First puncture ever - on the turbo!

andyeb

Done 5500 miles on the road bike now and not yet had a puncture. This morning I came to get my bike off the recently acquired turbo trainer (done 4x sessions on it) and found the back tyre completely flat.

I'm running Contintental Gatorskins (a winter training tyre). I know turbos can wear tyres out quickly and some people fit specific turbo tyres, but the outers still look in excellent shape. The Gatorskins are so hard to get on and off the rims, if I have to change the back tyre every time I use the turbo, that's going to be a serious dis-incentive to turbo training . Unfortunately budget doesn't stretch to a new pair of wheels at the moment.

Is this a problem I should expect to recur? Or did I just get unlucky and something stuck in the tyre worked it's way through under the stress of a turbo session?

Any thoughts/ideas on this and how to prevent it recurring?

thanks,

Andrew

logitech208

Sure its not just the valve in the tube gone.

slowbike

Best thing I did was get a spare back wheel - well, actually I got a new wheel set - now the old back wheel has one of my retired road tyres on and the spare front has a slick for the CX bike ... I just need another spare back wheel so I can have a spare slick wheel too ...

On how you got the puncture - Either you've got unlucky with a tube or you've picked up something whilst road riding and the turbo has helped push it through - plenty of flints on the road atm - I've had 4 punctures recently (all in the rear)

TBH, I wouldnt now use a good road tyre on the turbo - it heats up quickly when used on the turbo and the old tyre I've got on there atm looks considerably hardened/polished. So perhaps you could stretch £50 for a spare wheel and £15 for a cassette?

saprkzz

I have a turbo wheel, basically a cheap ally wheel with a Turbo tyre fitted.

Have done 3 or 4 months using it, and last week it was flat. Tyre is still in good nick, but the tube has a small hole. Replaced the tube, have completed 3 sessions and last night went into the garage and the new one is down.
Very odd, I need to check the rim tape incase a spoke nipple has done it, or a bit of swarf from the rim.

Very strange and annoying

kim10

I think you just got unlucky. As been said above probably either a dodgy valve or a small flint in the tyre that has been pushed through when riding on the turbo. Either way you would probably have had the same puncture if you had been riding on the road.

I can only agree with the posters above to get a spare wheel for turbo riding. I picked up a 2nd hand wheel from a guy in the club for £20 and bought a new cassette and put on an old tyre I had. All in all it cost me less than £40 and is still working okay.

andyeb

Thanks guys. Found the puncture - bizarrely it looked like a snake bite. My theory is it may have been damage that was done out on the road, but didn't quite puncture. However heat of my harder workout on the turbo finally made it go.

Will need to keep training with what I have for now, but will try and save up for a spare back wheel and dedicated training tyre in due course.

thanks,

Andrew