Comments on: What caused your flat tire?

By: jjange68

jjange68 — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:14:03 +0000

I get the good ol’ valve stem cracks. I had one today it is such a pain in the A$% when you just want to get home. It’ still better than $4 a gallon.

By: 2whls3spds

2whls3spds — Wed, 14 May 2008 00:22:54 +0000

My latest scourge has been the broken lane marking reflectors, they are plastic and have sharp edges, I lost an almost new tire to one this past week, slashed the sidewall

Aaron

By: Mark Layton

Mark Layton — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 20:09:58 +0000

When the bike goes on the stand for weekly cleaning and maintenance, I always go around the tire looking for holes and slits. I use an old ice pick with a rounded-off tip to gently probe the hole. Frequently get a small piece of glass out. Figure if its allowed to stay in there, that tiny piece of glass will eventually work through the kevlar belt and into the tube.

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 18:58:29 +0000

It’s also easier to get flats from road debris during the wet as the water acts like a lubricant in aiding objects to puncture tires.

By: Hilton Meyer

Hilton Meyer — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:44:27 +0000

I was getting snakebites on a regular basis last summer and eventually converted to a tubeless system. Basically you take a 20″ inner tube, split it in half and then replace the tire. Just before completely popping on the tire you put in some sealant and then inflate. The inner tube will be sticking out along the edge and then you take a box cutter and carefully remove the excess. The great thing is that I got a pucture the other day, well sort of. I heard the PSSSSS starting and then after a few revolutions it just went away and I carried on riding no hassle. Highly recommended to anyone.

By: doug

doug — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:15:59 +0000

once a tube split along the seam. at 7:30 in the morning. in the rain. on the way to work. on my first day.

lesson learned: always, always ALWAYS have a spare tube. no matter what.

another good lesson is to get heavy, expensive kevlar-armored tires. my gatorskins are quite nice. just the other day i blundered into a patch of broken bottle glass. i didn’t realize it, however, until i heard the crunch of my tires crushing a large chunk of green beer bottle. no flat.

another fun story: last week i topped off my rear tube, but when i pulled the pump head off the valve top popped off with it. however, the pin was locked, so no air was leaking out of the valve. since i was on my way to work i just hopped on and rode in. a week later and i still haven’t had to replace the tube. unfortunately, it won’t be long until i have to top it off again …

By: Dust

Dust — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:59:23 +0000

I had a breast cancer awareness pin stuck in my tire last summer.

I crossed some grass in downtown Chicago to get to the bike path. When I got to the bike path I kept hearing a click with every wheel revolution. I stopped to check my wheel – I figured it was just way out of true or the cones were loose and it was hitting the frame or something. I got back on my bike after inspection and kept riding.

I kept hearing the click with every revolution. A friend of mine told me to stop and checked my rear wheel, sure enough there was a Breast Cancer Awareness pin stuck into my tire. We had to go past a `not so good area’ of town to get back home – about 2 miles. I rode my bike as much as I could. After awhile the clicks went on to click-PFFFF! click-PFFFF! click-PFFFF! I eventually had to walk about .5 of a mile. Not to bad, scary, but not too bad.

By: Matt S.

Matt S. — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:29:01 +0000

I’ve never had flats on the road, but I’ve had a few while unhooking the valve from the pump. I think I may need a new pump, like Justin.

By: geoffrey

geoffrey — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:19:36 +0000

I’ve arrived home to find a fish hook in my rear tire and still had no air loss after removing it. Maintaining minimum inflation pressure is obligatory for tube life. That said running 15 – 20 psi is the only way of maintaining any semblance of forward motion in some snow/ice/sand conditions.
YMMV. Sometimes you have to be willing to accept snakebites.

By: Justin

Justin — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:42:42 +0000

It’s good to note that all of these are very avoidable. Since I bought a fairly cheap (24 dollar) floor pump and better tires I haven’t gotten a flat at all.

It takes some preventative maintenance, like checking your tires’ air pressure once a week (at least), being able to check out where your brakes hit and so on.

It’s also always worth it to buy the more expensive, perhaps heavier tires because the time and energy spent with their weight is negligible compared to the frustration of changing a flat on the road or walking your bike in a catastrophic tube damage.