Am I missing something?

Rooner
Rooner Posts: 109
edited November 2011 in Commuting general
This week down ere in the south west it has bucketed it down, prob over 100mm rain so far. The two worst days, Monday and Thursday, I have ridden to work as usual and had a rear wheel puncture both times.......

Despite looking in the tyre and checking for glass etc., and the rim, is there anything else stupid that I might have missed? Both times the inner appears properly pierced, def not a snake bite. I can't find anything in the tyre itself? Rim appears OK as well, nothing sticking out?

Despite possibly being the most patient person on the planet, the bike almost got thrown after this mornings puncture in a monsoon downpour. No spare tube (my fault), patched it, put back in, couldn't pump it up as the presta valve must have gotten bent, valve end then snapped off, took it back out, repaired the popped tube from the other day and put that one back in, rode to work in pouring down rain. Deep joy.

Comments

  • Wallace1492
    Wallace1492 Posts: 3,707
    Was puncture in the same place? You must always determine where it was then check the tyre at that point and see the small tear and if anything is in it. Failure to do this will result in repeated puntures and soakings.

    Always carry 2 spare tubes. Its not hard to organise.....
    "Encyclopaedia is a fetish for very small bicycles"
  • Rooner
    Rooner Posts: 109
    nope, not in same place. Its just weird that the tyre 'carcass' looks intact, no splits or foreign bodies at all.

    Yeah, I've always got at least one spare on me, as well as patches (Park ones seem to work very well), but that was my last tube the other day, and the rain has been pants so I had put off popping to the local shop in my lunchtime...that'll learn me.
  • hangeron
    hangeron Posts: 127
    spokes poking through the rim tape?

    tiny tear near the base of the valve
  • Is it the same tyre each time?

    Possibly a broken wire in the tyre jabbing the tube when it flexes, then going and hiding all nice and invisible when there tyre is more relaxed off the rim, I had a spate of unexplained punctures through this and they're an absolute swine to find, I was sat there with bright lights for ages twisting and turning the tyre after advice on here, I eventually found a wire fragment but it was a hell of a task.

    As a masochistic double check you could swap that tyre to the other wheel and see if that one starts to puncture, or you could try a bit of duck tape over the inner surface of the tyre area where the punctures occurred if there is absolutely nothing for sure worked its way through from the outside.
  • Where on the tube was the puncture? Outer side, inside, underside..?
  • Initialised
    Initialised Posts: 3,047
    I had one this morning, fortunately it stayed up until I got to work. A tiny piece of glass had gone right through the tyre and was embedded in the tube. Maybe re check the tube.
    I used to just ride my bike to work but now I find myself going out looking for bigger and bigger hills.
  • If you put your tube back in back to front (i.e. other way round) and you've left the 'culprit' in the tyre, you'll end up with two patches equidistany from the valve. If the tyre goes down slow, there's time for the culprit to hide, only to reappear when fully re-inflated.

    And it's rain that causes punctures! Lubricates the sharp object's path through your tyre - normally takes a few revolution of the whel to cut all the way through. Replace tyres before they're worn out, or even better: swap front to rear when rear is 1/3 way through its lifespan.

    I've been puncture free this year, apart from once where a club-'member' rail-roaded me in to a puddle, where a pothole lurked - double (front and rear) snakebite, and I was only carrying one tube.
    FCN16 - 1970 BSA Wayfarer

    FCN4 - Fixie Inc
  • Definetly agree it's the rain .. no puntures for approx 1600 miles (or 4 months) and then 2 within a week .. both times after it had rained a lot (the previous 4 months hardly any rain). Have fitted tape inside the tube now and we will see how that pans out.
    Sometimes you're the hammer, sometimes you're the nail

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