Punctures

cons55

Bought a Road bike about three weeks ago, got my first puncture on Fri. Really did not think it would happen this quickly. Is there any advice on minimising getting these, any type of tyre I could get to limit these as they are a pain in the ass. Bike is a sirrus. Also how often should I be checking pressure on the tyres, do they lose it after every ride?

Thanks,

c:mad:

km991148

there is no secret - you have to accept them as part of it all.. well other than the obvious, light over potholes, avoid glass etc. Some tyres (usually kevlar lined) provide better protection than others but at cost of weight etc..

With pressure I notice a slight dip after around 7-10days (averaging maybe 150km in that time with commuting, not been doing much else recently)

snowblind

My anecdotal tip is to get Vittoria Rubino Pro's. One year with no punctures compared to a year with a significant amount of punctures with my previous bike.

They're not kevlar-heavy or anything so it might be I'm just in luck. Anyways, they're great.

07Lapierre

Get one of these and make sure your tyres are pumped to the correct pressure (usually 110psi or 7-8 Bar).

The number one cause of punctures is under-inflated tyres.

After that , avoid potholes, glass etc.

funkyjebus

run a lower pressure or buy 25 or 28c tyres and tubes. however i found i got loads when i started buy soon they stopped as i got more precausious of the roads. if you dont know already find out asap how to change tubes yourself ans save a sh1tload of money

seamus

There's not really any magic rule about how long it should be between punctures. I haven't had one in more than 6 months. But I might get 6 of them this week.

Because of the high pressures of road wheels, they seem to naturally lose some pressure much quicker than other wheels; within about a week or week and a half. Or maybe I have cheap tubes.

Check your tyres after your ride. There's nothing worse than coming out in the morning and finding that your tyre is flat, so if you check the pressure (just grab the tyre) immediately after your last ride, you'll often spot a slow puncture coming on and can sort it out that day.

Check them again then before you go out on the bike, simple pinch test again.

To avoid flats, there are a number of things you can do:
1. Run a good pressure. Typically around 100psi, but it depends on the tyre size and your weight and a whole pile of things. I'm between 80 and 85kg, with 23c tyres and I run 110psi at the rear and 100psi at the front.
2. Don't cycle in the gutter. Glass everywhere.
3. Don't use cycle tracks. There's glass everywhere and you'll have to go up and down kerbs
4. Go around potholes, don't go up kerbs and do your best to lift the bike over any serious cracks or holes in the road.
5. Avoid glass where you see it.
6. Check your tyres for debris when you get in from a ride. A piece of embedded glass may not have punctured today, but might get you when you go out tomorrow.

BostonB

funkyjebus wrote: »

run a lower pressure or buy 25 or 28c tyres ...

That pretty much the opposite of what everyone else says ???

funkyjebus

BostonB wrote: »

That pretty much the opposite of what everyone else says ???

no its not, i dont mean run 70or 80 i mean run 100 or 110 instead of 120. which is what most people do. too much is a bad thing. bike shops always pump to 12o and took me a few punctures to realise why i kept getting punctures, about 10 psi to much for the road i use.

running 80 psi will get you nowhere fast.

BostonB

News to me.

Most of my punctures have been from running over glass shards that I didn't see. Usually some routes suffer from glass on the ground, more than others, so avoiding certain routes seems to work for me. YMMV.

oflahero

snowblind wrote: »

My anecdotal tip is to get Vittoria Rubino Pro's. One year with no punctures compared to a year with a significant amount of punctures with my previous bike.

They're not kevlar-heavy or anything so it might be I'm just in luck. Anyways, they're great.

+1 on this. 6 months and not one puncture yet. Very pleasantly surprised I can tell you.

velo.2010

Cycled 110km of a 127km spin in the mountains today on a half-inflated rear wheel. That was my fifth puncture in 10 days!:mad: When I got home and examined it closely it turned out to be a pinch flat. You could see where the tyre had pressed into the tube.

Punctures happen for various reasons but a series of them is due to poor setup(guilty of that on 2 occasions) after replacing a tube. I've had to rush a couple of times to get them changed which didn't help. The rim tape takes a bashing if your pulling hard to get the tube out then using levers to fit the tyre. This can expose the spoke-holes. Also I'm using foldy kevlar tyres which are easier to fit onto Fulcrums. Unfortunatly it seems they don't sit tight enough against the rim which is leading to pinch flats when I hit a big bump, I'm sure thats what happened to day.

Hopefully my luck will change when I get a new set of wheels shortly.

monument

km991148 wrote: »

there is no secret - you have to accept them as part of it all..

No you don't.

You just need good puncture resistant tires. Well worth it given the amount of punctures you can get without them over one winter.