Punctures

Alan Braggins said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Car drivers don't suffer puntures every few hundred miles?

Nor do most cyclists with properly built wheels and good rim tape.

It depends. I changed my commute route (new job), got _lots_ of
punctures to the point where I gave up and got closed cell foam
tyres, and some years later changed job and commute route again and
(after breaking a rim on a pothole and going back to normal tyres)
didn't suffer badly from punctures after that. (I didn't try Schwalbe
Marathon Plus tyres, they weren't available at the time (or at least
not widely advertised).)

Do you think your experience is typical of *most* cyclists?

~PB

In article said:

Alan Braggins said:

Quoted message said:

> Car drivers don't suffer puntures every few hundred miles?

Nor do most cyclists with properly built wheels and good rim tape.

It depends. I changed my commute route (new job), got _lots_ of
punctures to the point where I gave up and got closed cell foam
tyres, and some years later changed job and commute route again and
(after breaking a rim on a pothole and going back to normal tyres)
didn't suffer badly from punctures after that. (I didn't try Schwalbe
Marathon Plus tyres, they weren't available at the time (or at least
not widely advertised).)

Do you think your experience is typical of *most* cyclists?

I don't think punctures every few hundred miles are exceptional for
urban winter cycling (wet broken glass), or as an average for rural
cycling with certain types of hedge trimmings.

The puncture rate (more than one every 10 miles) that drove me to closed
cell foam tyres obviously was exceptional, but not so exceptional that
products like that and the Marathon Plus have no demand.

(But with the annual distance travelled by bikes being about 6 miles a
year or something equally ridiculous, it's plausible most cyclists don't
manage a few hundred miles before their tyres perish. That cycle distance
will be dragged down by the numerous non-cyclists with an unused bike
rusting somewhere though.)

Alan Braggins wrote on 31/12/2006 20:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

(But with the annual distance travelled by bikes being about 6 miles a
year or something equally ridiculous, it's plausible most cyclists don't
manage a few hundred miles before their tyres perish.

I usually wear a set of tyres out between punctures. I think I've had
one this year (06) total.

--
Tony

"...has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least
wildly inaccurate..."
Douglas Adams; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Tony Raven said:

Alan Braggins wrote on 31/12/2006 20:49 +0100:

Quoted message said:

(But with the annual distance travelled by bikes being about 6 miles a
year or something equally ridiculous, it's plausible most cyclists don't
manage a few hundred miles before their tyres perish.

I usually wear a set of tyres out between punctures. I think I've had
one this year (06) total.

I had several in 2003. After that I bought some marathons (late in the year)
and since then I've had one puncture on my main bike. The Brompton has
suffered a bit more having been ridden on cycle paths covered in broken
glass, but even there I've only had about 3 in 2 years.
--
Chris

You are obviously quite upset about the number of punctures you get. I
assume you are using a good quality rim tape to protect your tubes from the
spokes. The sticky Velox tapes are best. They come in several different
widths to suit all types of wheels from 'racing' bikes to MTBs. We sell
them for £1.50 each but your LBS should be able to supply for a little bit
more. We also do inner tubes at £2.00 each - good ones at that.
Unfortunately we don't have a shop - we just do cycle jumbles - but we could
supply you mail order if you are interested. (contact me at
[email hidden])
Best regards and here's wishing you a puncture-free 2007

"Heracles Pollux" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I swear I get about 10 frigging punctures per year of which 8 out of 10

seem

Quoted message said:

to be not the outside part of the inner tube but the inner bit where it
meets the spokes.

I've sworn never to buy Halfords tripple packs of inner tubes again, as I

am

Quoted message said:

of the opinion that they are of so low quality, they must be to be blame.

But now I've eaten through 2 Slime Inner Tubes at about £7-9 each, and you
can't seem to repair the damn things as the slime just wets the scabs and
you end up with a mess a day later.

At my rate of punctures, it would be cheaper to drive a car everywhere.

I really am sick to death of this. I might as well take £20 notes out of

my

Quoted message said:

pocket and set fire to them!

