Puncture!

[neptune]

I have been free of punctures for two years, since changing to Schwalbe Marathon tyres. Last Wednesday, I was out on NC1, when I had a twig attach itself to my rear tyre. I noticed it was attached by a thorn. I pulled it off, and could hear no escape of air. I biked on for a couple of miles, and stopped at a cafe for a cuppa. Halfway home, i stopped for a vape, I checked the tyre and noticed had lost some pressure.

I decided to ride home. After a hundred yards, I stopped again, as the tyre was too flat to ride. I decided to pump it up to get home. It would not inflate, so i assumed there was a big hole in the tube. I decided to fit my spare tube. Wheel out, tyre off. Needed to put a little air in the spare tube to fit it. I could not get any air into it.

I found a long strong thorn had pierced the tyre. I tried to push it back through, but it broke off flush with the inside of the tyre. Luckily I was riding with my buddy Nigel, who had a mini pump. Fitted the tube, and the mini pump worked very well, getting the tyre up to normal pressure. We rode home, and I mended the punctured tube, leaving it well inflated overnight. It stayed up so I put it back in my pannier.

Today I went to Halfords to buy a new pump connector., because I discovered a hole in mine, which is why the pump failed. They had a connector at £2.99. Beside it on the display was a standard bike pump, WITH CONNECTOR, at....,......£2,99! I bought the pump, but unfortunately, the new pump does not fit my frame, so I will just be using the connector.

 

[RobF]

I try to remember to occasionally check the pump I carry.

Using a track pump in the house and rarely getting punctures means the pump on the bike rarely gets used.

Happily for me, unhappily for them, I've had occasion to lend the pump a couple of times to stranded riders in the last couple of months so I know it works.

 

[KirstinS]

Halfords also have a front and rear light set at a fiver - looks identical to the lezyne versions at 40 quid. Low power but have their use

And very pretty

 

[neptune]

I suppose few of ever check the condition of our emergency tool kit, A case of out of sight Out of mind. I suppose most of us on here have lent pumps and tools to fellow travellers, and mended punctures out on the road for other riders who came out ill equipped.

As regards cheap lights they definitely have their uses, especially on lit roads. Lights now are so cheap that there is no excuse for anyone to ride without them

 

[Wicky]

The other day I found at home when I was about to set off that both tires were flat. No problem I thought but when I checked my emergency new inner tubes I found they were schrader when I have presta which I'd been carrying around for 5 months like a numpty.

 

[eHomer]

Yes, a lucky discovery, before needing it to get home.

Even if your pump has both adapters, the hole in the rim for Presta is smaller than Schrader, so maybe the wheels will only take Presta.

I always carefully ream out my Presta rims so that they're universal, like Schrader.

 

[neptune]

I too have been known to drill out rims to take Schrader valves, which I now standardise on all the family`s bikes. On the road, I carry an adapter or Presto and Wood`s valves, in case i need to help others.Oddly enough, a bike I have been working on today for an old lady, has Wood`s on the front and Schrader on the rear.

 

[eHomer]

......On the road, I carry an adapter or Presto and Wood`s valves, in case i need to help others......

Me too !

I must say it's an aspect of cycling that is very refreshing.

Almost every time that I've fixed a puncture at the roadside, passing cyclists have invariably stopped and asked if I needed any help or patches etc...

 

[earwig]

How do you avoid punctures on ebikes which have all that extra weight and torque but still only use standard lightweight tyres and tubes? I was looking at puncture resistant tubes from the likes of Kenda, but they seem to be impossible to get in wide MTB sizes, especially with Presta tubes. What about tyres?
I think ebikes are getting to the stage now that there is sufficient market that there should be some manufacturing investment making specific more robust versions of things like tyres, tubes (or tubeless rims), chains and sprockets.

 

[Wicky]

Try Schwalbe puncture resistant tyres > http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/pannenschutz.html

Schwalbe Energizer tyres are made specifically for electric bikes > http://www.schwalbe.com/gb/tour-reader/energizer-plus-tour.html

 

[MikeyBikey]

Trouble with puncture resistant tyres is the tougher they get, the heavier, greater rolling resistance, expense, difficult to fit, and then they wear out and you have to start all over again. :-(
Keep putting in old tubes as liners until they stop going flat. Its a pig to pedal , but it's free.
'new' Raleigh shopper tyre has developed suspicious bulges that tell me the carcass fibres probably giving way, :-( . If it's not one thing it's another!
Roll on Hover bikes :-D

 

[Nealh]

Electric hover bike .