3 punctures- 3 days

glasgowbhoy

Have had 3 punctures on the front wheel of my fixed in the last 3 days.
After the 2nd I blew up a new inner and left it for a few hours to check it was okay. Have taken the tyre off (Conti Gator Skin) and checked all round the outside for slashes, cuts etc and all round the inner and of the tyre and it looks fine, there are no cuts out the tyre walll either. The rim tape and the rim itself look fine and don't seem to have any metal burrs or sharp edges. Was just going to but a new tyre but am at pains to do that if there is nothing I can see wrong with the tyre I've got. Any suggestions?

Pru

Have you tried pinching the tire to make sure there's no glass buried deep into the rubber, sometimes it can get in deep enough so you can't see it from either side but the weight of the rider forces it into the tube.

glasgowbhoy

cheers, will have a look again at lunchtime.

Bobbinogs

I would make sure you line the tyre up when fitting so that you have a ref point, e.g., line the logo up with the valve hole. Then, if you puncture again, see where the puncture is when you take the tube off to work out where the probable issue is...same place each time? Use the ref point on the tube/wheel to check the tyre and rim in the right area.

meanredspider

Pru wrote:

Have you tried pinching the tire to make sure there's no glass buried deep into the rubber, sometimes it can get in deep enough so you can't see it from either side but the weight of the rider forces it into the tube.

+1 - I've had that with a Gator recently - a bit of orange glass - didn't feel it when I swapped the inner then got another flat. Finally had a good look on the ouside and there it was. I regularly check my Gators in the various war wounds because, as good as they are, they won't survive an embedded piece of glass constantly slicing away at the protective belt.

glasgowbhoy

thanks guys. much appreciated

markos1963

Bad time of year, lots of farmers around here are hedge trimming leaving sharp shards of hedge in the road, could be the same for you.

glasgowbhoy

took the inner out and pumped it up. No pinch flat, looks like a slow puncture.
Will have a good look at the tyre now.
Round the outside and the inside of the tyre piching it all the way round. A few slashes but nothing sharp that would cause a puncture.
Hmmm....

andrew_s

As stated, you can get fragments of glass within the thickness of the tyre so it's not visible from either side. They do tend to cause slow punctures too, because they don't poke out far enough to go right through the tube in one go.
You'll have to check all of the little cuts (1 - 2mm size), squeezing the tyre to open them up to see if there is any glint of glass down the bottom. Sometimes it helps to poke something down the cut and feel for hard gratings (I use the reamer bit of my swiss army knife).
All this is much easier if you know where the hole is and only have 6 inches of tyre to check thoroughly.

meanredspider

Have you matched up the tube to the tyre to see where the pointy bit might be? Or compared inners to see if they've puncture in the same place?

glasgowbhoy

All checked and tyre throughly checked and cleaned. New inner in and rode home 40 mins and just checked there and pressure okay. We'll see how it goes but worst case scenario it'll be a new tyre,

Thanks everyone

glasgowbhoy

All checked and tyre throughly checked and cleaned. New inner in and rode home 40 mins and just checked there and pressure okay. We'll see how it goes but worst case scenario it'll be a new tyre,

Thanks everyone