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Bike flats


Sherri

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I'd check for:

 

Worn tires - maybe time for new ones?

 

Little devil pieces of glass imbedded in tire?

 

Worn rim tape? -- that one got me for a while.

 

Frikkin' cold ride the past few days. Bravo for getting out there. Seems like the bike traffic has thinned out.

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Check your rim tape to start. If they are slow leaks you most likely have a small piece of glass in your tire. Inspect your tires very thoroughly for any small grains of glass, this usually requires taking off the tire and bending it at the small gashes. If you need new tires I highly recommend Continental Gatorskins. I put about 800 miles a month in the winter on these tires and over 4 winters and I've only had one flat on them ever.

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Thanks for the great suggestions, all. The Continental 4000 tires I run are kevlar, and I go for several months with zero flats (replacing them about 2000-2500mi), but soon as they sand the roads...it's another story. That's why I wondered if it's something to do with the sand. Damn sharp sand, it seems.

 

I will check the rim tape, though. (That's not something that I was aware of needing to check. :blush: ) What does worn rim tape look like, BTW??

 

I considered those Slime tubes, Tvash, but they didn't come with the right size valve stem for my tires. But I ordered some Slime Tire Skins and Forte tubes that said "Thorn-resistant."

 

 

 

 

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I will check the rim tape, though. (That's not something that I was aware of needing to check. :blush: ) What does worn rim tape look like, BTW??

 

Look and run you finger over the tape. Sometimes it just may not be sitting right and it exposes a tiny part of the spoke hole. When you go over a bump the dang tube can get pinched or just the constant rubbing will do it. If any edge can be felt through the tape, that's not good. Also, some bike factory tape is this thin plastic stuff. Rip that out if you have it and put in the thicker standard white rim tape.

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i feel your pain. i once got 3 flats in 2 miles riding into port angeles - continuous broken glass on the shoulder.

 

it was raining.

 

 

I think you get the prize! At least I had sun on my multi-flat days, and my flats were spread over 30 miles of riding(got the last one on the final mile, but it was small and I was so fed up with changing flats by then that I raced it home before it was dead flat. :cool: )

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+1 on the gator skins. I would routinely get flats (pinch flats--I'm too lazy to check my tire pressure regularly) and had something like 5 flats in a week. I've been running the gator skins for two continuous years of commuting to work and not a single flat. They've paid for themselves in savings on tubes and peace of mind.

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