noglider 

I just put Vittoria Voyager Hyper tires on my commuter. I'm not sure what technology they use, but there is puncture protection. I have ridden Paselas (non-tourguard) a lot, and I didn't mind the fact that I would get a flat occasionally. Now I'm expect the frequency to go down. And these tires ride great. Actually, they feel normal, but my speedometer says I'm going faster. They look like monstrously heavy slow tires, but they don't feel like that.

rhm

When I got on my bike to ride home from the station this evening, the rear tire was flat. Totally deflated. I pumped it up and rode home as fast as possible, and fixed it just now. The cause was a little piece of wire, smaller than a staple.

I removed the wire, patched the tube, and we're good to go.

ksryder

If anyone was wondering, I determined I was causing pinch flats on good tubes with the tire levers when removing tires. I've been more careful with the levers the last few times and have not flatted good tubes. I find it helps to squeeze the bead off after deflating the tube before removing.

rhm

Rrrrr. My rear wheel went flat again. After I patched it on Wednesday, it held air overnight and through the day Thursday; but went flat suddenly on the ride home on Thursday. I haven't checked whether it's a new puncture or a failed patch. Rrrr.

rhm

Friday, April 10, riding home from the station on the Fothergill (which is not my usual commuter; but I used it for the commute a couple days this week to shake out any adjustment issues etc before Saturday's "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it) I stopped at the HoJo motel to see if I recognized anyone; and had soon found both Phil and Neal. We agreed to ride up to my house... but before we could get out of the parking lot, my rear tire had gone flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. Wtf? I patched it.

We rode on.

Friday, April 10, about 3/4 mile up the road from the HoJo motel, my rear tire went flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. This was not the patch I had just applied; a new, but very similar puncture in a different location. Wtf? I patched it.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 45 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Phil got a pinch flat. I assume it was the flat tire mojo that surrounds me. He patched it and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 55 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Doc's rear tire went flat. It was a staple. Again, no doubt my flat tire mojo. He changed the tube and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 60 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, Phil got a pinch flat. I assume it was the flat tire mojo that surrounds me. He patched it and we went on.

Saturday, April 11, somewhere near mile 75 of our "NJ Heroic Century" or whatever you want to call it, my rear tire went flat. Rrrr. Puncture of uncertain cause, along the edge of the rim strip. No irregularity on the rim, no nipples sticking through the rim strip. This was neither of the patches I applied the day before, but a new, but very similar puncture in a different location. Do I detect a pattern? I think the Nashbar plastic rim strip has a rough edge that is abrading the tube somehow. But it could be my flat tire mojo again. I patched it. I'm going to change the rim strip today.

Paramount1973 

I ride Panaracer T-Servs on my commuters. They have a anti-puncture layer. So good, so far.

noglider 

That's some mighty bad luck you all had on Saturday, @rhm. How many riders were you?

rhm

Seven riders, four flats in total mileage somewhere around 700 miles, I don't think that's so bad. Flat tires are part of the normal cycling experience.

noglider 

True, now that you put it that way.

nlerner

However, 75% of the riders suffered 100% of the flats, and one rider suffered 50% of the flats. So perhaps the normal cycling experience is for someone else to have a flat.

jimmuller 

Okay, how do 75% of the riders suffer all of them? Or maybe you mean everyone else suffered vicariously because they had to stop whenever one person had a flat? That would mean 25% of the riders weren't considerate enough to stop and wait for their compatriots. Ride on! Flats to the left of them! Flats to the right of them! Ride on!

Phil_gretz

Well...both of my flats on Saturday were "snake bite" type pinch flats. We all knew about the carnivorous pothole that ate my rear wheel the first time. The second one had been after hand inflating the first fix. Both times, I'd judge that the tire was a hair underinflated for the load.

Doc's was clearly a staple in a new tire. Rudi's were more mysterious, but the rim strip theory fits the evidence pretty well. His second flat on Friday night might've been a puncture, though...

Another way to look at Saturday's flats is that 75% occurred on bikes from VA. Phil

The Golden Boy 

You hate flat tires?

Get the round ones, duh.

rhm

Oh, I guess I have to mention this one... two weeks ago I did a 200k brevet and my front tire lost a significant amount of pressure around the 40k mark. Right in the city of Phillipsburg NJ, not a nice place to fix a flat. I pumped it up and rode on, figuring I'd patch the tube when I found a warm place protected from the wind, preferably with coffee. But with occasional pumping the tire held for the whole ride. Whew!

edit: it went completely flat after the ride. Puncture of unknown cause, patched 4/20/15.

rhm

After the series of flats on the Fothergill mentioned above, I knew I needed to replace the rim strip; but forgot, and rode it on another century down into the pines. And got more flat tires. These don't count, but I guess I have to mention them for the sake of completeness. I eventually fixed the problem... I think.



Yesterday, riding the Holdsworth to the station (regular commuter is laid up for major service) my rear tire went flat. Pumped it up and rode on, but still missed my train. When I got back to the station after work, the tire was completely flat. Turned out to be a little piece of wire stuck all the way through the tire; patched the tube, pulled the wire out, and I was on my way. 650b Grand Bois Hetre tire.

jimmuller 

A few weeks ago I pumped up the Bertin's tires expecting to ride it to work. For various reasons I ended up riding different bikes. Then I noticed the flat rear tire, just sitting on the basement floor. Ah, the Schrader valve blew out of the tube. All by itself. Probably would have scared the cat if we had a cat. That's the third time I've seen such a failure.

