Commutes 6, punctures 1...

[punkypossum]

Hope that's not an indication of future p-incidents!!! Got to work today, parked the bike up, noticed some green slime on my seatstays and thought I must have punctured...Tyre was still nice and firm tho. Dopey me then has a look, finds nice big chunk of glass stuck in tyre and decides to remove it, followed by spinning the tyre to make the slime seal it again. Unfortunately, once removed, the hole was too big for it to reseal, so it went psssssss and flattened itself completely. Should have left it in and probably would have got home... Did not have time to fix it before work, so had this lovely job to do at 10pm tonight (unfortunately there were no cyclist around to do my damsel in distress act and get them to help). And it was the backwheel and I'm so cr@p at fixing punctures... Took me 30 minutes and that was with 2 assistants (used mainly to hold the bike when necessary) The security guard being one of them made it worse as I felt under pressure with him staring at my amateur attempts . Fortunately puddleglum provided me with a track pump, otherwise I would have spent another 30 minutes trying to get air in the tyre with my mini-pump.

Not fun - I'm seriously contemplating spending a day just taking the wheels out, tyres off etc - just to get the practice in. Don't want to have to spend 30mins every time, plus there might not always be an assistant...

Alternative is to fit some marathon + I suppose and hope for the best...

 

[garrilla]

I carry a spare tube and a kit just in case. Last week I had 3 p*s in 2 days, but none since although 2 were from the same 'stone chip' that got embeded in p* resitent tyres.

I can change a tube in 4 or 5 mins and do a 'by lamp light' repair in under 10 min.

However, today I helped my minor change a tube while his uncle (maternal) watched and this took about 25 mins because of the 'observation/assitance pressure'.

Some things are best done alone

 

[punkypossum]

You don't ''hope for the best'' with M+ because they are the mutts nuts for puncture resistant commuting. Fit them PP you will not be disappointed.

It's the weight that stops me...(and the fact that I'm skint) If I went for the 1.75 which is what I currently have, each tyre weighs 980g!!!! And if I DID puncture, they are supposed to be a nightmare to get off and on....

 

[threefingerjoe]

I'm not too fast at changing a tube, either, but if it's at work, I don't let that bother me. I just take my time, and am very careful about finding whatever punctured the tube. Sometimes, it takes a long time to find that tiny sliver of glass. Also, I'm very careful about centering the tyre on the rim, and not pinching the tube. I've seen one of my mates change a tyre in 10 minutes...3 times! First time, he failed to find the cause of the puncture, and the tyre was hissing again, before he finished pumping it up. Then, I located the glass for him while he patched the tube. Then, he remounted the tire, pinched the tube, and the tube bulged out and BLEW, again, before he ever got it up to pressure!

I carry a spare tube, and a patch kit. I only had to patch a tyre on the road, one time. Usually the spare tube gets me home, and I can patch the punctured tube at my leisure. I suppose, if it was raining, or cold, I might be tempted to get in a hurry, but, most of the time, I can just relax and take my time with the repair, and be confident that it's done properly.

 

[redjedi]

It's the weight that stops me...(and the fact that I'm skint) If I went for the 1.75 which is what I currently have, each tyre weighs 980g!!!! And if I DID puncture, they are supposed to be a nightmare to get off and on....

Think of the extra weight as a training aid, then if you ever do switch back to standard tyres you will fly along.

And there is no "if" about it. 12+ months and still no punctures for me. I don't even bother trying to avoid puncture material any more. This morning I ran over 10 ft of broken car glass, hardly even scratced the tyres.

 

[Maz]

I've been on Schwalbe Durano Plus for the past couple of months and they've not let me down (so to speak). Not cheap though, at £35 a pop (so to speak).

 

[Tynan]

you don't need to take the wheel off if it's an obvious flat

I had three flats in five days four months ago, all seperate punctures, none since, it happens

you need the odd one to stay in practice, I use £10 tyres in London and I'm perfectly happy with them, it's silly to be frigthened of punctures

 

[4F]

, it's silly to be frigthened of punctures

There is no frightened about it, more like prefering not to have to stop at the side of the road fannying around 3 times in 5 days.

M+ 3500 miles and counting

 

[punkypossum]

Well, it turns out that the tube I had fitted last night had a dodgy valve, air kept seeping out, so I just got another practice run (at least in the comfort of my own home). Marathon + looking more and more appealing tho...not that they will help with dodgy valves, but at least it should bring the number of p*nctures down....

 

[hackbike 666]

I was always useless at fixing p*nct*r*s so I generally bang a new tube in.

Getting the tyre off can be a pain in the 'arris.

 

[Tynan]

There is no frightened about it, more like prefering not to have to stop at the side of the road fannying around 3 times in 5 days.

M+ 3500 miles and counting

not fannying about, fixing it quickfast, not knocking M+, everyone can ride on what they want, for me, too expensive and alledgedly a bit slow and heavy

 

[Tynan]

I was always useless at fixing p*nct*r*s so I generally bang a new tube in.

Getting the tyre off can be a pain in the 'arris.

nothing other than practice, my 3 in 5 days episode learnt me that I could resit the tyre without levers, which the inner tube likes

three/four months without an incident since btw, and that on an aging rear tyre

four months is 2,200 miles for me incidentally

 

[Eat MY Dust]

Here's a tip. When you're looking for the culprit that punctured your innertube. Be careful of running your finger around the inside of your tyre. This may sound obvious, but I slashed my thumb open doing this!!

 

[HLaB]

Touch wood, I don't get enough practice at p'ture repair. My last one was on a hire bike and a holiday to Sardinia; I got it off pretty quick but when the guide (ex Italian amateur) offered to help, I let him before that it was over 10,000kms.

 

[Tynan]

Here's a tip. When you're looking for the culprit that punctured your innertube. Be careful of running your finger around the inside of your tyre. This may sound obvious, but I slashed my thumb open doing this!!

yes, the careful rider works where it is first init before going for a 'oh where might it be' search

I don't include myself in that group btw, it tends to be very much an afterthought for me, it's usually possible to see from the outside if there's anything there, anything that's gone through a resistant centreline should be fairly substantial if it's still there, even if it is a snapped off tip