Punctures too often?

[Enis Baysal]

I have had my 3rd puncture this week and its getting a bit much.

I am running Michelin Pro 4 Service Course 23x700 front and rear. I inflate both to 110psi. I am not educated in the slightest when it comes to pushbikes but i am picking up bits as it happens, The tyres have done less than 150 miles and all 3 punctures seem to be direct impact on the inner tube and not tyre. all 3 punctures have been on the rear.

The only thing i can envisage it being is me not fitting the tube in to the tyre wall and rim properly.
and pointers on how to insert the tube without potentially pinching it would be appreciated, the tyres are super tight around the rim on the last bit.. i think this could be causing a potential pinch?
Cheers guys^^

 

[themosquitoking]

A pinch puncture will usually show up as soon as you reinflate the tyre after installation. My guess would be that you have ridden over a thorn or something to get the first one and a bit of it is still in the tyre somewhere. When installing a tube though always put talc on it and when you have the tyre on, before inflating the tube, pull the tyre away from the rim wall on both sides all the way around the wheel. So you can see the rim tape and confirm no tube is pinched in between.

 

[classic33]

Turn the tyre inside out and check it that way. Often pieces that are only pressed into the tube, when inflated, will show up.

 

[Enis Baysal]

Thanks for quick response at this late hour guys^^!

 

[Cuchilo]

Late hour ? I'm just getting up

 

[Mugshot]

By amazing coincidence I've had three punctures this week too AND I also use pro 4s, although I run the endurance as I find them tougher than the service course with no loss of performance, that's probably not far off what I've had for the year up to this week. The last one was a thorn which was more akin to a 6 inch nail! Sometimes you can be suffering pinch flats, sometimes you don't get all the debris out of your tyre (particularly if you're changing it in the pitch black in the rain on a country lane!) but other times you've just been bloody unlucky .

 

[Sharky]

Align the writing on the tyre with valve each time and then you can establish if the punctures are coming from a specific part of the tyre/rim, which might indicate a problem at that point.
Good luck

 

[raleighnut]

Make sure the rim tape is installed correctly and you're not pushing it across when fitting the tyre, those holes can be very sharp edged.

 

[Enis Baysal]

Late hour ? I'm just getting up

haha i was just going to sleep! the joy of bar work!

 

[fossyant]

Picked up two in one week recently. Both large shards of glass. Not much you can do about it especially in the wet.

 

[Keith Oates]

I have had my 3rd puncture this week and its getting a bit much.

I am running Michelin Pro 4 Service Course 23x700 front and rear. I inflate both to 110psi. I am not educated in the slightest when it comes to pushbikes but i am picking up bits as it happens, The tyres have done less than 150 miles and all 3 punctures seem to be direct impact on the inner tube and not tyre. all 3 punctures have been on the rear.

The only thing i can envisage it being is me not fitting the tube in to the tyre wall and rim properly.
and pointers on how to insert the tube without potentially pinching it would be appreciated, the tyres are super tight around the rim on the last bit.. i think this could be causing a potential pinch?
Cheers guys^^

They say bad luck comes in three's so perhaps you will not get any more for quite a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[simonplatt]

i have also had 3. i took out my pioneer as it had'nt been out for a while, a farmer was cutting hedges with a tractor, immediately i heard a twigg on my front tyre. i stopped, dissmounted and removed the twig which was attached by 2 thorns, i got clear of the debri on the cycle lane, and looked all around my tyres, i could see nothing else.
i had another 10 miles to go, but there was no evidence of air escaping, so fingers crossed i continued. i made it home, and the tyre was still up.

next day i went out on a dahon, got a flat in front tyre, it was wet and miserable so hoped to get home by pumping up, twice was enough and i got home. culprit was a thorn.

i thenn checked the pioneer from the day before and tyres were still up.

however, a week later, the rear tyre of the pioneer was flat, just fixed it, 2 thorns about 180 degrees apart.

2 comments.

1. strange that the tyre lasted 24 hours with 2 thorns in it. then took alll week to deflate.

2. when are they going to legislate (or enforce legislation) that farmers should avoid this. last year i got a face full of thorny cuttings as i passed a tractor engaged in hedge cutting, luckily i was wearing protective glasses. surely they could have a shield to stop they from being fired all over the place.
and you can't stop to speak to the driver without going through the firing zone.

 

[Enis Baysal]

They bad luck comes in three's so perhaps you will not get any more for quite a while!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

fingere crossed!

 

[Globalti]

On C2C we rode through a section of lane covered in hawthorn trimmings and nobody thought to tell the kids in the group to stick to the wheel tracks and avoid the debris in the middle. In a mile we fixed 17 punctures and there were several more over the next two days.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I get sick and tyred (that's a deliberate typo for comic effect) of punctures, as the amount of sharp pointy stuff, on the roads and paths increase at this time of year. I changed the tyres on my bikes to the sort with Kevlar / plastic shields built in, and changed the tubes for self healers. The ride dynamics change a bit ( on account of the far stiffer shielded tyres), but I figured that a punctures would cost me far more time than a slower average speed, so I happily made the compromise. Several hundred miles of puncture free riding later, and saving much more than the rubber swap cost in monetary terms, I'm as happy as the proverbial 'pig in muck'.