Punctures & Blowouts

Draupnir

Hi folks

So I've been cycling to work for about 2 months now on a Giant Escape 1.5

Have had three punctures total in that time, replaced tubes or fixed punctures etc. All rear punctures, usually caused by little bits of glass or in one case a nice pothole.

Yesterday, I got one that led to a blow out when I was re-inflating the wheel after repairing the puncture. Now it seems like the tyre has expanded where the blowout happened and won't stay on the rim.

Firstly, I'm assuming that my diagnosis of the expanded tyre is plausible?

Also, would anyone have advice on a good replacement tyre that might do some more puncture protection than the stock tyre. The size is 700x32

Cheers

petethedrummer

Have you got a track pump?

Draupnir

I do, I was inflating with the track pump when it blew, reading was at 80psi when the recommended is 100 so the blow out was a nice surprise!

goldencleric

Same thing happened to me a while back, cleaned the rim thouroughly and put in some good quality rim tape ... probably just a case of there being something sharp still in there

eoferrall

Get some tires lined with kevlar - not had a puncture since i changed mine, and i don't even try to avoid those little shards of glass etc:p

AdamAntsy

Likewise w. kevlar - I picked some up about 3 weeks ago and puncture free - my old tyres (were very old) and I had an appalling puncture/journey ratio. They were about €30 each.

route66

I have a Trek 7.3 FX - a roughly similar class of bike to yours. Mine came with (optional) Schwalbe Marathons and these are great for puncture resistance, albeit at the cost of being a little "slow".

I wanted something faster but didn't want to spend all my time repairing punctures in super-fast, silk-strength hoops. So I purchased 2 Continental Gator Hardshells (http://www.conti-tyres.co.uk/conticycle/ti hardshell.shtml) in 28mm width; these are an upgrade to Gatorskins. Very hard to get, and expensive, but they're great. My original tyres were 35mm wide and I noticed a big speed improvement by going down to 28mm; a good compromise between speed and practicality for hybrids.

Have a look at the original thread for more.

morana

Its very important that you have the right pressure in the tyre.

I remember when I was younger I used to get old tyres and cut off the beads and put them inside my new tyres. The second idea I came up with was to use silicone sealer on the inside of the tyre and smooth it out with my thumb. Both were very successful but the tyre in tyre was just a tad harder to get around than just 1 tyre. The silicone was great and I could wear down the tyre to the canvas before having to replace it. Also you should check your tyres regularily for flints etc. every time you clean your bike once a week so

You could use Armadillos they are quite good.

Draupnir

Thanks for all the feedback guys, I had took in on board and had a good read around. I've decided to go for these guys:

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/components/tyres/product/ribmo-tyre-32125

They get good reviews on resistance and I think I have been happy enough with the 32c tyres speed wise. I might downsize to 28 in the Spring/Summer when the roads will be drier.

Thanks again, now I just need to sort out why my front brake is rubbing the rim, why I can hear a slight gear grinding at the front in 15/16th gear and why 11th gear keeps popping out. Fun times when you aren't too mechanically minded!

ED E

I'm waiting for something more exotic than a spoon, could take a while:p

Got some Michelin Dynamics on mine, 23mm, cheap doesnt pay. Nylon base rather than Kevlar, been ripped to shreds. I was considering ordering some solid tyres but they only do larger MTB ones from what I can see and googling suggests they're useless.

Gonna look for some decent ones over the next few days, cant be repairing the thing so often.