RandolphCarter

Oh, good! A place to perform penance, abase myself, and grovel for the forgiveness of the ever so fickle butyl overlords.

I recently finished putting together my new ride, an '86 Trek Elance 310. I had rolled around the neighborhood with the kids a few times, and was taking it for my first longer ride on Memorial Day.

The bike has new Panaracer Pasela PT 700c x 28mm tires, new Kenda tubes on new Mavic Open Pro 32 spoke rims.

On mile 22 of 50, the rear tire started to get a bit squishy. It was at this point I noticed in my haste to get out the door, I had left the saddle bag with the spare tubes, levers, and patch kit on the dining room table.

As I'm checking the tire casing for anything obvious, another cyclist stopped and helped. He was prepared, unlike me.

Didn't see anything immediately obviously wrong with the tube, but Brad the good samaritan gave me a new tube, mounted and inflated the tire, and away we went. He scooted off in to the distance much faster than I could keep up.

Less than a mile back in to the ride, my back tire went really soft again.

I called my wife and she picked me up.

Looking at both flat tubes when I got home, the holes were on the underside of the tube. I had initially used thin butyl rimstrips, and it looks like the tube was able to protrude into one of the chambers for the spoke heads.

So I took those off, and swapped in some hard plastic strips from another wheelset I have.

One of my flat tubes had the hole too close to the valve to easily patch, so I tossed it and patched the other. The patched tube is now in the saddle bag,

So I mounted everything back up, pumped up the tires, and took the bike for a quick spin on the rail trail near my house. About a mile into the ride, *BOOM* goes the rear tube. I walk back to my house.

It looks like the plastic rim strip has a sharp edge near the valve hole, and the new tube was rubbing against it. The hole in the tube is larger than the (admittedly small) patches I have, so I chucked it.

I now have two rolls of Velox rim tape, so I'm going to replace the rim strips before riding this Sunday's Tour de Cure.

seedsbelize 

I never, ever use plastic rim strips. Been there done that. I have quite a few NOS in my toolbox if anyone wants them.

noglider 

There's a thread I started long ago about how I used Gorilla Tape as rim strips. I've come around and am back to using Velox. Sure it costs more than anything else, but it's a wonderful thing to know it just works, and it's easy to apply.

rhm

On Monday I left the house a minute late, got a hundred feet before I realized I'd forgotten my helmet. Went back, got the helmet, headed on my way a little faster now... got to mile 2 and felt a bump, you know, that tell-tale jolt that tells you you're rear tire is going flat. I increased my speed accordingly, got another half mile. Pumped it up as fast as possible, heard it leaking, but rode on, absolutely as fast as I could ... got another mile... tire pretty flat... rode a little farther... saw my train still wasn't in the station, so I walked the last hundred yards dripping sweat. Announcement on the PA said my train was running eight minutes late. Folded up the bike and waited....

I walked the bike from Penn Station to my office, patched the tube after I got here. Just a simple puncture, cause unknown. No pinch flat, much to my relief. I patched it.

rhm

Out on a ride with TimmyT and Nlerner on Saturday, in between rain showers, I heard a ffft ffft ffft fffft sound. Tire was flat by the time I'd got off the bike. Major puncture right through the tread of a 650b Grand Bois Hetre. It was threatening to rain, so I put in a new tube and, just to be safe, stuck some cotton tape to the inside of the tire at the puncture. I sure hope I remember to patch the old tube before I ride that bike again!

OldsCOOL

Read my sig line....

Lascauxcaveman 

The other day I was riding home from work for the first time on my Eddy - an ambitious undertaking for me, as I am recovering from a recently dislocated knee and the 1000 ft elevation gain in 4 miles is one I usually attack with 34T cog, rather than the 26T on the Eddy. Brand new tubular tires, my first ever (less than 10 miles).

At exactly the halfway point I hear a 'pop' which is remarkable, with my terrible hearing, but no mistaking the instant deflation. No spare, of course, and I'm hiking up that hill instead of riding it. So this weekend I got my first crack at tearing into sew-ups to patch the tube, stitching and gluing it all back together again - what a PITA! Oh, well, I've learned an important bike-nerd skill and that tire should be solid now for awhile, right?

This morning, I set out down my long gravel driveway; I've gone not more than 100 yards and... 'pop.'

aftrshok99

Went for an easy ride with my wife last evening and we got about 5 miles into the ride and I hit a small hole or something like that on the way down a hill at 30mph. Got to the top of the next hill and couldn't hear any air coming out of the front tire. Went slowly down the next hill and when I turned left onto the bike trail I felt what was like the tire rolled as I was in my turn. Looked down and it was going flat. I made it about another mile before I had to quit riding it. Didn't have any patches or spare tubes with me, stupid me. I ended up walking the bike 2 miles home as my wife kept riding loops up and down the street waiting for me to catch up. I'm sure people were wondering why I was pushing my bike while seeing that the woman with me was riding...LOL. Lessoned learned, have patches or a spare tube, etc. with me at all times even if I wasn't planning on riding very far.

jimmuller 

I always carry two spares on my bikes with tubulars. Last week I was a few miles from home on my return commute when I came upon another cyclist stopped so I stopped and asked if he was okay. He'd gotten a flat and was hoping to flag down a car to take him the few miles to Belmont Wheelworks. (It wasn't going to happen on that road!) All I had was two spare tubulars but after a few moments reflection I recall that someone in C&V had described putting a tubular tire on a clincher rim. So we tried it. He made it safely and I then retrieved my tire and went on home. Now I've started carrying a patch kits even on the tubular bikes.