pambam

Wasn't sure what forum to post this in, so I'll try this one. I don't own a car and my bicycle is my main form of transportation. But I get a puncture about 20% of the times that I ride, and that's drifting up to 25%. I cannot do anything technical to save my life, so it's a lot of money to have them constantly repaired. But why does this keep happening to me? I try to avoid the curbs where lots of glass might be and I'm anyway usually on a bikepath. I keep my tires as inflated as I can. Am I doing something wrong??

Clyde1820

What specific rims and tires do you have on this bike?

Where is the flat occurring? A thorn or something else along the tread? More along the sidewall area? Or, without apparent thorn/nail puncturing from the outside?

Could be something with the rim, a protrusion or sharpness on the inside of the rim. Might help to have a tough rim liner to protect the tube from many of these types of protrusion-related punctures.

Could be your tire simply isn't tough enough for the routes you are taking, if it's being punctured by things on the road. I'd review the tire products by Schwalbe and Continental (among others), considering their extra puncture resistant layers. Can make a world of difference.

Myself, I've used the Continental Ride Tour tire and the Schwalbe Big Ben Plus tire. Each have a decent additional layer for puncture resistance. Neither of these tires has resulted in a puncture while riding, despite the occasional small pice of glass, staple, nail embedding on the tread.

https://www.continental-tires.com/pr...acs=Urban/Tour

https://www.schwalbetires.com/Big-Ben-Plus-11101123

10 Wheels

I carry Five Spare Tubes and One Spare Tire.
Much construction in our area. Stuff falls off the trucks.

spclark 

How old are your tires? And the tubes inside? Stuff gets tired the older it gets, tends to fail sooner than later.

You getting small leaks or bigger blowouts? You ever try using some kinda sealant? Replace the valve stems in your tubes, or check to make sure they're tight after you check tire pressures?

Maybe find someone who can show you how to do basic tube & tire replacement. It's not particularly hard, requires some basic tools and confidence you know what to avoid doing.

locolobo13 

Ouch! 20% seems high. Not sure where you live but some routes here in the Phoenix Metro area have more flat causing debris than others. Learning how to avoid such debris is part of the experience. That said I've had 3 or 4 this year. Which is 3 or 4 too many!

Assuming you're having the tubes replaced at the LBS? If yes ask them to show you how to change/fix flats. It's not too difficult. In addition ask about better tires, tubes, liners, etc.

MilhouseJ

Watch some YouTube videos on how to change a tube, get some quality tubes with removable valve cores (Continental is a great choice), and look into getting some Muc-Off tube sealant. I use this sealant in the tubes of both commuter bikes as well as my (and my wife's) touring bikes, and I love the added assurance that I won't be stuck changing a tube in the rain on the side of a busy road. It also allows me the flexibility to use more supple tires (folding bead) without worrying that the carcass is too thin because I don't feel the need to focus on getting thicker "armored" tires.
Of course, your mileage may vary and you could have better luck with a different setup. This is just my experience.😁

zandoval 

Sometimes flats catch up with us and its just your turn. How about some data on what kind of bicycle, wheelset, and tires are you using right now? Are the flats coming from hardware, glass, or organics? How about a description of the section of your route that you get the flats on?

If your bicycle is your sole form of transportation its very important that you solve this problem. Ready to help...

t2p

consider Schwalbe marathon and Maxxis refuse tires

pambam

I like the idea of this Muc-Off tube sealant. Thanks for the tip. I know I have to learn how to change my own tubes, though we're in a small apartment and I have nowhere to do it except outside and it rains a lot here. But yes, need to bite the bullet and do it. Years ago I literally rode from Luxembourg to England and then around England for three months and didn't get a single puncture. Not one! It spoiled me.

pambam

Great ideas, thanks!

pambam

This is really going to sound very newbie/novice considering all the cycling I've done in my life, but we are fairly new in Germany and I inherited what is called a 'city bike'. Not great for distance riding but great in town for hauling all my groceries! It's super heavy and I have no idea about the wheelset or tires, since I'm still just trying to figure out how to live here in general. And because others are fixing them and I can't speak the language, I don't know what it is. However, had a puncture last week, brought it in, paid 26 euros and then it happened again 10 minutes later. That I suspect is a lazy repairman who replaced the tube and didn't check inside the tire. Or he was getting even with the judge. Here, petty crimes are punished, not with jail time, but having to do bicycle repair. I'm not kidding!

zandoval 

Ha... That's the ticket. So you are thinking the object that caused the puncture was left in the tire. Or it could possibly be a Pinch Flat. Either way at 26 EUR a pop it certainly is worth it to fix your own flats.

I nice heavy Work Bike can be a real gem. And learning the local language is just a Location Acclimation Problem. I do know that German's in general love to teach. So if you can't understand the Youtube feeds just get someone to show you how to fix your own flats.

