Punctures... how many is too many?

bradbox

My third puncture in as many weeks. It's not so fun any longer. At least this one I could change in the kitchen at home.

I bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus Flat Less 700C because I thought they'd offer more protection. I've covered between 750 and 1,000 miles on them since November - so through the harshest part of the winter so far, and that's through London most days. Am I expecting too much?

I keep checking the inside of the tyre for anything that's penetrated (nothing ever has). I've also tried replacing the tyre without using the levers at all when I replaced the tyre - knackering my fingers in the process - because I thought I might have nipped the inner tube when replacing it.

Any advice or suggestions? No, I'm not going to get an indoor trainer instead because it won't help the commute!

surrey_commuter

bradbox wrote:

My third puncture in as many weeks. It's not so fun any longer. At least this one I could change in the kitchen at home.

I bought a pair of Schwalbe Marathon Plus Flat Less 700C because I thought they'd offer more protection. I've covered between 750 and 1,000 miles on them since November - so through the harshest part of the winter so far, and that's through London most days. Am I expecting too much?

I keep checking the inside of the tyre for anything that's penetrated (nothing ever has). I've also tried replacing the tyre without using the levers at all when I replaced the tyre - knackering my fingers in the process - because I thought I might have nipped the inner tube when replacing it.

Any advice or suggestions? No, I'm not going to get an indoor trainer instead because it won't help the commute!

Change tyres
Buy slime inner tubes
Change route
Cycle further from gutter

fat daddy

What's causing the puncture, normally you can line the hole in the inner tube up to where it was punctured through the tire and quite often still find imbedded in the tire the object ... in my case shards of glass or the end of a staple .... been fine since ditching the Vittotias

cycleclinic

check rim tape. If the puncture is on the under side of the tube it is a rim tape issue. The marathon plus tyre is almost invunerable.

exposed valve hole or a piece of metal is stuck in the tyre.

The Rookie

There will be a cause for the puncture, if you repeatedly puncture and can't find anything it means you aren't looking hard enough!

hopkinb

thecycleclinic wrote:

check rim tape. If the puncture is on the under side of the tube it is a rim tape issue. The marathon plus tyre is almost invunerable.

exposed valve hole or a piece of metal is stuck in the tyre.

I used to have a set of marathons - inner tubes kept exploding in them after riding for ten minute. Eventually I found a piece of wire which had worked its way into the tyre, with only the tiniest amount protruding into the inside of the tyre. I couldn't see it, and couldn't feel it as I went round the inside of the tyre with my finger. I was told by someone to use a piece of tissue paper - which slightly snagged on the wire. Pulled it out with tweezers, and never had a puncture again with those marathons.

keef66

Any number of punctures is too many. They are bloody annoying and eat into precious ride time. And they always happen at the least convenient time. Never when you're out for a 2 hour bimble in the sunshine. Always when you're frozen and it's starting to snow / racing back to pick the kids up from somewhere / you've had a 5 mile detour because a road's been closed, you have no lights and it's starting to get dark. The law of Sod invariably applies to punctures. I'm just glad I don't commute on the bike.

singleton

The Rookie wrote:

There will be a cause for the puncture, if you repeatedly puncture and can't find anything it means you aren't looking hard enough!

Unfortunately this is quite likely.

I had a number of punctures last winter, but couldn't find any cause. I started taking careful notice of where they were occurring and soon noticed that they were in the same spot. I took the tyre off the rim and literally turned it inside out to check it. Eventually, I found a tiny piece of flint that was stuck in the tyre at an angle - the rubber had closed over it and I only found it when stretching the tyre out.

No more punctures - at least not for a while.

gbsahne001

I've also had three so far this year;

1 : snakebite
2 : flint
3 : I'd somehow managed to leave an SKS mudguard stay clip in the tyre upon assembly and it punctured after 30miles; frankly I'm surprised it went that far before puncturing.

Can go months without puncturing but then have a spate of them; keep tyre pressures high, inspect the tyre for flints / debris once a week and try and avoid debris on the road i.e. cycle away from the kerb / side of the road.

milemuncher1

Look for anything that might be causing the punctures from the wheel. Intruding spokes, knackered rim tape, swarf, sharp stuff from the rim. If that's all good, it may be due to incorrect seating of the tube. I always give the tube a little push up by the valve, before inflating the tyre all the way up. Not doing this can cause a tube failure quite easily. I'd make sure that the tyres are properly inflated as well. On my Hybrid, with 700 x 35c Schwalbe M+ tyres, I go to about 55 - 60 psi. If that all fails to reduce the number of punctures, I'd suggest looking very carefully at the routes you ride. I've ridden the bike with the M+ tyres on for over 15000 miles without getting a single intrusion puncture, and that includes riding on tow paths, and rough trails. I know a lot of people who have also done similar miles, in similar conditions, with no issues.

essex-commuter

3 'proper' punctures in a short amount of time is pretty impossible with a Marathon Plus in my opinion.

As others have said, it's something stuck in the tyre, crap rim tape, or you are nipping the tube when you put it in. Marathon's are a nightmare to fit I know. YouTube has some suggestions, personally I used zip ties as I work my way around.

arthur_scrimshaw

essex-commuter wrote:

3 'proper' punctures in a short amount of time is pretty impossible with a Marathon Plus in my opinion.

As others have said, it's something stuck in the tyre, crap rim tape, or you are nipping the tube when you put it in. Marathon's are a nightmare to fit I know. YouTube has some suggestions, personally I used zip ties as I work my way around.

+1
Totally agree, they are the most puncture resistant tires (short of the tannus solid tyre)

barry_kellett99

Similar to above experiences with puncture resistant tyres... I have found with panaracer RiBMo's that once something gets through the puncture protection barriers, it can get stuck in the rubber and not be visible or very feelable when trying to find the cause. In fact I have binned a tyre in the past when the foreign object became so stuck into the tyre that i couldnt get it to pass the whole way through, nor get it out from whence it came. It caused a small area of friction on the tube and would wear a hole after a weeks riding rather than an actual penetrating of the tube

It sounds like whatever it is - is still in there

froze

Without seeing the tire I'm just guessing, but those tires are very good tires for flat protection, though do keep in mind that riding in wet cold weather allows things to stick to the tire and help it to penetrate better than dry riding.

I disagree with the use of Slime in road tires, I've found this crap not to work at all once you air up above 70 to 75 psi, the higher pressure just blows the slime out the hole until the pressure drops to the point that the Slime can seal; also slime gets hard when cold and is completely ineffective in any tire when that happens.

So now what do you do? Try a tire liner and a thicker tube.

The_Wicker_Man

How about going tubeless?

milemuncher1

I got pissed off with punctures on my commutes. I've put the commuter road bike on Tannus solid tyres ( 28mm / 100 psi virtual pressure). No more punctures for me, and the tyres don't feel / handle too differently to pneumatic tyres either. Even in the wet, and on poor road surfaces.

milemuncher1

The_Wicker_Man wrote:

How about going tubeless?

Very messy if you have to replace a broken spoke, water from the latex solution migrates across the membrane ( tyre ) as well, which can make the tyre unexpectedly slippery.

cougie

Those tyres are bomb proof. You need to find the cause. Get the tube and pump it up to see what caused it.

Sort out that issue and you're good to go.

You wont get a more puncture proof tyre i think.