Fixing Punctures / Puncture Repair / Exploding Tubes

Nah, all hail the 6mm allen key! ;-)

Anyway, fuck carrying any of that shit. GSIAD baby.

My tip of the day on this subject - check the tools you are carrying actually do the job you intend to use them for.

I tried to take my rear wheel off earlier using a cheap and nasty 8 way spanner. All I succedded in doing was bending the spanner beyond repair. That's now in the bin and a man size 15mm ring spanner has joined my tool kit.

I had one of them that snapped in use, Luckily only a mile from home.

I've heard about spontaneous combustion before, but spontaneous puncture is a first

Just got a puncture on my front tyre. Bike stands in the office, 10m from closest person, and suddenly goes pop-fffffffffffff..... Time to check rim tape I guess

Tatty rim-tape + bike standing in sunshine did this to me once.

Spontaneous puncture.

Very different to the scheduled ones I get. First Tuesday of the month.

Could also have been a shard of glass or stone in the tyre. Rubber is technically a liquid and if the pressure on it was only slight would have taken a while to puncture properly.

if the pressure on it was only slight would have taken a while to puncture properly.

air in the tyre probably expanded in the heat of the office making puncture more likely

This happened to me when my bike was in the back of my mates Fiat Fiorino Van driving up the hill to Crystal Palace. He'd just bought the van and it was his first time driving following passing his test... BANG!! It was so loud in that enclosed metal space, really painfully loud... he thought we'd been shot at.. he was a complete nervous wreck the rest of the drive.

FUCK!

so annoying, i'm going through a new inner tube and/or tyre a week!!

The punctures are all to do with twats smashing bottles/glasses on the streets crossed with the bad road conditions.....but it seems an insane amount right? I know its not the wheels as i can see cuts all over the contact surface on the tyres, i'm always looking out for glass etc but its gone way beyond a joke and is costing me so much money.

A friend of mine has suggested 'Panaracer Ribmo' and 'Schwalbe Marathon Plus' tyres which are expensive but i'm sure worth it, ha anyone got experience with these?

I'm 6.3 and weigh 14.5 sone, could it be my weight? Am i just too fat to cycle?

jeeeeeeeez

tough

A friend of mine has suggested 'Panaracer Ribmo' and 'Schwalbe Marathon Plus' tyres which are expensive but i'm sure worth it, ha anyone got experience with these?

I'm pretty sure that buying dozens of new inner tubes is also expensive, no?

Search for the thread about tyres with puncture protection (one of those lists compiled by Ashe)

You say you can see cuts all over the contact surface of the tyre but where is the actual puncture in the tube?
Most tyres will start to show up small cuts and nicks on the contact area after a while but relatively few of these surface marks will actually make it all the way through to the tube.
Decent tyres will make a massive difference tho. All my bikes now run on either Continental Gatorskins, Bontrager racelight hardcases or Schwalbe tyres that have raceguard and i think the last time i had a puncture (other than intentionally skidding through a tyre and tube on my polo bike) would have been about 18 months ago.

https://www.londonfgss.com/thread32296.html

Well, i'm assuming that these cuts are the cause because i've never had problems before. I just dont know why all of a sudden i'm going through tyres so much, i would doubt that a problem has just started up inside the wheel?! or maybe thats it? can a spoke have moved? My wheels still run true.

Tyre pressure can sometimes contribute to puncture susceptibility.

Tyre pressure can sometimes contribute to puncture susceptibility.

I'm usually on full pressure on the rear and a bit less on the front.......do you suggest less? is it better?

go with manufacturer's recommendation on tyre pressure.

do what other suggest on checking the contact point and where the puncture is on the inner tube (that's usually why cyclist line the tyres logo above the valve - easier to find out where on the tyres the puncture happen).

don't ride too close to the kerb, always take the lane, at least near the middle of it.

weight is moot, I weight similar with messenger bags and has yet to get puncture, even thought I live near the town centre of Wimbledon where there's a lots of glass on the road.

(that's usually why cyclist line the tyres logo above the valve - easier to find out where on the tyres the puncture happen).

ah, very clever....i'll do this next time. As for weight, i'm glad but also not surprised, i couldn't imagine all of a sudden it would be that. I'm just guessing weather, glass and potholes all conspiring against me.

Superglue cuts and keep tyre pressure up, Maxxis and have not had a puncture all year. Cue puncture tomorrow morning!

I've run some Michelin Lithions for about 4 months now, commute every day in London's famous London. Only puncture I've had was pumping up the tyres after being on holiday, forgot to loosen the nut around the valve, d'oh

marathon plus, i do not know anyone who has had a punture using them and i have not experienced a puncture in over 3,000 inner london miles

^ they seem pretty tough, cheaper too. But 740g per tyre....?!

it usually doesn't matter, if you use your bike for general commuting and such, you usually tend not to notice the weight.

i had a spell last spring of constant puncturing... and then they simply stopped. could just be shit luck. (and free tubes from hillbilly certainly helped ease the pain.)