how often & how well do you inspect your tires?
 

after riding thru so much road debris on Friday I got to thinking how often & how well do I inspect my tires. & I couldn't remember the last time I did so. so I put on some closeup over the counter eyeglasses & gave them a closeup inspection. they looked OK, whew!

I check my tires almost every time I get a flat.

Which isn't very often.

Or in other words, not very often and not very well. At least after I find the wire or bit of glass.

I can't tell you how many times I've had a flat and found glass bits stuck in the visible tire threads. In my defense, there's not much tire you can see under a full fender in the rear.

About once a week. My situation is a bit different than most. I roll my commuter right through the hospital and into the elevator up to my office on the second floor. Because of this, I am extremely vigilant about keeping my bike spotlessly clean. I wipe down EVERYTHING with a microfiber towel and either Pledge or Windex Multi Surface Vinegar every few days. I have the cleanest 17k mile commuter you'll ever see. As part of my routine, I inspect my tires and remove glass chips, wire bits, or anything that looks like trouble. Admittedly, it's a bit over-the-top but it keeps me out of trouble with staff and bicycle surprises.


-Kedosto

Yup.

That was exactly what I getting at.

I don't check mine very often, either. Flats are infrequent, and 38-42mm tires don't wear very fast. :)

Not as often as I probably should. Glad I'm not alone.

At the end of every ride. I've found glass and screws in my tires and luckily, removed them before they eventually punctured through to the tube.

+1

I give them a quick look-see about every 3rd flat or so. Why? Is something wrong with my tires? :D

I know this is in the commuting forum, but I check them after every ride. Wiping down the tires is part of my maintenance after every ride. Doing this has enabled me to find defects not associated with flats, such as separation and bubbling under the tread that could have caused a catastrophic failure at speed.

Not very often and not very well. The last time I had to change a rear flat I saw how worn out the tire was, with all kinds of little nicks and cuts, and the balding track. I probably had close to 10,000 km on it. So needless to say it was time to change it.

Yeah, I agree about not seeing the rear tire under full fenders. Easier to see the front.

I wipe mine down and check for debris... after pretty much every ride. But I'm not a commuter, I'm a guy who rides 200 miles a week for no reason. I also don't ride on armored commuter tires, so there's that.

After riding in the rain which tends to attract more debris so this month, about 10 times so far. Very rainy month of June here.

Every time I get back on the pavement from dirt. Not super thorough. A slow roll checking each tire. This is goathead season. It's still easy to miss wires, staples and small pieces of glass.

Depends on how often I'm bored while waiting around for my GF... so pretty often, actually.

Haven't tried it but wonder if lightly passing a cotton ball over the tire would show if something is sticking out of the tire thread... I know it works well AFTER the puncture to see if there is something still protruding INTO the tube but never tried it on the outside. Might not work very well on threaded tired though, probably better on slick one.

Like others said, when I get a flat, or when I'm bored, or on a rainy Sunday morning... not too often.

When checking my tire pressures once a week (on my commuter Velomobile) I check my wheels for trueness, check and clean my tire treads of debris, and check my spokes for breakage or looseness. On my mountain bikes or regular road bike I rarely check the tires for debris, they are tubeless and rarely get a flat.

Not often or well enough. Got a flat last week, found and removed the tiny piece of metal embedded in the tire, fixed the flat after running some tissues inside to find snags, rode home. Next morning it was flat again. {sigh}

Well let that be a lesson to you mister. CHECK YOUR TIRES REGULARLY. I know I prevented a couple of flats when I found the glass, screw and spur embedded in mine and removed them BEFORE they punctured through to the tube. 🙃

That's "ma'am" to you, young whipper-snapper. As has been mentioned upthread, it's difficult to see the rear tire under fenders.

I think the little wires get pushed flush with the tire and can’t easily be detected on the outside even with cotton. I can’t feel them with my finger and doubt you’d find them with cotton.

I don’t check mine regularly and had my first flat in 6 months today and it was a pinch. Pumped my tire before I left for my ride with my sunglasses on and misread the gauge. Tires were 15psi low.

Funny I see this. Bought some new tires yesterday (marathon plus) for my cross check. When swapping tires found the oem front tire had some pretty deep cracks, or what looked like small cuts in a 6 inch section. Just a reminder to regularly check my tires.

Yep; my last flat the piece of metal was completely flush with the tire; I found it by visual inspection.