Thread started by FuzzBeast at 11.30.06 - 2:53 am

Had a tire go flat today, like completely flat, however it was nearly 3 hrs after my ride, I came back into the room where my bike sits and the tire was dead flat, its a big tire, 26x2.2 @ 70psi, so it has to have lost a lot of air very quickly, which would seem like a large-ish hole, oddly enough, I cannot find anything wrong with the tire (it's barely a month old) and when I pulled the tube out, it looks perfectly fine too. I just pumped it back up again (had to go on a hunt for a pump wasnt @ home) and I'm sitting to see if it deflates again, if it does, the tube is getting a bath, but from a visual inspection by me and two others, none of us could find any sort of hole in the tube, any ideas what might have caused this?

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Give it a bath now. I'll bet you find a teensy weensy little pinhole in the tube somewhere--one that you couldn't see with a visual inspection nor hear by putting your ear to the tube. Once you've found it, check the inside of your tire for a similarly teensy weensy prickly thing. Check the tire carefully and under good light, because you'll probably miss it the first time.



PC
11.30.06 - 4:04 am

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other alternative...pump the tube by itself (not mounted) as quick as you can, to try to inflate it like a balloon....when it is oversized and puffy, it's a lot easier to find the leak...if you can't get it to puffy size, you have a serious tear/leak somewhere on the tube...

I recommend doing this first, before dunking it...because drying off the tube is a pain



adrian
11.30.06 - 9:12 am

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to add to what PC said, to help find the eensy weensy prickly thing, I found it helps to get a soft cloth and gently rub along the inside of the tire -- as soon as you feel the slightest snag on the cloth, that should be your prickly thing. pull it the sonofabitch out of your tire and shame it.



City Hobgoblin
11.30.06 - 10:53 am

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same shit happened to me this morning.
nothing in the tire and no holes in the tube.
it was like barely 30 degrees last night. do you think the rubber constricts in such a way that it lets air out?



ruinedbyidiots
11.30.06 - 10:56 am

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you guys aren't leaving your bikes OUTSIDE, are you?

I hope not...are these Schrader valve tubes, or Presta valved?

sometimes the Schrader valve thing gets something stuck, or it gets bent and won't hold air anymore...

I have seen stranger things though, sometimes the insides of the rim have a little jaggedness, that if not covered by rim tape, can cause a leak on the inside edge of the tube...





adrian
11.30.06 - 5:00 pm

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Ehh, fuck no, I don't leave my bike outside, it's either in my studio or in my room.
I think I found the culprit, not sure though, when I pulled the tire off the rim first time I noticed it next to the wheel, but didnt pay any attention to it, the wheels are new (as is the bike, maybe a month old) and next to where I was working I found a small semi-circular metal shaving, like you would get from drilling a piece of metal, and when I found the hole it was maybe less than 6 in from the nozzle, but on the outside, I think a bit from the rim, when it was drilled for the valve, didnt get filed off, then slowly drifted up and around the inside of the tire, until it got pinched when it got under the road contact part of the wheel.
Anyhoo, I picked up some tubes that are of a more heavy duty variety, hopefully this one will last.



FuzzBeast
12.1.06 - 1:16 am

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metal shavings inside the rim IS the culprit!



adrian
12.1.06 - 9:24 am

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No, the real culprit is black magic. Its a good idea to blow cigar smoke on your tires and brush them with tobacco leaves before your next long ride. I'm half Cuban and half Spanish Gypsy - I know about this stuff.



wozzeck42
12.1.06 - 2:06 pm

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man..... I'm having a hell of a time with a flat right now.... 3 times on the same tire. I'm pretty darn good at finding the thorns or what have but this one is killing me. can't find shit. :(



Roadblock
12.11.06 - 7:36 pm

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dammit! all my bikes have at one flat tire!!!!! I f*cking flat tires!!! 1/4 inch nail, tiny piece of aluminum, a staple, mysterious slow leak flat.

:(

i got one on the ride home today... i was not happy...mr tuffy wasn't so tough today.

anyone else notice that sunday and monday mornings are the worst days to ride because of all the broken beer bottles?

goddamn



j3r3my
12.11.06 - 8:56 pm

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Doesnt matter the day where I usually ride, there's broken bottle glass usually, and a 95 percent chance of at least some car window safety glass (damn stereo/car thieves), I end up riding in the middle of the lane most of the time, bothe for avoiding glass, and because it's the only part of the road that looks like it was paved with asphalt, not cobblestones, horray for east county.



FuzzBeast
12.11.06 - 9:12 pm

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here's a tip for riding through glass...this is going to sound scary, but it isn't...

this probably won't work for KNOBBIES...but for road tires/slicks this will work

as soon as you run over glass or other junk/crap...you can lightly touch your finger on your front and rear tires, to "brush" away the debris before it gets a chance to stick and eventually puncture your tire and tube

HOW to do it: you place your finger lightly on the tread of the tire while you're still rolling and let the tire run a couple of revolutions, and then do the same for the back...you can reach between your legs to do this (I know you want to!)...but the rear tire does take a little practice...

DO NOT run your fingers into the spokes...or you will get mangled...

and of course your finger will be dirty after you do this, so do not use it for anything else until you wash it





adrian
12.12.06 - 6:16 pm

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yeah thats a good tip. if you wear gloves it just makes your glove a little dirty... i end up having to do that so often I've got a little idea of attaching a brush near the tire...and then I found this:

http://www.comfysplints.com/brush.htm

:D





j3r3my
12.12.06 - 6:27 pm

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FuzzBeast I agree... the roads out there BLOW!!! Whats the deal with THAT? I was out there for some years and only my big knobbie tire mountainbike with the fork shock was compatable with the Pomona road system. oh and forget skateboards...



j3r3my
12.12.06 - 11:16 pm

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that and the dust wreaks havok on anything mechanical, I relube my chain with white lightning just abot every ride, even if it's only like 3 or 4 miles...



FuzzBeast
12.14.06 - 11:41 am

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well I figured out what my problem was..... 1 1/8th size tubes for 1 1/4th size tires. duuuuuuh....



Roadblock
12.18.06 - 6:26 pm

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