look hard - both inside and outside of tyre. And usually the tips of the fingers can pick up anything sharp.

Are your rim tapes any good? Cheap plastic rim tapes are not designed for high pressures and 'internal' punctures can result.

danowat

Rim tape and spoke holes would be my first port of call

jermas

Use a puncture repair kit on the inner tubes. Also line up the label on the tyre with the valve hole on the rim. That way when you get a puncture (and remove inner tube) it's easy to see whereabouts the thorn,glass, etc will be on the tyre.

mallorcajeff

some good advice thanks. the wheels are fulcrum 3 on a wilier so there is no rim tape as the spoke heads dont come through on those. Bit odd but good idea about lining up the label on the tyre as the biro I drew on it witht he intention of its somewhere about there promptly rubbed off and i had to start again hahah numpty cheers I will have another look

gary.hounsome

Also try pulling the outside of the tyre around with your fingers as i found a very small slit in one of mine this way that would not have noticed just looking, there was a sharp bit of glass in there that when pumping the tubes up to pressure probably caused the glass to poke out and puncture.

danowat

mallorcajeff wrote:

some good advice thanks. the wheels are fulcrum 3 on a wilier so there is no rim tape as the spoke heads dont come through on those.

I'd still put rim tape on though, even though the spoke heads aren't exposed, the spoke holes can still have sharp edges and burrs on them.

newtez2

Always try and line up the inner tube with the tyre when u take the inner tube out as stated before, u stand a much better chance finding the object that may have caused the puncture, inspect every inch of the tyre several times before fitting the inner tube and also be very careful when fitting the inner tube as you can pinch the tube when forcing the tyre back onto the wheel,

buy_my_cookies

I have used a bit of cotton wool before to locate a hard to find sharp object in the tyre, just rub it along the inside of the tyre and if anything is poking thru it will snag on it.

(thats if its not the rim tape as others have said)

Stupidboypike

I had a hell of a problem a few years ago when I bought a Marin bike. Eventually I found it was the rim tape.

I would like to add that Chevin cycles were no help at all................... T*****s.

CiB

Take the tyre off the rim, turn it inside out and in bright sunlight work your way round staring intently at it. You might just find a bit of flint or glass poking through that only does its job when the tyre is fully inflated and you're on it. That's what I had once.

And +1 on the rim tape. Another of my mystery sequence of flats was resolved by putting black insulating tape over the rim tape where it was a bit errr... edgy.

lostboysaint

No rim tape? Have you ever seen a tube escaping from a sidewall hole at 100psi+? Imagine where that tubes going when there's no rim tape to stop it!

jermas

Fulcrum 3 DOESN'T need rim tape as there aren't any spoke holes.

paulbox

jermas wrote:

Fulcrum 3 DOESN'T need rim tape as there aren't any spoke holes.

You don't think it's down to the lack of rim tape then... :P

woodywmb

The Fulcrum 3 wheels could maybe do with rim tape.

mallorcajeff

Cheers guys it seems rim tape maybe the order then being a total novice ive hardly a clue what the stuff is :oops: I have put a bit of tape over a very small sratch on the inside of the rim where the tyre level made a very small mark on the inside maybe it could have been that as ive put a new tyre on and its ok now but ive not bothered with the old tyre today as we got an hour of sun late today so went out instead of wasting it! thanks for all the help.

Berk Bonebonce

mallorcajeff wrote:

some good advice thanks. the wheels are fulcrum 3 on a wilier so there is no rim tape as the spoke heads dont come through on those.

No rim tape = get punctures. Regardless of whether the spokes poke through or not.

jermas

Berk Bonebonce wrote:

mallorcajeff wrote:

some good advice thanks. the wheels are fulcrum 3 on a wilier so there is no rim tape as the spoke heads dont come through on those.

No rim tape = get punctures. Regardless of whether the spokes poke through or not.

The spokes aren't poking through as there are no holes in the rim bed. No holes = no rim tape.

Buckled_Rims

Are all the holes in the inners in the same place or random?

pilot_pete

I fixed EXACTLY the same problem you describe yeaterday after 3 front wheel punctures in a week, ALL when going downhill at speed....... :shock:

After the last one yesterday I resigned myself to throwing the tyre and putting a new one on as I felt sure there must be something in the tyre causing it, but I could not for the life of me find it.

However, with no trace of ANYTHING sharp on the inside of the tyre (checked every puncture, once by my ride buddies, who also found nothing) I eventually scoured the outside surface and found the smallest slither of glass embedded in the tyre outer surface.

This wasn't a problem when the tube was changed, wasn't a problem when inflated to 90psi, wasn't a problem with my 85kg on the bike, wasn't a problem whilst riding.....EXCEPT when going downhill fast and then braking. This generated just enough force on the front tyre to compress it, which meant the tiny bit of glass then just, and I mean just, poked though the tyre and puntured the tube....3 times!!!!! :x

I found it by using a very sharp pointed craft knife to just have a little dig in each and every knick in the outer tyre surface. There were tiny grains of sand in many of the knicks, and of course this tiny slither of glass......

PP

TuckerUK

Be careful if using a finger to find debris inside the tyre. I was fixing a flat for my partner whilst out on a ride, visual check didn't shown anything, so ran a finger around the tyre inside...OUCH, finger found the extremely thin razor sharp sliver of glass that was invisible to the naked eye. Much blood loss ensued, but maximum Brownie points were achieved for continuing to fix her puncture whilst leaking blood everywhere.

Rockhopper

The answer to this one might be the fact that you are using tyre levers to get the tyre on and off, plus the fact that they must be metal tyre levers (hence the mark on the rim). Somehow I think you are pinching the tube as you put it in.