budopo

This is my first post here, after looking in at forums from time to time. I'm wondering if you can help me with some massive air loss I've had on my last 2 rides.

I just switched to latex inner tubes. They're Vredestein, as are the tires (Fortezza TriComps). I went for a ride for about an hour and noticed near the end that the rear tire was kind of low. I checked the front, and it lost about 3 psi (about what I'm used to with my Vred sew-ups). The rear wheel, however, lost 60 psi (yes, 60 psi). I figured the tube might be defective, so I put in another and on that ride, it also lost about 60 psi (front wheel lost 3).

I wonder if the tire might be the issue. It's got about 900 or 1,000 miles on it and still some decent tread left, though it's got its share of cuts (mainly from small bits of glass, which are my main cause of punctures). The inside of the tire feels pretty smooth, though I can't be 100% certain there are no nicks.

I'm thinking of just getting a new tire, but while I'm at it, I'd like to eliminate any other possibilities. I've got Velox rim tape on it that looks in pretty good shape. The rims are Mavic Open Pros.

Thanks in advance.

ultraman6970

Vredestein <-- right there, that's the problem.

Homebrew01

Note the valve stem position relative to the tire. Find the hole in a sink of water, look at the tire where the hole was. Probably a tiny wire or bit of glass stuck in the tire

AEO

if you're going to patch latex tubes... might as well just stick in some regular butyl tubes.

milkbaby

Run a cotton ball along the entire inside of the tire to check for snags, or use a bare finger very carefully. Almost every very slow leak I've had was a teeny tiny wire that poked a similarly teeny tiny hole into the tube -- butyl tubes, but it seems like latex could be the same.

redtires

Agreed that you must have something causing a very small leak in the tube. Latex tubes do lose air at a faster rate than butyl....but you should not lose air during a ride.

androidtt

+1 Flip the tire inside out and press on the now "outside" inside to open up the middle to check for stuff stuck in the tire.

I didn't ride my latex tubed wheels for 6 days and psi was at 10. During a ride? Shouldn't be losing it that fast. I think it's something like a loss of 1psi per hour (2 hours?).

budopo

A small nick in the tire is one of the first things I thought of (it's got quite a few cuts from glass).
I checked it, didn't find anything, so I unmounted the tire, checked it, and still didn't find anything.
It's probably pretty small. The tire is showing some wear, so It might be time for a new one, some tubes, and some new Velox rim tape.

Riding with 65 psi in the tire did give a smooth ride, though. :-)