Persistent Tube / Puncture Problems

bugler

Longish one this. I have my bike a few months. Had some initial trouble with my back wheel, which was replaced. Cycled happily for a couple of months after, and suffered a puncture to my tube one day. No big deal, it happens all the time I hear.

So I replaced the tube. Cycled away happily for another 6 weeks or so, and then, pop, it went again one day. I wasn't very happy, but **** happens. I noticed the old tube had developed something of a balloon up beside one side of the valve, a small area would inflate to an oversized degree, even though the puncture wasn't near this area. So, again I put in a new tube. This one lasted about 1km before it went.

At this stage as you can imagine I was fairly pissed off. I patched the tube, and got a run home and back into work the next day out of it. Now I feel that it has gone flat again.

- None of the punctured tubes has anything unusual on them aside from the one mentioned which had that balloon effect. There are no snakebites so I don't think it was down to pinching between rim and tyre, all just individual small punctures.

- I felt around the rim and don't feel any spokes coming through.

- I can't see or feel anything in the tyre to be causing this.

The only thing I can think of to mention is that the rim tape seems to 'slide' around the rim, meaning the hole in it where the valve passes through tends to move away from the hole in the actual rim, which obviously could put pressure on the tube around the valve, as the valve is held at an angle to the tube. Is this a likely cause of the puncture?

Also, my back tyre never seemed to be be capable of reaching the same pressure as the front. The front has the original tube the bike came with, it pumps better with the same pump than any of the replacements on the back.

I haven't actually looked at the tube this last time, as I can hardly bear looking at the bike. So I'm not sure what sort of issue it has this time.

Any advice appreciated. I'm currently back on the bus.

bcmf

take the tyre off and turn it inside out then outside and examine it very closely.
A piece of glass/crap may have embedded into the tyre and may be starting to come thru.
If you dont have a track pump the spend the €20 odd in Argos on one.Tyre pressure is crucial in avoiding pucntures. You wont get proper pressure from a hand pump
just as a matter of interest what tyres (make/model) are on the wheel

cdaly_

I was getting punctures with softer tyres. Sometimes twin snakebites but sometimes just single holes. Higher pressures seem to have helped.

I also had a number of tubes go around the valve until somebody suggested that I leave off the clamp ring as I may have been overtightening that. In fact, I moved the clamp ring to inside the rim.

If I get a puncture, I take note of where the hole is and carefully check the tyre in that area. On one occasion I had 4 punctures in the space of 5 minutes in the same spot before I found the tiny bit of glass in the tyre. They can be very hard to spot.

You might consider moving either tyre or tube to the front and see where the punctures move to. That might show up a bad tyre.

What sort of pump do you have? Any pressure gauge on it? My roadside pump is only adequate for post-repair inflation. I can't really give it my all until I get to a garage pump or the floor pump at home. Then it's up to 90-100psi...

kona

A tube thats not inflated in the tyre wont we uniform, so dont worry about that. Bulges in the tyre are a different story.

What Pump do you use? do you use tyre levers?

When you put the new tube in, put some air in it first, not alot, just enough for a shape.Then put it in. Its all to easy to pinch the tube.

kona

cdaly_ wrote: »

What sort of pump do you have? Any pressure gauge on it? My roadside pump is only adequate for post-repair inflation. I can't really give it my all until I get to a garage pump or the floor pump at home. Then it's up to 90-100psi...

Only when the tyre says it on the side. 100psi in a MTB will be a disaster!.

Pressure is the secret to stopping punctures, not fancy tubes and rimtape and tyres IMO.

seamus

The key is really about where the puncture develops.

I wouldn't worry about the tube "ballooning" when you pump it up outside of the tyre. This is normal, especially on cheap tubes and is just an inconsistency in the rubber. Inside the tyre, this balloon doesn't have an effect.

Have a look at where the puncture occurs. You've ruled out snakebites, so it's probably either a foreign object outside the tyre, such as glass or a nail (or a piece of wire I got once), or it's due to part of the wheel - such as a damaged, sharp piece of rim, or more likely the spoke/nipple/hole.

If you're getting punctures on the inside of the tube (i.e. facing into the wheel), then it's a problem of protection, and occurs probably because you have your tubes pumped up to a high pressure which is forcing the tube to be pierced by even relatively blunt edges within the wheel, such as the nipple heads or the edges of the spoke hole. What I did was get a second rim tape. Stick the two tapes together (use electrical tape at a number of intervals), and fit it onto the rim. Rubber rim tape is better than the more solid plastic-y tape I've found, as it tends to move less on the rim.

If you're getting punctures on the outside section of the wheel, then it's a foreign object. Check your tyre first to ensure that a piece of glass or something isn't embedded and consistently causing the same puncture. Otherwise, it may be a case of the rubber being too soft. I've been using a combination of harder tyres and Tyre Liners and I've had no punctures for more than 6 months at this point. Can't say the tyre liners have any effect on handling or cycling.

trad

Have a look at the joint in the rim. Sometimes there will be a small sharp edge where the rim joins. It will be barely noticeable but if the join is not perfectly smooth use a smooth file or emery paper to even the join.

robs1

had my bike for a year and had no punctures.i went and got a new set of tyres and it was puncture after puuncture.and as you said it was like i could not get the preasure into the tube.brought it to a guy i know and he said the tyres were causing the problem.got new tyres and spent a little more on them and have not had a problem since.

Muckers

Buy a pair of Continental ultra gatorskin tyres on Wiggle now for about 16 euro each. Bomb and nearly puncture proof

theshiels

As said in previous reply posts

1) Tyre pressure is key. Hard is good. Try and get it as close to the limit as you are comfortable with.
2) Check your rim tape/strip. Any edges or spokes poking through are an issue.
3) Check your rim for burr marks etc.

I don't think this has been mentioned, but tubes are important too. Impac tubes and spritn tubes are useless. Absolutely useless. Cheaper tubes have more seams in the rubber. This leads to them being weaker. Spend the extra two quid on better tubes. Conti/Hutchinson/Specialized tubes have worked a treat for me in the past. I went through about 6 or 7 impacs in the space of a week at one point. I had stocked up on them as they were cheaper and i was going on a trip. I've had other, more expensive tubes last up to a year without a puncture. I ride a lot, and i put my bikes through a lot. So yeah, track pump, good tires, good tubes and a bit of luck with the roads and you're sorted