Mikefule

I get rather too many punctures on the fixed gear because I'm running cheap 23mm OE tyres until I can afford better, and I tend to ride a lot of farm tracks. Last time I put the bike away, I'd just repaired a puncture.

A rare opportunity for a ride today. I set off to post a letter then went on up the hill to the next village, down the lane, over the footbridge, along the farm track, along the lane, and up the hill to another village, then I had a glorious "knees smoking" descent down a steep little hill, just managing to avoid needing the brakes.

A mile or so later, I noticed a "whiff whiff" sound and saw a dark patch on the tyre. I thought I'd picked up a bit of electrician's tape or something, but I couldn't brush it off with the palm of my glove. In the end, irritated by the noise, I stopped to find that about 3 inches (7.5 cm) of the bead of the tyre had popped off the rim. I was not far short of a sudden blowout of the tube.

If that had happened on the fast decent, it would have hurt.

I've been repairing punctures and replacing tyres and tubes for over 40 years, but I go it wrong this time, and obviously didn't check carefully enough before pumping the tyre up to full pressure.

School boy error #2 was to leave my mini pump on my other bike. Fortunately, I only had 3/4 mile to walk and the weather was pleasant.

rseeker

A tale well told, very descriptive, feels like being there with you. I'm glad it worked out OK!

Bigbus

Yes indeed, a tale well told. The country sounds amazing. Wish I were there.

veganbikes

I have had enough blown tires in my ears and face to always double and triple check and take it really slow. I am not a race mechanic so if it takes an extra minute or two fine by me, if it means no ringing in my ears. Glad you are ok. You might want to save up for some better puncture protectant tires, maybe even wider as well, it sounds like that could be of great use to you.

79pmooney

I know this sounds backwards but if you want to skimp on tires, ride sewups. Properly glued, they never come off the rim. You can flat at any speed and always ride the bike to a standstill. You can blow the tire up and do the same. I blew at least one tire at 45+ mph in my racing days. Big scare when I heard the shot but the rest was no big deal. Enough of a non-event that I really don't know if it happened more than once. By contrast, I blew out a tubed rear clincher on my fix gear (an old tire I threw on because it was close at hand) going ~25 mph on a slight downhill. Tire rolled off the rim, leaving me trying to stay off the curb with traction like riding on ice. (When you are on ice, you don't use a firm grip! You treat the bike like a baby, being very gentle.) I was completely un-prepared for the tire jamming in the seatstay. Got tossed forward and hit hard. Multiple broken bones and I lost an acre of skin.

If money loosens up, I will go back to sewups. Good for peace of mind.

Ben