thorn in tyre

[Dan Morinary]

Really? I would expect to have lost some air from my tyres after three weeks even without a puncture. What inner tubes are you using? I must get some.

It's a cheep 26 175 halfords. Don't have them pumped solid but don't find I have to add air much?

Thread has shamed me into removing the thorn now!

 

[andrew_s]

In the past I've had a small thorn in a tyre and didn't realize it was there, I just noticed I was needing to top up the air in that tyre more frequently. Eventually it got to the stage where I was needing top ups about once a week and I decided to have a look, I found the thorn, removed it and sorted out the puncture.

I've had that too.
I think the thorn must have been in for about 3 or 4 months before I got round to doing anything about the slow leak and found it. It was quite a big thorn and had obviously gone through the tube pretty much straight away.

I think that if you use larger size tubes they are more likely to seal against the thorn - for example a 32-37 tube in a 28 tyre will seal & you'll stand a good chance of riding home, but a 20-25 tube would go flat immediately.

 

[Racing roadkill]

I've had that too.
I think the thorn must have been in for about 3 or 4 months before I got round to doing anything about the slow leak and found it. It was quite a big thorn and had obviously gone through the tube pretty much straight away.

I think that if you use larger size tubes they are more likely to seal against the thorn - for example a 32-37 tube in a 28 tyre will seal & you'll stand a good chance of riding home, but a 20-25 tube would go flat immediately.

And using latex tubes, rather than butyl or tubes with sealant in them helps as well

 

[andrew_s]

And using latex tubes, rather than butyl or tubes with sealant in them helps as well

Yes, but latex tubes have a permanent slow leak even without a thorn in, so you don't gain anything.

 

[ChrisEyles]

I rode over a load of hawthorn this Summer on my MTB. The back tyre went a bit soft but I made it the last several miles home. Got back and found four(!) hawthorn thorns in the tyre - they must have done a reasonable job of plugging the holes for the tube to have lasted me the way home.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Thanks to the title of this thread I've had a Eurythmics "Thorn in my Side" earworm all day.

 

[Mr Celine]

I had a hawthorn thorn stuck in a tyre for about a week once which caused no more than a slow puncture. When I eventually got round to fixing it in the comfort of my garage I found that on removing the tyre it was no longer a slow puncture and also that I could not remove the thorn from the tyre with any tools I normally carry when on the bike - it needed a pair of radio pliers to pull it out. Attempting to fix this at the roadside would have left me stranded.

 

[Dan Morinary]

Bit of a t*#+ to get out!

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'm a lucky chap.

I took the wheels off my bike today for a bit of a clean, and fitting new brake blocks. I deflated the tyres to remove the wheels. The rear was not soft. Then when I re-inflated the rear I found I had a very audible puncture. Searching for the sharp dIdn't take long - I found the shaft of a drawing pin protruding about 2-3mm on the inside of the tyre.

I don't know how long that had all been holding together. My ride last weekend was a wet, hilly, dark exhausting 100 miler. The pin must have been there during that. I'm so glad to have been in my own backyard with a cup of coffee to hand while fixing it, and not at the side of a dark, wet, rainly road.

Quite how the rear tyre & tube managed to stay inflated with a pin like that in it I don't know. If I'd read it on here I'd have been a bit sceptical.

 

[ChrisEyles]

Luck chap indeed - that's a proper win there!

I've made it back from work to home once with a drawing pin stuck in the tyre. Was getting a tiny bit soft by the end but I'm glad I resisted the temptation to pull it out on spotting it.

 

[Moodyman]

There was an experiment by one of the writers on Road CC (I think) some time ago.

He deliberately left thorns and bits of glass embedded to see how long they would stay there. His reasoning was that if it didn't pierce through the puncture resistant belt the first time it was not going to be pushed in by subsequent rides. The idea was that eventually the item will wear with the tyre and fall out as opposed to being forced in.

I think the experiment lasted long enough to give it credence.

Personally, I'm a weekly clean and check kinda guy.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Picked these up when riding through the floods a couple of Christmas's ago - managed to get home before the tyre was completely flat. Only discovered the 3 thinner thorns when I took the tyre off - they'd all penetrated the inner tube

 

[greekonabike]

I'd probably make an attempt at getting home before trying to take it out although it would depend on how far away I was. If I had to take it out there and then I'd just throw some gaffa tape on the tire and keep going.

GOAB

 

[andrew_s]

I had a hawthorn thorn stuck in a tyre for about a week once which caused no more than a slow puncture. When I eventually got round to fixing it in the comfort of my garage I found that on removing the tyre it was no longer a slow puncture and also that I could not remove the thorn from the tyre with any tools I normally carry when on the bike - it needed a pair of radio pliers to pull it out. Attempting to fix this at the roadside would have left me stranded.

It's for that reason that I'll often try pumping a soft tyre that I can't see a cause for on a quick inspection, rather than changing tubes immediately. If it goes back down quickly, you've only lost a minute or so pumping time, and even pumping half a dozen times is quicker than a tube swap.
It doesn't always work though - on Saturday, I got about 8 miles with the first pump, but only 2 with the second, so I then fixed it.