There should be a name on the bicycle. There also should be numbers on the sides of the tires indicating size.

Another question is it a fast flat or a slow leak and what do your think is causing the flats. Is it glass, nails, hardware, goat heads? Or someone ticking your tires when its parked.

Korina

Which tire is getting punctured? Mine happen 99.999% on the rear tire (last week was possibly my first ever front tire puncture); I got tired of it so I installed a tire liner and no more flats! The tube sealant does sound like a good idea. Part of fixing a flat is to wipe a tissue or paper towel inside the tire; anything protruding will snag on it (instead of your fingers); my front tire picked up a tiny piece of agate-like rock shaped just like a sliver of glass, and poked a tiny hole that made for a slow leak.

Another thing; you say you keep your tires inflated as much as possible; do you mean high pressure? If so, you might try less air pressure; the theory goes that less rigid tires will tend to deform around objects rather than jamming into them. YMMV, of course. Good luck resolving your situation.

boozergut

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires for the win. One outlier is that our local bike shop got in a bad batch of tubes a few years ago. People were getting flats right and left..........

MilhouseJ

Yep, wire beads coming apart and finding soft 'n pillowy inner tubes to nestle in... Experiencing that issue first-hand is what set me down the path of using tube sealant with folding tires.

base2 

There are 2 schools of thought. One being tougher tires, tougher tubes, liners between tire & tube, etc, etc...That school would have you believe that a setup that rolls as good as inflated garden hose and would still get you to work flat tire or not is the sure-fire ticket to reliability at any cost, including your own enjoyment of the commute.

The other school is running wide, low pressure, tubeless on supple tires that roll well, fun & fast.

Tubeless is more-or-less flat proof if even the most cursory nod toward maintenance is paid. But the cost of entry is high with higher quality capable tires and capable rims.You can always tube a tubeless tire and have yet another link in the reliability chain.

For my money, tubeless is a no-brainer. But others are likely to have their own opinion. Neither is right or wrong. I will say this tho, If you are not happy with the current results, it may be time to do something different.

Classtime 

You’ve got a pokey thing in one of your tires that needs to be removed. Or, your tire is loose fitting on the rim and sliding with the tube breaking the stem to tube connection.

Heey

Go install tire liners, now I rarely get flats, try them:

(remove the space between the mr and tuffy)
mr tuffy.com

Kai Winters

oh well it could be a number of things but generally poor quality tires, riding through crap, etc.
not learning how to fix a flat means constant paying to a bike shop...you can learn but you sound like its too much of a bother.
your comment regarding tire pressure also suggests complacency and a lack of taking care of your stuff...see above.
i suggest walking and be done with it.
im not kidding...

sweeks

These reduced my flats almost 100%.

These completed the protection. I'm riding on Chicago streets and haven't had a flat literally in years except for one caused by a valve stem debonding on an old tube. I install new tubes about every three years to prevent that.

Korina

My one tire liner runs much nicer than a garden hose because my tires, Maxxis DTH, are pretty supple and fast. So I guess I'm in the middle?

Tubeless has its issues, with burping, gashes, specific tires and rims, and having to change out the sticky stuff every month. It's not that it's better than tubes, you're just trading one set of issues for another and it depends on which set of issues you'd rather deal with. I'm very glad we have options.

base2 

Why would you need to change out the sticky-icky every month? I've always just added more whenever there in less than ¼ - ½ inch. Even on neglected tires/wheels where it has pooled & dried to a large fried-cheese pancake, just adding more eventually reconstitutes it back into functional liquid that works as intended.

I can totally understand simply checking the level every month or 2 though. It isn't really a burden. Unscrew the valve core. Use random spoke as a dipstick. Top up with injector as necessary.

o2bcycling

I went tubeless and so far haven't had an issue. I also bug the crap out of the city and state street departments so that they will keep the shoulders swept.

PaulH

Marathon Plus and Mr. Tuffy. I get the same milage between flats as I do with my car.

veganbikes

I would get good puncture protectant tires as wide as you can, then get the appropriate sized Tannus Armour liner it is a foam surround to your tube rather than a harder rubber liner which can abrade the tube and move around quite easily like a Mr. Tuffy. I generally avoid sealants in the tubes but a tubeless set up could be helpful. However figure out why you are getting the flats and get to the root of that good tires and the Tannus will help in general but if the problem is elsewhere it may not solve it.

I would also learn how to fix a flat, it is very easy and you can just take off your wheel and do it indoors pretty easily. No need to sit in the rain unless you get a flat while in the rain and cannot duck in somewhere. All you really need is a good pump and tire lever(s). I recommend the Crank Brothers Speedier Lever but some people really like the Pedro's Levers or others but I the CB Speedier is nice as it protects your knuckles and has a lovely install side to help out.