Jeff Wills

I've had a series of flat tires over the last couple rides and it's made me crazy(er) chasing down the cause.

It started with a slow leak a couple rides back. I couldn't find the cause (even after dunking the tube in water) so I put a new tube in the tire. It was fine for about 20 miles, then started leaking again. After a couple stops to pump it up, I finally got off and patched it. On close inspection, I found a small piece of glass that hadn't poked all the way through the tire so it escaped detection the first time around. I removed it and rode on. Everything's OK, right?

So I went out for a ride yesterday and the tire went flat again. Inspection inside the tire didn't show anything, nor did running my thumb around the inside. I left the new tube in it, patched the puncture, and tried to find what was causing the flat by matching up the puncture with the labels on the tire. (I always line up the valve stem with the label on the tire so I can do this.) Still nothing visible.

On today's ride, the tire starts going flat yet again about 20 miles into the ride. I take the tire off, find the leak, and the look really closely at the inside of the tire in bright daylight. There's little white spot on the inside, right where the new puncture is and right where the piece of glass had come out a couple rides back.

Here's what I think happened: the glass had penetrated the tire just enough to cut the casing just enough to allow the tube to push through under pressure. Ride on the tube long enough and the road wears a hole in it.

I put a boot in the tire, which allowed me to ride home. I'm going to put this tire on the "spares" pile and put a new tire on.

Grrrr...

RandomTroll

I've had tiny bits of wire embedded in the tire that took days to work a hole in a tube and flattened down when I ran my finger over them. A cotton ball catches on them.

My most frustrating flat was a tire liner that had dried out and split, the split apparently only showing when the tire was under pressure and pinching a slit in the tube.

jyl

I'm glad you found the cause, and sorry you had to cut your ride short!

dabac

Don't think so.

Can't imagine a hole size that would allow that to happen. IME the tube would either stay put, or stretch until bursting. There's literally no structural strength in tubes. If not restrained by something, they tend to keep stretching.
Only exception I can think of is if you're running seriously low tire pressure.

What I can imagine though - from plenty of experience using worn studded tires - is that once there's a hole in a tire it'll have near magical properties in attracting grit to it, and this new piece of shrapnel will then happily set to work gnawing a hole in your tube.

(When studded tires get worn, the studs work their way through the casing. Eventually the base of the stud wears a hole in the tube. An efficient waste of time is to pull all the studs, hoping to get a little more use of the tire as a kinda-sorta off-road tire.
Also, while losing an occasional stud is no big deal for tire performance, I've picked up several flats from grit lodging in a vacant socket and wearing a hole in tire and tube.)

Retro Grouch 

I once had a tire on my beater bike that had something embedded in the tire that I never did find. My short term solution was to cut the valve stem out of an old inner tube and to use that as a tire liner. Eventually I stumbled into a deal on a lightly used tire that matched so I threw the offending tire away. Life is too short to waste searching for an embedded wire.

gregf83 

It's Not that uncommon. I've seen it before on my tires. The tube doesn't have to extend past the tire but it's just a little closer to the road and debris. I don't know whether that was the OPs problem but it does happen.

Velocivixen

@Jeff Wills - sorry to see you and your "better half" (still don't know her name) have to take off early. The rest of the ride had hardly any hills.....and I was happy. Sorry you all had to hear me cussing as I was huffing up Mt. Tabor.

Jeff Wills

Point taken. Except at least one occurrence (this has happened to me 3 times in 35+ years of riding) the tube showed a nice conical depression around the second "puncture". It sure looked to me like the tube had been abraded by the road surface.

Another conjecture: I tend to use larger (700 x 32C), heavier, belted tires so support my 240 pounds fat, recumbent-riding arse. A small tire cut might not allow the tube to bulge per se, but could create pincers that eventually nibble a hole in the tube.

Whatever. 3 times in a lifetime is too many. I have made my sacrifices to the Flat Gods and hope to ride off into the sunset flat-free.

Jeff Wills

Her name's Diane.

Just remember:
"Little ditty about Jeff and Diane
"Two American kids growin' up in the heartland"
(John Cougar Melonhead)

(Diane occasionally posts to the Song threads on the Foo forum... and she hates that song.)

gugie 

Missed you guys at the end of the ride! Of course, your bike name will now be Jack.

Velocivixen

Oh yes, I know that song! Anyway would liked to have chatted with her more about her bike.

JanMM

Jeff, are you getting enough ketchup in your diet?
Won't help the tires any but you'll feel better about the occasional flat tire in the road of life.......

Jeff Wills

Well, the cat's up in any case.

JanMM

Ha!