What am I doing wrong?

Why are my inner tubes goings "at the spoke"?

Is there some "liner" one can use to protect the inner tube? (I purposely
use the thickest most solid hard wearing tyres I can find.)

In this day and age, why are we being forced to pay £9 for a piece of

cheap

Quoted message said:

Indonesian rubber worth 10 pence that breaks on a whim? Car drivers don't
suffer puntures every few hundred miles?

Why do we? Isn't there better technology available now?

Yours, well fed up with a useless bike until I stock up on tubes.

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Heracles Pollux wrote on 31/12/2006 01:24 +0100:

Quoted message said:

It all makes sense now. I never knew such tape existed or was missing.

Well that's your problem - buying from Halfrauds and getting no tape. Any
half reasonable bike shop should have a stock of Velox and you need the
width that sits nicely between the rim walls. Take your wheel in and
they should be able to sort you out. When you fit it, locate the hole in
the end over the valve hole, run the tape round the rim, making sure the
hole hasn't moved and then cut the overlapping end off at an angle, not
square. Should fix all your current puncture problems.

I suggest plastic tape to wheels with raised spoke heads and stick on cloth
tape to wheels with recessed heads.

Even half -decent bike shops don't always do it properly - to wit, a friend
after buying a custom bike found plastic tape had been fitted which on one
wheel was twisted, leaving raised edges and partly exposed holes.

Tony Raven said:

Heracles Pollux wrote on 31/12/2006 01:24 +0100:

Quoted message said:

It all makes sense now. I never knew such tape existed or was missing.

Well that's your problem - buying from Halfrauds and getting no tape.
Any half reasonable bike shop should have a stock of Velox and you need
the width that sits nicely between the rim walls. Take your wheel in
and they should be able to sort you out. When you fit it, locate the
hole in the end over the valve hole, run the tape round the rim, making
sure the hole hasn't moved and then cut the overlapping end off at an
angle, not square. Should fix all your current puncture problems.

And don't bother with Halfords for the tape. Our local one doesn't stock
Velox, only some rubber band type thing where you need to get the right
size for the wheel.

--
Don Whybrow

Sequi Bonum Non Time

Invalid thought detected. Close all mental processes and restart body.

in message <[email hidden]>, DavidR

(') said:

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote

Quoted message said:

Heracles Pollux wrote on 31/12/2006 01:24 +0100:

Quoted message said:

It all makes sense now. I never knew such tape existed or was missing.

Well that's your problem - buying from Halfrauds and getting no tape.
Any half reasonable bike shop should have a stock of Velox and you need
the
width that sits nicely between the rim walls. Take your wheel in and
they should be able to sort you out. When you fit it, locate the hole
in the end over the valve hole, run the tape round the rim, making sure
the hole hasn't moved and then cut the overlapping end off at an angle,
not
square. Should fix all your current puncture problems.

I suggest plastic tape to wheels with raised spoke heads and stick on
cloth tape to wheels with recessed heads.

Even half -decent bike shops don't always do it properly - to wit, a
friend after buying a custom bike found plastic tape had been fitted
which on one wheel was twisted, leaving raised edges and partly exposed
holes.

In my experience the edges of cheaper plastic rim tapes can damage inner
tubes. I prefer cloth type for all wheels.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

Age equals angst multiplied by the speed of fright squared.
;; the Worlock

in message <[email hidden]>, Tony Raven

(') said:

vernon wrote on 31/12/2006 11:00 +0100:

Quoted message said:

The problem is not necessarily that of Halfords but on the fecklessness
or ignorance of the counterstaff.

Which is a Halfrauds problem either for recruiting such staff and/or not
giving them adequate training.

Varies from place to place. Gareth Montgomerie, former star rider of my
club, rode for Scotland in the Commonwealth Games and currently in
training for the Olympics, now works in the Bike Hut in the Brighton
branch of Halfords. He's down there because apparently the cyclo-cross
racing is good locally.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
Windows 95:
You, you, you! You make a grown man cry...
M. Jagger/K. Richards