Having ridden mountian bikes for 8 or nine years, I have switched to a road bike, I used to get the odd puncture when riding my mountian bike either on or off the road. But since getting the road bike I must have had 10 flats in 2 weeks. Its driving me round the twist. Can anyone help me out as to whats going on. Tyres are hard somewhere around 100psi. but a lot of the punctures look like pinch punctures and are on the inside of the tube. None of the punctures have happened when I have hit a pothole or anything. Just riding alone a normal road and Phhhh. Really got to me last night, had one puncture, changed the tube and went about a 100 meters and had another flat.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but surely it shouldn't be this bad.
Quick things to check: 1) what is your tire psi max rating? keep your tires inflated all the way. 2) are there any sharp edges inside your rims (plastic rim tape, exposed spokes, etc.) 3) do you leave your bike inside a hot car during the day? slightly deflate the tires if so. 4) any foreign objects embedded in your tires? run through the inner tire surface with your finger tips. There are other possible causes, but the above are the highest frequency.
Originally posted by Jester Having ridden mountian bikes for 8 or nine years, I have switched to a road bike, I used to get the odd puncture when riding my mountian bike either on or off the road. But since getting the road bike I must have had 10 flats in 2 weeks. Its driving me round the twist. Can anyone help me out as to whats going on. Tyres are hard somewhere around 100psi. but a lot of the punctures look like pinch punctures and are on the inside of the tube. None of the punctures have happened when I have hit a pothole or anything. Just riding alone a normal road and Phhhh. Really got to me last night, had one puncture, changed the tube and went about a 100 meters and had another flat.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but surely it shouldn't be this bad.
😕 Jester
I agree with bugman the most important thing to remember is to pump the tyres all the way to maximum (you may need a track pump with a gauge for this). I am a relatively heavy rider and can still pump my Michelin Pro Race tyres above maximum without a problem. One thing that you may want to think about is that you may have a cut in the tyre itself. Many people don't realise that it is the tyre that holds the air in, not the tube. If there is a cut in the tyre then the tube wall will be poked out of the cut like a small baloon and will pop very soon afterwards under the high pressure. To solve this temporarily you should place a small peice of tyre (cut up a dud spare for this) under the cut before pumping the tube up. A better solution is to get a new tyre!
Originally posted by Jester Having ridden mountian bikes for 8 or nine years, I have switched to a road bike, I used to get the odd puncture when riding my mountian bike either on or off the road. But since getting the road bike I must have had 10 flats in 2 weeks. Its driving me round the twist. Can anyone help me out as to whats going on. Tyres are hard somewhere around 100psi. but a lot of the punctures look like pinch punctures and are on the inside of the tube. None of the punctures have happened when I have hit a pothole or anything. Just riding alone a normal road and Phhhh. Really got to me last night, had one puncture, changed the tube and went about a 100 meters and had another flat.
Maybe I'm doing something wrong but surely it shouldn't be this bad.
😕 Jester
I had a similar problem riding a road bike that had not been used in several years and it was due to bad rim tape. New tape cured the problem.
Same thing happened to me before... flatted, changed the tube and flatted again just a couple hundred yards. I found the rim strip was a plastic strip and had split at a spoke hole. The tube was being pinched at the split. Changed to a cloth rim strip and haven't had a repeat problem. Steve
I had a similar problem, and found the best way to avoid it was first to make sure there are no kinks in the tire of course when you set it up, then inflate it, deflate it, and re-inflate it. Often it is a spoke head popping through the tube. Make sure you don't ride on low pressure. As someone else mentioned, of course you have to make sure you don't have a slice in the sidewall or tread where the tube pops thruough.
