Help! Oxygen S-Cross Countless Puncture Help

[Suitgirl]

I have had my Oxygen bike about 3 years now and although I love it it has spent quite a bit of time off the road due to punctures in the rear tyre. I can't change them myself and the bike is too big and heavy for me to get it in my car to get it to a dealer, if I push it to my nearest shop it buggers up the tyre (done that once already). A couple of times when it has happened the place I bought it from came and picked it up for me in their van and fixed it but recently I phoned them and they said there were too busy! I don't know what to do, it seems to me very impractical, have I just been unlucky? They seem to have good tyres on them, I do hardly any mileage and yet I get puncture after puncture and no one seems to have found any fault with the wheel. Has this been anyone elses experience? Is it worth getting a solid tyre? Are there any other options? Thanks

 

[Andy-Mat]

I have had my Oxygen bike about 3 years now and although I love it it has spent quite a bit of time off the road due to punctures in the rear tyre. I can't change them myself and the bike is too big and heavy for me to get it in my car to get it to a dealer, if I push it to my nearest shop it buggers up the tyre (done that once already). A couple of times when it has happened the place I bought it from came and picked it up for me in their van and fixed it but recently I phoned them and they said there were too busy! I don't know what to do, it seems to me very impractical, have I just been unlucky? They seem to have good tyres on them, I do hardly any mileage and yet I get puncture after puncture and no one seems to have found any fault with the wheel. Has this been anyone elses experience? Is it worth getting a solid tyre? Are there any other options? Thanks

Are they always the same tyres, as what I have seen is that a thorn or similar penetrates the tyre JUST, and puts a hole in the tube, but unless you look carefully with the hand INSIDE the cover, you may never find it. I had one like that years ago.....
The trick is IMHO, is to mark, using where the tube is holed in relation to the valve, (so careful knowledge of exactly where the tube/tyre were meeting and getting a puncture), and search carefully in that area.
Another method, if its random is to buy puncture proof tyres. I have no personal experience, other than seeing they cost a lost more than normal tyres!
Or, take an old tyre, cut off the sidewalls, and place the tread part it between the new tyre and the tube (after checking it carefully for thorns and similar FIRST!).
Shorten it by an 0.5 inch, as it will be filling a shorter circumference of course.
You might have a problem to get a LBS to do the last one.....sadly!
regards
Andy

 

[kirsty]

I've just bought an Oxygen bike and one of the things I asked about was how much hassle rear tyre punctures were going to be. They assured me it wouldn't be a hassle but then threw in a "slime" of the tyres which, as I understand it, seals up small punctures. Might be something worth doing once you get a repair? I'd be interested in whether this is considered to be any good though, I've got no previous experience with slime.

When I've had repeated punctures in the past though it's always turned out to be some tiny thing stuck in the tyre.

 

[vfr400]

Change your tyres to Schwalbe Marathon Plus, which are extremely puncture resistant, from your Marathon Green Guard tyres that are not so resistant.

Another thing you can do is learn how to fix a puncture. It's not difficult and in nearly all cases they can be fixed on the spot in around 5 to 10 minutes.

 

[kangooroo]

Empathy!

I've had a few punctures in my Oxygen Emate and one was recurrent but search as I might, I simply could not find the cause until I gave in and bought Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres. At this point with the tyre removed, I could look closely and twist it until I eventually spotted the tiny head of a thorn.

I now use the Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres front and rear plus Goop puncture sealant and since fitting 2 years ago haven't had a single puncture. Famous last words, I know, particularly as most of my cycling is along country lanes, many with a strip of foliage along the centre and most with thorny hedges to each side.

I would try swapping your tyres for added puncture resistance and increased peace of mind although I still live in dread of a puncture I can't fix when 25 miles from home.

 

[RoadieRoger]

Carry a Tyre Fix Aerosol and a rechargeable Tyre Inflator . Used the Tyre Fix last week and was unable to inflate the tyre . Returned to the scene with a Car Footpump and inflated easily and held . Since then I have purchased the lithium powered Inflator on Ebay and used it on all my Ebikes , Bicycles and Scooters . You set a pressure and the Inflator cuts out at the setting .

 

[Michael Price]

I agree with the above
You do not say why you cannot fix the puncture yourself - is this a knowledge problem, tool problem or a physical problem

if possible get a puncture repair kit and some tyre levers and , if necessary a spanner that fits the wheel nuts - or better still a socket set and a set of Allen keys for the whole damn bike!!! Don;t bother with expensive stuff - just something cheap from a DIY store

Then follow a YouTube video - or a set of instructions - and work out how to fix it yourself - if that is possible


Then replace the tyre with Marathon Plus - and get new inner-tubes with sealant in them - although this will probably stop the problem for a while

However, I would recommend taking the tyre off every so often and checking for thorns and stuff because the best puncture resistant system and sealant will always have trouble with one of the thorns of bits of mets (probably from car/van/lorry tyres) that is embedded in the outer tyre and gets pushed inwards on every revolution of the wheel
Last time I did that I removed 7 thorns and 2 slivers of metal

 

[Andy-Mat]

I agree with the above
You do not say why you cannot fix the puncture yourself - is this a knowledge problem, tool problem or a physical problem

if possible get a puncture repair kit and some tyre levers and , if necessary a spanner that fits the wheel nuts - or better still a socket set and a set of Allen keys for the whole damn bike!!! Don;t bother with expensive stuff - just something cheap from a DIY store

Then follow a YouTube video - or a set of instructions - and work out how to fix it yourself - if that is possible


Then replace the tyre with Marathon Plus - and get new inner-tubes with sealant in them - although this will probably stop the problem for a while

However, I would recommend taking the tyre off every so often and checking for thorns and stuff because the best puncture resistant system and sealant will always have trouble with one of the thorns of bits of mets (probably from car/van/lorry tyres) that is embedded in the outer tyre and gets pushed inwards on every revolution of the wheel
Last time I did that I removed 7 thorns and 2 slivers of metal

Good post.
Over the years, I have occasionally heard from friends with similar findings of thorns, not just myself or you, so it may be even more common that I thought when I previously posted...the bike shop he used appears to not check carefully enough for such things.
But having myself made exactly the same mistake, I cannot blame them entirely......
But its certainly something that needs careful checking, if shortly after a puncture, another one happens, especially if its about the same distance AWAY from the valve, even if NOT close to the previous puncture! (Think about it, was everything put back with the same orientation or not?)
Puncture position should be carefully noted as one gets on with the job at the point of the 2nd and subsequent punctures.
The usage of an old tyre cover as an extra "barrier" works really well with thorns, and is cheap and easy. Probably not so effective with metal spikes!
My current bike has big (not fat, but fairly close to) knobbly (loud!) tyres, and up to now has not had a puncture, simply due I feel to the depth of the rubber, but I would still expect a thorn or two, but (surmising only) they probably break/wear off, before fully penetrating to the tube....Just a thought!
Regards
Andy

 

[georgehenry]

The shop should check this when they do a repair, but I recently put a marathon plus on the rear of one of my electric bikes, I could ride for a day or two and then the tyre went down.

When I checked more thoroughly to my embarrassment the rim tape had become mis aligned and an exposed part of the wheel slowly rubbed through the tube.

Once I realized what had happened I re aligned the rim tape and all was well.