Comments on: Handy Tips: Beating the Punctures

By: ****ing Andrew

****ing Andrew — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 10:09:10 +0000

I’m smitten with my Kenda Kouriers, they had much the same air in them for thousands of kms until I recently swapped the half worn rear for the front, High pressure and great traction in all conditions.

By: Megan

Megan — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 09:21:20 +0000

I agree with Richard about the tougher tires, the Schwalbes Marathon Plus are good and so are the Continental Touring Plus. If you have a road bike for commuting the Maxxis Re-Fuse are pretty good too. They are more expensive but pay for themselves in the convenience of avoiding punctures. You can get cheaper CST tyres with kevlar strips as well if your budget won’t stretch to the touring tyres.

When I get a puncture, I will often inflate the tube leaving the valve still through the rim and see if I can find the hole. Then because I know where the tube lined up with the tyre as a reference point, I know where on the tyre to look for the offending piece of glass. I’ll also turn the tyre itself inside out in that area and check for any splits or holes in the inner surface. If you squeeze the tire you will also see any holes or splits from the outside. It’s important to check for the cause of the puncture as if it’s still there it will puncture the replacement tube!

Be careful running your fingers over the inner or outer surface as those bits of glass or wire can puncture you!!

If I’m forced to run over glass, I’ll often stop and check my tyres as sometimes you might pick up a bit but it won’t work its way through straight away.

After my last puncture I replaced my standard tyres with Conti Touring Plus and haven’t had any more. On my previous commuter bike with fairly light Maxxis Detonators I added some of the tubeless tyre sealant used by MTB to my tubes and this seemed to work. You need removable valve cores for this though – with standard tubes this means the schrader or car valves as most presta aren’t removable.

I carry a spare tube, levers and pump to get me home or to where ever I’m going.

By: Richard H

Richard H — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 03:17:26 +0000

I would advocate going down the puncture resistant tyres route if you can afford it. I run a CC 26″ fully suspended bike and like to run as narrow a tyre as I can and unfortunately they don’t make thorn proof tubes below 1.9. My first pair were 26×1.5 Armadillo’s and they were a good tyre but after about 4 or 5 years (around 6500km) the sidewalls perished and then as the tread wore out they started to delaminate. I had been running good old CST road tyres before that and after having 10 punctures in a year I thought I would change. I only had one puncture with the Armadillos and that was a piece of wire. I went to some super light Maxxis Detonators (26×1.25) after that and in the 18 months (3900km) I had them on, they lived up to their name “Detonator” I went through 4 tubes and about 5 kits worth of patches! But they were a fast grippy tyre, my worst two trips I punctured twice, the last one both at the same time! I am currently running Schwalbe Marathon Plus 26×1.35, I have punctured once with them so far (metal spike through the side wall), but I am quite happy with them as they seem to be able to shed glass splinters and so far my weekly glass check hasn’t turned up any embedded nasties. On the down side they are a bit on the heavy side, their shape leads to a funny feeling when turning in and you do give away a small amount of grip. Like the Armadillos they are very stiff to get on and off the rim and their construction lends them to seat them selves on the rim, so they can put up a fight and be a bit frustrating if you are taking them off and on regularly. Overall they roll very well (the part I was most concerned about coming from a road bike style tyre) and provide a comfortable ride for a high pressure tyre.

By: John McD.

John McD. — Sun, 30 Jun 2013 21:30:32 +0000

Great tips, and might look out for the ‘thorn-resistant tubes’ (bit like the never ending gob stopper perhaps?)

Would also add, to check that a repaired puncture is really fixed. I recently had three in a row, and eventually discovered a piece of glass embedded in the tyre that wasn’t apparent when checking the tyre. So, when you get a flat, find the cause before taking the tyre and tube off the wheel – if it’s not obvious pump the tyre up and mark where the air is coming out and have a good check inside and out of the tyre and tube. Lessoned learnt the hard way!